7:36 something interesting is that, even though he is not the final boss, lorewise he is the biggest menace you encounter in all your journey. Not only is he a problem to you, but also to everyone in the Lands Between The entire world will be doomed if you don’t defeat him right there
@fishgiovaana8441 he was a failed lord of frenzy, and he failed because of the word nanaya told him, "endure" as the remembrance details that word was more of a curse. When we meet him he gives up, and with nothing more holding him back he acends to frenzied flame lordship.
Reminds me a lot of Orphan of Kos, the two bosses basically awaken when you arrive, and gradually get stronger as the fight goes on, with the implication that it's like a train gaining steam perpetually unless you manage to stop it right then.
@@sushiroll3795 It was well paid off in the end because had he not endure long enough for us, who has enough strength to destroy the lord of frenzied, to arrive, things could've been worse.
The fight gets even better when you consider this. The Frenzied Flame is chaos incarnate. Yet, the boss isn’t mad. He doesn’t do wild strikes without rhythm. The fight feels like a dance (it is elegant, despite what the music is) , and after some of his moves, he spreads his arms as if basking in praise. After all of his long years of suffering, he has made it. And it is glorious. May chaos take the world. Like, especially look at his grab attack. He totally could get another attack in, but he is so proud that he takes a step back. He has no mouth, but he must smile. He is feeling cathartic rage.
you get a similar impression from the tarnished in the frenzied flame ending. Seems like the emotion that defines a Lord of Frenzied Flame is something to the tune of "joyous nihilism". They're about to melt away everything, and there is no greater joy for them.
When the Tarnished does the Frenzied Flame ending, they act in much the same way. My impression is that the Outer God of Frenzy completely possesses the body. In that ending, your Tarnished is gone. For this boss fight, Midra is gone. All that remains is that *alien* that relishes in its own flame.
Don't be mistaken, midra is not there anymore. It's literally chaos itself taking control, cuz your character acts exactly the same when they become the lord of frenzied flame. Similarly to how shabriri can manifest in his victims because the flame of chaos is a collective melting pot of every consciousness it has ever consumed. You're fighting every single one of them combined.
@@TitaniteHydra damn we said the same thing. Additionally, the head being replaced, the main source of visible, recognizable identity is removed, signifying that everything that defined you or him is gone.
6:55 the distant strings are a callback to the frenzied merchants theme under the leyndell sewers, its honestly genius to mix that into a twisted variant of something already demented in lore
Agreed, this was brilliant. The merchants from the base game are strongly tied with the frenzied flame, and the second I heard that callback in this track, I knew Fromsoft was COOKING
That piece of melody given by st. Trina to the merchants to hold back the madness in them, putting it inside this song made it sound like it's mocking them... I literally jumped off my chair the first time i heard it
Nothing I love more in video game music than carefully reused motifs to envoke memories of the past, especially when they twist it so heavily like they do here. FromSoft are masterminds.
I think the "size" you hear more so represents the danger the Lord of the Frenzied Flame represents- this thing coming into existence before your eyes is an immediate existential threat to all life
And its also a fight against the clock, the more this guy is alive the more he will inflict madness, the second phase is the whole power unleashed as the OST gets more powerful. "This guy is a danger to all life" is what i hear from this song.
@@toobig7399it burns away EVERYTHING that spawned from the Greater Will tearing that hole in existence, meaning it will burn away quite literally everything in existence. It is a threat to Existence itself, not just Life and Death.
I was so lucky to have found Abyssal Woods on my own, that feeling is always great in every Souls game. And then finding Midra's mansion... that view told me one thing... "This is your last warning. Within lies a house of horrors."
Lore time: Midra was the lord of a castle, Midra's Manse. One day, he met a woman, Nanaya, and fell in love with her. The woman was a priestess of the Frenzied Flame, an outer god that seeks to destroy all life, because it wishes to return everything to "the One Great", a unified existance (not actually a living being/god), which existed until the Greater Will separated it. It hates life itself, and wants to burn it all down. Nanaya taught him spells and such related to the frenzied flame. He wanted to become Lord of Frenzied Flame, essentially a vessel for the Outer God, for his lover's wishes. However, he doesn't have what it takes and fails to become a Lord of Frenzied Flame, but this still drives him nearly insane, and the process of becoming a Lord ravaged the castle and nearby forest turning them into hellscapes of Frenzy. He realises becoming a Lord would mean losing himself completly, because becoming a Lord of Frenzied Flame means going mad with hatred, and he doesn't want that to happen. He hides himself in his castle in fear of the havoc he could wreck as a failed Lord, or in fear that he might become a true Lord. But, people are alerted of him nearly becoming a Lord, and a group called the Hornsent invade his castle. They commit a massacre. Midra is impaled through the head with the Greatsword of Damnation. In his dying moments, he stumbles across Nanaya, bleeding out to death. She whispers one final word to him: "Endure." The word was essentially a curse to Midra, because he did choose to endure. He lived, despite the horrible pain he was going through, so that a Lord would not be born and kill everything. But, when he meets the player, he finally gives up. He gives his apologies to Nanaya, before killing himself, giving birth to a true Lord of Frenzied Flame. Also, fun fact: the strings that play around 6:50 has lore behind it. They are played by the frenzied merchants, people who were falsely accused of being in cahoots with the Frenzied Flame and were snuffed out for it by being thrown in the depths of Leyndell's sewers, where the envoy of the Frenzied Flame is located. They've all gone mad, and are now basically half-dead, suffering eternal torment as the Frenzy nearby gnaws away at their soul. But St. Trina, who is essentially an aspect of Miquella the Kind, did not wish to see them suffer so much, so she wrote a song, one which could slightly quell their suffering. So, in some places, we come across these poor people, slowly playing those strings to try and calm their burning mind. The song playing in this, too, is likely meant to be symbolic, to how that soothing melody would no longer be enough, and what we face is far beyond saving. Edit: credits to @Frank-kq4te in the replies for correct a mistake on the One Great's identity and Greater Will's involvement Further edit: corrected the part about the merchants
The One great was a mistranslation from japanese, it was meant to say the big one, as for everything on the world was one whole thing. The greater will separated that, not itself, meaning the greater will introduced life, separating what was in the beginning one big mass.
The best way I can describe this soundtrack and the boss as a whole is "elegant madness." The boss, Midra, moves with such an unnatural smoothness that contrasts entirely with their otherwise nightmarish appearance. It lends an extra bit of uncanniness to the whole experience. The soundtrack stands out so much from the rest of the DLC; it sounds more like something from Bloodborne than Elden Ring. Which I think really hammers home the whole extent and feeling of this boss and the Frenzied Flame: *THIS DOES NOT BELONG HERE. DESTROY IT BEFORE IT DESTROYS EVERYTHING.*
"Midra, moves with such an unnatural smoothness that contrasts entirely with their otherwise nightmarish appearance." It's like elegant nightmare. Well said!
My character being one who also took in the frenzied flame, wanted to destroy Midra, not for any righteous reason, but to prove herself the worthiest of the chosen successors, to become the Lord. MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD! MAY CHAOS... TAKE, THE WORLD!!
Would let chaos take world than let Miquella’s twisted order rule it Some people didn’t even want to be born to this world but be under the lord who grips other’s will that’s not even life
thats really a trend ive noticed since fighting midra, the lord of frenzied flame seems to be taken over by some kind of force, but the force characteristically ISNT chaotic. its confident and collected. Sure, revelling, but by no means maddened. its kinda disturbing imo, that this avatar of chaos is so... intelligent
@@frontiergear8549 It sounds similar, but I doubt it's a reference. You can only make so many combinations of notes before you end up unknowlingly make the same combination as someone else.
The Tarnished after killing extra dimensional conceptual Gods and beings who would've melted the entirety of existence away in brutal manner without ever getting praise for it: 🗿
I love how the three best bosses in the Dlc have such a catchphrase: Those stripped of the Grace of Gold shall all meet death, in the embrace of messmers flames. CURSE YOU BAYLE! and of course: THE DEPTHS OF YOUR FOOLISHNESS!!!
I allways tear up while listening to these absolute masterpieces with headphones on and eyes closed. Its just beatyfull how a videogame music just wakes so many emotion in me. My all time favourite boss ever in a fromsoft game. The whole theme of an alldestroying, unstoppable chaos just approaching you and seeing the giant orange chaos flame headed person in a abandoned mansion in a empty forest with just rats and some random aliens is just ABSOLUTE PERFECTION❤
"Disfigurement" is on point. This boss has a sword impaled all the way through his body, and to phase transition, Pulls it out. _Along with his own head._
That and much later "It's really like, 'who dares disturb my slumber' and [it] will end you, and its face is melting off", that was SPOT on, like incredibly so- just that more than his face "melted" off haha
I dont know if there's an english exact transaltion for this term, but in italian we have "flemma", wich is when someone moves and behave with exxagerated relaxation and elegance,not caring, almost floating. Wicj is exactly how Midra moves, he's the embodiment of frenzy, yet he's the most composed, relaxed dude you will ever fight. He shoots laser beams and explosions everywhere while almost dancing in a valzer.
SO REAL i think this is done to represent the relief of the pain. its such a stark contrast to everything you've seen in the abyssal woods up to this point. when you find midra he's a mangled corpse, but when he's the lord, he's basically dancing as he fights you, awesome detail
He is huge and heavy but not in terms of his actual physical dimensions but his cosmic implications. He has become the vessel for a being that is an enemy to all of existence. Now it has found a body to enact its will
Something I really love about Midra is how it portrays the Lord of Frenzy taking over this old man. Since the Flame of Frenzy is a big ol' reference to the King in Yellow a big part of that book is how characters have a character's role from the cursed play forced upon them once reading the contents of the book, or in this case, when seeking out the Flame. The Lord of Frenzy moves in this unnatural, almost dance like way that seems to be sickeningly enjoying itself both in this fight and during the Flame of Frenzy ending as the world melts. Midra and the Tarnished are not actually Lords of Frenzy, they're mere hosts for it's malevolent will.
i think my favorite move of his is the spinning slashes. It looks unnerving and unnatural because your mind reads the halo of flame as his "head", but logically speaking it isnt, and theres nothing stopping him from moving that way. Instead it reads as the body dangling like a puppet being held up by the flame
There's also this implied refference to the line "i wear no mask" when midra pulls his head of and turns to reveal the gaping maw of madness. Or it might not be but i like to see it that way.
@@larsmuller97 Intended or not, I very much enjoy your interpretation of that moment and I'm almost frustrated I didn't put that together myself after fighting Midra.
