*clicks on elden ring lore video* "Here's this painting and how it relates to human psychology, philosophy, brains and questions you will never fucking answer" This channel is underrated
You know, I’ve never really seen anyone go into just how fucking strange Gravity is in Elden Ring. It fundamentally embodies the aspects of Causality and Regression, but also seems to be completely separated from the Golden Order. Even it’s ties to Carian/Nox/Whatever are kinda strange. The Sigil that it produces seems completely unique and has seemingly no similarity to any Glintstone or Carian Sorceries despite it being seen alongside them like in Radahn’s favorite vacation town. It just feels like something completely removed from the other sorceries, something unique and yet something that can be found in the recurring themes of causality and regression. And if it allowed Radahn to stop the stars, and it allowed Astel to destroy that Eternal City, then it seems like it’s a force that has the ability to effect fate. I don’t know, it’s just something i’ve always found interesting
@@differentbutsimilar7893 There’s also the fact that gravity magic is purple, which is a mix of red (blood, fire, primordial gold) and blue (magic, spirits). Just saying
On the subject of who Radigan is in relation to Marika there is actually already a pretty good explanation for what's happening there. Marika is the Goddess of Casualty. Radigan the God of Regression. Radigan was split from Marika at the Elden Ring's shattering, but Radigan being Regression, does not have events happen with the linear manner of time and Casualty but instead in reverse. Or in other words, Radigan experiences cause and effect in reverse Because Radigan experiences cause and effect in reverse his split from Marika occurs backwards through time instead of forward. The point of his creation is in the future splitting of the elden ring, but from an outsiders perspective observing moments in a cause and effect fashion it is the moment of his unification with Marika. If you pay attention to Radigan's story trajectory the further back you go through time the more separate Radigan is from Marika but he moves closer and closer to her as the time of the Shattering approaches. His separation is projected backwards through time instead of forwards
Can I add to your list of questions? Some of them are smaller-scale. -Why are they called “Omen”? Omen of what? -Who are the Crystallians, where did they come from, what do they want, why are they in the places that they are. They appear to have been created-by whom? Why? Are they technically first-generation Albinuarics? -Why are there Misbegotten hiding (in fear?) at the back of Castle Morne? -Why does Ranni disappear and then re-appear when you put the ring on her finger? -Why are the animals in the Mountaintop of the Giants spirits? -What is the Ravenmount assassin doing at Raya Lucaria? -How does Melina get us to RTH? How does she know about it? Why do we need to touch her hand to get there? -Why are there fingerprints all over everything in the Frenzy ending? -What was Rykard’s blasphemy? Was it related to the fact that the finger creepers share the same rings that he has on his hand? -Why is the water white in the Deeproot Depths? -What are the walking mausoleums? Why do they have that bell? -And re-upping your question on why the Erdtree is translucent from a distance. My first playthrough I assumed I was going to the base, and then got close to it (from Caelid) and I was like “oh I bet I’ll go underground then”. Nope.
I always assumed the bell on the walking mausoleums was a funeral bell that's tolling for Marika's dead demigod children. But that only raises more questions like... Why did she kill them/let them die? Why are they always tolling? Why are some not equipped with a bell (the ones that let you duplicate lesser remembrances)? Why is there cursed white skulls on their legs and what is it? Why does breaking it off cause them to sit down?
@@BudravenOG I didn't even make the obvious funeral bell connection! The note says you have to "clean up" around its feet. When I played through the game I assumed the white skulls were irritating for the mausoleum and it is eternally trying to shake it off. But, now that I think about it for more than two seconds, that doesn't make sense, because it would sort of imply that the mausoleums' main function is to sit and not walk (therefore making the name "walking mausoleum" weird). Like all FS stuff--feels both very intentional and yet inexplicable.
-The omen is supposed to be a comment on how they are perceived by the golden order, I think. Noble omen are cast into the sewers, all lower class omen are hunted and killed. Logically they may be doing that because they (falsely, imo) believe the omen to be a real-world omen, and I think the omen may be (tying into the above video) THE END OF ALL THAT DIVIDES AND DISTINGUISHES. Big jump in all caps but that’s just my intuition, since omen share some aspects of the crucible with mixed together parts from other species. Other ppl lmk your thoughts, I’ve been wrong many times before lol.
I agree that this is the most omnipresent and embedded theme in the game. What trips people up, I think, is that there are multiple embedded, important themes, and ironically “dividing” and “distinguishing” between them leads to confusions and left-brain (using this casually) headaches. For example, the Crucible and the Omen seem to be largely separate on the surface, yet have overlapping themes. This is what partially lead Ratatoskr to declare that the lore is uninterpretable, that there’s so much overlap between factions and distinct characters portraying similar ideas (another example: the many groups that kill tarnished for distinct yet similar reasons). So ultimately all the themes feed into this central theme. Bloodborne had the similar events and themes repeating at different times and locations in Nightmare Frontier (as remarked by Sinclair Lore), this game has the same on the same continent at the same time. Hope this comment makes sense, it definitely isn’t clear enough to use as a script for a video and I’m still working it out as everyone is in this community. But I really do think all of the sub-themes of Elden Ring are deliberately repeated to the extreme to illustrate the major theme of oneness vs distinctions. I subscribed to the patreon-subscribed to you, Duckfeed.TV (creator of Bonfireside Chat and many other podcasts) and Sinclair Lore (great casual FromSoft lore discussions). I can’t believe I’m still thinking about this game. I haven’t even played it for over a month.
Exactly; I was stuck trying to connect everything to everything, when I suddenly thought- maybe that’s the point. I don’t think that’s the end of the line, either- I don’t want it to be a dismissive “It’s supposed to not make sense”. We continue to struggle unto eternity, grasping for knowledge. Thanks for the support!
Lately I've wondered if the added ambiguity of Elden Ring compared to other souls games is related to collaborating with George Radagon Rennala Martin. Maybe the loose ends aren't known to Miyazaki or Martin individually, but rather things that fell between the cracks of two unified visions.
Seeing Elden Ring as an allegory of change. About being shattered in a million pieces, picking up the pieces and rearranging them in a new way that makes sense to us, based on the things we found and the people we met. I like this video, thanks for helping me finding a way to word this.
You can't get content like this anywhere else. The moment you began to explain local (componential, local, piecemeal, featural) and holistic (global) processing, I was hooked.
You’ve got something pretty great going here. Your videos are meticulously well-crafted and offer unique, thought-provoking takes on the lore of Elden Ring. And you have a fantastic “TH-camr voice.” Can’t wait to see what else you come up with, and even what you might have to say about other games/media.
I like your interpretation. you really put a lot of thought into everything. Another line that I think supports some of your ideas is when Miriel says "heresy is not native to this world, it is but a contrivance. all things can be conjoined." What I took from that is that all these distinctions, differentiation, and ways of dividing and organizing the world are contrivances. There is nothing innately true about the distinctions. What is good and bad, or orthodox and heretical are just decided by whoever is in power at that time This is pretty interesting to me because the dark souls' games have always been about creating distinction and differentiation. In Dark Souls one, the narrator says "and with fire came disparity" when talking about the first flame. But it never question whether the distinctions created, or the way the world was categorized/structured was inherently "true" or "right." The golden order is unique in that way; there is something wrong with the disparity that the golden order creates. something dubious or questionable.
I love this video, because if I had had the technical know-how to edit videos I would have tried to make something similar. I'm so pleased that someone understands just how central the Laws of Regression and Causality are to the lore of Elden Ring. Because, in my opinion, in order to understand the lore most richly you must use both logical, causal as well as (as I shall explain) "synchronistic," multi-tiered associative thinking. In my thoguht, we can connect "Regression" (as in the Law of Regression) to the Jungian concept of "Synchronicity," which he pairs in duality with "Causality." I find this fits well: synchronicity is the "connecting together of causally disparate phenomena through their shared meaning," this being quite literally relatable to "the pull of meanings to converge" as stated in the Law of Regression. To me, the ability to notice how multiple layers of symbolism are interwoven based on shared meaning has helped me to draw together what I had at first believed were entirely divergent threads, to make a certain amount of sense from the story, by taking a step back and viewing it all holistically, as you expounded in the video as a tool frequently lacking in lore analysis that nevertheless is essential in Elden Ring. For anyone reading interested in a concrete example: the Elden Ring itself is (as stated) a microcosm of the world order of the Lands Between, but it also exists in strong sympathy to the body of Marika/Radagon, since in the trailer you can see M/R's body physically cracking when they hammer the ring, and it exists inside their chest as well. Marika's crucified position (in addition to those of the crucifixes all throughout the world) are shown in strong parallel to the Erdtree itself, a vertical line with an arc above seeming to invoke outstretched branches of a tree. Marika and Radagon exist within the Erdtree, and so in this sense the Elden Ring is also the core of the Erdtree. More on the top rune arc: it has always evoked to, even moreso than branches, the lip of a cup pouring the vertical line down, which inspires thought that the source of Grace is actually the void above the top arc. This fits in well as the place of the Greater Will which hails from space (the void above). And so then we have drawn together a big, causally chaotic ball of associations: Marika and Radagon as physical beings, the Elden Ring as a diagram of light, the world order (on both a political and metaphysical level as the Golden Order), the Erdtree, and the Greater Will. I could go on, as I'm sure you could. What's important is that this intersection of concepts is not arrived at sequentially, or through logical hierarchy ; it is not *just* that the Greater Will controls Marika, or that Marika controls the Elden Ring, or that the Elden Ring controls the Erdtree, or that the Erdtree controls the Golden Order. I mean yes, sequentially this seems convincing (although other hierarchies are arguable), and there are instances where finding the causal timeline in things can be very productive. But this is not the only way to understand these concepts as related, and indeed it is NOT what is emphasized. Rather, what we are given is that these disparate things ARE each other, they are expressions of each other and are part of one sympathetic whole. All these concepts are drawn together as a "concurrence of meaning." Which is exactly what synchronicity is according to Jung, to a T.
Excellent post! I wanted to draw a bit of attention to your comment about the top lip of thr Elden Ring. To me that could also symbolise a Crucible where all things were melded together as one. We know that before it all was a One Great and that something happened which caused fractures and life and Souls. And we know that the crucible is where all life was once blended together before the Greater Will, splintered from the One Great, sent the Elden Beast/Ring to the Lands between. Could the image of the Elden Ring be alluding to that process? It also fits very well with your analysis on synchronicity and everything in fact being a part if one whole
I'm actually mindblown. After spending months researching and figuring things out and listening to other people's theories and believes, trying to come up with my own conclusions. Now I get it: Elden Ring is a metapuzzle, and the Elden Lords are those that collect the "pieces" to bring out their "order" into the game. Wow. Some people will unintentionally cosplay Gideon, some the Dung Eater, some will bring the Age of Stars and some will release the Flame of Frenzy ... and some are just Tarnished of no reknown.
What if?! The two fingers and the three fingers were once one hand but was some how split with the two fingers trying to establish its own order ( the golden) and the three fingers is trying to get control of the two again hence ( chaos and burning everything into one) what if the first order was the full hand itself. The three fingers lost influence thus the two was able to lock it away deep under the palace.
That's what I love about this game, but what also frustrates me a little. The more we know, the less we progress. There are so many ideas merged together, it's almost absurd !
It almost feels like an Elder Scrolls style DragonBreak… …like the DragonBreak at Red Mountain, when the Chimer and Dwemer were at war. There’s multiple accounts of that day, that have conflicting information but supposedly all happened at once. Reality apparently fractured during the battle into multiple events and reformed all those events back into a single whole.
The Golden Centepede once used and needed to create and/or craft a plethora items, magics and creatures from mundane to divine. Upon the crafted/ created demise, centipede creates den for rejuvenation cycle. Now known to cure Deathblight and Heavy Holy Dmg potion. Is the marking on a couple pairs of main characters that go together in questline series and major lore correlations.
