If this isn't what they intended that'll be crazy. All the imagery makes so much sense with the lore and the meanings. And if it does end up being true that will also be crazy that mushrooms inspired them to make Elden Ring.
Probably not directly intended tbh but it's easy to see how the connection arises if one or more of the artists simply happen to be mushroom nerds. The "real" central themes of FromSoft games always somehow tie to death, decay, the fall from grace, the futility of fighting them and the ruin brought by immortality and stagnation contrasted with being able to let go and allowing something new to grow. Mushrooms arguably are the only visible agents of the decay itself IRL with flies, maggots and other carrion scavengers potentially being a second option (and guess what Mohgwyn, Deathroot and Scarlet Rot _also_ feature?) So mushrooms are an important symbolic aspect but not the intention or "meaning" in my opinion.
I started this video very skeptical, but ended up feeling pretty convinced on a lot of the points you made. The mycelial network and the way Godwyn is upsetting it, the ancestors worshipping decomposition, the prevalence of mushroom growths connected to the scarlet rot, and the explanation for the little shrooms next to the npc ghosts are all great observations. I wouldn't say Elden Ring is "about mushrooms", and I think some of your points are reaching a little bit, but considering the amount of floral imagery like trees and flowers in Elden Ring I am now convinced that the imagery of fungi is an important part of this theme which has gone largely overlooked by the community
I love how you keep finding more and more evidence to build into this. It's absolutely fantastic. I would stress that I don't think the story of Elden Ring is literally about mushrooms. But I do think that the mushroom imagery is deliberately intended to structure the goings on. It's all a huge visual metaphor to allow us to see and understand what is happening as the Outer Gods war amongst themselves just as the demi-gods do. It gives us the how and why to go along with the what, and really brings the entire Outer God aspect of the story into focus. Which, I believe, also fuels the parallel and rhyming main plot with Marika/Radagon and company.
I love this, whenever I saw mushrooms I always thought it was the world trying to change, decomposing into something new, mushrooms are such a cool thing and are almost alien
Well, the fungi kingdom is its own thing here on this Earth of ours. They're not plants, they're not animals, they're something else... they're fungi. That sense of otherness is a bit unsettling, isn't it?
Remember the moment of realisation in Bloodborne that this game isn't just about werewolves and beasts? Now it turns out Elden Ring has this 'iceberg' moment too, but it was so hidden and convoluted it took a few months to just start thinking about this hah... I wonder if these Cosmic Shrooms make a good Skooma 🤔
Miyazaki has definitely read into Thelema, which is were Kirkbride claims to have got his ideas for stuff like Skooma. There are recurring themes where mushrooms are a kind of spirit guide called a psychopomp that can guide you through limbo or liminal space, and even time itself. It's also a huge influence for Terrence Mckenna's machine elf theories, and the entire idea that taking psychedelics can lead to enlightenment.
@@stormquist9405 So the 'main mission' is to kill Mergo, the infant Great One - the child of Queen Yharnam and probably Oedon. Why? - Well, we do all of it for the Moon Presence. As we become a Hunter we unknowingly enter Its service. And while "Great Ones are sympathetic in spirit", the Moon Presence doesn't like other Great Ones.
I'm glad to see this theory get more credence. The Ancestor Spirit had glowing growths on its antlers which look a lot like the Xylaria fungus that grows on dead logs. Not sure yet but I would put some money on Astel having some correlation as well. There could even be some deeper understanding of what happened in Caelid if the fungal component of the environment was deduced. The large fungal disks on the ground remind me of apothecia from Lichen which is a symbiotic relationship between fungus and algae. Maybe the red rot is actually reg algae and the fungal growths are natural balancing of trying to contain and repurpose the death into a life source. In Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne there's also a lot of fungal representation. DS 3 has the corpse of Dusk, the fungus in the depths of the chaos ruins, growing on the consumed king, the hard growths on the Ghru. Bloodborne seems to have alien fungus in connection with the great ones. Perhaps these fungal connections have more importance that just flavor additions.
What they’re starting to understand about mushrooms is that they act as a natural neural network for trees. The crucible was here before, the Erdtree mearly grafted with it and bore fruit. The fruit of fungus.
Every other explanation of Elden Ring I've seen (though good) are pretty much different variations of the same thing. This explanation however was an exceptional example of out of the box thinking backed by solid evidence. Bravo!! I especially liked the part where even Ronnie's appearance was that of a particular mushroom. I never would have caught that.
Evidence? More like a lot of reaching beyond a certain point. Especially given it's heavily inspired by Berserk art and storyline. Erdtree looks like a fucking tree, ranni looks like Schierke who is also a witch. I can go on beyond the obvious Malenia connection that's not an schizo autistic spergout seeing patterns where there are none.
By the way, I must say that I grew up with Metroid Prime, 1, 2 (my favourite) and 3. All of them very dear to me. Made me instantly enjoy your channel all the more. Love the OST!
I think my theory is best. They took a bunch of meta ideas and applied them loosely with some sprinkles of highly detailed lore connecting everything together like the stitches in a quilt. This lets you fill in the space between with theories and gives them room to work with thematically and lorewise, they could have nothing done, no ideas storyboarded or anything for the dlc and could totally use the theory crafter youtubers as a resource for ideas for new content and you'd never know you were the dog wagging the tail.
Dude the first video had me 70% on board with you, but the further evidence and explanation of this video made me a true believer. You’re the mushroom apostle. And damn observant.