This OST fits the fight soooo well. Usually it's difficult to hear the music as you're focused on a boss but for this one you hear it clearly and it's very haunting. Definitely elevates an already fantastic fight, both visually and gameplay-wise to a whole new level.
@@IamWalkingDead1Yeah, it's interesting to see him move with such grace. It's an interesting contrast, he finally gave in to incomprehensible, all consuming madness and frenzy. But it makes it seem like he's at peace more than anything, almost blissfully so 😌
Your description of the Lord of Frenzied Flame is mostly spot on. There is a very real sense of peeling (if you know, you know), and primal rage being chained, locked away and brimming under the surface. It’s on the cusp of being unleashed, but it needs that final step which it hasn’t attained yet. Throughout the game, not just in the dlc but the base game as well, the Frenzied Flame is present, but it never quite takes center stage until the very end. Like it’s biding its time, but growing impatient. Something I like about the representation of the Flame of Frenzy is when you find it (in both dlc and base game) it’s in the utter most depths of each world hidden away. You have to travel to the very bottom (or what seems like it) to behold it. And it’s an excruciating journey both times both mentally and physically. In the music this is kind of represented because as it goes on you really begin to notice the ups and downs, like rolling waves, but also the constant descending in the notes. You are constantly falling, falling, falling, and as you do the flames get brighter, more vicious, and fuller. Like it’s threatening to engulf everything around it. A big theme around the Frenzied Flame is: madness. It is literally a physical manifestation of madness, and that’s why I like the descent and uproar of the music because as you fall more into the madness the more threatening and full of rage the music becomes. At 6:48 you mention the dissonance of the violin. This is actually a leitmotif to a much shorter song called the Song of Despair which is supposed to help lull the people with the madness to sleep. Here it plays desperately trying to fight back against the roaring inferno, but then it ends in a shrill shriek because the madness has reached its height. The very song that’s supposed to help burns away in a screech of agony and is overtaken by the ever hungry flames, then *joins* the main chorus. There’s no sleeping. The Flame is here. You mention that it’s also slow, plodding, methodical, and that there’s no elegance. It is definitely very slow, the boss itself is slow, but when you watch the boss there *is* elegance. It glides and swoons, it twirls and presents itself with open arms. And the music has a bounce to it in the latter half, as if you are dancing with it. But the dance is overtaken by the descent, by the roaring fire as the room you’re fighting literally sets ablaze. The fire threatens to consume you first as you desperately try to contain it in this macabre dance of assured destruction. Not death, as that’s a given, but *assured* destruction. That there will be nothing left of you after. Nothing. The best part about the Flame of Frenzy is you can take it up for yourself out of good, but perhaps selfish, intentions. The journey to get there, like I said earlier, is filled with horror. By the end of it you can become convinced after all the horror you’ve seen that taking it is the right thing to do. If you do, *your* descent into madness as the player is complete. You succumbed to the Flame of Frenzy. And you can see that in this song. The Lord of Frenzied Flame can be you, or anyone. It is full of rage and torment, and seeking to get out if you’ll only let it. And that can be heard in this music. As someone else said when commenting on Midra: “The music gives you a sense of: ‘If you let this thing leave the room it will burn everything down’. Like, as soon as a Lord of Frenzied Flame is manifested the world ends not long after.” An observation that couldn’t be more right. Because that’s exactly what happens. It’s even represented in the music. Once the descent and flame reaches its apex the music immediately quiets, and all you hear is low tones as the last of the Frenzied Flame’s embers burn out. “May Chaos take the world.”
What makes this boss even more unsettling, Midra has kept the Frenzied Flame suppressed for possibly hundreds of years or more. He’s endured this barbed sword impaled through his body all for Nanaya, who was the only person left that cared for him. She told him to endure, because if he cannot, the Frenzied Flame will be unleashed upon the world. And when you break into his chamber, and cause him even more pain on top of his agonizing existence, he finally gives up. “Enough…I’ve endured…more than enough. I ask you forgive me, dearest Nanaya…” Midra giving up connects perfectly to what the Frenzied Flame personifies. The Frenzied Flame represents an end to suffering. Because why should life exist, when it only causes needless suffering. Therefore, for suffering to end, all life must end as well. Just like the music, the Frenzied Flame and its implications are haunting to think about.
Imo Nanaya was the one who originally worshiped the frenzied flame. She was cradling their child who was the failed lord of frenzy. After that the hornsent inquisition came and fucked them all up for medling with the frenzied flame. Nanaya begged Midra to endure the pain and suffering for as long as possible so that the madness within him may rippen into the yellough flame of madness and thus bring the promised lord of frenzy which she failed with their child.
@@larsmuller97 It could have also been a spiteful punishment from Nanaya for failing to become Lord of Frenzied Flame. Something along the lines of that if he wont become the Lord then he will suffer for all eternity until he does.
@@larsmuller97 yeah I agree. The more I look into it, the more it seems as if Nanaya is the reason all of this started. And the torch she cradles being their child makes so much sense. The description says the remnants of the failed lord’s flame is attached to a small spinal column. I still feel like Midra didn’t want the Frenzied flame to be unleashed, but there’s still so much unknown about the character to say anything concrete.
it is much more haunting than that: it is the exact opposite. a theme in the base game, which is heavily reinforced by the DLC, is that you need to endure immense suffering to receieve influence from the the outer gods (scarlet rot, frenzied flame). For example, consider the Ascetic's set, dropped by curseblades: "Attire of the tower's ascetics, embodying their commitment to an austere existence of strict self-control. In order to ascend from their mortal flesh into tutelary deities of the land, they heighten their spirituality through severe ascetic training." Or consider Millicent's questline, where Gowry is trying to make Millicent suffer as much as possible. Near the end of her questline, he asks you to kill her: "Nurtured by betrayal, her bud will flower most vividly." - the bud referring to the scarlet rot. "I have endured more than enough" is an apology to Nanaya, for not being able to suffer enough. Nanaya asked him to endure so that he could become the lord of frenzied flame.
@@AB-uz8sq yeah exactly what i thought. If you read into the lore Nanaya comes from a foreign land and then the manse descends gradually into madness and then the inqusition comes through. Nanaya and Midra's tale scream with lovecraftian and king in yellow influence.
Its powers are crazy, literally. The embodiment of chaos. Awakened from a deep old punishment of existence. He sways with passion going slow, then fast but with a smooth transition. Fire spreading consuming the whole arena. Symbolizing what the flames have done to him or want to do to you. Using a weapon made to torture himself gives great insight on the madness of the character. Beautiful, in a terrifying way. Frenzy Flame is my favorite thing is elden ring. Chaos amongst a world of order. It persuades you with logic, then takes you with ambition.
Well said. Midra was terrifying, because I don’t feel like I was fighting a person anymore. It was like I was fighting a cosmic entity using a person to fight.
Ambition isnt the right word. The frenzied flame preys on desperation. It takes hold of people who have completely given up on everything. Those would do anything to upend the unfairness of the world.
Yep, in my opinion Midra's is easily the best OST in the DLC. And that's quite the feat since the DLC OST as a whole is so freaking good. I've been listening to this, Rellana and Belurat on repeat.
7:31 In true Fromsoft fashion, this is one of those optional bosses that most people probaly (unfortunately) miss lol. This whole boss, and the sequence/environment leading up to it was absolutely fantastic as a whole. One of the best areas Fromsoft has ever made.
Fromsoft really proud themselves with the Abyssal Woods. It's gut-wrenchingly eerie and primally terrifying. Reading "don't let it see you" made me freeze for a whole two minutes, I think; and being told "combat is not an option" in a Souls game is so threatening.
You get it right every time and you haven’t even seen this boss!!! ITS CRAZY BRO. The way you describe it as a flayed and fiery creature. Disturbed and frustrated that were there.. It’s so accurate. You’re told by a spirit to stay away. This boss didn’t want you anywhere near him because of the frenzied flame. He’s disturbed and broken. You walk into a decrepit man impaled by this forked greatsword. It’s grotesque and disturbing. Well done. Not the final boss though! I would love to see you play through Shadow of the Erdtree just to see you realize how accurate you are when you run into these track in-game.
Lore wise in a way you could say this is the final boss. If we don't defeat this thing i assume what happens next is the same as the lord of frenzy ending.
Throat singing is almost fitting here since the boss has no head. And again Marco nailed the skin pealing off and grossness, pretty much describe the boss cutscene perfectly with only music without even seeing anything of the boss 👍. And frenzy flame is all about devouring the world and bringing chaos and in the area leading to the boss there’s Dev message talking about to “hide”, and “combat is not an option” and Marco also nailed this terrifying anti christ like being leaving you no were to run, all fitting the lore super well from again only the music.
This song truly to me represents what frenzy is as a whole in the boss fight as well as the music… you see a shift within Midra.. because THATS not Midra anymore it’s the Frenzy God peaking through and getting very close to entering our world.. this entire fight is one latch ditch attempt to end this threat before it ends everything.. and while you’re fighting for your life… Frenzy is basking in its freedom, just playing with you…
Lore-wise, it's more like an uncomfortable truth. Like this thing will always exist. It exists in everybody and all we can do is try not to approach it.
FromSoft is incredibly at crafting character designs that just look WRONG. Midra might just be the single most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen in media, both in his pure presentation, as well as what he represents on a thematic level
The moment when it hits that nightmarish tone of the theme, its like Midra does not care anymore about his looks and just wants to unleash chaos upon the land of shadow and you stand Infront of him trying to stop him and the song invokes the feeling of unbelievable primal fear in us and youre right about a face peeling off but instead, its his head ripping off and letting the frenzied flame completely possess his body and declares itself as "CHAOS HAS ARRIVED.... AND I'LL START WITH YOU...."
With the only thing to go on being the boss music, im blown away by how accurately you describe the motiffs and the entire vibe of Midra. You hit the nail on the head like 10 times in a row. Bravo sir, instant sub from me.
I love this theme. I understand nothing substantial about music but this really sounds like divine madness. The grand sounds, the bellowing, festering anguish and the small skittering instruments for the short violent thoughts that come with such madness.
What i love the most about this ost is that it follows a thought process, probably the one of the tarnished. In the begining, you don't understand, it's just chaos. Then you understand it's more than that, and finally, you see, you understand that chaos itself is not in fact chaotic, but sentient, and acts as a noble. Extending his arms as if in a reverence, dancing around graciously. A god of chaos and madness, that acts like a noble swordsman. The entity itself is NOT what it lets us think in the base game
For people that have seen Evangelion: The Frenzy is basically an aggressive LCL substance that dissolves body and spirit into a living hell. A new item description states “with the madness comes tranquility.” Though Elden Ring is full of characters fighting for a different Order, almost no one wants anything to do with the Frenzy since it would mean ceasing to be themselves. Midra is an unnerving reveal because it means there could be more people across the world ready to pop and become a Lord of the Frenzy.