Maybe this "something wrong" stems from the shattering of the elden ring and Radagon/Marika being coalesced into one. With Mari establishing the Order and Radag trying to create a cohesive whole of fundamentalism by fusing the sorcery and incantation paths, could we loosely assign left and right brain hemispheres respectively? And the world of uncanny duplicates and blending of things comes from the halves being forced into one whole rather than existing as distinct portions. And thus learning the truth behind ultimate lie of the Golden Order, that the two are the same, Goldmask is able to create the Perfect Order which COMPLETES DA RING BABYYYY Very interesting shift in perspective my good crunchman. There is something to this whole hemispheres deal and the order/chaos dichotomy that paralells. Much more thinking required to tease out more sweet eldy lore
You know these ruins scattered all throughout the Lands Between? Those pillars in Radagn's Arena, in the Mountaintops, in southern Limgrave? What if long long time ago, the Nox were living on the surface of the world, but by 'were banished deep underground' the game tries to tell us that the whole layer of terrain of placed atop the civilization of the Nox, making them live underground. After all the architecture of the Eternal Cities fits perfectly to its surrounding rock formations and waterfalls. That layer of terrain that was added atop the civ. of the Nex is were the 'Colossi' lived and built their own civilization. (as you called them - Titans), When the Scarlet Rot infected Caelid, the top layer of soil was rotted away and decayed, revealing roots of old trees, and these ashes Colossi. After the war against the Giants, the Mountaintops became crumbled, again revealing those Colossi rising from the ground. I bet they rest all throughout Limgrave and other areas where we can find those anceint ruins too. It doesn't answer WHO they were, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Alright. Let me do my best to answer you 63 questions from 6:20 1. Elden Ring doesn't really do anything. It's more of a powersource. You can think about it as the Infinity gauntlet from Marvel. Whoever weilds the ring can tap into many aspects of existence and manipulate them. 2. We don't know. We just know he was the last Elden Lord of the previous era. Was he the first elden lord of that era? We don't know. Was he the first lord ever? Who knows. 3. Probably taking over the world, as outer gods do. 4. Yes. 5. Because when someone invades your home, you tend to oppose it. 6. The shards of the ring that allow us to repair the great runes? 7. The crucible is well... where the primordial life started. 8. Because the Greater Will demands its order to be spread everywhere. 9. A demigod who went against the Greater will. More than likely related to Marika, probably her child. 10. Marika's daughter. 11. Big Moon. I mean, she explains it multiple time in great detail. Basically Ranni shields the Lands Between from the meddling of Outer Gods. 12. She wants to stick it to the Greater Will. 13. He wants to serve the Golden Order. 14. Well as far as the present time, Radagon is Marika. Better question is who Radagon was? And well the most we can dicern is that he is related to Firegiants, but doesn't like it. 15. The simple explanation would be that since the Greater Will is the dominant god, it has greater influence. But also, the Crazied Flame is destruction. Creating stuff is going against its own goal. 16. Which one? The real one or the pocket dimension one? It's a gathering place for tarnished. 17. The Sun is a symbol f the golden order, and the Moon seems to be pretty chill with leaving the world alone, which is what Miquella wants. 18. Shatter the stars? You mean Why did he stop the Stars? Well that do be quite simple. There is a lot of mosters up there, better not let them fall down. Also we could speculate that since he is a Carian, he new about the connection between stars and fate and wanted to hold something back. 19. Either he was having some epic battle elsewhere, or a group of stuck up mages wasn't considered enough of a threat to warrant the attention of the Elden lord himself, so a mere champion was send instead. 20. Again, because the Greater Will wants to be all up in everyone's business. 21. Stuff born from the void. 22. tldr... current of primordial energy. Seriously this would warrant half an hour long explanation at least. 23. For the same reason the Greater Will keeps existing even after we kill the Elden Beast. The Outer Gods are more like abstract concepts, you can't kill them or seal them. 24. Again, she wanted to stop the Greater will from enacting its order and any other Outer God from doing the same. 25. Between DLCs.... I mean between other worlds. 26. Ancient Giants. 27. This one is a more difficult. But quite possibly one of their biological experiments, similar to the dragonkins. 28. Spirit world what? 29. Because fire is fire. The Flame of Ruin is supposed t burn the Erd Tree, the Flame of Frenzy is supposed to burn everything. It's like it's big brother. 30. The development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power. 31. Gravity 32. Because there is no need for peasants to know about everything. It's better to leave the common folk in dark sometimes. 33. The most logical idea seems to be that she was looking for Miquella and Radahn challenged her for her great Rune. It's possible Miquella send Melania to Caelid for some reason, but since we know little about how it was before it got nuked... that would be wild guesses; maybe the town of sorcery, maybe the god-slayer sword from the divine tower. 34. To weak to survive. Unworthy to be called a child of god. 35. Because that's what happens. 36. From beyond the fog. "Numenor" is one of the other worlds. 37. That's a standard propaganda. 38. To suffer, to rise, to grow ever stronger. To become mighty enough to challenge the Greater Will. 39. - 40. Gideon, oh Gideon. How to sum it up shortly. Well, his title says it all. He knows it all. He knows that there is no throne waiting for and elden lord, there is just a pissed off god wanting the ring. So to become Elden Lord, is to kill that god. And no man can do that, not Marika herself could... and the end that should not be is what is to happen when we fail. World under the absolute rule of the Greater Will. 41. From the cruicible 42. They are safguards. 43. No, Omen curse and Scarlet Rot are not the same. 44. Sleep magic? idk what you on about. 45. We don't even know if she can actually do it or if it's just a story. But given that humans can turn into wyrms... sounds plausible. 46. Depends on what you mean by "Miquella" and "alive". 47. We don't even know if she is real or if Moght is delusional. I mean he is pretty crazy. 48. Alegetly some outer god. Likely aligned with death given deathbirbs. 49. Now. Farum Azula exists in the present. Only Placidusax's boss room exists beyond time and in that case the question "When?" doesn't make sense. 50. No. It was not. 51. Banished for committing the First Cardinal Sin. 52. God host candidate. 53. She was unalived. 54. Traveled from beyond the fog. 55. Godrick being Godrick. Uses his bannerman to project his power around the place, but hires stronger mercenaries to protect him. That's actually quite smart move on his part. 56. It isn't. 57. Because they don't want you to find out what's going on before you finish your purpose. 58. Yes. 59. Not always. 60. Yes. Not too much. Order. 61. Because it's a Ring. 62. A decoration. A fake sky the created for themselves. 63. Tha Baldy? As in the bald Monk? No idea. The two most popular speculation is that he is either Goldmask before he went on his spiritual journey or that he is the intro narrator. Obviously, very short answers, since I am too lazy to write 60 multi-paragraph explanations.
There are a lot of questions, so I'll answer the first half or so and if anyone wants more answers or clarification by all means, let me know. Answers as I understand them 1) The Elden Ring grants godhood as an envoy and extension of the Greater Will. In other words, it imbues the host with divinity. 2a) Yes. What the game implies with this distinction between Placidusax and Godfrey both having the title is that each era has a role of Elden Lord - which effectively amounts to the highest ruler of the land. 2b) This means that Godfrey is the first Elden Lord... under Marika's Golden Order. 3) By all indications, it was looking for a suitable host. Malenia's Scarlet Aeonia tells us that after 3 blooms she will become a god... Given the battle between Malenia and Radahn, which resulted in her first bloom, it's probable that Rot infected her during that fight granting her enough of an edge to stalemate Radahn and has since been waiting for her to need to call on the power again. This means that after the 3rd time, she will likely wither away and be replaced by Rot. 4) Yes. I believe it is established that the rune was reclaimed after Godwyn and Ranni died, and that Maliketh hid the rune in his body to prevent anyone from stealing it again without having to kill him first. 5) The Erdtree is part of the Greater Will's influence in establishing order. Logically, this means that before (Golden) Order was established, there was a reasonable amount of chaos in the lands, else order wouldn't need to be established. If the Erdtree represents order, then its natural for anything that wasn't under it to resist until forced into order. 6) I don't understand this question, it seems to answer itself... they're great runes. 7) The Crucible was the tree prior to the Erdtree. You see it's hollowed stump in the Deeproot Depths, next to the Erdtree roots, where you find the crucible armor. In other words, it was the original Erdtree, but served a different purpose. 8) Because Marika was attempting to bring each under a united rule, and establish a unified order. The Golden Order. 9) The Gloam Eyed Queen is Melina. She's daughter, and Empyrean, of Marika. This is revealed during the frenzied flame ending. There's a reason her other eye opens and is a different color, this is why. 10) Melina is Marika's daughter. She says so. 11) Ranni's ending is her taking the corrupting presence of the divine away from the lands between and ruling from a distance, presumably the moon since she's so strongly connected to it. It's pretty apparent when you view the proper translation of the ending. 12) Marika's goal is to defy the greater will by destroying the Elden Ring. 13) Radagon's goal is to restore the Elden Ring and keep order. 14) Radagon is Marika. 15) That we know of. It is possible there is more than one 3 finger out there, but unlikely since the flame of frenzy only need one proper host and because it spreads like a plague. 16) It's in the Erdtree... this should be made obvious when you light the tree aflame and the hold starts burning with it. When? it's contemporaneous. What is it? It's a replica of the same place that the Golden Order used in Leyndell to allow the tarnished to continue the work of restoring the Elden Ring and the Golden Order. 17) Miquella was trying to help Godwyn's death become complete by summoning the Eclipse. 18) Radahn didn't shatter them, he stopped them in their tracks. The reason for this is because of the creatures such as Astel, falling star beasts, and the other star-based beings from coming. He basically prevented any more from coming, which explains why there are only a relative few. 19) I don't know how else to summarize this, but basically because she needed kids so she sent Radagon instead. 20) Because the Nox were waiting for a different god to show and ostensibly wouldn't bow to the Greater Will... 21) Stars are... stars? 22) Primeval current is raw magic. 23) This goes back to 3... Rot, by all indications, still has a presence in the world. If my theory is correct, a third blooming of the Scarlet Aeonia from Malenia would result in its full return. Also, remember, Empyreans (of which Malenia is one) are meant to be hosts for the greater will and godly power. As such, Malenia is the perfect host for Rot. 24) I don't understand the question. If you mean the Greater Will, it's because she wanted to free herself from it. 25) Between life and death. Nobody truly dies here, and as such nobody is truly alive here. Everyone is stuck in some form of the cycle of 'death and rebirth', either being stuck dead in their soul form or by being reincarnated thru the erdtree. 26) Good question. I don't think we'll ever get an answer. 27) Unclear, but related to the god the Nox worshipped. 28) Spirit world? The lands between. 29) Because it is made to burn the Erdtree, and all the lands between in order to raze everything to the ground... was this not obvious? 30) I... don't think I understand your question... But generally speaking, in Elden Ring, it could be considered that which the Greater Will desires and designs to happen. 31) ??? Poetic question... Think of the moon as another god, and you have your answer. Gods guide the stars.
So unequivocally beautiful. Makes me feel like I’ve been obsessed with ER for a reason. And I suppose, in my own separated world, there is. Hopefully, there’s one for the greater oneness, too. Love you all.
People stop so short of making the jumps Crunchy makes here and I think it’s genius to start with the right brain and left brain discussion. I think far to many approach the lore with a left brain, clinical, scientific sensibility, whereas Crunchy is bringing in artistic criticism. Think about it, if Elden Ring was a movie, would people be as reluctant to discuss the overall themes and emotional resonances bluntly, even if it was a surreal David Lynch type movie (as it probably would be upon ‘conversion’ to film)? No. Yet ER lore videos are all about evidence, about historical figures, about mapping things out, about TIMELINES. I think lore content would be a lot better if we approached it less as real history (not saying we can’t do that at all) and more as like a surreal movie or poem, like Crunchy does here. Great video.
Always nice to see kindred spirits in comment threads. It’s not about likes. It’s about love and community. And going intensely deep into fantasy and art and metaphysics and whatever else pops up in this abstract thing I call brain 🫡
Quick thought I had in regards to Melina’s origins buuuuut if we know ELDEN ring relies heavily on alchemy and the occult to draw for reference and we already know Marika to have split/joined once already in the Rebus of Her and Radagon, and for those who believe in the theory of Marika being the gloam eyed queen, then I believe Melina to be another mitosis/alchemical process used by Marika to split of that part of herself to use as kindling in her intricate plan. 1 they are both missing eyes and the item given by garranq to seek death is the purple hued pupil of said Gloam eyed Queen(Marika). Further more Melina states she was born from the erd tree and went on a mission by her “mother” and Marika is currently imprisoned in the tree and she is the only person referenced in the creation of Melina, no Radagon or Horrah showing that the creation was a solo process. I could carry on but the comment would get too long. It’s a fun and pretty concrete theory that I think ya’ll should delve into for yourself and see if it adds up, plus it adds more fuel to the theory of Marika being the mastermind behind the night of black knives and her other machinations against the golden order
My favourite ER video I've watched so far. I just very recently reached a saturation point in consuming ER lore speculation, and started thinking more about the wider themes rather than plot details, so this was conspicuously well timed. It was almost a relief to realise that the overwhelming experience of trying to understand the game is kinda of a major part of what the game is about (although, just one of many major themes, I feel. A sort of loose history of natural philosophy and the accumulation of knowledge and ideologies, and how we inherently have to choose what ideas of assimilate into our world view. The search for immortality, in it's many abstract forms. A comment on game design itself. Etc, etc). I was starting to worry that that FromSoft marriage of themes and gameplay wasn't quite there in ER, but it seems they've just pushed it out to a sort of meta level. It's like they know their fanbase (bunch of Fundamentalist lore junkies). You've obviously fleshed things out and presented it all so much better than I could, but I've been starting to scratch at very similar ideas, and this has helped a great deal, so thank you. I've massively changed how I look at and feel about the game in the last few days. Very much for the better so far, though with a slightly bittersweet acceptance that, by design, I don't expect even a remotely satisfying linear narrative will ever be put together for this story. In some ways it would be nice if the DLC solved a few of the mysteries ... but at the same time, it would undermine a fairly substantial and worthwhile central theme, and I would almost bet on the DLC doubling down on the uncertainty. I suspect that it's FromSoft/Miyazaki's attempt to elevate games to a more mature medium (beyond being either impressive but stagnant technologically-assisted-powerhouses, or charming and pacifying, but ultimately childish, fantasies). I think that, in a sort of isolated microcosm of the game's story, the subplots of Malenia, Miquella, Mohg and Radagon are flat out alluding this.
I think it's sad but also perfectly fitting that their stories, ER, in particular are so rich and thought provoking thematically but also nearly inscrutable for those unable/unwilling to dig deeper. So few games explore the types of themes From does and at a level so subtle and inviting of further exploration/discussion. It's a tragedy most will never pick up on what they're putting down.
I interpreted the killing of Serosh as Loux's way of acknowledging the tarnished, and a realization that he could not simply claim the elden ring by virtue of being "The first elden lord" he had to do as Merika instructed. He had to claim this again with his own strengths. Serosh is stated somewhere to be an inhibitor of sorts for the elden lord so that he may conduct himself as a lord vs his true(er) nature of the best Luchador in the lands between.
I also saw Serosh as a way to make himself more palatable to both the people and Marika, which makes it all the more interesting that she decided to tarnish him, and cast him out, even though he changed his way of being completely to fulfill this role.
@@sams7068 She discarded him because he had no longer an grace in his eyes lingering, I guess Golden order doesn't like those without grace as grace is an sing of loyalty to the Golden order influence.
Serosh is mentioned as having been a very respected public figure in the Lands Between and a propagator of the Greater Will's Golden Order which would explain why Godfrey would choose him (or vice-versa) to be the one to temper him.
@@MapleFried Nah, she discarded him because of the lion, he was no longer the bad strong guy he used to be: he was after only the nice guy no girl wants to be with. As Marika wanted to feel more secure, she thought that the best thing was to become elden lord herself and changed sex for it (thanx to a reborn grain). Then Loux just had to sit down knowing he lost his wife, and that she even changed her sex, breaking definitely their relationship x)
@@fredscoffee Oh I wasn't referring to Marika and Godfrey's marriage, I was referring to Serosh and Godfrey - the Lion and the Eagle, as the Loux lineage, not the Golden Lineage, has Eagle imagery associated with it - being bound in the chamber before the Erdtree (Crucible with Rebis as interpreted through Alchemical symbology) before the Eagle rends the Lion from it (Godfrey tearing Serosh away from his being and subsequently killing him).
In terms of duality, you forgot to mention Blaidd (Ranni's right-hand man AND final threat in case of treason), Maliketh/Cleric Beast, and Margit/Morgott. These are all individuals whose identity is doubled, that is they sort of have an alter ego, a second "self" that helps us understand what the characters are about. The snake lady could be another example: her being "two" makes her suffer though. What about Ofnir? For Nepheli, he is a father AND a merciless murderer: beacuse of that she doesn't know what to do. Dichotomy is indeed what Elden Ring is all about imo. It shows a number of interpretations of what it is to be fragmented.