In Souls, we had the fire as an allegory for death and rebirth. We know from interviews that the tree is the central motif for Elden Ring's cyclical ages, and that metaphor seems to extend to all botanical beings! I'm so amazed by the depth of research that went into crafting this world, and even more so by the research you did to analyze it! Fromsoft TH-camrs truly are modern art historians :D
Another interesting think is Marika. There is a type of fungus that infects ants and uses its Mycelium to pilot the body back to the nest, then release the spores, causing the rest of the nest to become infected. This could be similar to Marika calling the Tarnished back to the lands between, being forced by the Greater Will to call them back for nutrients
This was my exact thought! Our tarnished bodies have been inoculated by spores of the Greater Will through Marika. Overall the video help prove my position that this whole struggle is just a land grab fight between the Outer God's to determine who get recycling rights in the land between or something like that haha
I would like to see more added to this theory. Theres more characters and things that I think could have been inspired by fungi. Such as; Yura, Godfrey while Serosh is on him, Radahn with his long red mane, Godrick, The scions, Renala, the horns on the omen. Theres thousands of types of fungi so I know they take all kinds of interesting shapes.
I recently watched a video called "What was the first fingus" by History of the Earth and they talk about the multiple interesting things that can add to this theory, but what blew my mind is the first fungus' were just giant stems sticking high out of the earth and an illustration used in the video when they describe it looks very similar to the many erdtree like "stems" we see in the Elden Beast arena. Just thought you might like to know that and possibly look into it deeper.
honestly i had a sneaking suspicion about all the different types of mushrooms. so creative and interesting. fromsoft really has set the bar in the cosmos with this game
I'm GRRM's ASOIAF series, the weirwood trees have tons of mushroom symbolism. They're white with red tops, they produce a hallucinogenic substance, and it seems likely that they don't grow like actual trees but sprout up from the ground. So on that front at least it's very plausible similar themes went into elden ring
That kinda explains how marika and radagon could have children too, since fungi reproduce by spreading spores and both of "their" kids had something in common with mushrooms, one spreads it and the other grows equivalent of the erdtree, whis is a fungi
Wow, awesome video man, makes more sense than almost anything out there, and i'm subbed to almost every lore channel lul. Paul Stamets would be proud of this video :)
The trapped spirits being surrounded by mushrooms is what convinced me. First time I saw them I thought it was weird, but figured it'd make sense later and forgot about it. Felt like a brick when you reminded me of them
Been loving these videos, this reminds me I'd seen a translator delve into what they believed Empyrean were, and they came to the conclusion that they were all budded off from an original parent. Radagon's Icon depicts plantlife branching from him that is found in other Golden Order artwork, each Empyrean is associated with a specific flower save for Ranni (who may instead be the mushroom here). I can definitely see all this imagery being deliberate, that's just the type of writer Miyazaki is. Love the tie-in of the Outer Gods to decomposition methods, it also made me realize that much like Souls 4 Lords+an obscured 5th, 4 major Lords of Cinder and an obscure 5th in Ludleth, we have 4 major named Outer Gods and then a 5th (the unnamed Outer God served by the Twinbird). I wonder what's going on there, I've seen people speculate that last Outer God is Death itself but that seems tenuous at best, but given it IS associated with Death at the least it may play into the DLC's spiritual connotations.
Makes sense. I imagine the game developers try to find something, like mushrooms and decay, to be the foundation of their story-worldbuilding. Gives them something concrete that they can refer back to, makes the writing easier and faster. For a game like this, where one person, even one committee, would be hard-pressed to write everything... it would help a lot to have something as concrete as mushrooms to have staff refer back to, to keep everything at least somewhat consistent.
I can safely say I have learnt more about fungi from your videos than I did at school! All jokes aside, if this was not intended as part of the lore, it's a REALLY big coincidence. Great vid once again :)
Dude you definitely blew my mind with this one! Some crazy observations and realizations that I probably would have never tied together! Thank you for putting out such creative and original content!
I think this makes sense. In some instances I don't think the devs went so deep with it (like the explanation for the placement of the lake of rot) but I think this is part of the inspiration for the world and lore.
I'm not fully convinced that every outer god is related to mushrooms, such as the crystlellians god, or the ancient dragons and The One Great but, you have undoubtedly convinced me that mushrooms play a much larger role for the greater will and the frenzied flame than I realized. Also, your garden analogy was very interesting and made me view some things in a new light, I especially liked how you linked character and ability designs to real life mushrooms..
The dragons have stone scales. They're like the stones which were the first thing that existed before fungus and lichens we're able to break them down for new life to sprout. This is like the story of life on our own world, and how the land gave way to terrestrial life.
WOW... Had me at Mushrooms. Excellent theorizing and speculation. You my friend, now have a spanking new subscriber. Looking forward to more Elden Ring content.
The Elden Beast is the mycelial network in the lands between. He enters the stage by gaining power from the decaying corpse of Radagon where he is surrounded by arch trees glowing in the same golden color, and his body is made of a ton of strands and branches. A few of his a attacks have the branches on his back stretch up towards the trees and send out spores. Love your theory and consider it canon. I can totally picture Martin and Miyazaki imagining a final boss fight where the first boss you killed is devoured by a fungus and then you have to fight that creature.
I can absolutely see this as a sound theory. Kegare and the clearing of it (or failing to) is a theme running throughout the game, I think. Kegare is the defilement and impurity one gets through being in contact with death/decomposition, the impurity of childbirth (both parents), blood, rape and so on. It is not enough to cleanse only one aspect - all must be cleansed and cleared. All of the Lands Between are wrought with kegare in some form or other and the mushrooms are the primary marker of that. It is a world where parasitic outer gods both create and thrive on kegare. Except the Frenzy Flame - that alone is the one that seeks to burn/cleanse it all away. The more I look into this (and into alchemy) the only ending that seems to give real hope is the one that burns/clears the way for a new construct that is pure and untouched by kegare.