Honestly it feels like the frenzy flame is a reset button for a world there will be plenty more elden lords and one of them will eventually be a frenzy one there to reset the world
before it was debatable but the frenzy stone throwable item you can craft explicitly states that the flame burns away even spirits, leaving absolutely nothing behind. Thats what makes it an existential threat, and why people are willing to go to such lengths just for preventative measures against a Lord arising. Because if one ever does, and isnt stopped IMMEDIATELY, they will erase everything in their path, with no hope for recovery
@@dumbsterdivesthis explains why Melina wanted us dead so much, and why she was willing to go so far to take us down. We quite literally were gone as a person, and it brings a new perspective of us choosing the wrong path. We never were going to be able to save her, especially if everything in existence is gone. It also explains why Torrent was frightened. He quite literally could have permanently died.
@@JamesW609 It's not. Frenzy Flame simply destroys everything. Nothing remains. It's pretty much the total enthropy, but the universe dies not with a whimper, but with a bang. There are no new beginnings after that, no nothing. A total nonexistence.
The fact that you managed to nail the description. An ancient being woken from his slumber who could withstand the chaos no longer. And his face peeling off isnr too far off
@@kamamara2567 Midra is only "weak" because he spend centuries impaled with a sealing sword that suppressed the flame of frenzy in him, but his meree existence in that way created the Abyssal woods and infected other's If Midra literally wasn't nerfed from the start and extremely weakened, i doubt we would've stood much of a chance The Tarnished is lucky every one of their enemies is centuries past their prime and has a million hanidcaps holding them back
@@_Chaosnight_ headcanon lil bro it’s never stated that that’s the reason he’s just weak lol. Also that’s not that impressive lol. It’s already stated that he was weak like the others nothing to do with him being nerfed 💀. Also I can just say the same for tarnished so unquantifiable head canon again 😭. Midra got slammed in his lord of frenzied form by a tarnished who was far from his strongest 😭. Using useless hypothetical is idiotic since I can just say the same for tarnished. Midra is weak but cope lil bro 😭.
@@kamamara2567 Ok mister smart and condensing that knows better? Literally go outside and touch some grass You're the one coping here and why so many emojis? Are you 4 or something?
I find it very interesting how you continued to hammer the point of how heavy the piece is, how it makes you feel as though this being is colossal in scale and of how it just sounds "immensely wide" and monumental. Because the entity itself is, physically, none of these things; but you are still correct. It is frail, nothing but skin and bone, little more than an ancient corpse walking. Its footfalls nor its gait are lumbering, and though it is taller than the player by a decent bit, this is so with most FromSoftware bosses, and it is far from the largest thing we face stature-wise. What you are describing is still very true, though. The weight, the heaviness, the scale; except it is not the being's physical stature you are describing, it is the gravity of the situation. It is the stakes. This boss is, from a lore perspective, the most terrifying and monumental threat that we the Tarnished face in-game, above even the final bosses of both the DLC and main-game. You were correct that we come across something, awaken something, that should have never seen the light of day, something that should not be allowed to exist. If our Tarnished failed to quell this being, all things would end. Hence your description of what you hear is still correct. The gravity of the situation weighs heavy. The stakes are immense. And the chaos flame is all consuming, all eradicating, expansive and horrific. Capable of melting all things away, so we are all One again.
Truly, this is one of my favourite compositions I've ever heard period. I was deep in focus on this fight and that mid point marching rise came into my headphones. I suddenly realized what I was listening to.
One of my favorite parts of this song is that you can hear hints of a weird distorted version of the Nomadic Merchant song from the basegame, around the halfway point. Midra's theme is definitely one of my favorite Fromsoft tracks
Was waiting for you to check this one out! I absolutely love that unlike *any other song* in all of Souls, Midra's theme uses synth bass. This really emphasizes that what you're fighting *does not belong here*, and that you're clashing with an alien, cosmic threat rather than anything you're used to dealing with. ... And the boss is behind an illusory wall, down a region of cliffs, through a catacomb, through a madness-inflicted swamp with enemies you HAVE to stealth around and cannot fight normally that'll kill you if they see you, where even your mount is too afraid to come out when called, through two illusory paintings. Midra is very likely the most obscured boss in Fromsoft history, completely optional and hidden, and it's one of the best things they've ever put in a game. Also, I love the musical callback to the Frenzied Flame merchant's song.
YES THANK YOU!! That's the single coolest detail of Midra's theme and I was really hoping he would point out the fact that the bass is synthetic. It's the only electronic instrument used in the entire game and does such a good job of portraying the cosmic scale of how alien the outer god of Frenzy truly is.
Have you got Metyr Mother of the Fingers on the list? Nothing sounds like ‘the sound of silence’ like the second phase of that thing. It’s like being alone in black endless emptiness with nothing but your anxiety and despair. Freaky
im excited for you to play this game and i think a lot of what you pulled from this ost is gonna be so elevated by the surrounding part of the map that you find this boss in. it goes into full swing in this boss theme but the surrounding map really plays into this soundscape of being driven by madness, both literally and figuratively and the game does an amazing job representing it visually too. out of all the bosses, this theme really stands out to me in a way that makes me feel such visceral feelings. its screaming at you to feel disgusted and horrified at witnessing midra and it does an amazing job. no matter how tragic of a character he is, all you can feel the moment the fight starts is just that you are witnessing something unholy and forbidden, its amazing
By the lore, when Frenzied Flame emerges, everything gets destroyed really quickly. Midra himself is not some giant, but the music does display the incredible, world-altering danger its existence poses.
I find it interesting that you describe the song as “not elegant” at 11:30 because the boss himself has this elegant bearing to him. He stands tall and proud and his attacks are these sweeping elegant motions yet the music in inelegant and dissonant which I thing illustrates the chaotic nature of the frenzied flame so beautifully. Midras doesn’t have these sporadic and all over the place attack animations, yet there is no true rhythm to his fighting either. It’s all chaos
10:21 holy cow, you nailed it on the head. "deformed being being awakened with rage that's below the surface". and his "face" is just a raging fireball, doesn't really have a face. He was suppressed. The frenzy was kept at bay until he got awakened. What you got wrong was that he is a normal human-sized person and incredibly elegant. You need to see the cutscene he is introduced in or the fight, in general.
Your observation is pretty spot on. "It can't be used as for good, it can't be used as a tool. It's an independent being that's angry and agitated." "In times past, every single person who attempted to control the flame of frenzy succumbed to madness after a desperate internal struggle." - item description for Frenzied Burst
Midra is my favorite boss in Elden Ring. Because of how this incredible song and his visual/fight design mixed together. It left a big impression on me in a very short amount of time and I just cant stop thinking about it. Great video!
@@tehCostHD in all honesty he might just seem squishy because of his poise, as i'm pretty sure he has some of if not the highest hp of the bosses in SoTE. it certainly does feel that way because he was one of the bosses i felt like i could play around the staggers of
@@PabIopiro total HP isn’t always something you can compare in a boss fight. Some bosses just have more openings than others. To me, the bosses that feel like they take the longest are Bayle and consort. Midra may have as much hp as them I don’t know for sure, but his fight usually doesn’t take nearly as long. Same for messmer.
Having just beaten this boss this morning. All of your initial thoughts nailed the feeling of finding this boss. From soft absolutely k ow what they are doing with every piece they make for every part. It's an absolute treat
I like how you said it sounds like a final boss, because the music paired with the fight really gave me an "oh fuck, this thing cannot leave this room alive, else all goes down" feeling. Sure he may not be the final boss, but I felt this cosmic significance that I NEED to win this, or the world is doomed. Him being the Lord of the Frenzied Flame, of an outer God who despises existence in all the ways it is right now, who is chaos incarnate. The urgency to not let this thing live really just flushed over me as I fought him, and I think the OST mirrors that feeling perfectly! At the end you said that there is no elegance in it, but I think the OST as well as the boss have the same type of elegance a massive crashing wave has. Beauty and elegance as in "you can do nothing to stop its path of destruction.", which I think really encapsulates the whole theme of the Frenzied Flame. It was by far my favourite boss, my favourite area and my favourite OST of the DLC.
no joke I've been chomping at the bit to see reactions/analysis to this song, it's absolutely my FAVORITE from the dlc along with one of my favorite bosses. The whole zone leading up to it and the absolutely decayed and melted mansion, telling the story of enduring madness and frailty. I love how the track at times is chaotic but has this elegant, waltz-like feel to it at times. I love that they took the frenzied flame and did what they did with this boss.
The best theme of the DLC OST. As soon as you said "yeah" and had the look of amazement on your face confirmed to me just how awesome this track is. I'm glad you got to review this. Its such a throwback to Dark Souls and Bloodborne. So dark, menacing, chaos unending.
My favorite part of the song is definitely the phase transition. When I heard the just terrifying base, it was haunting to me. It truly said that this boss is otherworldly, a being of immense power unleashed upon an unsuspecting world. It's also so different from really any other OST that Fromsoft has made. It's definitely my favorite song from the DLC, maybe even from the whole of the game!
Wow. You literally can see the music. And I am not sure if I should be more impressed by that you saw all of it in that song or by that Fromsoftware managed to put all of that into a song
I think its incredible youre able to see so much meaning in music, alot of the stuff you say i genuinely would never have thought of, and then when you point it out, i cant agree more lol. Good stuff.
Midra is a man who holds the Lord of Frenzied Flame within, but his love for his wife is what keeps him from becoming the Lord of Frenzied Flame. When you find him he is a weak small man, but after beating him, he says something like “enough, I have endured more than enough. Please forgive me (wife’s name)” and then becomes the Lord of Frenzied Flame. When you referred to it as the anti-Christ, you were pretty accurate because the Frenzied Flame is the physical influence of an outer-god that only wishes to melt the world away, thus making factions that would be fighting each other in normal circumstances work together to snuff out this flame before it’s too late. At 6:55 you are hearing an ecstatic motif of the song the great caravan of merchants. Great video as always, Marco!
I really liked that you pointed out the dissonance between the strings and the brass at 6:50, I hadn't paid attention to that before! But hearing it now, It is absolutely an intentional reflection of the sheer madness and horror wrought by the Frenzied Flame. It truly is destruction incarnate, and the piece is meant to make us feel as if we are facing oblivion itself. Thoughtful deconstruction, as always!