Trying to answer some questions: 2) Godfrey is called the First Elden Lord because he's the first Elden Lord of the current order. Placidusax was an early Elden Lord of an earlier order, though not necessarily the first. 4) It's near enough to complete, especially if you fed Gurranq all the Death Root, but technically it isn't the whole thing. The whole thing *is* released at that point though, because the rest was already free. The Mending Rune of the Death-Prince is probably the most substantial collection of Rune of Death material that isn't in the main thing. Think of the other pieces as analogous to the regular (non-Great) Runes in relation to the Elden Ring. 5) The Erdtree is part of the Greater Will's domination of the Lands Between, and the Order/Forces of the Erdtree are loyal to the Greater Will. Anything that wasn't already aligned to the Greater Will opposed the Erdtree because they either didn't want to be conquered or wanted to be the ones controlling the Lands Between. 7) The Crucible is what existed before the Erdtree, and possibly another tree. It fulfilled a similar role to the Erdtree. The Haliq Tree is also intended to fulfil that role (and replace the Erdtree) in the event of Unalloyed Gold's ascendancy. 8) The Erdtree's forces went to war with the Giants because the Giants were one, the forces of a different Outer God (which would be a Rival to the Greater Will), and two, capable of destroying the Erdtree. It was a preemptive strike. The Golden Order warred with the Dragons because Gransax attacked the capital. The war with Liurnia was a simple war of Conquest. 9) The Gloam-Eyed Queen was (is?) an Empyrean who tried to overthrow Marika. 10) Melinia is Marika's daughter. 11) Ranni's ending entails change and uncertainty, an end to stagnation. 14) Radagon is the male aspect of Marika. Exactly how that works is unclear, but he definitely can exist as a separate body. 15) There are two possibilities: Either the other Three Fingers were killed, or the Frenzied Flame is currently too weak to have more. 18) Radahn conquered the stars both to fetter fate and lessen the influence of the Stars/Void/Primeval Current/Moon(s) in favor of the Golden Order/Greater Will, and to prevent Sellia from being destroyed by a meteorite. 20) The Nox worshipped a different Outer God (or perhaps some sort of force) and tried/planned to overthrow the Greater Will. The Greater Will didn't like that. 23) The Outer God of Rot is an Outer God, not a Great Rune. Sealing it away didn't kill it, it just left it without a physical form in the Lands Between. Most Outer Gods don't have physical forms and can still influence the Lands Between, and the same is true of Rot. Plus some of its artifacts and worshippers survived its sealing, so it still had agents in the Lands Between. And also decay does not depend on an Outer God to exist. The Formless Mother is not the reason blood exists, for example. 24) Marika wanted a god-slaying weapon to overthrow (and possibly kill) the Greater Will, to kill the Elden Beast (as part of overthrowing the Greater Will) and possibly to kill herself. Alternatively, she intended for it to be used on the Fell God. 29) The Frenzied Flame is just also capable of destroying the Erdtree. 33) Malenia's fight with Radahn was part of a power grab by one or both of them. 34) The dead Demigods are not necessarily Marika's children, just her descendants (they're probably mostly members of the Golden Lineage. They're soulless because their souls are not in their bodies (because they are dead). They're unwanted because they failed to make anything of themselves. 35) Marika was telling the Demigods that if they failed to make something of themselves, she wouldn't love them and they'd almost certainly be killed, possibly by another Demigod, and become at best a historical footnote and a stepping stone on someone else's rise to power. She did not mean they would literally be sacrificed in a religious ritual. 37) Marika may very well have killed the Fell God, possibly multiple times as it manifested in a new giant whenever killed. As for why she didn't admit that it was still alive, that was for propaganda purposes and to prevent anyone from worshipping it. 39) Gideon communed with Marika/Radagon, the Erdtree, the Elden Beast, and/or the Greater Will itself. And whatever he was shown, told, or able to see, it convinced him a Tarnished could not (or must not) be an Elden Lord. 40) The End That Should Not Be was whatever Gideon saw/heard/learned about. Probably one or more of the possible endings, the overthrow of the Golden Order and Greater Will, and/or one of the other potential Ages that aren't available as Endings. 42) The Shadows do appear to actually be part of their respective Empyreans. 46) Miquella is very much alive. 47) The Formless Mother wants control over the Lands Between and to reshape them in her image, the same as the other Outer Gods. 48) The Twinbird's master is another Outer God. 49) Farum Azula is floating in the air above the ocean to the East. 50) Farum Azula has always been in the sky, but has almost certainly moved around. 52) An Empyrean is someone with the potential to become a God. 59) The Two Fingers are indeed communicating with the Greater Will. 60) The Greater Will exists, it's an Outer God, and it does intervene. It wants to control and shape the Lands Between, and also to be worshipped. Specifically, one of the things it wants is order, with all life separated into distinct categories and nothing crossing any boundaries or defying its definitions. It wants to do away with uncertainty, grey areas, and change. I tried to leave out simple answers (e.g. "Your Finger Maiden was murdered.") where I assume you want details/specifics/context and I don't have it.
I suspect that the line "holds the power of the crucible of life, the primordial form of the Erdtree" means that the large crucible in the mountaintop of the giants is the old equivalent to the Erdtree from the time of the crucible. I think it's somewhat indicative that after the giants were defeated, Godfrey's grace was taken, signs of the crucible on creatures went from being seen as divine to being reviled and the age of the Erdtree began. There is also the fact that before the Erdtree the dead were burned, which at the time likely functioned as a similar practice to Erdtree burial where the dead are returned to the Edtree to region the cycle of life under its order.
This is something i noticed through my playthrough, it's even within the style of the graphics. Impresionism, the same style used for the painting you showed in the beggining. This is such a great video.
Great video! I'll add my thoughts and try to give my explanations (if you can call them that) to some of the questions at 6:20 . 1. It's a vassal of the greater will that represents the current era of the Lands Between under the greater Will's rule. It's the ruleset for the governance of the Lands Between under the god of the current era (in this case Marika so it's basically the rulebook of the golden order). It even has the power to bend the basic laws of nature (if they even exist in the Lands Between). 2. I buy the simplest explanation myself, that Marika doesn't want to acknowledge Placidusax's rule, as he was from a time before her, especially with the "One true god" tenet. 3. My interpretation is that the outer of of Rot is/was sealed in Nokstella because the blind swordsman belongs to Nokstella (flowing sword, flowing clothing). He just decided to seal it there. Not that an outer god can have a specific body either, I imagine they're an expansive consciousness. 4. Pretty much, yeah. I imagine the fragment itself wasnt that big a loss, even Maliketh's servants have their weapons imbued with the Rune, it was what was done with the stolen fragment that was a big deal. 7. I just imagine the crucible as a homogenous soup of all life, i do think they mean that literally, since the frenzied flame literally incinerates all that divides and distinguishes. 8. It's war, and Marika is kinda crazy. All she cares about was strength and accomplishment, and she wanted to conquer the lands Between in the Erdtree's name. 11. I buy into the idea that people are granted total agency, and don't have to worry about any actual godlike power in proximity to them. It feeds into the intelligence/faith dichotomy that's a theme I've noticed. Even though an order exists, the lands betweeners wont feel it. 13. While Marika's exact goal is very elusive, I believe that Radagon was always just genuinely loyal to the Golden Order. His goal is to preserve it and be loyal to the greater will, he is Radagon of the Golden Order when we fight him after all. I guess the GW takes precedence over Marika, because he goes against her wishes. Not sure about that. 15. Only one Three Fingers feeds into the them of all being one. The Two Fingers are all different, with even seperate consciousnesses perhaps,but the Three Fingers are the opposite of that. 16. In my basement. (No idea) 19. This is something I've thought about, if she sent Godfrey, no way Liurnia could've resisted right? Do we know she didn't though? What if Rennala was just that powerful that she thwarted even him with a home advantage? Could pe possible. Unless we do know for a fact that she didn't send him of course. 20. Didn't the Nox kill a Two Fingers with their Fingerslayer Blade? Seems like they just revolted. As to why they did that, I'm not sure. Marika herself was Number after all. Maybe a disagreement about the established Order? Maybe the nox still wanted their Lord of Night and didn't agree with the Golden Order? 23. I just assumed Rot escaped. The Blind swordsman didn't fully succeed. Maybe that's why he took Malenia under his wing? To help the girl that was suffering so badly due to his failure? 35. My interpretation is that Marika is threatening her children when she tells them they must make something of themselves. She herself will dispose of them if they fail, what with her obsession with strength and achievement. But maybe there is a bigger reason. (I do think she had a hand in the Night of Black Knives). 37. Politics? She can't let the people know she couldn't do shit about her ultimate enemy. 42. Yes, to a great extent. I think Blaidd does mean it literally when he says he's part of Ranni's being. They might even be made in the image of their empyrean.
Damn my dude you get better with every video I don't have anything to add lore wise because in terms of concrete answers I'm stuck and just waiting for dlc. This may be my favorite elden ring video period that conclusion section was masterfully made and amazingly well put.
Things also make sense if you zoom in on a small, granular level. After looking closely I've realized even the minor dungeons all have stories to them, however inconsequential. And extremely minor details can be hugely important if you just slow down and observe. (I have yet to see anyone point out Melina's corpse, for example) It's at that middle distance where things start to look all jumbled and connections blur.
Wow man, this might be one of the best overall theories of elden ring I've seen, been keeping up with you since that podcast with ratatoskr. I enjoy your takes on the lore of these games, finding and exploring some of the less obvious aspects of the game and making them easy to understand. Granted maybe it is a little bit of a cop-out to say "everyone's right" but bloodbourne was all a dream so it's not off the table. looking forward to what you've got next!
Have you watched/listened to Sinclair Lore on Bloodborne? They’re my only source and I didn’t dive deep into the lore, but it was my impression that the game wasn’t necessarily all a dream despite the last scene, but I’m not going to argue at all since I have 1 source and played the game 1 time
@@sams7068 Oh no I haven't I'll check it out though. It being a dream is a bit of oversimplifying. In a nutshell Im pretty sure the moon presence set up the entire game basically to see if you can transend and become it's surrogate child. Aspects of a "real" world are there, just re-arranged like how a dream isn't quite right
For me the world of Eldenring seems like a purgatory in which nothing really gets archived. For example: Godfrey is said to defeat the fire giant and fell god but they didnt get fully wiped out. And think about the shattering or the fact that nobody dies for real.
Another example of duality that you touched on is that of Rennala and Ranni. It's still up to interpretation whether you fight Rennala or Ranni in the second stage of the fight. The most popular us that Ranni takes the form of Rennala which is analogous to Margit taking the form of morgott and Gurranq taking the form of Maliketh. Also? Rykard taking the form of the serpent that devoured him. The only shardbearer that doesn't have a double form that I can think of is Chadhan.
Probably not what you are looking for but I can explain Godfrey killing sarush(?). Sarush was given to horua luex (?)to quell his bloodthirst so he may be a proper lord. When exiled to the badlands with out his bloodlust he wasn't fit to survive and he died there. Grace returned him to fight us to protect the erd tree, and with sarush at his side he was loosing, weak, he kills the beast so he may reclaim his former power and become his true self in a last bid to stop the tarnished.
Also side note I’ve always wondered why the Mariners water is purple hued(as appose to the body’s of water you encounter this boss) and allows waves and gravity defying attacks to be made, regardless of where they are found. Not sure if it’s just rambling or has meaning behind it buuuut thought I’d just throw it out there
I think that the epistemic uncertainty you touched on at the beginning IS the central theme, or at least one of them. Maybe the fact that we can't correlate all the world's contents (to borrow a phrase) is meant to reflect the fact that we live in a time, in our own reality, in which the powerful are increasingly recognized as sclerotic, untrustworthy, and incapable of weaving a compelling narrative about why the world is in the state that it's in. And so everyone outside the cloistered elite is reduced to paranoid speculation and mythologizing about what's REALLY going on because the fallibility of our leaders and institutions has proven so profound. There probably is a definitive, objective truth behind what we see in Elden Ring, but as in the real world, our station is so far removed from the actual levers of history that we can only conjecture based on incomplete information, which we're left to interpret for ourselves. Maybe The Night of the Black Knives, to a Tarnished, is like the JFK Assassination to the average American.
What an ending and what a revelation! This is brilliant. I really liked the structure of this video. The general topic in the start, the reason why it is explained, the question at hand, the examples pertaining to that question and the revelation. You also used the bgm correctly. Having the finale music right when you reveal the true purpose. Well done.
This feels like a vsauce video. How he goes on a tangent that seemingly has no relation to the main title of the video but then wraps back around to the main theme. Good video man
After lockdown crippled my sense of time I only really noticed the difficulty to make a timeline after it was pointed out. Maybe a harmed sense of time IRL effected the development. The way my sense of time was harmed was the endless same routine same day repeating during quarantine. Other ways also certainly exist.
Conclusion: assimilation and acceptance of differences is good (the Erdtree and the Golden Order both prosper), while discrimination is bad (when it started everything in the Land Between started falling apart).
@@hex_gekko29568 Walk the line between order and chaos - accept the duality and hypocrisy of human nature and try to live a free life which does not intrude on the freedom of others. Only combat those that impose on your freedoms. But which Elden Ring ending allows for this?
@@shanosummesteros9563 maybe the point is that none of them do. One can find balance in their own life, but the world as a whole will always be unbalanced.
Damn dude. Never saw your channel before, but came on a Ziostorm rec. This is my first video, and I must say: your approach to lorecrafting is by far the best of anyone I've seen. Honestly, this video has single handedly reinvigorated my curiosity and love of ER lore. Thanks a ton.
I've been reading comments for the past hour without being able to actually see the video itself (at work, can't have any noises), and I'm really hyped up for it because of how the rest are commenting about it, and it's irst time I see an ER related video where most people are having a good conversation about the game overall. I'm just waiting lunch time so I can enjoy it!
I think most, if not all were demigods slayed by Malekith. He was known as the death of demigods. I don't imagine he got that name from just chilling with destined death not doing anything. It was even said that he used to flaunt his power over death until a portion was stolen from him. I think that's why only Godwyn's corpse goes crazy with death blight, because the black knives used a portion of it and didn't even finish carving the whole hallowbrand into him. The souless demigods, taken out by malekith on orders of Marika, are the headless corpses we see and part of the "sacrifices" she mentions.
Also, the multiplayer aspect takes social interactions into account. Someone said that all the Lands Between in different people's games are all separate canon worlds in the universe of game, with all the erd trees in the Elden Beast's arena representing that.
I thought your intro was a it self involved but halfway through the video i have to say you have a flair for... asking the right questons? I'm not sure but whatever it is, this video is a lot more unsightful and interesting than almost any i've seen bout elden ring. Even if you don't have the answers, just noticing all these patterns and details is commendable. (This video also makes me think that one thing adventure video games could learn from Elden Ring is to not be afraid to make certain aspects of your world *strange* and even inscrutable)
I can answer one of your questions pretty easly, your finger maiden is the dead maiden in the chapel of anticipation. The most likely answer to what happened to her is that Varré killed her since his hands are covered with blood, that he knows you're maidenless even before meeting you and that he's waiting for you. Why he did it is probably to "control" you and make you join the Mohgwinn dynasty for... reasons
I think a lot of what gives Elden Ring and the other Fromsoft titles their intriguing nature is the use of soft world building in their construction, as opposed to the volumes of definitive structure given to the worlds of the Elder Scrolls, the Witcher, etc. The caveat is that there are many aspects of that world that remain unknown, often by design.
This is really well thought-out, major kudos. I personally don't have the focus and fortitude to follow the lore of FS games but the one in ER felt really interesting. Subbed.
Very good analysis! It's refreshing to see a TH-camr get at the deeper philosophical themes and structures of the lore. While most people associate the themes of unity and duality with Eastern religions such as Daoism, they have very much been at the center of Western philosophy and esotericism from the very beginning. The relationship of the One and the Many, Limit and the Unlimited, has been the core issue of Pythagorean and Platonic philosophy and has influenced all of European philosophy, spirituality and religion.