Thanks you for your dedication to this idea for so long. This is amazing. I love it! I don’t think you’re crazy; there’s definitely intent behind all the evidence from the game you presented. Excellent work.
As a biology student who loves mushrooms, and writes down an own fantasy universe where metaphysics is connected to mushrooms, I love this theory so much.
This level of detail is more than we deserve. Thank you so much Hidetaka Miyazaki and fromsoft. These games are more than just “video games” this is undeniable art and extremely high level art at that.
Awesome video! Glad it's back up. Elden Ring is so theme-forward (as opposed to narrative or realism), that I think it's fair to say there is more than one meaning to everything in the game. No one theory can explain everything, and the game can be "about" decomposition, and alchemy, and free will, etc - all at once. Suffice to say, I think you're on to something, and it's not incompatible with other theories about the game.
The idea that it's a territory war for decomposition is fascinating and makes a ton of sense. The whole point of having mushrooms is the same as Celtic Mythology's tree symbol which is a symbol for recycling in nature. Rot and making room for new life in a symbiotic relationship. It's super cool to see these concepts become factions in a belief system conflict which would tie it back into mythology. The mushroom throughout history has been an amazing catalyst for influencing belief systems with its mind bending and hallucinogenic properties. Pscilocybin was widely used in shamanic practices for thousands of years all across the globe. I'm positive that's why it's linked to the belief systems at play in this game, and how it represents the recycling of the natural order of things. It's the most natural way for a cycle to begin with the coming of a new age for the faction that decidedly comes out on top by the time of the next Elden Lord. Many could agree that this game is about mushrooms, but reason they are there is to mark the point in the cycle of life where a fallen Kingdom is rebirthed and begins to rise again. The point of this game, quite eloquently put in its marketing, is to rise. From a state of stagnance and rot, to the flow of water that springs new life. This is why it's about mythologies and philosophy as well. They are all talking about the same thing. Rise, Tarnished. Ye dead who yet live.
The natural biological relationship between organisms is a symbiosis - parasitism or "infections" are much rarer. Symbiosis creates a beneficial outcome for both parties. In fact, humans are a perfect symbiosis of viruses and bacteria and therefore illness is NOT what we've been told. But after these last 3 years, I can see how most people do not understand basic Biology... ;-)
Another interesting detail is that Rennala's Amber Egg has a bunch of tiny white orbs with stems inside it. Those white orbs look very similar to Didymium sp, which is a type of slime mold.
In regards to that theory, it matches with a concept within alchemy called putrefaction, and one of the earliest steps in forming the Philosopher's Stone.
I have been thinking of this theory the last couple of days and it seems a lot of the world building fits. Of all the creatures FromSoft could have put underground next to the Lake of Rot, they chose ants.. and not any ants! ants that are pretty much identical to the Attini ants. Attini ants are known to cultivate Agaricaceae mushrooms underground and fittingly in Elden ring, the ants are found with mountains of corpses right next to the Lake of Rot. Also there's alot of parallels between the Frenzied Flame and the "Ophiocordyceps unilateralis" mushroom. The Ophiocordyceps unilateralis mushroom infects small insects and makes them go "mad". Eventually as the infection progresses the musroom will make the insect find a high place where it will submit to the infection and the mushroom will grow out of the insects body and spread its spores to the surroundings. Fittingly the frenzied flame villages are only found at high places like on top of mountains, towering over the surrounding land.
Holy shit, I’m shocked but surprisingly a lot of this adds up you hell of a theory! Also I always thought Ronni’s hat looked like the indigo mushroom to and underneath the hat it even kinda looks like mushroom gills.
Wow, I always wondered why there were all those broken pots around the minor erd trees. That makes me have such a better appreciation for the overuse of the erd tree avatars. At first I wasn't really that interested in elden rings lore like I was dark souls but this video might have changed my mind. This is an awesome theory and very well might be true. Good work io. Keep it up.
I think the pots are actually a reference to some old Japanese burial practices. I guess here it's a form of minor Erdtree burial. However, the pots are sealed and therefore the bodies will be preserved.
You could say the gold that is surrounding the capital as what happens when plants are having their nutrients sapped. as the chlorophyll leaves the plant the leaves turn red then orange then yellow then eventually brown. since this is the land closest to the erdtree it makes sense that it's where you see the greatest effect. Food for thought.