Ah yeah, they went full bloodborne with this one. Easily my favourite part of the DLC. The fight, the art direction, the music, the area, ALL OF IT. Hell, I love horror, so Abyssal Woods and Midra's Manse might be my favourite thing in any FromSoft game, beyond even Upper Cathedral Ward. The whole thing is pure triple-distilled cosmic horror goodness. What I love most about this piece is that it reflects the in-game circumstances so well. The frenzied flame is weaponised nihilism, taken to its most dangerous extreme. "There is no beauty, value or wonder in the world. Burn it all to ash and start again." Consequently, there is no glory or moral complexity to this fight. Your enemy is pure, brutal evil. This isn't a tragic conflict of interests. This isn't a valorous contest between worthy champions. If you don't take Midra down, everything burns. The OST immerses you in that space beautifully.
Fantastic and suprisingly accurate anaylis as always. Midra's theme is my favorite in the game for sure. I love the use of deep bass in this track, which isn't used in many other Elden Ring boss themes. This whole fight is an audiovisual masterpiece (oh and in classic FromSoft fashion, the entire area of the map that the boss is located in is behind an invisible wall that is reached by some random ladder off to the side of some legacy dungeon).
I think it would be much cooler if he actually watched a short boss fight clip of every theme he analyzed in the end. Because seeing Midra unfold was really epic and perfectly underlined with the music. And as it picks up and the flames are surging, the whole hall set ablaze with the banners burning brightly all whilst that "entity"; Midra, The Lord of the Frenzy Flame slowly walks up to the tarnished after the phase transition with both os his arms raised, almost as if mocking you. His eerie, gracefull moveset despite the distorted appearance with that seemingly maddened choir in the backround screaming making it feel like some sort of waltz, or dance in general you re now forced to dance. You as the player cannot fail here canonically , because if you were; the world you previously explored will literally be endet by this guy. Elden Ring is such an awesome game man. Honestly everyone on the planet should play it. xD
6:57 Is a direct reference to "Song of Despair". A song played by the merchants who were persecuted by the Golden Order, and found the Frenzied Flame as a way out.
8:00 This is pretty spot on. When Midra becomes Lord, some of his moves look like he's dancing. Almost like he doesn't care for the fight, he's won already. It's just celebrating, letting you bask in the inevitability of It's coming. Some lore: Midra is an old man, that's all he is. The actual fight is against a deity called the Frenzied Flame, who took possession of Midra's body. Even though it's fighting you, it doesn't seem to be all that interested in the fight. He's moving around, dancing, and making you go crazy with some movements. Some of those movements can kill you with no effort, like it's just having fun destroying you. It's holding back. For you see, it's power is not for you to see, or suffer under, it's for you to wield. You can become this thing if you go through a pretty convoluted set of steps, and somehow, the Frenzied Flame expects you to do it. And if you don't? That's okay! Someday, someone will. It feels inevitable, and it knows it. With Midra, it's just enjoying the chance to stretch the legs. Someday, it will return to destroy everything.
The sense of scale and this being the final boss probably comes from the Frenzied flame being the most dangerous entity to exist in the game's lore. A cosmic horror that can end the whole world just like that.
10:20 It's absolutely incredible how much you can correctly ascertain about the situation surrounding the Lord of Frenzied Flame just by listening to his theme.
Damn it's kind of crazy how well he can put together the picture of this boss just from the music alone. A lot of his insights are really close to how you could describe Midra. He isn't the final boss, but he is possibly the biggest threat to the world that you can face. His endurance of untold suffering could very well be the decay he's talking about, up until the actual deformity of ripping his own head off. A tall being on fire indeed, very upset that you've disturbed him.
At 8:05 you said there is like a reverence for it. I don't know about anyone else, but when I first fought him, there is a kind of reverence in watching him. Like something I think a fair amount of us did as a child, when we took a magnifying glass to watch ants burn. There is a infatuation with the flame, how it melts everything away. For me, during the second phase when he floats, and god rays appear from him before descending was that moment for me. The horror, the beauty, the destruction... A reverence for a force of nature if you will, uncaring and yet so beautiful.
Midra is one of the few themes that I wanna hear in a live performance, especially how deep the bass is, but mostly just because it is one of if not my favorite track in Elden ring
It shows how good this music is that you can glean so much from it that's accurate to the character and story without knowing them beforehand. The score seriously does such a good job conveying the frenzied flame. May chaos take the world!!
Those heavy bass notes in phase 2 remind me of heartbeats. It's the sound of your heart pounding witnessing this insanity in front of you that you weren't meant to see.
At 9:30, that bit of the ost that appears in the track multiple times gives off a vibe as of someone whose lost all sanity yet proceeds to dance amongst the chaos they’ve committed. Almost sounds like a waltz and here you have this frenzied flame lord dancing among the destruction he’s caused and fully embracing it. I love this track
Definitely highlight of the DLC for me. This fight feels like it was created around it's music as every move Midra makes are in tune with the music and in turn his attacks force you to be in tune with it as well, created something that is an actual dance where a misstep means you get blasted. I adore this fight for this.
This fight was one of my favourites, the boss, the boss theme everything, cant wait for you to check out the messmer's theme hes probably my favourite boss and his theme is also my personal favourite from the dlc so far
It always amazes me how close Marco gets to the lore of these bosses through music alone. The slow, plotting rage of an ancient and powerful evil is spot on. Midra may not be the final boss or a beast like Ludwig but he represents an ancient entity that wishes only for the end of everything and pretty much does nothing but manipulate others into carrying out its will. For whatever reason it can't end existence itself, it needs a lord to willingly champion its cause, something one would have to be absolutely mad to do.
Loved the video. This music surprised me a lot the first time i heard it. Finally some music that can really show us the face of the frenzy flame. And indeed, it really wants to end all. MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD
THE DEPTHS OF YOUR FOOLISHNESS
Smack
THE DEPTHS OF YOUR FOOLISHNESS
THE DEPTHS OF YOUR FOOLISHNESS
THE DEPTHS OF YOUR FOOLISHNESS
THE DEPTHS OF YOUR FOOLISHNESS
"Who dare disturb my slumber!?" more like "The depths of your FOO-LISH-NESSSS!"
God damnit, we're memeing him already lol. I saw this coming the minute I heard that line.
@@lord0fmemes266 Togethaaaa, we will meme every new character's lines
@@minerman60101 Mongrel intruder
the depths of youh FU LISCHE NESS!!!
@@kaikart123 Thou'rt Tarnished, it seemeth.
7:36 something interesting is that, even though he is not the final boss, lorewise he is the biggest menace you encounter in all your journey. Not only is he a problem to you, but also to everyone in the Lands Between
The entire world will be doomed if you don’t defeat him right there
Not really.
Since he is a failed lord of frenzied flame, he will not pose a huge threat. But he is a threat nonetheless.
And if you’re a Lord of Frenzied Flame yourself, he’s competition.
He's a failed Lord because he gave up and let himself be sealed. Now that he's unsealed himself he would be free to enact the Frenzy's will.
@fishgiovaana8441 he was a failed lord of frenzy, and he failed because of the word nanaya told him, "endure" as the remembrance details that word was more of a curse. When we meet him he gives up, and with nothing more holding him back he acends to frenzied flame lordship.
Reminds me a lot of Orphan of Kos, the two bosses basically awaken when you arrive, and gradually get stronger as the fight goes on, with the implication that it's like a train gaining steam perpetually unless you manage to stop it right then.
"Enough... I have endured...more than enough... I ask you forgive me, dearest Nanaya..."
That word, "endure," became a curse.
*proceed to become a lord of madness*
@@majoralebananier7069 Correction: *A* Lord Of Madness. Only the Tarnished can be *THE* Lord Of Madness
@@sushiroll3795 It was well paid off in the end because had he not endure long enough for us, who has enough strength to destroy the lord of frenzied, to arrive, things could've been worse.
Forgive me Zanzibart
The fight gets even better when you consider this. The Frenzied Flame is chaos incarnate. Yet, the boss isn’t mad. He doesn’t do wild strikes without rhythm. The fight feels like a dance (it is elegant, despite what the music is) , and after some of his moves, he spreads his arms as if basking in praise. After all of his long years of suffering, he has made it. And it is glorious. May chaos take the world.
Like, especially look at his grab attack. He totally could get another attack in, but he is so proud that he takes a step back. He has no mouth, but he must smile. He is feeling cathartic rage.
He has a smile, the fire is like the catalyst of it but it got bent into a sickening grin
you get a similar impression from the tarnished in the frenzied flame ending. Seems like the emotion that defines a Lord of Frenzied Flame is something to the tune of "joyous nihilism". They're about to melt away everything, and there is no greater joy for them.
When the Tarnished does the Frenzied Flame ending, they act in much the same way. My impression is that the Outer God of Frenzy completely possesses the body. In that ending, your Tarnished is gone. For this boss fight, Midra is gone. All that remains is that *alien* that relishes in its own flame.
Don't be mistaken, midra is not there anymore. It's literally chaos itself taking control, cuz your character acts exactly the same when they become the lord of frenzied flame. Similarly to how shabriri can manifest in his victims because the flame of chaos is a collective melting pot of every consciousness it has ever consumed. You're fighting every single one of them combined.
@@TitaniteHydra damn we said the same thing. Additionally, the head being replaced, the main source of visible, recognizable identity is removed, signifying that everything that defined you or him is gone.
6:55 the distant strings are a callback to the frenzied merchants theme under the leyndell sewers, its honestly genius to mix that into a twisted variant of something already demented in lore
Agreed, this was brilliant. The merchants from the base game are strongly tied with the frenzied flame, and the second I heard that callback in this track, I knew Fromsoft was COOKING
That is so cool
That piece of melody given by st. Trina to the merchants to hold back the madness in them, putting it inside this song made it sound like it's mocking them... I literally jumped off my chair the first time i heard it
The choir coming right after also follows the same leitmotif, but way more sinister
Nothing I love more in video game music than carefully reused motifs to envoke memories of the past, especially when they twist it so heavily like they do here. FromSoft are masterminds.
I think the "size" you hear more so represents the danger the Lord of the Frenzied Flame represents- this thing coming into existence before your eyes is an immediate existential threat to all life
Chaos, devouring thought and life unending -Melina
The frenzied flame is everyone that it posseses. Its like a huge cosmic hivemind horror and everyone acts the same as its vessel
And its also a fight against the clock, the more this guy is alive the more he will inflict madness, the second phase is the whole power unleashed as the OST gets more powerful. "This guy is a danger to all life" is what i hear from this song.