Fantastic video. I agree that this is what the game is about (although it is about many things). The game posits that order is necessary for life but order also brings inherent flaws. We get a sense that Marika knows that there is something fundamentally wrong with order. The game doesn't tell us what exactly it is she has learned. She bring back the tarnished (the player) to find their own solution. She guides us with grace no matter which path we choose. Each of the endings are attempts to fix, accept, or blow away flaws in the order. In my opinion no ending feels fully satisfying, because there are no definitive solutions.
Elden ring is about hard work and changes you bring to the world by your decisions, Marika tried to get rid of influence of Greater Will at some point when she saw flaws in the Golden order like Ranni but the realization came much later. Everybody in the world of Elden ring is in time of making decision where they want to be and what order they want to establish some are uncertain and still look for order they see fit all tarnished including Gideon (Though Gideon is on the side of Marika so he comes to conclusion later when you fight him), Banished knights, Crucible knights, Bloodhound knights, some are certain of what kind of order they want Fia, Placidusax, Morgott, Mogh, Ranni, Godfrey, Radagon, Ranni, Rykard, Gold Mask, Malenia and Miquella all of them are certain of what they want and already made changes and decisions towards their goals
one thing i always liked about the Radagon fight was that his hair starts out blonde, but turns into red as the shot of him pans out. idk y but ever since i saw that shot i fell in love with it and always loved and loathed fighting him
Nice video. I've not dived into the lore as much as others - but I've had almost 300 hrs play time and seen 3 endings. To me it seemed Elden Ring was about a perfect world, where no-one died, that fell apart. A fantastical version of what happens to all civilization as it ages. Tarnished were sent away to die because they, like everything else, could not die in the Lands Between. So they come back to the broken world to decide how it will be reborn (through chaos or stars), or what its next iteration will be (by putting the head back on the Marika/Radagon god). I think Marika and Radagon are clearly the one being - a being that split itself to make offspring with Rynella and try and bring the Carion into the Golden Order. When that failed Radagon reunited with itself but it was too late, the world was broken. I never thought the order of the events was as important as what the represented thematically - because the world has fallen apart, a true timeline has been lost. I think Placidusax and the dragons ruled the lands between before the Erdtree either grew or became gold and Godfrey was the first lord after the Erdtree became golden.
I like that despite having the similar conclusion as ratatoskr, your method to getting to that conclusion left me more satisfied. You also distinctly didn't give up lol. (I love ratatoskr too don't worry, I'm just sad he isn't doing elden ring content anymore, even if I get why)
i can answer one of your questions. i believe the Lands Between are the Lands Between Everywhere & The Erdtree (originally, i believe, between everywhere and the forge of the giants). The Lands Between are a land of pilgrimage. we can see this in how the grand highways take us to grand lifts. erdtree burial is an extremely important aspect of the erdtree religion and i believe the Lands Between earned its name for being exactly that to the vast majority of people entering them.
Miyazaki: George, you like dualities. It’s in the name of your most recognizable work. Let’s make a game about it. GRRM: Good idea. But how we make it fit with the lore I already provided you with? Miyazaki: It won’t, don’t worry about it
I'm loving the big brained analysis! However, I'm more enthralled by the haunting music that sounds so beautifully familiar but I seem to have forgotten. Seems fitting.
Ill try to answer some of the questions on 6:23 how i understood it douring my gameplay. That can be wrong and naturally my understanding can be because of my personal biases and real world-view etc.. For some i dont have direct proof but a feeling i got from "reading between the lines" of various item descriptions and conversations and such... general idea i personally got. 1. Governs the world and the "rules" of the world from deaths to births and evolution, simmilar to Dharma in Buddhism 2. Yes, he probably started ruling right after the Erdtre invasion. 3. - 4. Yes, it is the very concept of death in that rune a milimeter sized shard of it can bring death to anything probably. 5. Erdtree is not natural to Lands Between but an invasive force rulled by outer God Greater Will. 6. Anchors of power for the great runes, represented and held by its own two fingers ( now dead / petrefied ) 7. Native force of this world that was subdued and pushed into obscurity by Erdtree invasion. 8. To assume its domination upon the Lands Between and control or wipe out all other ideas and beliefs and ways of looking upon the world, to wipe out or assimilate any possible opposition. 9. Someone serving a different outer god ? I am not sure about that. 10. Gloam eyed queen ? I am not sure about that. 11. Freedom from the Erdtree and the Greater Will occupation. 12. To find Elden Lord through suffering of the world with whom she would have a child to produce a kind of Kwizach Hederach ( to use term from Dune sf books ) who would snatch away the power over Erdtree and Lands Between from Greater Will. She is doing coup d'etat basically. Thats why she is improsoned, but cant be killed because she is still a God ( as finger reader says ). 13. To assume power for himself of the Lands Between right away without the "powerfull offspring" plan. 14. Marika's alter ego 15. Two fingers are envoys to greater will, maintaining its power on Lands Between. Greater Will probably cant influence things directly in the world. Three fingers are a mutation, a mistake, an abomination. 16. Outside of time or in the future. But physically located in that fort in Leyendell castle where the other roundtable hold is. 17. To hide the light and wrestle away some power and influence of the Greater Will so he could try to take control over Lands Between or at least part of it where his tree is. ( He is still a child of Marika and part of the coup d'etat plan, but isnt evolved enough to do that properly ) 18. To try to prevent or lessen the influence from the outer Gods, including Greater Will. 19. She didnt want them to be annihilated but subdued and ultimatively incorporated into her rule, as they were. 20. They were resisting the invasion as a people that were there before Greater Will invaded. 21. The Universe, other worlds, other outer gods..etc 22. The native force on this world. 23. Rot has its envoys ( or envoy ) in the world and thus is able to project some of its power. Being imprisoned does not completely stop its influence on the world but lessens it. 24. To start her coup d'etat plot, to introduce discord and strife into the world so she could came out on top. 25. Other Worlds. An overworld of a kind of various worlds. 26. Remains of Greater Wills war against giants. 27. - 28. Close by, connected to dreams, only step away from the world. Look at Ranni's face, as much as her spirit face is dislocated on her face, that much is the spirit world dislocated on the world. 29. It needs a sacrafice, someone to burn, it is not important who or with what fire, it could probably be activated with black flame as well. 30. A series of events as stars write and predict them by their influence on the world. 31. Bends and re-reflects their light. 32. Not to spread knowledge and insight unintentionally. 33. She needed stars to be freed, Radahn had other ideas. He stopped the stars ( and fates ) movement in relation to Lands Between not in general. 34. She needs a proper child with a soul and all, this was a mistake a "genetic malformation" so to speak. 35. Too weak, she has no use for them in her plan if they turn out wrong. 36. Outside, stars, people not native to Lands Between. But not nessecaraly loyal to Greater Will as well. 37. - 38. She conquered opposition in Lands Between, now she needed a system of perpetual suffering and returning to get the best possible future Elden Lord. 39. His own insecurities and doubts and he isnt interested at all into becomeing Elden Lord but perpetuating the world as it is. 40. - 41. - 42. Bodyguards of sort, a companion and a keeper, a "handler". 43. Great war and suffering was in Caelid, that probably gave the spark for that and who/what comes out of it. No, omen blood is malformed blood, rot blood is different. 44. Artificial life, not goverened by and outer God or the crucible native to the world. 45. No, as far as i know. 46. Yes, Dreaming 47. The same Greater Will, Marika, God of Rot and others want... domination of lands between and unleashing its own "Elden Ring" its own set of world-rules and way of nature and life. 48. - 49. In the past, close to first invasion of the Erdtree. 50. No, it floats slowly. 51. Flame of ruin when it burns gives power and complete insight into everything for a moment, and in last moment either Melina teleports us because she knows we have to go there or when burning with flame of frenzy we know we have to go there and just go. 52. A contender for goodhood position in Lands Between. 53. Gideon ( or more probably Gideons lackey Ensha ) killed her to make as hard as possible of us becoming Elden Lord, because he wants to keep things as they are. 54. - 55. - 56. Erdtree is at the same place in spiritual and physical world, and firmly rooted in both. Unlike how other spirits are displaced a bit from the physical world ( Ranni's face is an example ). 57. Morgott blocked it off to thwart any invasions, or attempts for invasion. 58. Not directly, she functions similary like supposedly Prophets of Delphi functioned in the real world, interpreting feelings and images and all that. 59. Kinda, again, not directly in a way we determin communication. But message is real... just not with words and in any mortal way. 60. Yes. It cant intervene directly in the world, only through its envoys. It wants to spread its idea nad worldview in the world, the belief into itself as well. It probably did that to scores of other worlds allready. 61. No particular reason, the map looks like that and if you want to cover every continent and have divine towers within similar distance and line of sight of each other ( each taht has similar distance to at least two ) you would place them that way. 62. - 63. -
Love this video. Been going through all your ER videos. You gave a great voice for explaining the Lore. This video was also really good! I even learned some things about braiiinnnsss.
you the outer order gesture by talking to melina at the minor erdtree church and hearing marikas intention of searching the depths of the golden order, you get the inner gesture by talking to the d brother in the aqueduct, he only says the name of his brother meaning you get the concept of inner order by seeing he and d share the same soul, and when you tell goldmask that radagon is marika you get golden order totality, the lesson you are supposed to get here is that the lack of inner order in marika is what prevents the golden order totality from being reached hence by removing he ability to screw up the world you create the perfect order
Great video, also beautiful illustrated and narrated with a touch of philosophy. My short answer on what Elden Ring is about: Seeing how we try to interpret the abstract things happening in the world and in what context are they happening for what reason. Just like in real-life, you know?
Great video, Personally , I go for the perfect order ending because Goldmask was right , the shardbearers are as fickle as men, Morgot references this when we meet him at the seat of the erdtree the first time, brandishing his family as traitors Another thing that freaks me out is the sound of Hewgs hammer reminds me of Radagons Roundtable hold the mirror of the heart of the Erdtree, where Marika doubts the greater will, we are faithful, Hewg is probably Radagon's souls new host, Hewg smiths to one day create the weapon that will break the order and Radagon smiths to keep it from shattering completely That's why she wiped his memory, that's why he is faithful to the end about his purpose and that of the tarnished
Fantastic video. You really covered a lot of the important elements of the story in a way that represents what I feel the narrative was trying to go for. While you didn’t touch on a few of the demigods, ultimately they’re stories are all just a part of what your video was trying to say I think. Earned sub.
You mentioned the furtive Pygmy. I want to make a note that he is all but confirmed to be manus and at this point we definitely won’t see fromsoft confirming any dks1 lore However the evidence to suggest that it was the furtive pygmy that had been dug up in oolacile and then through whatever means transformed into manus, I like to think that the absence of his lord soul actually opened up the abyss within himself, and twisted the world around him. Honestly though what do I know, I’ve been speculating for 10+ years now and I’m still not sure on a whole lot within dks lore and I’ve absorbed literally everything I can
My theory was that Manus was originally intended to be the FP when the DLC stuff was originally planned for the release version, but he was later retconned to be someone else when they made the DLC so that it wouldn’t be so integral to the main story.
@@CrunchyVideos Thank you for the reply, which retcon are you speaking of? Unless you’re referring to him being a different entity with the FP not being mentioned what so ever. Which I’d personally just think to be Miyazaki’s usual way of hiding lore within plain sight My attention trailed off a little with dark souls 3’s lore because I felt that most of the lore from that game was grasping at whatever fan service they could still hit without harming the universe they built.
I think the bald statue is miquella as he should have been had he been allowed to mature and emerge from the haligtree. The statue becomes increasingly complex as you progress through the capital. Finally, when you get to the area just before the forbidden lands, the statue is wearing a helmet similar to the one Loretta wears when she becomes the royal knight of the haligtree
I was really interested in a couple of your questions. I was at risk of writing a whole treatise on this stupid game I have already sunk too much time into so I only wanted to give my take on question one. I might just be off my rocker, but if it resonates lmk. As I understand it, the Elden Ring is the order of the world. It dictates the nature of the world, you can get rid of death just by taking the Rune of Death out of the Elden Ring. Whatever Mending Rune you use in the ending changes the nature of the world in some way. The Elden Ring is the source code from which the world is generated. The Elden Ring is composed of Great Runes. Runes in the real world refer to letters used in the norse alphabet and have this mystical quality applied to them. That mystic quality and the myth around them originates from their ability to tell a story. In that regard I think runes in Elden Ring function the same way. The intro starts, the falling leaves tell a story, after all. By gathering runes you are essentially telling the story of Elden Ring the game and as such have power within its fiction. Great Runes are larger chunks of the story, like chapters almost. By controlling them, you control the Elden Ring which is both the order of the world and literal title of the story. The Great Runes give rise to the Elden Ring, which gives rise to the Erdtree. The Erdtree gives off runes in the form of leaves, which in turn coagulate into golden runes and I’d argue into Great Runes. So everything in the world at its most fundamental is composed of runes. That is to say everything is composed of letters, which compose words, which compose sentences, chapters, ect. It’s about storytelling. By becoming Elden Lord you’re essentially dictating the nature of the fiction itself.
*clicks on elden ring lore video*
"Here's this painting and how it relates to human psychology, philosophy, brains and questions you will never fucking answer"
This channel is underrated
Honestly I think Elden ring is about the Elden ring
You sure though?
@@ManEaterBrainBug no 😰
I'm pretty sure ur actually right
hold up you might be onto something
😹
This is it. We're about to hit 99 insight fellas 👀
You know, I’ve never really seen anyone go into just how fucking strange Gravity is in Elden Ring. It fundamentally embodies the aspects of Causality and Regression, but also seems to be completely separated from the Golden Order. Even it’s ties to Carian/Nox/Whatever are kinda strange. The Sigil that it produces seems completely unique and has seemingly no similarity to any Glintstone or Carian Sorceries despite it being seen alongside them like in Radahn’s favorite vacation town.
It just feels like something completely removed from the other sorceries, something unique and yet something that can be found in the recurring themes of causality and regression. And if it allowed Radahn to stop the stars, and it allowed Astel to destroy that Eternal City, then it seems like it’s a force that has the ability to effect fate.
I don’t know, it’s just something i’ve always found interesting
The sigil is an electromagnetic field iirc. You’re right, there’s plenty to explore there, I’ll think about making a video on it
Just on the most basic, fundamental level, the idea that gravity magic comes from space makes a lot of sense to me.
@@differentbutsimilar7893 There’s also the fact that gravity magic is purple, which is a mix of red (blood, fire, primordial gold) and blue (magic, spirits). Just saying
@@CrunchyVideos Just spitballing stuff while I think about other gravity related things, but Sleep is also purple
I like how gravity kills you
On the subject of who Radigan is in relation to Marika there is actually already a pretty good explanation for what's happening there. Marika is the Goddess of Casualty. Radigan the God of Regression. Radigan was split from Marika at the Elden Ring's shattering, but Radigan being Regression, does not have events happen with the linear manner of time and Casualty but instead in reverse. Or in other words, Radigan experiences cause and effect in reverse
Because Radigan experiences cause and effect in reverse his split from Marika occurs backwards through time instead of forward. The point of his creation is in the future splitting of the elden ring, but from an outsiders perspective observing moments in a cause and effect fashion it is the moment of his unification with Marika.