Fun Fact regarding the Fungal Nature of the 2 Fingers: There is a type of shroom that grows on tree trunks called "Oreja de Palo" (I don´t know the proper english name and I ain´t googling it) But it roughly translate to "Wooden Ear" Thats because the mushroom wich grows in kinda ear shaped on the tree but if you take it out of the tree (essentialy killing it) after about a day it will dry out and harden like iron wood. So there´s a real life presedent for the fingers turning woodlike when killed. Final fact. People use to draw or write on the shrooms while they are still freshly harvested so that once it hardens the mesagge or drawing will remain there forever if cared for properly
Bloodborne also has some mushroom-themes, so this checks out. Some things off the top of my head: Rom's grave Celestial emissary heads Ebrietas's wings (Mycelium) Spores in Isz Things growing from master Willem Amygdala heads (morels/colus)
Regarding the Erdtree, what about the fact that the brown, wooden interior of the tree begins glowing gold during "Mend the Elden Ring" endings? That seems to suggest that the brown wood and the gold are the same life form, along with the minor Erdtrees having brown wood and golden leaves. The saplings with the Golden Seeds are golden too, and being solid, "illusory" seems like a misnomer for them. The Shattering doesn't seem to have nourished the trees either, with many minor ones still being untouched by the Deathblight. Additionally, Fia and the Dung Eater's endings change the entire color of the Erdtree, so the Frenzied Flame is more just destroying the entire tree than revealing any kind of second tree. There also appears to be a belief in Erdtree reincarnation, rather than souls being used as fuel, and the Great Rune of the Unborn implies that there was such a reincarnation process, even if Rennala, especially in her terrible mental state, cannot use this well. This, along with item descriptions saying that the Erdtree's golden light once had a healing effect and the Erdtree delivered bounties from its branches, suggest that the gold and the bark are naturally connected, and the Erdtree did give to the Lands Between rather than just taking from it. Additionally, Marika's plan with the Tarnished was to fight against the Elden Beast, and she seems to have even fought it outright after shattering the Elden Ring, seeing as how she's found strung up and impaled a la the Elden Beast's grab attack. Melina's dialogues quoting Marika spell out a general plan to defy a system rather than sustain one. As for Godwyn's funeral, his body was likely just given the highest honors of Erdtree burial, with him being a demi-god, as opposed to him being placed in a way to maximize the Deathblight's influence. The Deathblight itself might even be caused by yet another outer god, as the Twinbird, mother of the Deathbirds, is said to be the envoy of an outer god, and the Deathbirds can inflict Deathblight with their screams. The rest of the fungi analysis is highly interesting and nicely researched! The idea of spores in the Eternal Cities is pretty neat, though I'm curious what that means for the pink false nebula. I feel the Eternal Cities can have a greater mushroom/spore connection with the Starlight Shards potions as well. These potions, which the Nightmaiden & Swordstress Puppets description confirms existed in Nokron's heyday as opposed to being Seluvis' invention, destroy free will and make someone a pawn. Some fungi destroy a being's free will, most notably the cordyceps fungus. Cordyceps in particular is noted as targeting ants, lining up with how the denizens of Nokstella use magic to enslave giant ants as cavalry. If the rider is knocked off or otherwise put to sleep with various items, the ant will regain its free will and attack the rider. A similar event seems to occur when the potion-enslaved troops of Caria Manor regain themselves long enough to kill Pidia. As such, the Starlight Shards might be a sort of fungal spore, seeking people to enslave to varying degrees. Even Ranni might be bound without realizing it, as she needs a "fate" from the stars to wield the Fingerslayer Blade, and her soul is blue just like those enslaved by the Starlight Shards. The blue aura also appears for people whose soul remnants are puppeteered by Fia, and Rogier's dialogue implies that his soul is not a willing combatant. Ranni's outfit also resembles the entoloma hochstetteri mushroom, whose toxicity is still unknown, implying a further innate danger. Adding in how her Dark Moon is likely the black moon of the Eternal Cities, and the Nox gear speaks of awaiting an Age of Stars, and Ranni might be yet another pawn rather than someone able to be free. Regarding Miquella's Haligtree, he may have used his blood to nourish it in the hopes that his demi-god blood, along with the curse that made him eternally a child, could be a steady supply of superpowered, holy energy to allow the tree to ascend to something properly holy and supernatural. Additionally, in contrast to your claim near the end of the video, I don't think the Haligtree succeeded -- Mohg effectively sabotaged it, and the tree is now subjected to the Scarlet Rot. I'd like to hear your thoughts on Miquella's Bewitching Branches as well. Overall, this is a very nice, interesting video and idea! By the way, since Rennala seems to have made contact with the moon and then rose to prominence, is it possible that even her moon is an outer god? That could also explain things like her sheer height and potential ability to live for ages, provided that the Erdtree and the Elden Ring didn't always affect Liurnia and its population. Also, what about the Fell God of the Fire Giants? That being seems to be an outer god as well.
I don't think the old tree was infected by fungi, but by an invasive vine species. Ficcus trees such as banyans are parasitic, and grow around a host tree, sapping their nutrients, until it eventually dies, and the ficcus forms a tree in its place. While they aren't identical to the Erdtree, there's a few species of ficcus that resemble the Erdtree when fully grown. One species of ficcus is called the strangler fig, and it is famous for the patterns it forms as it grows over it's host tree and eventually replacing it. These patterns can form nearly perfect lattice weave patterns, remarkably similar to the symbol closest associated with Radagon. The plant parts often seen as flower stamen similar to those of the Miranda flowers on the Radagon Icon are also similar in appearance of inflorescence, grown by ficus vines prior to them establishing roots. Even in this video, we see the vines growing up the tree, the highest reaches being the only places where the gold has not spread yet, but this is where the vines are seen growing towards. Then there's the many trees and roots depicted as almost rope-like, twisting around each other, as well as the minor Erdtrees, which look like they are infested with vines and sickly as a result, a common side effect of having their nutrients sucked away by parasitic creeping vines. Then there's other vines like Kudzu, which only produce fruit if they are growing from a tree or other structure, with some seeds being yellow, not unlike the golden seeds. The Erdtree was originally thought to not produce seeds as it was "perfect," but perhaps these seeds were not produced by the tree, but by the golden vines growing over it. It would also explain how there's a door leading directly to the centre of the tree, and how it can be hollow inside yet still alive. The vines grew on the tree and strangled the life from it, eventually forming an imitation of a proper tree trunk while having a hollow centre as the original tree decomposes and is consumed by the vines. Might also be why the Erdtree and minor Erdtrees have all stopped absorbing the dead, the vines having fully taken over and killed the host, which up until that point had been continuing to absorb nutrients with its roots that ultimately fed the vines
So I Love this so much, such an interesting way to make a story for a game. I can see this being like a 50/50 as to whether or not it's true. Like we go to ask them "How did you come up with this story?" and they answer "Well you see Mushrooms had a big part in it." That would be cool, but I can also just see them going "Nah, we just got some cool inspiration for designs in the game FROM mushrooms, don't look to deep into that." But the one thing I will say that is criminal here, is how this hasn't gotten more attention. This is so well thought out and made, happy that I finally got around to watching this one after all the other videos that it's been mentioned in. I hope that this gets out there more so we can have more conversations around how Elden Ring is just about Mushrooms :3
Definitely makes sense ... That they used these principals and facts as sort of dirivitive material / reference/ inspiration....to make the world have a sort of synergy and connected ecosystem.