Not even just life, frenzied flame burns away souls, it threatens life AND death. Its a complete existential threat.
@@toobig7399it burns away EVERYTHING that spawned from the Greater Will tearing that hole in existence, meaning it will burn away quite literally everything in existence. It is a threat to Existence itself, not just Life and Death.
The Abyss, Midra's Manse and Midra himself were such a welcome surprise to me going in blind. The whole place was very reminiscent of Bloodborne.
Between that and Metyr, I think it’s safe to say that they really wanted to bring a bloodborne vibe to the dlc
@@Ryan-cs3uc I love fantasy worlds being controlled by eldritch horrors!
@@Ryan-cs3uc There's even some little things. "Outer God Heirloom" raising your ARCANE of all things - the only stat ER and BB share.
I never played BB or any of DS
So the closest Comparison i felt was Ashina Depths
I was so lucky to have found Abyssal Woods on my own, that feeling is always great in every Souls game. And then finding Midra's mansion... that view told me one thing...
"This is your last warning. Within lies a house of horrors."
Lore time:
Midra was the lord of a castle, Midra's Manse. One day, he met a woman, Nanaya, and fell in love with her.
The woman was a priestess of the Frenzied Flame, an outer god that seeks to destroy all life, because it wishes to return everything to "the One Great", a unified existance (not actually a living being/god), which existed until the Greater Will separated it. It hates life itself, and wants to burn it all down.
Nanaya taught him spells and such related to the frenzied flame. He wanted to become Lord of Frenzied Flame, essentially a vessel for the Outer God, for his lover's wishes. However, he doesn't have what it takes and fails to become a Lord of Frenzied Flame, but this still drives him nearly insane, and the process of becoming a Lord ravaged the castle and nearby forest turning them into hellscapes of Frenzy. He realises becoming a Lord would mean losing himself completly, because becoming a Lord of Frenzied Flame means going mad with hatred, and he doesn't want that to happen. He hides himself in his castle in fear of the havoc he could wreck as a failed Lord, or in fear that he might become a true Lord.
But, people are alerted of him nearly becoming a Lord, and a group called the Hornsent invade his castle. They commit a massacre. Midra is impaled through the head with the Greatsword of Damnation. In his dying moments, he stumbles across Nanaya, bleeding out to death. She whispers one final word to him: "Endure."
The word was essentially a curse to Midra, because he did choose to endure. He lived, despite the horrible pain he was going through, so that a Lord would not be born and kill everything.
But, when he meets the player, he finally gives up. He gives his apologies to Nanaya, before killing himself, giving birth to a true Lord of Frenzied Flame.
Also, fun fact: the strings that play around 6:50 has lore behind it. They are played by the frenzied merchants, people who were falsely accused of being in cahoots with the Frenzied Flame and were snuffed out for it by being thrown in the depths of Leyndell's sewers, where the envoy of the Frenzied Flame is located. They've all gone mad, and are now basically half-dead, suffering eternal torment as the Frenzy nearby gnaws away at their soul. But St. Trina, who is essentially an aspect of Miquella the Kind, did not wish to see them suffer so much, so she wrote a song, one which could slightly quell their suffering. So, in some places, we come across these poor people, slowly playing those strings to try and calm their burning mind. The song playing in this, too, is likely meant to be symbolic, to how that soothing melody would no longer be enough, and what we face is far beyond saving.
Edit: credits to @Frank-kq4te in the replies for correct a mistake on the One Great's identity and Greater Will's involvement
Further edit: corrected the part about the merchants
Dude, wow . Thank you so much . What a story.
The One great was a mistranslation from japanese, it was meant to say the big one, as for everything on the world was one whole thing. The greater will separated that, not itself, meaning the greater will introduced life, separating what was in the beginning one big mass.
Oooh so those dudes playing those instruments near the fingers are the guys you mentioned!
@@Frank-kq4te oh, thanks, that's awesome to know! I'll have to edit my original comment.
Her saying "endure" is literally the "Fire Punch" beginning trope
The best way I can describe this soundtrack and the boss as a whole is "elegant madness."
The boss, Midra, moves with such an unnatural smoothness that contrasts entirely with their otherwise nightmarish appearance. It lends an extra bit of uncanniness to the whole experience.
The soundtrack stands out so much from the rest of the DLC; it sounds more like something from Bloodborne than Elden Ring. Which I think really hammers home the whole extent and feeling of this boss and the Frenzied Flame:
*THIS DOES NOT BELONG HERE. DESTROY IT BEFORE IT DESTROYS EVERYTHING.*
"Midra, moves with such an unnatural smoothness that contrasts entirely with their otherwise nightmarish appearance."
It's like elegant nightmare. Well said!
The flame is using the body as a weapon, the body no longer has any control.
My character being one who also took in the frenzied flame, wanted to destroy Midra, not for any righteous reason, but to prove herself the worthiest of the chosen successors, to become the Lord.
MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD! MAY CHAOS... TAKE, THE WORLD!!
Would let chaos take world than let Miquella’s twisted order rule it
Some people didn’t even want to be born to this world but be under the lord who grips other’s will that’s not even life
thats really a trend ive noticed since fighting midra, the lord of frenzied flame seems to be taken over by some kind of force, but the force characteristically ISNT chaotic. its confident and collected. Sure, revelling, but by no means maddened. its kinda disturbing imo, that this avatar of chaos is so... intelligent
Closest we'll get to a new Bloodborne OST.
Yeah I was sorta thinking the same thing
the bit at 6:20 is 100% a reference to the blood starved beast. its too similar
closest we'll ever get to Bloodborne in pc
Putrescent Knight theme too
@@frontiergear8549 It sounds similar, but I doubt it's a reference. You can only make so many combinations of notes before you end up unknowlingly make the same combination as someone else.
If this *thing* leaves the room, not just the Lands Between, the entire WORLD is done for.
The Tarnished after killing extra dimensional conceptual Gods and beings who would've melted the entirety of existence away in brutal manner without ever getting praise for it: 🗿
My first encounter against him was on my Frenzy Flame character so it didn’t really matter who left that room.
@@megawaffle612 "Oh shit, competition!"
@@megawaffle612
Other tarnished: "If this being leaves this place, the world is doomed! I must end him now!"
Frenzied tarnished: *Highlander moment*
@@gamemaster1608 Highlander? SCOOOOTLAAAANDDD FOREEEEVERRRRRR
I love how the three best bosses in the Dlc have such a catchphrase:
Those stripped of the Grace of Gold shall all meet death, in the embrace of messmers flames.
CURSE YOU BAYLE!
and of course: THE DEPTHS OF YOUR FOOLISHNESS!!!
how about "Let us go together? - [HEART STOLEN]"
@@justpython4021and i love the "they are no saints, they just so happened to be on the losing side of a war" from leda
@@justpython4021unfortunately the last fight is shit.
@@paulbunions8580skill issue
@@Alec_cz no idea what skill has to do with a really poorly designed fight tbh
7:06 this part of the ost never fails to give me absolute chills
Agreed
It sounds like a damn drop from a Doom OST I love it
jo, good to see you.
I allways tear up while listening to these absolute masterpieces with headphones on and eyes closed. Its just beatyfull how a videogame music just wakes so many emotion in me. My all time favourite boss ever in a fromsoft game. The whole theme of an alldestroying, unstoppable chaos just approaching you and seeing the giant orange chaos flame headed person in a abandoned mansion in a empty forest with just rats and some random aliens is just ABSOLUTE PERFECTION❤
The best part
"Disfigurement" is on point. This boss has a sword impaled all the way through his body, and to phase transition, Pulls it out. _Along with his own head._
6:06 was such a spot on description. Its always fascinating to see musically inclined people decipher something purely from the music.
That and much later "It's really like, 'who dares disturb my slumber' and [it] will end you, and its face is melting off", that was SPOT on, like incredibly so- just that more than his face "melted" off haha
I dont know if there's an english exact transaltion for this term, but in italian we have "flemma", wich is when someone moves and behave with exxagerated relaxation and elegance,not caring, almost floating. Wicj is exactly how Midra moves, he's the embodiment of frenzy, yet he's the most composed, relaxed dude you will ever fight. He shoots laser beams and explosions everywhere while almost dancing in a valzer.
Nonchalant: feeling or appearing casually calm and relaxed; not displaying anxiety, interest, or enthusiasm.
unfortunately lacks the "elegance" part which i think is more what defines flemma @@B3AN5
@@B3AN5 that would be French
SO REAL i think this is done to represent the relief of the pain. its such a stark contrast to everything you've seen in the abyssal woods up to this point. when you find midra he's a mangled corpse, but when he's the lord, he's basically dancing as he fights you, awesome detail
@@Frank-kq4te it's also an english word
The Lord of Frenzied Flame will take their torment, despair. Affliction, every sin, every curse, and melt it all away, in the yellow chaos flame.
AH... MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD!
May chaos take the world
MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD!
'TILL ALL IS ONE AGAIN
Exactly. The boss doesn’t talk. It doesn’t even make a sound most of the time. You just hear the flames and the music.
He is huge and heavy but not in terms of his actual physical dimensions but his cosmic implications.
He has become the vessel for a being that is an enemy to all of existence. Now it has found a body to enact its will
"Midra held fast to Nanaya's entreaty: "Endure." The word was a curse."
edging for hundred of years must be not good for you
On the brink, O on the brink,
ahhh, edge…
@@kaikart123i wanna go home.. AND EDGE!
mist or,
beast
@@JB-xl2jc
fort,
night
If this wasn't a Fromsoft game, Midra absolutely could have been the final boss lol
for sure
7:34 even he thought it lol
Or an obscure Secret Boss
@@seretith3513 I'd call Midra a secret boss due to how convoluted it is to get to him.
@@LongClawzHidden I actually just randomly stumbled upon him... I don't think I just randomly stumble upon any actual secret bosses in FromSoftgames 🤔
5:40
"It is chaos, devouring life and thought unending." ~Melina
Something I really love about Midra is how it portrays the Lord of Frenzy taking over this old man. Since the Flame of Frenzy is a big ol' reference to the King in Yellow a big part of that book is how characters have a character's role from the cursed play forced upon them once reading the contents of the book, or in this case, when seeking out the Flame. The Lord of Frenzy moves in this unnatural, almost dance like way that seems to be sickeningly enjoying itself both in this fight and during the Flame of Frenzy ending as the world melts. Midra and the Tarnished are not actually Lords of Frenzy, they're mere hosts for it's malevolent will.
i think my favorite move of his is the spinning slashes. It looks unnerving and unnatural because your mind reads the halo of flame as his "head", but logically speaking it isnt, and theres nothing stopping him from moving that way. Instead it reads as the body dangling like a puppet being held up by the flame
There's also this implied refference to the line "i wear no mask" when midra pulls his head of and turns to reveal the gaping maw of madness. Or it might not be but i like to see it that way.