If you pay attention to Radigan's story trajectory the further back you go through time the more separate Radigan is from Marika but he moves closer and closer to her as the time of the Shattering approaches. His separation is projected backwards through time instead of forwards
...
Can I add to your list of questions? Some of them are smaller-scale.
-Why are they called “Omen”? Omen of what?
-Who are the Crystallians, where did they come from, what do they want, why are they in the places that they are. They appear to have been created-by whom? Why? Are they technically first-generation Albinuarics?
-Why are there Misbegotten hiding (in fear?) at the back of Castle Morne?
-Why does Ranni disappear and then re-appear when you put the ring on her finger?
-Why are the animals in the Mountaintop of the Giants spirits?
-What is the Ravenmount assassin doing at Raya Lucaria?
-How does Melina get us to RTH? How does she know about it? Why do we need to touch her hand to get there?
-Why are there fingerprints all over everything in the Frenzy ending?
-What was Rykard’s blasphemy? Was it related to the fact that the finger creepers share the same rings that he has on his hand?
-Why is the water white in the Deeproot Depths?
-What are the walking mausoleums? Why do they have that bell?
-And re-upping your question on why the Erdtree is translucent from a distance. My first playthrough I assumed I was going to the base, and then got close to it (from Caelid) and I was like “oh I bet I’ll go underground then”. Nope.
I’m not trying to be an asshole I just like it when there’s questions
I always assumed the bell on the walking mausoleums was a funeral bell that's tolling for Marika's dead demigod children. But that only raises more questions like... Why did she kill them/let them die? Why are they always tolling? Why are some not equipped with a bell (the ones that let you duplicate lesser remembrances)? Why is there cursed white skulls on their legs and what is it? Why does breaking it off cause them to sit down?
@@BudravenOG I didn't even make the obvious funeral bell connection! The note says you have to "clean up" around its feet. When I played through the game I assumed the white skulls were irritating for the mausoleum and it is eternally trying to shake it off. But, now that I think about it for more than two seconds, that doesn't make sense, because it would sort of imply that the mausoleums' main function is to sit and not walk (therefore making the name "walking mausoleum" weird).
Like all FS stuff--feels both very intentional and yet inexplicable.
@@111funnyvideo the fingerprints might have to do with identity, with the frenzied flame seeking to make all things one.
-The omen is supposed to be a comment on how they are perceived by the golden order, I think. Noble omen are cast into the sewers, all lower class omen are hunted and killed. Logically they may be doing that because they (falsely, imo) believe the omen to be a real-world omen, and I think the omen may be (tying into the above video) THE END OF ALL THAT DIVIDES AND DISTINGUISHES. Big jump in all caps but that’s just my intuition, since omen share some aspects of the crucible with mixed together parts from other species. Other ppl lmk your thoughts, I’ve been wrong many times before lol.
I agree that this is the most omnipresent and embedded theme in the game. What trips people up, I think, is that there are multiple embedded, important themes, and ironically “dividing” and “distinguishing” between them leads to confusions and left-brain (using this casually) headaches. For example, the Crucible and the Omen seem to be largely separate on the surface, yet have overlapping themes. This is what partially lead Ratatoskr to declare that the lore is uninterpretable, that there’s so much overlap between factions and distinct characters portraying similar ideas (another example: the many groups that kill tarnished for distinct yet similar reasons). So ultimately all the themes feed into this central theme.
Bloodborne had the similar events and themes repeating at different times and locations in Nightmare Frontier (as remarked by Sinclair Lore), this game has the same on the same continent at the same time.
Hope this comment makes sense, it definitely isn’t clear enough to use as a script for a video and I’m still working it out as everyone is in this community. But I really do think all of the sub-themes of Elden Ring are deliberately repeated to the extreme to illustrate the major theme of oneness vs distinctions.
I subscribed to the patreon-subscribed to you, Duckfeed.TV (creator of Bonfireside Chat and many other podcasts) and Sinclair Lore (great casual FromSoft lore discussions). I can’t believe I’m still thinking about this game. I haven’t even played it for over a month.
Exactly; I was stuck trying to connect everything to everything, when I suddenly thought- maybe that’s the point. I don’t think that’s the end of the line, either- I don’t want it to be a dismissive “It’s supposed to not make sense”. We continue to struggle unto eternity, grasping for knowledge. Thanks for the support!
Lately I've wondered if the added ambiguity of Elden Ring compared to other souls games is related to collaborating with George Radagon Rennala Martin.
Maybe the loose ends aren't known to Miyazaki or Martin individually, but rather things that fell between the cracks of two unified visions.
Seeing Elden Ring as an allegory of change. About being shattered in a million pieces, picking up the pieces and rearranging them in a new way that makes sense to us, based on the things we found and the people we met. I like this video, thanks for helping me finding a way to word this.
man, that's beautiful
“Allegory of change”
Yea allegory for change of genders.
@@jhank0cean I mean... Yes, the game definitely fits that read.
And 69 likes for incorporating Ranni's quest in the game.
You can't get content like this anywhere else. The moment you began to explain local (componential, local, piecemeal, featural) and holistic (global) processing, I was hooked.
You’ve got something pretty great going here. Your videos are meticulously well-crafted and offer unique, thought-provoking takes on the lore of Elden Ring. And you have a fantastic “TH-camr voice.” Can’t wait to see what else you come up with, and even what you might have to say about other games/media.
I like your interpretation. you really put a lot of thought into everything. Another line that I think supports some of your ideas is when Miriel says "heresy is not native to this world, it is but a contrivance. all things can be conjoined." What I took from that is that all these distinctions, differentiation, and ways of dividing and organizing the world are contrivances. There is nothing innately true about the distinctions. What is good and bad, or orthodox and heretical are just decided by whoever is in power at that time
This is pretty interesting to me because the dark souls' games have always been about creating distinction and differentiation. In Dark Souls one, the narrator says "and with fire came disparity" when talking about the first flame. But it never question whether the distinctions created, or the way the world was categorized/structured was inherently "true" or "right." The golden order is unique in that way; there is something wrong with the disparity that the golden order creates. something dubious or questionable.
I love this video, because if I had had the technical know-how to edit videos I would have tried to make something similar. I'm so pleased that someone understands just how central the Laws of Regression and Causality are to the lore of Elden Ring. Because, in my opinion, in order to understand the lore most richly you must use both logical, causal as well as (as I shall explain) "synchronistic," multi-tiered associative thinking.
In my thoguht, we can connect "Regression" (as in the Law of Regression) to the Jungian concept of "Synchronicity," which he pairs in duality with "Causality." I find this fits well: synchronicity is the "connecting together of causally disparate phenomena through their shared meaning," this being quite literally relatable to "the pull of meanings to converge" as stated in the Law of Regression.
To me, the ability to notice how multiple layers of symbolism are interwoven based on shared meaning has helped me to draw together what I had at first believed were entirely divergent threads, to make a certain amount of sense from the story, by taking a step back and viewing it all holistically, as you expounded in the video as a tool frequently lacking in lore analysis that nevertheless is essential in Elden Ring.
For anyone reading interested in a concrete example: the Elden Ring itself is (as stated) a microcosm of the world order of the Lands Between, but it also exists in strong sympathy to the body of Marika/Radagon, since in the trailer you can see M/R's body physically cracking when they hammer the ring, and it exists inside their chest as well. Marika's crucified position (in addition to those of the crucifixes all throughout the world) are shown in strong parallel to the Erdtree itself, a vertical line with an arc above seeming to invoke outstretched branches of a tree. Marika and Radagon exist within the Erdtree, and so in this sense the Elden Ring is also the core of the Erdtree. More on the top rune arc: it has always evoked to, even moreso than branches, the lip of a cup pouring the vertical line down, which inspires thought that the source of Grace is actually the void above the top arc. This fits in well as the place of the Greater Will which hails from space (the void above).
And so then we have drawn together a big, causally chaotic ball of associations: Marika and Radagon as physical beings, the Elden Ring as a diagram of light, the world order (on both a political and metaphysical level as the Golden Order), the Erdtree, and the Greater Will. I could go on, as I'm sure you could. What's important is that this intersection of concepts is not arrived at sequentially, or through logical hierarchy ; it is not *just* that the Greater Will controls Marika, or that Marika controls the Elden Ring, or that the Elden Ring controls the Erdtree, or that the Erdtree controls the Golden Order. I mean yes, sequentially this seems convincing (although other hierarchies are arguable), and there are instances where finding the causal timeline in things can be very productive. But this is not the only way to understand these concepts as related, and indeed it is NOT what is emphasized. Rather, what we are given is that these disparate things ARE each other, they are expressions of each other and are part of one sympathetic whole. All these concepts are drawn together as a "concurrence of meaning." Which is exactly what synchronicity is according to Jung, to a T.
Excellent post!
I wanted to draw a bit of attention to your comment about the top lip of thr Elden Ring. To me that could also symbolise a Crucible where all things were melded together as one.
We know that before it all was a One Great and that something happened which caused fractures and life and Souls. And we know that the crucible is where all life was once blended together before the Greater Will, splintered from the One Great, sent the Elden Beast/Ring to the Lands between.
Could the image of the Elden Ring be alluding to that process? It also fits very well with your analysis on synchronicity and everything in fact being a part if one whole
I'm actually mindblown. After spending months researching and figuring things out and listening to other people's theories and believes, trying to come up with my own conclusions.
Now I get it: Elden Ring is a metapuzzle, and the Elden Lords are those that collect the "pieces" to bring out their "order" into the game. Wow.
Some people will unintentionally cosplay Gideon, some the Dung Eater, some will bring the Age of Stars and some will release the Flame of Frenzy
... and some are just Tarnished of no reknown.
What if?! The two fingers and the three fingers were once one hand but was some how split with the two fingers trying to establish its own order ( the golden) and the three fingers is trying to get control of the two again hence ( chaos and burning everything into one) what if the first order was the full hand itself. The three fingers lost influence thus the two was able to lock it away deep under the palace.
That's what I love about this game, but what also frustrates me a little. The more we know, the less we progress. There are so many ideas merged together, it's almost absurd !
It almost feels like an Elder Scrolls style DragonBreak…
…like the DragonBreak at Red Mountain, when the Chimer and Dwemer were at war.
There’s multiple accounts of that day, that have conflicting information but supposedly all happened at once.
Reality apparently fractured during the battle into multiple events and reformed all those events back into a single whole.
The Golden Centepede once used and needed to create and/or craft a plethora items, magics and creatures from mundane to divine. Upon the crafted/ created demise, centipede creates den for rejuvenation cycle.
Now known to cure Deathblight and Heavy Holy Dmg potion.
Is the marking on a couple pairs of main characters that go together in questline series and major lore correlations.
Maybe this "something wrong" stems from the shattering of the elden ring and Radagon/Marika being coalesced into one. With Mari establishing the Order and Radag trying to create a cohesive whole of fundamentalism by fusing the sorcery and incantation paths, could we loosely assign left and right brain hemispheres respectively? And the world of uncanny duplicates and blending of things comes from the halves being forced into one whole rather than existing as distinct portions.
And thus learning the truth behind ultimate lie of the Golden Order, that the two are the same, Goldmask is able to create the Perfect Order which COMPLETES DA RING BABYYYY
Very interesting shift in perspective my good crunchman. There is something to this whole hemispheres deal and the order/chaos dichotomy that paralells. Much more thinking required to tease out more sweet eldy lore
You know these ruins scattered all throughout the Lands Between? Those pillars in Radagn's Arena, in the Mountaintops, in southern Limgrave? What if long long time ago, the Nox were living on the surface of the world, but by 'were banished deep underground' the game tries to tell us that the whole layer of terrain of placed atop the civilization of the Nox, making them live underground. After all the architecture of the Eternal Cities fits perfectly to its surrounding rock formations and waterfalls.
That layer of terrain that was added atop the civ. of the Nex is were the 'Colossi' lived and built their own civilization. (as you called them - Titans),
When the Scarlet Rot infected Caelid, the top layer of soil was rotted away and decayed, revealing roots of old trees, and these ashes Colossi. After the war against the Giants, the Mountaintops became crumbled, again revealing those Colossi rising from the ground. I bet they rest all throughout Limgrave and other areas where we can find those anceint ruins too.
It doesn't answer WHO they were, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So far this is the only elden ring video about the plot that gives me a bit of peace regarding my confusion on the plot and sequence of events.
Alright. Let me do my best to answer you 63 questions from 6:20
1. Elden Ring doesn't really do anything. It's more of a powersource. You can think about it as the Infinity gauntlet from Marvel. Whoever weilds the ring can tap into many aspects of existence and manipulate them.
2. We don't know. We just know he was the last Elden Lord of the previous era. Was he the first elden lord of that era? We don't know. Was he the first lord ever? Who knows.
3. Probably taking over the world, as outer gods do.
4. Yes.
5. Because when someone invades your home, you tend to oppose it.
6. The shards of the ring that allow us to repair the great runes?
7. The crucible is well... where the primordial life started.
8. Because the Greater Will demands its order to be spread everywhere.
9. A demigod who went against the Greater will. More than likely related to Marika, probably her child.
10. Marika's daughter.
11. Big Moon. I mean, she explains it multiple time in great detail. Basically Ranni shields the Lands Between from the meddling of Outer Gods.
12. She wants to stick it to the Greater Will.
13. He wants to serve the Golden Order.
14. Well as far as the present time, Radagon is Marika. Better question is who Radagon was? And well the most we can dicern is that he is related to Firegiants, but doesn't like it.
15. The simple explanation would be that since the Greater Will is the dominant god, it has greater influence. But also, the Crazied Flame is destruction. Creating stuff is going against its own goal.
16. Which one? The real one or the pocket dimension one? It's a gathering place for tarnished.
17. The Sun is a symbol f the golden order, and the Moon seems to be pretty chill with leaving the world alone, which is what Miquella wants.
18. Shatter the stars? You mean Why did he stop the Stars? Well that do be quite simple. There is a lot of mosters up there, better not let them fall down. Also we could speculate that since he is a Carian, he new about the connection between stars and fate and wanted to hold something back.
19. Either he was having some epic battle elsewhere, or a group of stuck up mages wasn't considered enough of a threat to warrant the attention of the Elden lord himself, so a mere champion was send instead.
20. Again, because the Greater Will wants to be all up in everyone's business.
21. Stuff born from the void.
22. tldr... current of primordial energy. Seriously this would warrant half an hour long explanation at least.
23. For the same reason the Greater Will keeps existing even after we kill the Elden Beast. The Outer Gods are more like abstract concepts, you can't kill them or seal them.