3:29 The frenzied flame doesn’t want to burn everything down to start everything anew it wants to end life permanently and return everything to the one great. No more fractures no more births
Eerily, and almost certainly deliberately, the Outer Gods appear to be waging the own version of The Shattering. The One Great fractured (as Marika and the Elden Ring have been) and now the broken pieces vie to replace the old lord of creation with their new viewpoints and approaches. And the parallels don't end there. Given that the Greater Will takes the blame for division, and thus suffering, in the dialogue from the Frenzied Flame camp, it stands to reason that the Greater Will is the FIRST DIVISION. (Or, at least, the first one that didn't return home. Which could also inspire it's name. It is the first being with a Greater Will than that of the One Great, the first to become a truly separate entity.) It is the first being other than the One Great to come into existence, a fracture from that parent being that achieved it's own will and now wishes to supplant it's creator and other self. Just as Radagon appears to have resulted from Marika dividing herself and who now seeks to supplant his mother/sister/wife and become master of the Lands Between.
The Frenzied Flame might not even intend to recombine everything, it might just seek to only have itself exist as a crude replacement to the One Great, or a general narcissism. Everyone affected by the Frenzied Flame seems to be especially miserable and tormented by the Frenzied Flame to boot.
Definitely a huge influence, I think it all started with the mycelial network idea and was built out from there. But "right" or "wrong" I think it is a great prospective. 👍
i thought the exact same thing during my playthrough, that the tre was a shroom. and the cult around it was due to spore altering the mind of people like the cordyceps mixed with genesteller of 40k.
Spread the spores of this theory🍄
The frenzied flame isnt an outer god
@@oogwaytheotakuclips4370 It is though
@@oogwaytheotakuclips4370 yes it is
@@Ziostorm i was about to say "how?" Before i remembered the thousands of lore videos i watched sorry for bothering you
The theory is very interesting! The pieces of the lore puzzle seem to have been gathered.
''Why is it always... mushroom?''
Fromsoftware should be laughging at us right now.
PLayers subconciously understood the Mushroom theme without even realizing it huh
If this isn't what they intended that'll be crazy. All the imagery makes so much sense with the lore and the meanings. And if it does end up being true that will also be crazy that mushrooms inspired them to make Elden Ring.
Probably not directly intended tbh but it's easy to see how the connection arises if one or more of the artists simply happen to be mushroom nerds. The "real" central themes of FromSoft games always somehow tie to death, decay, the fall from grace, the futility of fighting them and the ruin brought by immortality and stagnation contrasted with being able to let go and allowing something new to grow. Mushrooms arguably are the only visible agents of the decay itself IRL with flies, maggots and other carrion scavengers potentially being a second option (and guess what Mohgwyn, Deathroot and Scarlet Rot _also_ feature?) So mushrooms are an important symbolic aspect but not the intention or "meaning" in my opinion.
I started this video very skeptical, but ended up feeling pretty convinced on a lot of the points you made. The mycelial network and the way Godwyn is upsetting it, the ancestors worshipping decomposition, the prevalence of mushroom growths connected to the scarlet rot, and the explanation for the little shrooms next to the npc ghosts are all great observations. I wouldn't say Elden Ring is "about mushrooms", and I think some of your points are reaching a little bit, but considering the amount of floral imagery like trees and flowers in Elden Ring I am now convinced that the imagery of fungi is an important part of this theme which has gone largely overlooked by the community
I love how you keep finding more and more evidence to build into this. It's absolutely fantastic. I would stress that I don't think the story of Elden Ring is literally about mushrooms. But I do think that the mushroom imagery is deliberately intended to structure the goings on. It's all a huge visual metaphor to allow us to see and understand what is happening as the Outer Gods war amongst themselves just as the demi-gods do. It gives us the how and why to go along with the what, and really brings the entire Outer God aspect of the story into focus. Which, I believe, also fuels the parallel and rhyming main plot with Marika/Radagon and company.
It's figuratively structured around mushrooms.
And the literal is secondary to the figurative, in the last instance.
"why is it always mushroom"
I love this, whenever I saw mushrooms I always thought it was the world trying to change, decomposing into something new, mushrooms are such a cool thing and are almost alien
Well, the fungi kingdom is its own thing here on this Earth of ours. They're not plants, they're not animals, they're something else... they're fungi. That sense of otherness is a bit unsettling, isn't it?
@@sewaprolo I hear a fungi at a party really livens things up.
@@ClonserHalphalive *bdm tss*
@@ClonserHalphalive yeah those magic ones
Mushroom spores are hearty enough to survive in space. Alien might be the perfect way to think of them.
Remember the moment of realisation in Bloodborne that this game isn't just about werewolves and beasts?
Now it turns out Elden Ring has this 'iceberg' moment too, but it was so hidden and convoluted it took a few months to just start thinking about this hah...
I wonder if these Cosmic Shrooms make a good Skooma 🤔
Cosmic Skooma
Miyazaki has definitely read into Thelema, which is were Kirkbride claims to have got his ideas for stuff like Skooma. There are recurring themes where mushrooms are a kind of spirit guide called a psychopomp that can guide you through limbo or liminal space, and even time itself.