@@larsmuller97 Intended or not, I very much enjoy your interpretation of that moment and I'm almost frustrated I didn't put that together myself after fighting Midra.
@@dumbsterdivesthat is such a good observation - Midra is just a corpse being puppeted by the Flame above him
This OST fits the fight soooo well. Usually it's difficult to hear the music as you're focused on a boss but for this one you hear it clearly and it's very haunting. Definitely elevates an already fantastic fight, both visually and gameplay-wise to a whole new level.
It also helps that the boss's strikes are almost dancing in tune to the fight.
it also helps to have the music louder than anything else
@@IamWalkingDead1Yeah, it's interesting to see him move with such grace.
It's an interesting contrast, he finally gave in to incomprehensible, all consuming madness and frenzy. But it makes it seem like he's at peace more than anything, almost blissfully so 😌
Your description of the Lord of Frenzied Flame is mostly spot on. There is a very real sense of peeling (if you know, you know), and primal rage being chained, locked away and brimming under the surface. It’s on the cusp of being unleashed, but it needs that final step which it hasn’t attained yet. Throughout the game, not just in the dlc but the base game as well, the Frenzied Flame is present, but it never quite takes center stage until the very end. Like it’s biding its time, but growing impatient.
Something I like about the representation of the Flame of Frenzy is when you find it (in both dlc and base game) it’s in the utter most depths of each world hidden away. You have to travel to the very bottom (or what seems like it) to behold it. And it’s an excruciating journey both times both mentally and physically.
In the music this is kind of represented because as it goes on you really begin to notice the ups and downs, like rolling waves, but also the constant descending in the notes. You are constantly falling, falling, falling, and as you do the flames get brighter, more vicious, and fuller. Like it’s threatening to engulf everything around it.
A big theme around the Frenzied Flame is: madness. It is literally a physical manifestation of madness, and that’s why I like the descent and uproar of the music because as you fall more into the madness the more threatening and full of rage the music becomes. At 6:48 you mention the dissonance of the violin. This is actually a leitmotif to a much shorter song called the Song of Despair which is supposed to help lull the people with the madness to sleep. Here it plays desperately trying to fight back against the roaring inferno, but then it ends in a shrill shriek because the madness has reached its height. The very song that’s supposed to help burns away in a screech of agony and is overtaken by the ever hungry flames, then *joins* the main chorus. There’s no sleeping. The Flame is here.
You mention that it’s also slow, plodding, methodical, and that there’s no elegance. It is definitely very slow, the boss itself is slow, but when you watch the boss there *is* elegance. It glides and swoons, it twirls and presents itself with open arms. And the music has a bounce to it in the latter half, as if you are dancing with it. But the dance is overtaken by the descent, by the roaring fire as the room you’re fighting literally sets ablaze. The fire threatens to consume you first as you desperately try to contain it in this macabre dance of assured destruction. Not death, as that’s a given, but *assured* destruction. That there will be nothing left of you after. Nothing.
The best part about the Flame of Frenzy is you can take it up for yourself out of good, but perhaps selfish, intentions. The journey to get there, like I said earlier, is filled with horror. By the end of it you can become convinced after all the horror you’ve seen that taking it is the right thing to do. If you do, *your* descent into madness as the player is complete. You succumbed to the Flame of Frenzy. And you can see that in this song. The Lord of Frenzied Flame can be you, or anyone. It is full of rage and torment, and seeking to get out if you’ll only let it. And that can be heard in this music. As someone else said when commenting on Midra:
“The music gives you a sense of: ‘If you let this thing leave the room it will burn everything down’. Like, as soon as a Lord of Frenzied Flame is manifested the world ends not long after.”
An observation that couldn’t be more right. Because that’s exactly what happens. It’s even represented in the music. Once the descent and flame reaches its apex the music immediately quiets, and all you hear is low tones as the last of the Frenzied Flame’s embers burn out.
“May Chaos take the world.”
Incredible analysis 👏
"MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD!"
The dissonant strings at 6:50 were a callback to the merchant's Song of Despair from the base game.
YES, let's go!
I love how this ost captures the feeling of just stumbling across a force that could end the entire world, starting with you.
What makes this boss even more unsettling, Midra has kept the Frenzied Flame suppressed for possibly hundreds of years or more. He’s endured this barbed sword impaled through his body all for Nanaya, who was the only person left that cared for him. She told him to endure, because if he cannot, the Frenzied Flame will be unleashed upon the world. And when you break into his chamber, and cause him even more pain on top of his agonizing existence, he finally gives up.
“Enough…I’ve endured…more than enough. I ask you forgive me, dearest Nanaya…”
Midra giving up connects perfectly to what the Frenzied Flame personifies. The Frenzied Flame represents an end to suffering. Because why should life exist, when it only causes needless suffering. Therefore, for suffering to end, all life must end as well. Just like the music, the Frenzied Flame and its implications are haunting to think about.
Imo Nanaya was the one who originally worshiped the frenzied flame. She was cradling their child who was the failed lord of frenzy. After that the hornsent inquisition came and fucked them all up for medling with the frenzied flame. Nanaya begged Midra to endure the pain and suffering for as long as possible so that the madness within him may rippen into the yellough flame of madness and thus bring the promised lord of frenzy which she failed with their child.
@@larsmuller97 It could have also been a spiteful punishment from Nanaya for failing to become Lord of Frenzied Flame. Something along the lines of that if he wont become the Lord then he will suffer for all eternity until he does.
@@larsmuller97 yeah I agree. The more I look into it, the more it seems as if Nanaya is the reason all of this started. And the torch she cradles being their child makes so much sense. The description says the remnants of the failed lord’s flame is attached to a small spinal column.
I still feel like Midra didn’t want the Frenzied flame to be unleashed, but there’s still so much unknown about the character to say anything concrete.
it is much more haunting than that: it is the exact opposite. a theme in the base game, which is heavily reinforced by the DLC, is that you need to endure immense suffering to receieve influence from the the outer gods (scarlet rot, frenzied flame).
For example, consider the Ascetic's set, dropped by curseblades: "Attire of the tower's ascetics, embodying their commitment to an austere existence of strict self-control. In order to ascend from their mortal flesh into tutelary deities of the land, they heighten their spirituality through severe ascetic training." Or consider Millicent's questline, where Gowry is trying to make Millicent suffer as much as possible. Near the end of her questline, he asks you to kill her: "Nurtured by betrayal, her bud will flower most vividly." - the bud referring to the scarlet rot.
"I have endured more than enough" is an apology to Nanaya, for not being able to suffer enough.
Nanaya asked him to endure so that he could become the lord of frenzied flame.
@@AB-uz8sq yeah exactly what i thought. If you read into the lore Nanaya comes from a foreign land and then the manse descends gradually into madness and then the inqusition comes through. Nanaya and Midra's tale scream with lovecraftian and king in yellow influence.
Its powers are crazy, literally. The embodiment of chaos. Awakened from a deep old punishment of existence. He sways with passion going slow, then fast but with a smooth transition. Fire spreading consuming the whole arena. Symbolizing what the flames have done to him or want to do to you. Using a weapon made to torture himself gives great insight on the madness of the character. Beautiful, in a terrifying way. Frenzy Flame is my favorite thing is elden ring. Chaos amongst a world of order. It persuades you with logic, then takes you with ambition.
Well said. Midra was terrifying, because I don’t feel like I was fighting a person anymore.
It was like I was fighting a cosmic entity using a person to fight.
Ambition isnt the right word. The frenzied flame preys on desperation. It takes hold of people who have completely given up on everything. Those would do anything to upend the unfairness of the world.
This might be my favorite Fromsoft OST ever. The callback to the frenzy flame proscription violin melody was so incredible.
Yep, in my opinion Midra's is easily the best OST in the DLC. And that's quite the feat since the DLC OST as a whole is so freaking good. I've been listening to this, Rellana and Belurat on repeat.
Midra and consort are by far the best I think
@@tehCostHDthe soundtrack where everyone fights before the last boss is also incredible
@@Ryan-cs3uc united in common cause I think it’s called and yeah it’s epic!!
divine beast too
and bayle
7:31 In true Fromsoft fashion, this is one of those optional bosses that most people probaly (unfortunately) miss lol. This whole boss, and the sequence/environment leading up to it was absolutely fantastic as a whole. One of the best areas Fromsoft has ever made.
Fromsoft really proud themselves with the Abyssal Woods. It's gut-wrenchingly eerie and primally terrifying. Reading "don't let it see you" made me freeze for a whole two minutes, I think; and being told "combat is not an option" in a Souls game is so threatening.
Dude those messages gave me goosebumps when I read them lol The best area in the entire game for me personally, whole vibe was intense
@@UsefulIdiot77 the first one I found was "don't let it see you" and I was just frozen in place for like two minutes
@@alienguardian Then you try to ride Torrent and the game straight up tells you your horse is too afraid to come out.
You get it right every time and you haven’t even seen this boss!!! ITS CRAZY BRO. The way you describe it as a flayed and fiery creature. Disturbed and frustrated that were there..
It’s so accurate. You’re told by a spirit to stay away. This boss didn’t want you anywhere near him because of the frenzied flame. He’s disturbed and broken. You walk into a decrepit man impaled by this forked greatsword. It’s grotesque and disturbing. Well done. Not the final boss though!
I would love to see you play through Shadow of the Erdtree just to see you realize how accurate you are when you run into these track in-game.
the bosses theme is literally called Lord of the Frenzied Flame. Why does it surprise you that he described it as a fiery creature?
Lore wise in a way you could say this is the final boss. If we don't defeat this thing i assume what happens next is the same as the lord of frenzy ending.
"The Depth of your foolishness!!!"
Throat singing is almost fitting here since the boss has no head. And again Marco nailed the skin pealing off and grossness, pretty much describe the boss cutscene perfectly with only music without even seeing anything of the boss 👍. And frenzy flame is all about devouring the world and bringing chaos and in the area leading to the boss there’s Dev message talking about to “hide”, and “combat is not an option” and Marco also nailed this terrifying anti christ like being leaving you no were to run, all fitting the lore super well from again only the music.
great call on the throat singing, I never thought of that.