24. Again, she wanted to stop the Greater will from enacting its order and any other Outer God from doing the same.
25. Between DLCs.... I mean between other worlds.
26. Ancient Giants.
27. This one is a more difficult. But quite possibly one of their biological experiments, similar to the dragonkins.
28. Spirit world what?
29. Because fire is fire. The Flame of Ruin is supposed t burn the Erd Tree, the Flame of Frenzy is supposed to burn everything. It's like it's big brother.
30. The development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power.
31. Gravity
32. Because there is no need for peasants to know about everything. It's better to leave the common folk in dark sometimes.
33. The most logical idea seems to be that she was looking for Miquella and Radahn challenged her for her great Rune. It's possible Miquella send Melania to Caelid for some reason, but since we know little about how it was before it got nuked... that would be wild guesses; maybe the town of sorcery, maybe the god-slayer sword from the divine tower.
34. To weak to survive. Unworthy to be called a child of god.
35. Because that's what happens.
36. From beyond the fog. "Numenor" is one of the other worlds.
37. That's a standard propaganda.
38. To suffer, to rise, to grow ever stronger. To become mighty enough to challenge the Greater Will.
39. - 40. Gideon, oh Gideon. How to sum it up shortly. Well, his title says it all. He knows it all. He knows that there is no throne waiting for and elden lord, there is just a pissed off god wanting the ring. So to become Elden Lord, is to kill that god. And no man can do that, not Marika herself could... and the end that should not be is what is to happen when we fail. World under the absolute rule of the Greater Will.
41. From the cruicible
42. They are safguards.
43. No, Omen curse and Scarlet Rot are not the same.
44. Sleep magic? idk what you on about.
45. We don't even know if she can actually do it or if it's just a story. But given that humans can turn into wyrms... sounds plausible.
46. Depends on what you mean by "Miquella" and "alive".
47. We don't even know if she is real or if Moght is delusional. I mean he is pretty crazy.
48. Alegetly some outer god. Likely aligned with death given deathbirbs.
49. Now. Farum Azula exists in the present. Only Placidusax's boss room exists beyond time and in that case the question "When?" doesn't make sense.
50. No. It was not.
51. Banished for committing the First Cardinal Sin.
52. God host candidate.
53. She was unalived.
54. Traveled from beyond the fog.
55. Godrick being Godrick. Uses his bannerman to project his power around the place, but hires stronger mercenaries to protect him. That's actually quite smart move on his part.
56. It isn't.
57. Because they don't want you to find out what's going on before you finish your purpose.
58. Yes.
59. Not always.
60. Yes. Not too much. Order.
61. Because it's a Ring.
62. A decoration. A fake sky the created for themselves.
63. Tha Baldy? As in the bald Monk? No idea. The two most popular speculation is that he is either Goldmask before he went on his spiritual journey or that he is the intro narrator.
Obviously, very short answers, since I am too lazy to write 60 multi-paragraph explanations.
The concepts of duality git me when I met my third set of twins I was like "hol up"
There are a lot of questions, so I'll answer the first half or so and if anyone wants more answers or clarification by all means, let me know.
Answers as I understand them
1) The Elden Ring grants godhood as an envoy and extension of the Greater Will. In other words, it imbues the host with divinity.
2a) Yes. What the game implies with this distinction between Placidusax and Godfrey both having the title is that each era has a role of Elden Lord - which effectively amounts to the highest ruler of the land.
2b) This means that Godfrey is the first Elden Lord... under Marika's Golden Order.
3) By all indications, it was looking for a suitable host. Malenia's Scarlet Aeonia tells us that after 3 blooms she will become a god... Given the battle between Malenia and Radahn, which resulted in her first bloom, it's probable that Rot infected her during that fight granting her enough of an edge to stalemate Radahn and has since been waiting for her to need to call on the power again. This means that after the 3rd time, she will likely wither away and be replaced by Rot.
4) Yes. I believe it is established that the rune was reclaimed after Godwyn and Ranni died, and that Maliketh hid the rune in his body to prevent anyone from stealing it again without having to kill him first.
5) The Erdtree is part of the Greater Will's influence in establishing order. Logically, this means that before (Golden) Order was established, there was a reasonable amount of chaos in the lands, else order wouldn't need to be established. If the Erdtree represents order, then its natural for anything that wasn't under it to resist until forced into order.
6) I don't understand this question, it seems to answer itself... they're great runes.
7) The Crucible was the tree prior to the Erdtree. You see it's hollowed stump in the Deeproot Depths, next to the Erdtree roots, where you find the crucible armor. In other words, it was the original Erdtree, but served a different purpose.
8) Because Marika was attempting to bring each under a united rule, and establish a unified order. The Golden Order.
9) The Gloam Eyed Queen is Melina. She's daughter, and Empyrean, of Marika. This is revealed during the frenzied flame ending. There's a reason her other eye opens and is a different color, this is why.
10) Melina is Marika's daughter. She says so.
11) Ranni's ending is her taking the corrupting presence of the divine away from the lands between and ruling from a distance, presumably the moon since she's so strongly connected to it. It's pretty apparent when you view the proper translation of the ending.
12) Marika's goal is to defy the greater will by destroying the Elden Ring.
13) Radagon's goal is to restore the Elden Ring and keep order.
14) Radagon is Marika.
15) That we know of. It is possible there is more than one 3 finger out there, but unlikely since the flame of frenzy only need one proper host and because it spreads like a plague.
16) It's in the Erdtree... this should be made obvious when you light the tree aflame and the hold starts burning with it. When? it's contemporaneous. What is it? It's a replica of the same place that the Golden Order used in Leyndell to allow the tarnished to continue the work of restoring the Elden Ring and the Golden Order.
17) Miquella was trying to help Godwyn's death become complete by summoning the Eclipse.
18) Radahn didn't shatter them, he stopped them in their tracks. The reason for this is because of the creatures such as Astel, falling star beasts, and the other star-based beings from coming. He basically prevented any more from coming, which explains why there are only a relative few.
19) I don't know how else to summarize this, but basically because she needed kids so she sent Radagon instead.
20) Because the Nox were waiting for a different god to show and ostensibly wouldn't bow to the Greater Will...
21) Stars are... stars?
22) Primeval current is raw magic.
23) This goes back to 3... Rot, by all indications, still has a presence in the world. If my theory is correct, a third blooming of the Scarlet Aeonia from Malenia would result in its full return. Also, remember, Empyreans (of which Malenia is one) are meant to be hosts for the greater will and godly power. As such, Malenia is the perfect host for Rot.
24) I don't understand the question. If you mean the Greater Will, it's because she wanted to free herself from it.
25) Between life and death. Nobody truly dies here, and as such nobody is truly alive here. Everyone is stuck in some form of the cycle of 'death and rebirth', either being stuck dead in their soul form or by being reincarnated thru the erdtree.
26) Good question. I don't think we'll ever get an answer.
27) Unclear, but related to the god the Nox worshipped.
28) Spirit world? The lands between.
29) Because it is made to burn the Erdtree, and all the lands between in order to raze everything to the ground... was this not obvious?
30) I... don't think I understand your question... But generally speaking, in Elden Ring, it could be considered that which the Greater Will desires and designs to happen.
31) ??? Poetic question... Think of the moon as another god, and you have your answer. Gods guide the stars.
So unequivocally beautiful. Makes me feel like I’ve been obsessed with ER for a reason. And I suppose, in my own separated world, there is. Hopefully, there’s one for the greater oneness, too. Love you all.
People stop so short of making the jumps Crunchy makes here and I think it’s genius to start with the right brain and left brain discussion. I think far to many approach the lore with a left brain, clinical, scientific sensibility, whereas Crunchy is bringing in artistic criticism.
Think about it, if Elden Ring was a movie, would people be as reluctant to discuss the overall themes and emotional resonances bluntly, even if it was a surreal David Lynch type movie (as it probably would be upon ‘conversion’ to film)? No. Yet ER lore videos are all about evidence, about historical figures, about mapping things out, about TIMELINES.
I think lore content would be a lot better if we approached it less as real history (not saying we can’t do that at all) and more as like a surreal movie or poem, like Crunchy does here.
Great video.
@@sams7068 I could not agree more. And I'm almost certain this is whata From intends. They've only gotten better at this as time goes on.
Always nice to see kindred spirits in comment threads. It’s not about likes. It’s about love and community. And going intensely deep into fantasy and art and metaphysics and whatever else pops up in this abstract thing I call brain 🫡
Quick thought I had in regards to Melina’s origins buuuuut if we know ELDEN ring relies heavily on alchemy and the occult to draw for reference and we already know Marika to have split/joined once already in the Rebus of Her and Radagon, and for those who believe in the theory of Marika being the gloam eyed queen, then I believe Melina to be another mitosis/alchemical process used by Marika to split of that part of herself to use as kindling in her intricate plan. 1 they are both missing eyes and the item given by garranq to seek death is the purple hued pupil of said Gloam eyed Queen(Marika). Further more Melina states she was born from the erd tree and went on a mission by her “mother” and Marika is currently imprisoned in the tree and she is the only person referenced in the creation of Melina, no Radagon or Horrah showing that the creation was a solo process. I could carry on but the comment would get too long. It’s a fun and pretty concrete theory that I think ya’ll should delve into for yourself and see if it adds up, plus it adds more fuel to the theory of Marika being the mastermind behind the night of black knives and her other machinations against the golden order
My favourite ER video I've watched so far. I just very recently reached a saturation point in consuming ER lore speculation, and started thinking more about the wider themes rather than plot details, so this was conspicuously well timed. It was almost a relief to realise that the overwhelming experience of trying to understand the game is kinda of a major part of what the game is about (although, just one of many major themes, I feel. A sort of loose history of natural philosophy and the accumulation of knowledge and ideologies, and how we inherently have to choose what ideas of assimilate into our world view. The search for immortality, in it's many abstract forms. A comment on game design itself. Etc, etc). I was starting to worry that that FromSoft marriage of themes and gameplay wasn't quite there in ER, but it seems they've just pushed it out to a sort of meta level. It's like they know their fanbase (bunch of Fundamentalist lore junkies). You've obviously fleshed things out and presented it all so much better than I could, but I've been starting to scratch at very similar ideas, and this has helped a great deal, so thank you.
I've massively changed how I look at and feel about the game in the last few days. Very much for the better so far, though with a slightly bittersweet acceptance that, by design, I don't expect even a remotely satisfying linear narrative will ever be put together for this story. In some ways it would be nice if the DLC solved a few of the mysteries ... but at the same time, it would undermine a fairly substantial and worthwhile central theme, and I would almost bet on the DLC doubling down on the uncertainty. I suspect that it's FromSoft/Miyazaki's attempt to elevate games to a more mature medium (beyond being either impressive but stagnant technologically-assisted-powerhouses, or charming and pacifying, but ultimately childish, fantasies). I think that, in a sort of isolated microcosm of the game's story, the subplots of Malenia, Miquella, Mohg and Radagon are flat out alluding this.
I think it's sad but also perfectly fitting that their stories, ER, in particular are so rich and thought provoking thematically but also nearly inscrutable for those unable/unwilling to dig deeper.
So few games explore the types of themes From does and at a level so subtle and inviting of further exploration/discussion. It's a tragedy most will never pick up on what they're putting down.
I interpreted the killing of Serosh as Loux's way of acknowledging the tarnished, and a realization that he could not simply claim the elden ring by virtue of being "The first elden lord" he had to do as Merika instructed. He had to claim this again with his own strengths. Serosh is stated somewhere to be an inhibitor of sorts for the elden lord so that he may conduct himself as a lord vs his true(er) nature of the best Luchador in the lands between.
I also saw Serosh as a way to make himself more palatable to both the people and Marika, which makes it all the more interesting that she decided to tarnish him, and cast him out, even though he changed his way of being completely to fulfill this role.
@@sams7068 She discarded him because he had no longer an grace in his eyes lingering, I guess Golden order doesn't like those without grace as grace is an sing of loyalty to the Golden order influence.
Serosh is mentioned as having been a very respected public figure in the Lands Between and a propagator of the Greater Will's Golden Order which would explain why Godfrey would choose him (or vice-versa) to be the one to temper him.
@@MapleFried Nah, she discarded him because of the lion, he was no longer the bad strong guy he used to be: he was after only the nice guy no girl wants to be with. As Marika wanted to feel more secure, she thought that the best thing was to become elden lord herself and changed sex for it (thanx to a reborn grain). Then Loux just had to sit down knowing he lost his wife, and that she even changed her sex, breaking definitely their relationship x)
@@fredscoffee
Oh I wasn't referring to Marika and Godfrey's marriage, I was referring to Serosh and Godfrey - the Lion and the Eagle, as the Loux lineage, not the Golden Lineage, has Eagle imagery associated with it - being bound in the chamber before the Erdtree (Crucible with Rebis as interpreted through Alchemical symbology) before the Eagle rends the Lion from it (Godfrey tearing Serosh away from his being and subsequently killing him).
In terms of duality, you forgot to mention Blaidd (Ranni's right-hand man AND final threat in case of treason), Maliketh/Cleric Beast, and Margit/Morgott. These are all individuals whose identity is doubled, that is they sort of have an alter ego, a second "self" that helps us understand what the characters are about.
The snake lady could be another example: her being "two" makes her suffer though. What about Ofnir? For Nepheli, he is a father AND a merciless murderer: beacuse of that she doesn't know what to do.
Dichotomy is indeed what Elden Ring is all about imo. It shows a number of interpretations of what it is to be fragmented.
What about dung eather in rountable hold and his corporeal flesh trapped in the sewere gaol
Also two pieces of death rune one from godwyn and one from ranni. Godwyn died in soul. Ranni in flesh
During the intro I straight up forgor I was watching an Elden Ring video, I was so captivated by what you were saying. Really nice video!
Trying to answer some questions:
2) Godfrey is called the First Elden Lord because he's the first Elden Lord of the current order. Placidusax was an early Elden Lord of an earlier order, though not necessarily the first.
4) It's near enough to complete, especially if you fed Gurranq all the Death Root, but technically it isn't the whole thing. The whole thing *is* released at that point though, because the rest was already free. The Mending Rune of the Death-Prince is probably the most substantial collection of Rune of Death material that isn't in the main thing. Think of the other pieces as analogous to the regular (non-Great) Runes in relation to the Elden Ring.
5) The Erdtree is part of the Greater Will's domination of the Lands Between, and the Order/Forces of the Erdtree are loyal to the Greater Will. Anything that wasn't already aligned to the Greater Will opposed the Erdtree because they either didn't want to be conquered or wanted to be the ones controlling the Lands Between.
7) The Crucible is what existed before the Erdtree, and possibly another tree. It fulfilled a similar role to the Erdtree. The Haliq Tree is also intended to fulfil that role (and replace the Erdtree) in the event of Unalloyed Gold's ascendancy.
8) The Erdtree's forces went to war with the Giants because the Giants were one, the forces of a different Outer God (which would be a Rival to the Greater Will), and two, capable of destroying the Erdtree. It was a preemptive strike. The Golden Order warred with the Dragons because Gransax attacked the capital. The war with Liurnia was a simple war of Conquest.