It's also a huge influence for Terrence Mckenna's machine elf theories, and the entire idea that taking psychedelics can lead to enlightenment.
What was Bloodborne really about?
@@stormquist9405 So the 'main mission' is to kill Mergo, the infant Great One - the child of Queen Yharnam and probably Oedon. Why? - Well, we do all of it for the Moon Presence. As we become a Hunter we unknowingly enter Its service. And while "Great Ones are sympathetic in spirit", the Moon Presence doesn't like other Great Ones.
I'm glad to see this theory get more credence. The Ancestor Spirit had glowing growths on its antlers which look a lot like the Xylaria fungus that grows on dead logs. Not sure yet but I would put some money on Astel having some correlation as well. There could even be some deeper understanding of what happened in Caelid if the fungal component of the environment was deduced. The large fungal disks on the ground remind me of apothecia from Lichen which is a symbiotic relationship between fungus and algae. Maybe the red rot is actually reg algae and the fungal growths are natural balancing of trying to contain and repurpose the death into a life source.
In Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne there's also a lot of fungal representation. DS 3 has the corpse of Dusk, the fungus in the depths of the chaos ruins, growing on the consumed king, the hard growths on the Ghru. Bloodborne seems to have alien fungus in connection with the great ones. Perhaps these fungal connections have more importance that just flavor additions.
Oh, the rot being a "red tide"! Good thinking.
You nailed it with this theory, dude. Wonderful job. The parts regarding the jars and the gold infecting the original tree blew my mind.
We need a crossover between you and ziostorm
Woah, a wild Max!
The creator of this theory will be on Joe Rogans podcast next week
That’s where I got the idea lol
What?? I need context... im like 99.9% sure thats not true... but....
@@Ziostorm that episode was insane.
Weed and mushrooms bro
@@shadowofenvy1847 it's a joke
What they’re starting to understand about mushrooms is that they act as a natural neural network for trees. The crucible was here before, the Erdtree mearly grafted with it and bore fruit.
The fruit of fungus.
Every other explanation of Elden Ring I've seen (though good) are pretty much different variations of the same thing. This explanation however was an exceptional example of out of the box thinking backed by solid evidence. Bravo!! I especially liked the part where even Ronnie's appearance was that of a particular mushroom. I never would have caught that.
Evidence? More like a lot of reaching beyond a certain point. Especially given it's heavily inspired by Berserk art and storyline. Erdtree looks like a fucking tree, ranni looks like Schierke who is also a witch. I can go on beyond the obvious Malenia connection that's not an schizo autistic spergout seeing patterns where there are none.
“It’s better to be a warrior in the garden than a Gardner in a war”-Tarnished
I’ve been waiting a long time for this one. THANK YOU!!!!
Lets let the mushrooms 🍄 take effect as we watch this....TOOGETHAAAAAA
A whole video on Mushroom theory, you must be a fungi at parties
Glad to start my day with this ER Lore video! Thanks Ziostorm.
By the way, I must say that I grew up with Metroid Prime, 1, 2 (my favourite) and 3. All of them very dear to me. Made me instantly enjoy your channel all the more. Love the OST!
Vaatividea been real quiet since this dropped…
"This place is kinda...Juicy" - Jack Black (Pick of Destiny) 🍄
I think my theory is best. They took a bunch of meta ideas and applied them loosely with some sprinkles of highly detailed lore connecting everything together like the stitches in a quilt.
This lets you fill in the space between with theories and gives them room to work with thematically and lorewise, they could have nothing done, no ideas storyboarded or anything for the dlc and could totally use the theory crafter youtubers as a resource for ideas for new content and you'd never know you were the dog wagging the tail.
Dude the first video had me 70% on board with you, but the further evidence and explanation of this video made me a true believer. You’re the mushroom apostle. And damn observant.
In Souls, we had the fire as an allegory for death and rebirth. We know from interviews that the tree is the central motif for Elden Ring's cyclical ages, and that metaphor seems to extend to all botanical beings! I'm so amazed by the depth of research that went into crafting this world, and even more so by the research you did to analyze it! Fromsoft TH-camrs truly are modern art historians :D
Another interesting think is Marika. There is a type of fungus that infects ants and uses its Mycelium to pilot the body back to the nest, then release the spores, causing the rest of the nest to become infected. This could be similar to Marika calling the Tarnished back to the lands between, being forced by the Greater Will to call them back for nutrients
This was my exact thought! Our tarnished bodies have been inoculated by spores of the Greater Will through Marika. Overall the video help prove my position that this whole struggle is just a land grab fight between the Outer God's to determine who get recycling rights in the land between or something like that haha
And the ants in the game that drop Numen runes.
Man it's all coming together
The _Memory of Grace_ item you start with can look sort of like a cloud of spores being released from a mushroom
Mushroom ahead in short, mushroom ahead
Great theory, and it makes sense since Martin is just an old hippy.
I would like to see more added to this theory. Theres more characters and things that I think could have been inspired by fungi. Such as; Yura, Godfrey while Serosh is on him, Radahn with his long red mane, Godrick, The scions, Renala, the horns on the omen. Theres thousands of types of fungi so I know they take all kinds of interesting shapes.
I recently watched a video called "What was the first fingus" by History of the Earth and they talk about the multiple interesting things that can add to this theory, but what blew my mind is the first fungus' were just giant stems sticking high out of the earth and an illustration used in the video when they describe it looks very similar to the many erdtree like "stems" we see in the Elden Beast arena. Just thought you might like to know that and possibly look into it deeper.
honestly i had a sneaking suspicion about all the different types of mushrooms. so creative and interesting. fromsoft really has set the bar in the cosmos with this game
I love how you keep expanding on this. This was amazing to think about.