This song truly to me represents what frenzy is as a whole in the boss fight as well as the music… you see a shift within Midra.. because THATS not Midra anymore it’s the Frenzy God peaking through and getting very close to entering our world.. this entire fight is one latch ditch attempt to end this threat before it ends everything.. and while you’re fighting for your life… Frenzy is basking in its freedom, just playing with you…
The thing I think the theme conveys best is the sense of WRONGNESS. Whatever this music goes with SHOULD NOT EXIST.
Lore-wise, it's more like an uncomfortable truth. Like this thing will always exist. It exists in everybody and all we can do is try not to approach it.
FromSoft is incredibly at crafting character designs that just look WRONG. Midra might just be the single most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen in media, both in his pure presentation, as well as what he represents on a thematic level
The moment when it hits that nightmarish tone of the theme, its like Midra does not care anymore about his looks and just wants to unleash chaos upon the land of shadow and you stand Infront of him trying to stop him and the song invokes the feeling of unbelievable primal fear in us and youre right about a face peeling off but instead, its his head ripping off and letting the frenzied flame completely possess his body and declares itself as "CHAOS HAS ARRIVED.... AND I'LL START WITH YOU...."
With the only thing to go on being the boss music, im blown away by how accurately you describe the motiffs and the entire vibe of Midra. You hit the nail on the head like 10 times in a row. Bravo sir, instant sub from me.
Wow, thank you!
I love this theme. I understand nothing substantial about music but this really sounds like divine madness. The grand sounds, the bellowing, festering anguish and the small skittering instruments for the short violent thoughts that come with such madness.
What i love the most about this ost is that it follows a thought process, probably the one of the tarnished. In the begining, you don't understand, it's just chaos. Then you understand it's more than that, and finally, you see, you understand that chaos itself is not in fact chaotic, but sentient, and acts as a noble. Extending his arms as if in a reverence, dancing around graciously. A god of chaos and madness, that acts like a noble swordsman. The entity itself is NOT what it lets us think in the base game
For people that have seen Evangelion:
The Frenzy is basically an aggressive LCL substance that dissolves body and spirit into a living hell. A new item description states “with the madness comes tranquility.”
Though Elden Ring is full of characters fighting for a different Order, almost no one wants anything to do with the Frenzy since it would mean ceasing to be themselves.
Midra is an unnerving reveal because it means there could be more people across the world ready to pop and become a Lord of the Frenzy.
Honestly it feels like the frenzy flame is a reset button for a world there will be plenty more elden lords and one of them will eventually be a frenzy one there to reset the world
@@JamesW609 Except it's not
There's no more beginnings after the yellow flame of frenzy burns all away, it's the quiet peace of the end
before it was debatable but the frenzy stone throwable item you can craft explicitly states that the flame burns away even spirits, leaving absolutely nothing behind. Thats what makes it an existential threat, and why people are willing to go to such lengths just for preventative measures against a Lord arising. Because if one ever does, and isnt stopped IMMEDIATELY, they will erase everything in their path, with no hope for recovery
@@dumbsterdivesthis explains why Melina wanted us dead so much, and why she was willing to go so far to take us down. We quite literally were gone as a person, and it brings a new perspective of us choosing the wrong path. We never were going to be able to save her, especially if everything in existence is gone. It also explains why Torrent was frightened. He quite literally could have permanently died.
@@JamesW609 It's not. Frenzy Flame simply destroys everything. Nothing remains. It's pretty much the total enthropy, but the universe dies not with a whimper, but with a bang. There are no new beginnings after that, no nothing. A total nonexistence.
The fact that you managed to nail the description. An ancient being woken from his slumber who could withstand the chaos no longer. And his face peeling off isnr too far off
Best ost in the dlc hands down imo
To think this guy was mere steps away from the outside and ending the entire world
He wasn’t though he got slammed by tarnished 💀. And that’s not including Lord of Frenzied Flame tarnished who is far stronger than this one lol
@@kamamara2567 Midra is only "weak" because he spend centuries impaled with a sealing sword that suppressed the flame of frenzy in him, but his meree existence in that way created the Abyssal woods and infected other's
If Midra literally wasn't nerfed from the start and extremely weakened, i doubt we would've stood much of a chance
The Tarnished is lucky every one of their enemies is centuries past their prime and has a million hanidcaps holding them back
@@_Chaosnight_ headcanon lil bro it’s never stated that that’s the reason he’s just weak lol. Also that’s not that impressive lol.
It’s already stated that he was weak like the others nothing to do with him being nerfed 💀. Also I can just say the same for tarnished so unquantifiable head canon again 😭.
Midra got slammed in his lord of frenzied form by a tarnished who was far from his strongest 😭. Using useless hypothetical is idiotic since I can just say the same for tarnished. Midra is weak but cope lil bro 😭.
@@kamamara2567 Ok mister smart and condensing that knows better? Literally go outside and touch some grass
You're the one coping here and why so many emojis? Are you 4 or something?
@@kamamara2567 why are you so mad :(
The fight combined with the music is a masterpiece.
You gotta see it sometime.
I find it very interesting how you continued to hammer the point of how heavy the piece is, how it makes you feel as though this being is colossal in scale and of how it just sounds "immensely wide" and monumental.
Because the entity itself is, physically, none of these things; but you are still correct. It is frail, nothing but skin and bone, little more than an ancient corpse walking. Its footfalls nor its gait are lumbering, and though it is taller than the player by a decent bit, this is so with most FromSoftware bosses, and it is far from the largest thing we face stature-wise.
What you are describing is still very true, though. The weight, the heaviness, the scale; except it is not the being's physical stature you are describing, it is the gravity of the situation. It is the stakes.
This boss is, from a lore perspective, the most terrifying and monumental threat that we the Tarnished face in-game, above even the final bosses of both the DLC and main-game. You were correct that we come across something, awaken something, that should have never seen the light of day, something that should not be allowed to exist. If our Tarnished failed to quell this being, all things would end. Hence your description of what you hear is still correct. The gravity of the situation weighs heavy. The stakes are immense. And the chaos flame is all consuming, all eradicating, expansive and horrific. Capable of melting all things away, so we are all One again.
Truly, this is one of my favourite compositions I've ever heard period. I was deep in focus on this fight and that mid point marching rise came into my headphones. I suddenly realized what I was listening to.
One of my favorite parts of this song is that you can hear hints of a weird distorted version of the Nomadic Merchant song from the basegame, around the halfway point.
Midra's theme is definitely one of my favorite Fromsoft tracks
Was waiting for you to check this one out! I absolutely love that unlike *any other song* in all of Souls, Midra's theme uses synth bass. This really emphasizes that what you're fighting *does not belong here*, and that you're clashing with an alien, cosmic threat rather than anything you're used to dealing with.
... And the boss is behind an illusory wall, down a region of cliffs, through a catacomb, through a madness-inflicted swamp with enemies you HAVE to stealth around and cannot fight normally that'll kill you if they see you, where even your mount is too afraid to come out when called, through two illusory paintings.
Midra is very likely the most obscured boss in Fromsoft history, completely optional and hidden, and it's one of the best things they've ever put in a game. Also, I love the musical callback to the Frenzied Flame merchant's song.
YES THANK YOU!! That's the single coolest detail of Midra's theme and I was really hoping he would point out the fact that the bass is synthetic. It's the only electronic instrument used in the entire game and does such a good job of portraying the cosmic scale of how alien the outer god of Frenzy truly is.
Have you got Metyr Mother of the Fingers on the list? Nothing sounds like ‘the sound of silence’ like the second phase of that thing. It’s like being alone in black endless emptiness with nothing but your anxiety and despair. Freaky
im excited for you to play this game and i think a lot of what you pulled from this ost is gonna be so elevated by the surrounding part of the map that you find this boss in. it goes into full swing in this boss theme but the surrounding map really plays into this soundscape of being driven by madness, both literally and figuratively and the game does an amazing job representing it visually too. out of all the bosses, this theme really stands out to me in a way that makes me feel such visceral feelings. its screaming at you to feel disgusted and horrified at witnessing midra and it does an amazing job. no matter how tragic of a character he is, all you can feel the moment the fight starts is just that you are witnessing something unholy and forbidden, its amazing
My favorite boss and OST of the DLC, so great.
I love how the “screech” is cooked into the OST itself!
5:07 Right on the money once again!
By the lore, when Frenzied Flame emerges, everything gets destroyed really quickly. Midra himself is not some giant, but the music does display the incredible, world-altering danger its existence poses.
I find it interesting that you describe the song as “not elegant” at 11:30 because the boss himself has this elegant bearing to him. He stands tall and proud and his attacks are these sweeping elegant motions yet the music in inelegant and dissonant which I thing illustrates the chaotic nature of the frenzied flame so beautifully.
Midras doesn’t have these sporadic and all over the place attack animations, yet there is no true rhythm to his fighting either. It’s all chaos
10:21 holy cow, you nailed it on the head. "deformed being being awakened with rage that's below the surface". and his "face" is just a raging fireball, doesn't really have a face. He was suppressed. The frenzy was kept at bay until he got awakened. What you got wrong was that he is a normal human-sized person and incredibly elegant. You need to see the cutscene he is introduced in or the fight, in general.
Your observation is pretty spot on.
"It can't be used as for good, it can't be used as a tool. It's an independent being that's angry and agitated."
"In times past, every single person who attempted to control the flame of frenzy succumbed to madness after a desperate internal struggle."
- item description for Frenzied Burst
Midra is my favorite boss in Elden Ring. Because of how this incredible song and his visual/fight design mixed together. It left a big impression on me in a very short amount of time and I just cant stop thinking about it. Great video!
Didnt realise how fucking awesome this track is until now. I definitely couldnt take in the music very well whilst fighting this boss haha
This track also is really long, I’ve seen people kill the boss before it ever even got to the most iconic part of the song
@@tehCostHD #BuffMidra
@@buckyhurdle4776 maybe a bit more health on him could be good!
@@tehCostHD in all honesty he might just seem squishy because of his poise, as i'm pretty sure he has some of if not the highest hp of the bosses in SoTE. it certainly does feel that way because he was one of the bosses i felt like i could play around the staggers of
@@PabIopiro total HP isn’t always something you can compare in a boss fight. Some bosses just have more openings than others. To me, the bosses that feel like they take the longest are Bayle and consort. Midra may have as much hp as them I don’t know for sure, but his fight usually doesn’t take nearly as long. Same for messmer.