9) The Gloam-Eyed Queen was (is?) an Empyrean who tried to overthrow Marika.
10) Melinia is Marika's daughter.
11) Ranni's ending entails change and uncertainty, an end to stagnation.
14) Radagon is the male aspect of Marika. Exactly how that works is unclear, but he definitely can exist as a separate body.
15) There are two possibilities: Either the other Three Fingers were killed, or the Frenzied Flame is currently too weak to have more.
18) Radahn conquered the stars both to fetter fate and lessen the influence of the Stars/Void/Primeval Current/Moon(s) in favor of the Golden Order/Greater Will, and to prevent Sellia from being destroyed by a meteorite.
20) The Nox worshipped a different Outer God (or perhaps some sort of force) and tried/planned to overthrow the Greater Will. The Greater Will didn't like that.
23) The Outer God of Rot is an Outer God, not a Great Rune. Sealing it away didn't kill it, it just left it without a physical form in the Lands Between. Most Outer Gods don't have physical forms and can still influence the Lands Between, and the same is true of Rot. Plus some of its artifacts and worshippers survived its sealing, so it still had agents in the Lands Between. And also decay does not depend on an Outer God to exist. The Formless Mother is not the reason blood exists, for example.
24) Marika wanted a god-slaying weapon to overthrow (and possibly kill) the Greater Will, to kill the Elden Beast (as part of overthrowing the Greater Will) and possibly to kill herself. Alternatively, she intended for it to be used on the Fell God.
29) The Frenzied Flame is just also capable of destroying the Erdtree.
33) Malenia's fight with Radahn was part of a power grab by one or both of them.
34) The dead Demigods are not necessarily Marika's children, just her descendants (they're probably mostly members of the Golden Lineage. They're soulless because their souls are not in their bodies (because they are dead). They're unwanted because they failed to make anything of themselves.
35) Marika was telling the Demigods that if they failed to make something of themselves, she wouldn't love them and they'd almost certainly be killed, possibly by another Demigod, and become at best a historical footnote and a stepping stone on someone else's rise to power. She did not mean they would literally be sacrificed in a religious ritual.
37) Marika may very well have killed the Fell God, possibly multiple times as it manifested in a new giant whenever killed. As for why she didn't admit that it was still alive, that was for propaganda purposes and to prevent anyone from worshipping it.
39) Gideon communed with Marika/Radagon, the Erdtree, the Elden Beast, and/or the Greater Will itself. And whatever he was shown, told, or able to see, it convinced him a Tarnished could not (or must not) be an Elden Lord.
40) The End That Should Not Be was whatever Gideon saw/heard/learned about. Probably one or more of the possible endings, the overthrow of the Golden Order and Greater Will, and/or one of the other potential Ages that aren't available as Endings.
42) The Shadows do appear to actually be part of their respective Empyreans.
46) Miquella is very much alive.
47) The Formless Mother wants control over the Lands Between and to reshape them in her image, the same as the other Outer Gods.
48) The Twinbird's master is another Outer God.
49) Farum Azula is floating in the air above the ocean to the East.
50) Farum Azula has always been in the sky, but has almost certainly moved around.
52) An Empyrean is someone with the potential to become a God.
59) The Two Fingers are indeed communicating with the Greater Will.
60) The Greater Will exists, it's an Outer God, and it does intervene. It wants to control and shape the Lands Between, and also to be worshipped. Specifically, one of the things it wants is order, with all life separated into distinct categories and nothing crossing any boundaries or defying its definitions. It wants to do away with uncertainty, grey areas, and change.
I tried to leave out simple answers (e.g. "Your Finger Maiden was murdered.") where I assume you want details/specifics/context and I don't have it.
I suspect that the line "holds the power of the crucible of life, the primordial form of the Erdtree" means that the large crucible in the mountaintop of the giants is the old equivalent to the Erdtree from the time of the crucible. I think it's somewhat indicative that after the giants were defeated, Godfrey's grace was taken, signs of the crucible on creatures went from being seen as divine to being reviled and the age of the Erdtree began. There is also the fact that before the Erdtree the dead were burned, which at the time likely functioned as a similar practice to Erdtree burial where the dead are returned to the Edtree to region the cycle of life under its order.
This is something i noticed through my playthrough, it's even within the style of the graphics. Impresionism, the same style used for the painting you showed in the beggining. This is such a great video.
Great video! I'll add my thoughts and try to give my explanations (if you can call them that) to some of the questions at 6:20 .
1. It's a vassal of the greater will that represents the current era of the Lands Between under the greater Will's rule. It's the ruleset for the governance of the Lands Between under the god of the current era (in this case Marika so it's basically the rulebook of the golden order). It even has the power to bend the basic laws of nature (if they even exist in the Lands Between).
2. I buy the simplest explanation myself, that Marika doesn't want to acknowledge Placidusax's rule, as he was from a time before her, especially with the "One true god" tenet.
3. My interpretation is that the outer of of Rot is/was sealed in Nokstella because the blind swordsman belongs to Nokstella (flowing sword, flowing clothing). He just decided to seal it there. Not that an outer god can have a specific body either, I imagine they're an expansive consciousness.
4. Pretty much, yeah. I imagine the fragment itself wasnt that big a loss, even Maliketh's servants have their weapons imbued with the Rune, it was what was done with the stolen fragment that was a big deal.
7. I just imagine the crucible as a homogenous soup of all life, i do think they mean that literally, since the frenzied flame literally incinerates all that divides and distinguishes.
8. It's war, and Marika is kinda crazy. All she cares about was strength and accomplishment, and she wanted to conquer the lands Between in the Erdtree's name.
11. I buy into the idea that people are granted total agency, and don't have to worry about any actual godlike power in proximity to them. It feeds into the intelligence/faith dichotomy that's a theme I've noticed. Even though an order exists, the lands betweeners wont feel it.
13. While Marika's exact goal is very elusive, I believe that Radagon was always just genuinely loyal to the Golden Order. His goal is to preserve it and be loyal to the greater will, he is Radagon of the Golden Order when we fight him after all. I guess the GW takes precedence over Marika, because he goes against her wishes. Not sure about that.
15. Only one Three Fingers feeds into the them of all being one. The Two Fingers are all different, with even seperate consciousnesses perhaps,but the Three Fingers are the opposite of that.
16. In my basement. (No idea)
19. This is something I've thought about, if she sent Godfrey, no way Liurnia could've resisted right? Do we know she didn't though? What if Rennala was just that powerful that she thwarted even him with a home advantage? Could pe possible. Unless we do know for a fact that she didn't send him of course.
20. Didn't the Nox kill a Two Fingers with their Fingerslayer Blade? Seems like they just revolted. As to why they did that, I'm not sure. Marika herself was Number after all. Maybe a disagreement about the established Order? Maybe the nox still wanted their Lord of Night and didn't agree with the Golden Order?
23. I just assumed Rot escaped. The Blind swordsman didn't fully succeed. Maybe that's why he took Malenia under his wing? To help the girl that was suffering so badly due to his failure?
35. My interpretation is that Marika is threatening her children when she tells them they must make something of themselves. She herself will dispose of them if they fail, what with her obsession with strength and achievement. But maybe there is a bigger reason. (I do think she had a hand in the Night of Black Knives).
37. Politics? She can't let the people know she couldn't do shit about her ultimate enemy.
42. Yes, to a great extent. I think Blaidd does mean it literally when he says he's part of Ranni's being. They might even be made in the image of their empyrean.
Damn my dude you get better with every video I don't have anything to add lore wise because in terms of concrete answers I'm stuck and just waiting for dlc. This may be my favorite elden ring video period that conclusion section was masterfully made and amazingly well put.
Thank you!
I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with the Lore of this game
Things also make sense if you zoom in on a small, granular level. After looking closely I've realized even the minor dungeons all have stories to them, however inconsequential. And extremely minor details can be hugely important if you just slow down and observe. (I have yet to see anyone point out Melina's corpse, for example)
It's at that middle distance where things start to look all jumbled and connections blur.
Wow man, this might be one of the best overall theories of elden ring I've seen, been keeping up with you since that podcast with ratatoskr. I enjoy your takes on the lore of these games, finding and exploring some of the less obvious aspects of the game and making them easy to understand. Granted maybe it is a little bit of a cop-out to say "everyone's right" but bloodbourne was all a dream so it's not off the table. looking forward to what you've got next!
Have you watched/listened to Sinclair Lore on Bloodborne? They’re my only source and I didn’t dive deep into the lore, but it was my impression that the game wasn’t necessarily all a dream despite the last scene, but I’m not going to argue at all since I have 1 source and played the game 1 time
@@sams7068 Oh no I haven't I'll check it out though. It being a dream is a bit of oversimplifying. In a nutshell Im pretty sure the moon presence set up the entire game basically to see if you can transend and become it's surrogate child. Aspects of a "real" world are there, just re-arranged like how a dream isn't quite right
The lore of Elden ring cannot be completed by one alone.
For me the world of Eldenring seems like a purgatory in which nothing really gets archived. For example: Godfrey is said to defeat the fire giant and fell god but they didnt get fully wiped out. And think about the shattering or the fact that nobody dies for real.
Love the use of music from Shadow of the Colossus, ER and SotC are both highly mysterious stories so it works incredibly well.
Another example of duality that you touched on is that of Rennala and Ranni. It's still up to interpretation whether you fight Rennala or Ranni in the second stage of the fight. The most popular us that Ranni takes the form of Rennala which is analogous to Margit taking the form of morgott and Gurranq taking the form of Maliketh. Also? Rykard taking the form of the serpent that devoured him. The only shardbearer that doesn't have a double form that I can think of is Chadhan.
Probably not what you are looking for but I can explain Godfrey killing sarush(?). Sarush was given to horua luex (?)to quell his bloodthirst so he may be a proper lord. When exiled to the badlands with out his bloodlust he wasn't fit to survive and he died there. Grace returned him to fight us to protect the erd tree, and with sarush at his side he was loosing, weak, he kills the beast so he may reclaim his former power and become his true self in a last bid to stop the tarnished.
Legit my favorite lore channel, you put out so much quality
Also very cool ur using Kingdoms Of Alamur music in the bg
Also side note I’ve always wondered why the Mariners water is purple hued(as appose to the body’s of water you encounter this boss) and allows waves and gravity defying attacks to be made, regardless of where they are found. Not sure if it’s just rambling or has meaning behind it buuuut thought I’d just throw it out there
I think that the epistemic uncertainty you touched on at the beginning IS the central theme, or at least one of them.
Maybe the fact that we can't correlate all the world's contents (to borrow a phrase) is meant to reflect the fact that we live in a time, in our own reality, in which the powerful are increasingly recognized as sclerotic, untrustworthy, and incapable of weaving a compelling narrative about why the world is in the state that it's in. And so everyone outside the cloistered elite is reduced to paranoid speculation and mythologizing about what's REALLY going on because the fallibility of our leaders and institutions has proven so profound. There probably is a definitive, objective truth behind what we see in Elden Ring, but as in the real world, our station is so far removed from the actual levers of history that we can only conjecture based on incomplete information, which we're left to interpret for ourselves. Maybe The Night of the Black Knives, to a Tarnished, is like the JFK Assassination to the average American.
What an ending and what a revelation! This is brilliant. I really liked the structure of this video. The general topic in the start, the reason why it is explained, the question at hand, the examples pertaining to that question and the revelation. You also used the bgm correctly. Having the finale music right when you reveal the true purpose. Well done.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This feels like a vsauce video. How he goes on a tangent that seemingly has no relation to the main title of the video but then wraps back around to the main theme. Good video man
After lockdown crippled my sense of time I only really noticed the difficulty to make a timeline after it was pointed out. Maybe a harmed sense of time IRL effected the development. The way my sense of time was harmed was the endless same routine same day repeating during quarantine. Other ways also certainly exist.
Conclusion: assimilation and acceptance of differences is good (the Erdtree and the Golden Order both prosper), while discrimination is bad (when it started everything in the Land Between started falling apart).
Pure Order is tryranny and pure freedom is chaos. It appears that we are supposed to find balance between two contridictry forces which is a paradox.
@@hex_gekko29568 Walk the line between order and chaos - accept the duality and hypocrisy of human nature and try to live a free life which does not intrude on the freedom of others. Only combat those that impose on your freedoms.
But which Elden Ring ending allows for this?
@@shanosummesteros9563 maybe the point is that none of them do. One can find balance in their own life, but the world as a whole will always be unbalanced.
Damn dude. Never saw your channel before, but came on a Ziostorm rec. This is my first video, and I must say: your approach to lorecrafting is by far the best of anyone I've seen. Honestly, this video has single handedly reinvigorated my curiosity and love of ER lore. Thanks a ton.
That’s a loaded question. It involves struggling, surviving, learning, and growing to overcome any obstacle the world can possibly throw at you.
I've been reading comments for the past hour without being able to actually see the video itself (at work, can't have any noises), and I'm really hyped up for it because of how the rest are commenting about it, and it's irst time I see an ER related video where most people are having a good conversation about the game overall. I'm just waiting lunch time so I can enjoy it!
4:26 I even forgot the video was about Elden Ring
I think most, if not all were demigods slayed by Malekith. He was known as the death of demigods. I don't imagine he got that name from just chilling with destined death not doing anything. It was even said that he used to flaunt his power over death until a portion was stolen from him. I think that's why only Godwyn's corpse goes crazy with death blight, because the black knives used a portion of it and didn't even finish carving the whole hallowbrand into him. The souless demigods, taken out by malekith on orders of Marika, are the headless corpses we see and part of the "sacrifices" she mentions.
I think the Eclipse needed by Miquella to conduct a Spell to somehow Revive Godwin or With Melenia's Rot sickness.
I just read this theory as well.
Also, the multiplayer aspect takes social interactions into account. Someone said that all the Lands Between in different people's games are all separate canon worlds in the universe of game, with all the erd trees in the Elden Beast's arena representing that.
made it through the whole video before i noticed how many views it has, this is criminally underrated
I thought your intro was a it self involved but halfway through the video i have to say you have a flair for... asking the right questons? I'm not sure but whatever it is, this video is a lot more unsightful and interesting than almost any i've seen bout elden ring. Even if you don't have the answers, just noticing all these patterns and details is commendable.
(This video also makes me think that one thing adventure video games could learn from Elden Ring is to not be afraid to make certain aspects of your world *strange* and even inscrutable)
Thank you for the honest appraisal 🙏
I think why Marika didn't send Godfrey to Liruina is that he had a war still with either the Giants or the Ancient Dragons.
those subtle bits of humor you throw in are great :)
I can answer one of your questions pretty easly, your finger maiden is the dead maiden in the chapel of anticipation.
The most likely answer to what happened to her is that Varré killed her since his hands are covered with blood, that he knows you're maidenless even before meeting you and that he's waiting for you.
Why he did it is probably to "control" you and make you join the Mohgwinn dynasty for... reasons
Looking forward to your spin-off channel, “Creamy”.