"What if I told you that Elden Ring wasn't fun, but instead, it was fungus?"
Glad you remade this with more depth. Been a supporter of this since your first vid about it.
I'm GRRM's ASOIAF series, the weirwood trees have tons of mushroom symbolism. They're white with red tops, they produce a hallucinogenic substance, and it seems likely that they don't grow like actual trees but sprout up from the ground. So on that front at least it's very plausible similar themes went into elden ring
The outer gods feeding on people’s souls/runes sounds a lot like the Legacy of Kain games.
Mushroom time
-Wait, is it all a mushroom?
-Always have been
That kinda explains how marika and radagon could have children too, since fungi reproduce by spreading spores and both of "their" kids had something in common with mushrooms, one spreads it and the other grows equivalent of the erdtree, whis is a fungi
Wow, awesome video man, makes more sense than almost anything out there, and i'm subbed to almost every lore channel lul.
Paul Stamets would be proud of this video :)
Him “to be honest I did t think it. Oils go this deep”
That’s what she said!
The trapped spirits being surrounded by mushrooms is what convinced me. First time I saw them I thought it was weird, but figured it'd make sense later and forgot about it. Felt like a brick when you reminded me of them
maybe its not directly about mushrooms, but i can certainly see the parallels and influence. honestly, i love this theory.
Been loving these videos, this reminds me I'd seen a translator delve into what they believed Empyrean were, and they came to the conclusion that they were all budded off from an original parent. Radagon's Icon depicts plantlife branching from him that is found in other Golden Order artwork, each Empyrean is associated with a specific flower save for Ranni (who may instead be the mushroom here). I can definitely see all this imagery being deliberate, that's just the type of writer Miyazaki is. Love the tie-in of the Outer Gods to decomposition methods, it also made me realize that much like Souls 4 Lords+an obscured 5th, 4 major Lords of Cinder and an obscure 5th in Ludleth, we have 4 major named Outer Gods and then a 5th (the unnamed Outer God served by the Twinbird). I wonder what's going on there, I've seen people speculate that last Outer God is Death itself but that seems tenuous at best, but given it IS associated with Death at the least it may play into the DLC's spiritual connotations.
Makes sense. I imagine the game developers try to find something, like mushrooms and decay, to be the foundation of their story-worldbuilding. Gives them something concrete that they can refer back to, makes the writing easier and faster. For a game like this, where one person, even one committee, would be hard-pressed to write everything... it would help a lot to have something as concrete as mushrooms to have staff refer back to, to keep everything at least somewhat consistent.
Genuinely insane how spot on so much of this theory is after the dlc
I can safely say I have learnt more about fungi from your videos than I did at school! All jokes aside, if this was not intended as part of the lore, it's a REALLY big coincidence. Great vid once again :)
Dude you definitely blew my mind with this one! Some crazy observations and realizations that I probably would have never tied together! Thank you for putting out such creative and original content!
The metroid music somehow seems appropriate for deep mushroom lore.
The thumbnail for this video is top tier, I laughed my ass off.
I've been won over, Zio. All hail the mushroom theory!
I think this makes sense. In some instances I don't think the devs went so deep with it (like the explanation for the placement of the lake of rot) but I think this is part of the inspiration for the world and lore.
I heard the first video the day you released it. To this day, this is my favorite theory!
Omg, we've been playing Mario the whole time
I'm not fully convinced that every outer god is related to mushrooms, such as the crystlellians god, or the ancient dragons and The One Great but, you have undoubtedly convinced me that mushrooms play a much larger role for the greater will and the frenzied flame than I realized. Also, your garden analogy was very interesting and made me view some things in a new light, I especially liked how you linked character and ability designs to real life mushrooms..
The dragons have stone scales. They're like the stones which were the first thing that existed before fungus and lichens we're able to break them down for new life to sprout. This is like the story of life on our own world, and how the land gave way to terrestrial life.
This is such a cool theory. Deserves way more views.
WOW... Had me at Mushrooms. Excellent theorizing and speculation. You my friend, now have a spanking new subscriber. Looking forward to more Elden Ring content.
The Elden Beast is the mycelial network in the lands between. He enters the stage by gaining power from the decaying corpse of Radagon where he is surrounded by arch trees glowing in the same golden color, and his body is made of a ton of strands and branches. A few of his a attacks have the branches on his back stretch up towards the trees and send out spores. Love your theory and consider it canon. I can totally picture Martin and Miyazaki imagining a final boss fight where the first boss you killed is devoured by a fungus and then you have to fight that creature.
That Metroid Prime music caught me off guard. Awesome video bro
I can absolutely see this as a sound theory. Kegare and the clearing of it (or failing to) is a theme running throughout the game, I think. Kegare is the defilement and impurity one gets through being in contact with death/decomposition, the impurity of childbirth (both parents), blood, rape and so on. It is not enough to cleanse only one aspect - all must be cleansed and cleared. All of the Lands Between are wrought with kegare in some form or other and the mushrooms are the primary marker of that. It is a world where parasitic outer gods both create and thrive on kegare. Except the Frenzy Flame - that alone is the one that seeks to burn/cleanse it all away. The more I look into this (and into alchemy) the only ending that seems to give real hope is the one that burns/clears the way for a new construct that is pure and untouched by kegare.
Rewatching as I really love this theory. Not only interesting as lore but also as a philosophically idea to the universe
Ziostorm been munching on shrooms
It was revealed to me by the clockwork elves
Thanks you for your dedication to this idea for so long. This is amazing. I love it! I don’t think you’re crazy; there’s definitely intent behind all the evidence from the game you presented. Excellent work.
As a biology student who loves mushrooms, and writes down an own fantasy universe where metaphysics is connected to mushrooms, I love this theory so much.