Having just beaten this boss this morning.
All of your initial thoughts nailed the feeling of finding this boss.
From soft absolutely k ow what they are doing with every piece they make for every part.
It's an absolute treat
Every day we inch closer to Marco's reaction to the final boss theme. I actually cannot wait. Best boss music in any From game.
thank you so much for reviewing this, this is my fav theme in the whole game. it goes so hard
10:20 I think you nailed the description perfectly
I like how you said it sounds like a final boss, because the music paired with the fight really gave me an "oh fuck, this thing cannot leave this room alive, else all goes down" feeling.
Sure he may not be the final boss, but I felt this cosmic significance that I NEED to win this, or the world is doomed.
Him being the Lord of the Frenzied Flame, of an outer God who despises existence in all the ways it is right now, who is chaos incarnate. The urgency to not let this thing live really just flushed over me as I fought him, and I think the OST mirrors that feeling perfectly!
At the end you said that there is no elegance in it, but I think the OST as well as the boss have the same type of elegance a massive crashing wave has. Beauty and elegance as in "you can do nothing to stop its path of destruction.", which I think really encapsulates the whole theme of the Frenzied Flame.
It was by far my favourite boss, my favourite area and my favourite OST of the DLC.
no joke I've been chomping at the bit to see reactions/analysis to this song, it's absolutely my FAVORITE from the dlc along with one of my favorite bosses. The whole zone leading up to it and the absolutely decayed and melted mansion, telling the story of enduring madness and frailty. I love how the track at times is chaotic but has this elegant, waltz-like feel to it at times. I love that they took the frenzied flame and did what they did with this boss.
The best theme of the DLC OST. As soon as you said "yeah" and had the look of amazement on your face confirmed to me just how awesome this track is.
I'm glad you got to review this. Its such a throwback to Dark Souls and Bloodborne. So dark, menacing, chaos unending.
My favorite part of the song is definitely the phase transition. When I heard the just terrifying base, it was haunting to me. It truly said that this boss is otherworldly, a being of immense power unleashed upon an unsuspecting world. It's also so different from really any other OST that Fromsoft has made. It's definitely my favorite song from the DLC, maybe even from the whole of the game!
6:59 ive always loved the detail that the Tune that the great caravan plays when you head towards the 3 fingers is Audible here
It's like the beginning of the song is welcoming you to hell. I love it!
Now that I think about it it's very fitting cause the Lord of Frenzy was very much going through his own personal hell.
Well, more like welcoming you to a paradise, a paradise where everyone is one again, a world of yellow with no conflict
@@apophisstr6719
May chaos take the world
@@apophisstr6719Eloquent way of saying everyone dies, but ok
@@apophisstr6719shabriri we know thats you
Wow. You literally can see the music. And I am not sure if I should be more impressed by that you saw all of it in that song or by that Fromsoftware managed to put all of that into a song
You know when you see them well, the fact that the body is a corpse even the clothing just screams something
KING IN YELLOW
I think its incredible youre able to see so much meaning in music, alot of the stuff you say i genuinely would never have thought of, and then when you point it out, i cant agree more lol. Good stuff.
Midra is a man who holds the Lord of Frenzied Flame within, but his love for his wife is what keeps him from becoming the Lord of Frenzied Flame. When you find him he is a weak small man, but after beating him, he says something like “enough, I have endured more than enough. Please forgive me (wife’s name)” and then becomes the Lord of Frenzied Flame. When you referred to it as the anti-Christ, you were pretty accurate because the Frenzied Flame is the physical influence of an outer-god that only wishes to melt the world away, thus making factions that would be fighting each other in normal circumstances work together to snuff out this flame before it’s too late. At 6:55 you are hearing an ecstatic motif of the song the great caravan of merchants. Great video as always, Marco!
I really liked that you pointed out the dissonance between the strings and the brass at 6:50, I hadn't paid attention to that before! But hearing it now, It is absolutely an intentional reflection of the sheer madness and horror wrought by the Frenzied Flame. It truly is destruction incarnate, and the piece is meant to make us feel as if we are facing oblivion itself. Thoughtful deconstruction, as always!
Ah yeah, they went full bloodborne with this one. Easily my favourite part of the DLC. The fight, the art direction, the music, the area, ALL OF IT. Hell, I love horror, so Abyssal Woods and Midra's Manse might be my favourite thing in any FromSoft game, beyond even Upper Cathedral Ward. The whole thing is pure triple-distilled cosmic horror goodness.
What I love most about this piece is that it reflects the in-game circumstances so well. The frenzied flame is weaponised nihilism, taken to its most dangerous extreme. "There is no beauty, value or wonder in the world. Burn it all to ash and start again." Consequently, there is no glory or moral complexity to this fight. Your enemy is pure, brutal evil. This isn't a tragic conflict of interests. This isn't a valorous contest between worthy champions. If you don't take Midra down, everything burns. The OST immerses you in that space beautifully.
Fantastic and suprisingly accurate anaylis as always. Midra's theme is my favorite in the game for sure. I love the use of deep bass in this track, which isn't used in many other Elden Ring boss themes. This whole fight is an audiovisual masterpiece (oh and in classic FromSoft fashion, the entire area of the map that the boss is located in is behind an invisible wall that is reached by some random ladder off to the side of some legacy dungeon).
I think it would be much cooler if he actually watched a short boss fight clip of every theme he analyzed in the end.
Because seeing Midra unfold was really epic and perfectly underlined with the music.
And as it picks up and the flames are surging, the whole hall set ablaze with the banners burning brightly all whilst that "entity"; Midra, The Lord of the Frenzy Flame slowly walks up to the tarnished after the phase transition with both os his arms raised, almost as if mocking you. His eerie, gracefull moveset despite the distorted appearance with that seemingly maddened choir in the backround screaming making it feel like some sort of waltz, or dance in general you re now forced to dance. You as the player cannot fail here canonically , because if you were; the world you previously explored will literally be endet by this guy.
Elden Ring is such an awesome game man. Honestly everyone on the planet should play it. xD
The “asking the question” part is so cool and then the follow up part is the answer! Amazing soundtrack!
6:57 Is a direct reference to "Song of Despair". A song played by the merchants who were persecuted by the Golden Order, and found the Frenzied Flame as a way out.
8:00
This is pretty spot on. When Midra becomes Lord, some of his moves look like he's dancing. Almost like he doesn't care for the fight, he's won already. It's just celebrating, letting you bask in the inevitability of It's coming.
Some lore:
Midra is an old man, that's all he is. The actual fight is against a deity called the Frenzied Flame, who took possession of Midra's body. Even though it's fighting you, it doesn't seem to be all that interested in the fight. He's moving around, dancing, and making you go crazy with some movements. Some of those movements can kill you with no effort, like it's just having fun destroying you. It's holding back. For you see, it's power is not for you to see, or suffer under, it's for you to wield. You can become this thing if you go through a pretty convoluted set of steps, and somehow, the Frenzied Flame expects you to do it. And if you don't? That's okay! Someday, someone will. It feels inevitable, and it knows it. With Midra, it's just enjoying the chance to stretch the legs. Someday, it will return to destroy everything.
One of the best designed bosses and the aesthetic leading up to it is perfect
The sense of scale and this being the final boss probably comes from the Frenzied flame being the most dangerous entity to exist in the game's lore. A cosmic horror that can end the whole world just like that.
"You were never meant to see this" and "You will *know* horror" are the phrases that come to mind.
2:04 very spot-on with this take...considering the crux of Midra's transition into the actual boss battle is him literally losing his head
The Frenzied Flame Merchant song callback at 6:56 always gets me.
10:20 It's absolutely incredible how much you can correctly ascertain about the situation surrounding the Lord of Frenzied Flame just by listening to his theme.
This ost seems to me to be a magnificent representation of what the frenzied flame is.
Damn it's kind of crazy how well he can put together the picture of this boss just from the music alone. A lot of his insights are really close to how you could describe Midra. He isn't the final boss, but he is possibly the biggest threat to the world that you can face. His endurance of untold suffering could very well be the decay he's talking about, up until the actual deformity of ripping his own head off. A tall being on fire indeed, very upset that you've disturbed him.
At 8:05 you said there is like a reverence for it. I don't know about anyone else, but when I first fought him, there is a kind of reverence in watching him. Like something I think a fair amount of us did as a child, when we took a magnifying glass to watch ants burn. There is a infatuation with the flame, how it melts everything away. For me, during the second phase when he floats, and god rays appear from him before descending was that moment for me. The horror, the beauty, the destruction... A reverence for a force of nature if you will, uncaring and yet so beautiful.
Beautifully said
Midra is one of the few themes that I wanna hear in a live performance, especially how deep the bass is, but mostly just because it is one of if not my favorite track in Elden ring
I came across these videos and was anxiously awaiting the Midra reaction 😃It's my favourite ost
It shows how good this music is that you can glean so much from it that's accurate to the character and story without knowing them beforehand. The score seriously does such a good job conveying the frenzied flame. May chaos take the world!!
Those heavy bass notes in phase 2 remind me of heartbeats. It's the sound of your heart pounding witnessing this insanity in front of you that you weren't meant to see.
At 9:30, that bit of the ost that appears in the track multiple times gives off a vibe as of someone whose lost all sanity yet proceeds to dance amongst the chaos they’ve committed. Almost sounds like a waltz and here you have this frenzied flame lord dancing among the destruction he’s caused and fully embracing it. I love this track
When the ost kicked in during the second phase I was legitimately in awe at how well it transitioned in
Definitely highlight of the DLC for me. This fight feels like it was created around it's music as every move Midra makes are in tune with the music and in turn his attacks force you to be in tune with it as well, created something that is an actual dance where a misstep means you get blasted. I adore this fight for this.
This fight was one of my favourites, the boss, the boss theme everything, cant wait for you to check out the messmer's theme hes probably my favourite boss and his theme is also my personal favourite from the dlc so far
It always amazes me how close Marco gets to the lore of these bosses through music alone. The slow, plotting rage of an ancient and powerful evil is spot on.
Midra may not be the final boss or a beast like Ludwig but he represents an ancient entity that wishes only for the end of everything and pretty much does nothing but manipulate others into carrying out its will. For whatever reason it can't end existence itself, it needs a lord to willingly champion its cause, something one would have to be absolutely mad to do.
Loved the video. This music surprised me a lot the first time i heard it. Finally some music that can really show us the face of the frenzy flame. And indeed, it really wants to end all. MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD
I'm happy you did this track. It's by far my favorite from the entirety of the Elden Ring ost. I knew you'd love it.