I think a lot of what gives Elden Ring and the other Fromsoft titles their intriguing nature is the use of soft world building in their construction, as opposed to the volumes of definitive structure given to the worlds of the Elder Scrolls, the Witcher, etc. The caveat is that there are many aspects of that world that remain unknown, often by design.
amazing channel. love the parallels you draw and the way you present them.
This is really well thought-out, major kudos. I personally don't have the focus and fortitude to follow the lore of FS games but the one in ER felt really interesting. Subbed.
This video blew my mind like the birds did in stormveil castle
Very good analysis! It's refreshing to see a TH-camr get at the deeper philosophical themes and structures of the lore.
While most people associate the themes of unity and duality with Eastern religions such as Daoism, they have very much been at the center of Western philosophy and esotericism from the very beginning. The relationship of the One and the Many, Limit and the Unlimited, has been the core issue of Pythagorean and Platonic philosophy and has influenced all of European philosophy, spirituality and religion.
Fantastic video. I agree that this is what the game is about (although it is about many things).
The game posits that order is necessary for life but order also brings inherent flaws. We get a sense that Marika knows that there is something fundamentally wrong with order. The game doesn't tell us what exactly it is she has learned. She bring back the tarnished (the player) to find their own solution. She guides us with grace no matter which path we choose.
Each of the endings are attempts to fix, accept, or blow away flaws in the order. In my opinion no ending feels fully satisfying, because there are no definitive solutions.
This is probably my favorite Elden Ring lore video
Well written, well-spoken, well-edited. Thanks so much for your work and dedication. This was a treat!
Elden ring is about hard work and changes you bring to the world by your decisions, Marika tried to get rid of influence of Greater Will at some point when she saw flaws in the Golden order like Ranni but the realization came much later.
Everybody in the world of Elden ring is in time of making decision where they want to be and what order they want to establish some are uncertain and still look for order they see fit all tarnished including Gideon (Though Gideon is on the side of Marika so he comes to conclusion later when you fight him), Banished knights, Crucible knights, Bloodhound knights, some are certain of what kind of order they want Fia, Placidusax, Morgott, Mogh, Ranni, Godfrey, Radagon, Ranni, Rykard, Gold Mask, Malenia and Miquella all of them are certain of what they want and already made changes and decisions towards their goals
This is probably the best elden ring lore video made, great job
The first 3 minutes had me thinking i clicked the wrong video lol but tied in really well haha
It's about how every elden has it's ring
Enjoyed how you used music The Reckoning: Kingdom of Amalur! Love it!
Answer to question #63: Eredin
one thing i always liked about the Radagon fight was that his hair starts out blonde, but turns into red as the shot of him pans out. idk y but ever since i saw that shot i fell in love with it and always loved and loathed fighting him
Nice video. I've not dived into the lore as much as others - but I've had almost 300 hrs play time and seen 3 endings. To me it seemed Elden Ring was about a perfect world, where no-one died, that fell apart. A fantastical version of what happens to all civilization as it ages. Tarnished were sent away to die because they, like everything else, could not die in the Lands Between. So they come back to the broken world to decide how it will be reborn (through chaos or stars), or what its next iteration will be (by putting the head back on the Marika/Radagon god).
I think Marika and Radagon are clearly the one being - a being that split itself to make offspring with Rynella and try and bring the Carion into the Golden Order. When that failed Radagon reunited with itself but it was too late, the world was broken.
I never thought the order of the events was as important as what the represented thematically - because the world has fallen apart, a true timeline has been lost. I think Placidusax and the dragons ruled the lands between before the Erdtree either grew or became gold and Godfrey was the first lord after the Erdtree became golden.
I like that despite having the similar conclusion as ratatoskr, your method to getting to that conclusion left me more satisfied. You also distinctly didn't give up lol. (I love ratatoskr too don't worry, I'm just sad he isn't doing elden ring content anymore, even if I get why)
Bro what I love the most is the knowledge you give just love it
i can answer one of your questions. i believe the Lands Between are the Lands Between Everywhere & The Erdtree (originally, i believe, between everywhere and the forge of the giants). The Lands Between are a land of pilgrimage. we can see this in how the grand highways take us to grand lifts. erdtree burial is an extremely important aspect of the erdtree religion and i believe the Lands Between earned its name for being exactly that to the vast majority of people entering them.
Very well put together - I really enjoyed this take. Thanks.
Miyazaki: George, you like dualities. It’s in the name of your most recognizable work. Let’s make a game about it.
GRRM: Good idea. But how we make it fit with the lore I already provided you with?
Miyazaki: It won’t, don’t worry about it
Great video
Love the Amalur music 😍
I'm loving the big brained analysis! However, I'm more enthralled by the haunting music that sounds so beautifully familiar but I seem to have forgotten. Seems fitting.
Ill try to answer some of the questions on 6:23 how i understood it douring my gameplay.
That can be wrong and naturally my understanding can be because of my personal biases and real world-view etc.. For some i dont have direct proof but a feeling i got from "reading between the lines" of various item descriptions and conversations and such... general idea i personally got.
1. Governs the world and the "rules" of the world from deaths to births and evolution, simmilar to Dharma in Buddhism
2. Yes, he probably started ruling right after the Erdtre invasion.
3. -
4. Yes, it is the very concept of death in that rune a milimeter sized shard of it can bring death to anything probably.
5. Erdtree is not natural to Lands Between but an invasive force rulled by outer God Greater Will.
6. Anchors of power for the great runes, represented and held by its own two fingers ( now dead / petrefied )
7. Native force of this world that was subdued and pushed into obscurity by Erdtree invasion.
8. To assume its domination upon the Lands Between and control or wipe out all other ideas and beliefs and ways of looking upon the world, to wipe out or assimilate any possible opposition.
9. Someone serving a different outer god ? I am not sure about that.
10. Gloam eyed queen ? I am not sure about that.
11. Freedom from the Erdtree and the Greater Will occupation.
12. To find Elden Lord through suffering of the world with whom she would have a child to produce a kind of Kwizach Hederach ( to use term from Dune sf books ) who would snatch away the power over Erdtree and Lands Between from Greater Will. She is doing coup d'etat basically. Thats why she is improsoned, but cant be killed because she is still a God ( as finger reader says ).
13. To assume power for himself of the Lands Between right away without the "powerfull offspring" plan.
14. Marika's alter ego
15. Two fingers are envoys to greater will, maintaining its power on Lands Between. Greater Will probably cant influence things directly in the world. Three fingers are a mutation, a mistake, an abomination.
16. Outside of time or in the future. But physically located in that fort in Leyendell castle where the other roundtable hold is.
17. To hide the light and wrestle away some power and influence of the Greater Will so he could try to take control over Lands Between or at least part of it where his tree is. ( He is still a child of Marika and part of the coup d'etat plan, but isnt evolved enough to do that properly )
18. To try to prevent or lessen the influence from the outer Gods, including Greater Will.
19. She didnt want them to be annihilated but subdued and ultimatively incorporated into her rule, as they were.
20. They were resisting the invasion as a people that were there before Greater Will invaded.
21. The Universe, other worlds, other outer gods..etc
22. The native force on this world.
23. Rot has its envoys ( or envoy ) in the world and thus is able to project some of its power. Being imprisoned does not completely stop its influence on the world but lessens it.
24. To start her coup d'etat plot, to introduce discord and strife into the world so she could came out on top.
25. Other Worlds. An overworld of a kind of various worlds.
26. Remains of Greater Wills war against giants.
27. -
28. Close by, connected to dreams, only step away from the world. Look at Ranni's face, as much as her spirit face is dislocated on her face, that much is the spirit world dislocated on the world.
29. It needs a sacrafice, someone to burn, it is not important who or with what fire, it could probably be activated with black flame as well.
30. A series of events as stars write and predict them by their influence on the world.
31. Bends and re-reflects their light.
32. Not to spread knowledge and insight unintentionally.
33. She needed stars to be freed, Radahn had other ideas. He stopped the stars ( and fates ) movement in relation to Lands Between not in general.
34. She needs a proper child with a soul and all, this was a mistake a "genetic malformation" so to speak.
35. Too weak, she has no use for them in her plan if they turn out wrong.
36. Outside, stars, people not native to Lands Between. But not nessecaraly loyal to Greater Will as well.
37. -
38. She conquered opposition in Lands Between, now she needed a system of perpetual suffering and returning to get the best possible future Elden Lord.
39. His own insecurities and doubts and he isnt interested at all into becomeing Elden Lord but perpetuating the world as it is.
40. -
41. -
42. Bodyguards of sort, a companion and a keeper, a "handler".
43. Great war and suffering was in Caelid, that probably gave the spark for that and who/what comes out of it. No, omen blood is malformed blood, rot blood is different.
44. Artificial life, not goverened by and outer God or the crucible native to the world.
45. No, as far as i know.
46. Yes, Dreaming
47. The same Greater Will, Marika, God of Rot and others want... domination of lands between and unleashing its own "Elden Ring" its own set of world-rules and way of nature and life.
48. -
49. In the past, close to first invasion of the Erdtree.
50. No, it floats slowly.
51. Flame of ruin when it burns gives power and complete insight into everything for a moment, and in last moment either Melina teleports us because she knows we have to go there or when burning with flame of frenzy we know we have to go there and just go.
52. A contender for goodhood position in Lands Between.
53. Gideon ( or more probably Gideons lackey Ensha ) killed her to make as hard as possible of us becoming Elden Lord, because he wants to keep things as they are.
54. -
55. -
56. Erdtree is at the same place in spiritual and physical world, and firmly rooted in both. Unlike how other spirits are displaced a bit from the physical world ( Ranni's face is an example ).
57. Morgott blocked it off to thwart any invasions, or attempts for invasion.
58. Not directly, she functions similary like supposedly Prophets of Delphi functioned in the real world, interpreting feelings and images and all that.
59. Kinda, again, not directly in a way we determin communication. But message is real... just not with words and in any mortal way.
60. Yes. It cant intervene directly in the world, only through its envoys. It wants to spread its idea nad worldview in the world, the belief into itself as well. It probably did that to scores of other worlds allready.
61. No particular reason, the map looks like that and if you want to cover every continent and have divine towers within similar distance and line of sight of each other ( each taht has similar distance to at least two ) you would place them that way.
62. -
63. -
Love this video. Been going through all your ER videos. You gave a great voice for explaining the Lore. This video was also really good! I even learned some things about braiiinnnsss.
you the outer order gesture by talking to melina at the minor erdtree church and hearing marikas intention of searching the depths of the golden order, you get the inner gesture by talking to the d brother in the aqueduct, he only says the name of his brother meaning you get the concept of inner order by seeing he and d share the same soul, and when you tell goldmask that radagon is marika you get golden order totality, the lesson you are supposed to get here is that the lack of inner order in marika is what prevents the golden order totality from being reached hence by removing he ability to screw up the world you create the perfect order
Great video, also beautiful illustrated and narrated with a touch of philosophy. My short answer on what Elden Ring is about: Seeing how we try to interpret the abstract things happening in the world and in what context are they happening for what reason. Just like in real-life, you know?
Great video,
Personally , I go for the perfect order ending because Goldmask was right , the shardbearers are as fickle as men,
Morgot references this when we meet him at the seat of the erdtree the first time, brandishing his family as traitors
Another thing that freaks me out is the sound of Hewgs hammer reminds me of Radagons
Roundtable hold the mirror of the heart of the Erdtree, where Marika doubts the greater will, we are faithful, Hewg is probably Radagon's souls new host,
Hewg smiths to one day create the weapon that will break the order and Radagon smiths to keep it from shattering completely
That's why she wiped his memory, that's why he is faithful to the end about his purpose and that of the tarnished
Fantastic video. You really covered a lot of the important elements of the story in a way that represents what I feel the narrative was trying to go for. While you didn’t touch on a few of the demigods, ultimately they’re stories are all just a part of what your video was trying to say I think. Earned sub.
Elden Ring is about simping and it's dangerous consequences
You mentioned the furtive Pygmy. I want to make a note that he is all but confirmed to be manus and at this point we definitely won’t see fromsoft confirming any dks1 lore
However the evidence to suggest that it was the furtive pygmy that had been dug up in oolacile and then through whatever means transformed into manus, I like to think that the absence of his lord soul actually opened up the abyss within himself, and twisted the world around him.
Honestly though what do I know, I’ve been speculating for 10+ years now and I’m still not sure on a whole lot within dks lore and I’ve absorbed literally everything I can
My theory was that Manus was originally intended to be the FP when the DLC stuff was originally planned for the release version, but he was later retconned to be someone else when they made the DLC so that it wouldn’t be so integral to the main story.
@@CrunchyVideos Thank you for the reply, which retcon are you speaking of?
Unless you’re referring to him being a different entity with the FP not being mentioned what so ever. Which I’d personally just think to be Miyazaki’s usual way of hiding lore within plain sight
My attention trailed off a little with dark souls 3’s lore because I felt that most of the lore from that game was grasping at whatever fan service they could still hit without harming the universe they built.
I think the bald statue is miquella as he should have been had he been allowed to mature and emerge from the haligtree. The statue becomes increasingly complex as you progress through the capital. Finally, when you get to the area just before the forbidden lands, the statue is wearing a helmet similar to the one Loretta wears when she becomes the royal knight of the haligtree
Wait what? Where is that statue?
I assumed it was about waiting a week or two before attacking.
This is my favorite Elden Ring take. Bravo
I was really interested in a couple of your questions. I was at risk of writing a whole treatise on this stupid game I have already sunk too much time into so I only wanted to give my take on question one. I might just be off my rocker, but if it resonates lmk.
As I understand it, the Elden Ring is the order of the world. It dictates the nature of the world, you can get rid of death just by taking the Rune of Death out of the Elden Ring. Whatever Mending Rune you use in the ending changes the nature of the world in some way. The Elden Ring is the source code from which the world is generated.
The Elden Ring is composed of Great Runes. Runes in the real world refer to letters used in the norse alphabet and have this mystical quality applied to them. That mystic quality and the myth around them originates from their ability to tell a story. In that regard I think runes in Elden Ring function the same way. The intro starts, the falling leaves tell a story, after all. By gathering runes you are essentially telling the story of Elden Ring the game and as such have power within its fiction.
Great Runes are larger chunks of the story, like chapters almost. By controlling them, you control the Elden Ring which is both the order of the world and literal title of the story. The Great Runes give rise to the Elden Ring, which gives rise to the Erdtree. The Erdtree gives off runes in the form of leaves, which in turn coagulate into golden runes and I’d argue into Great Runes. So everything in the world at its most fundamental is composed of runes. That is to say everything is composed of letters, which compose words, which compose sentences, chapters, ect. It’s about storytelling. By becoming Elden Lord you’re essentially dictating the nature of the fiction itself.
Yes.
wow. great analysis, a really unique take. bravo
Everything happening everywhere all at once. The sound of one hand clapping.
Really livening your videos and your voice is a joy to listen to!
Thank you!