Okay you've convinced me Elden Ring is Mario
It... Surprisingly makes sense
I a m fully convinced. Best theory I've heard yet! 10/10, amazing theory crafting!
I just posted your video on reddit in the community for more views on this theory. Its really a dope theory.
This is an epic theory that spent months on the making. Incredibly satisfying to see it reach its full potential
Of course I find this video while I’m tripping balls! 🍄🍄🍄
This level of detail is more than we deserve. Thank you so much Hidetaka Miyazaki and fromsoft. These games are more than just “video games” this is undeniable art and extremely high level art at that.
Well versed. Also, don't forget to thank yourself, and the whole community. 🫂
High level that wants to ruin your day if you’re not a high level Tsktsktsk. but I agree the vibes and art are immaculate.
Awesome video! Glad it's back up. Elden Ring is so theme-forward (as opposed to narrative or realism), that I think it's fair to say there is more than one meaning to everything in the game. No one theory can explain everything, and the game can be "about" decomposition, and alchemy, and free will, etc - all at once. Suffice to say, I think you're on to something, and it's not incompatible with other theories about the game.
The idea that it's a territory war for decomposition is fascinating and makes a ton of sense. The whole point of having mushrooms is the same as Celtic Mythology's tree symbol which is a symbol for recycling in nature. Rot and making room for new life in a symbiotic relationship. It's super cool to see these concepts become factions in a belief system conflict which would tie it back into mythology. The mushroom throughout history has been an amazing catalyst for influencing belief systems with its mind bending and hallucinogenic properties.
Pscilocybin was widely used in shamanic practices for thousands of years all across the globe. I'm positive that's why it's linked to the belief systems at play in this game, and how it represents the recycling of the natural order of things. It's the most natural way for a cycle to begin with the coming of a new age for the faction that decidedly comes out on top by the time of the next Elden Lord.
Many could agree that this game is about mushrooms, but reason they are there is to mark the point in the cycle of life where a fallen Kingdom is rebirthed and begins to rise again. The point of this game, quite eloquently put in its marketing, is to rise. From a state of stagnance and rot, to the flow of water that springs new life. This is why it's about mythologies and philosophy as well. They are all talking about the same thing. Rise, Tarnished. Ye dead who yet live.
The natural biological relationship between organisms is a symbiosis - parasitism or "infections" are much rarer. Symbiosis creates a beneficial outcome for both parties. In fact, humans are a perfect symbiosis of viruses and bacteria and therefore illness is NOT what we've been told. But after these last 3 years, I can see how most people do not understand basic Biology... ;-)
Symbiosis. With a y.
@@etinarcadiaego7424 Thanks! (I'm from Spain, not native speaker). I already corrected it.
Honestly. You nailed it. G.R.R. Martin would be proud
As for outer gods I think You missed one: The outer god of Death with its envoy Twinbird and messengers Deathbirds and Deathritebirds ;)
Another interesting detail is that Rennala's Amber Egg has a bunch of tiny white orbs with stems inside it. Those white orbs look very similar to Didymium sp, which is a type of slime mold.
I started watching with skepticism, but this is a very valid theory. Great video dude 🤙
Thanks for the reupload
In regards to that theory, it matches with a concept within alchemy called putrefaction, and one of the earliest steps in forming the Philosopher's Stone.
I have been thinking of this theory the last couple of days and it seems a lot of the world building fits. Of all the creatures FromSoft could have put underground next to the Lake of Rot, they chose ants.. and not any ants! ants that are pretty much identical to the Attini ants. Attini ants are known to cultivate Agaricaceae mushrooms underground and fittingly in Elden ring, the ants are found with mountains of corpses right next to the Lake of Rot. Also there's alot of parallels between the Frenzied Flame and the "Ophiocordyceps unilateralis" mushroom. The Ophiocordyceps unilateralis mushroom infects small insects and makes them go "mad". Eventually as the infection progresses the musroom will make the insect find a high place where it will submit to the infection and the mushroom will grow out of the insects body and spread its spores to the surroundings. Fittingly the frenzied flame villages are only found at high places like on top of mountains, towering over the surrounding land.
Maybe thats also why the Three Fingers was locked in the deepest prison found in the capital
Best Elden Rung theory, by far.
Holy shit, I’m shocked but surprisingly a lot of this adds up you hell of a theory! Also I always thought Ronni’s hat looked like the indigo mushroom to and underneath the hat it even kinda looks like mushroom gills.
Wow, I always wondered why there were all those broken pots around the minor erd trees. That makes me have such a better appreciation for the overuse of the erd tree avatars. At first I wasn't really that interested in elden rings lore like I was dark souls but this video might have changed my mind. This is an awesome theory and very well might be true. Good work io. Keep it up.
I must've missed that part. Why are there broken pots by minor erdtrees?
I think the pots are actually a reference to some old Japanese burial practices.
I guess here it's a form of minor Erdtree burial. However, the pots are sealed and therefore the bodies will be preserved.
You could say the gold that is surrounding the capital as what happens when plants are having their nutrients sapped. as the chlorophyll leaves the plant the leaves turn red then orange then yellow then eventually brown. since this is the land closest to the erdtree it makes sense that it's where you see the greatest effect. Food for thought.
it really explains everything, very good video! :3
Fun Fact regarding the Fungal Nature of the 2 Fingers:
There is a type of shroom that grows on tree trunks called "Oreja de Palo" (I don´t know the proper english name and I ain´t googling it)
But it roughly translate to "Wooden Ear"
Thats because the mushroom wich grows in kinda ear shaped on the tree but if you take it out of the tree (essentialy killing it) after about a day it will dry out and harden like iron wood.
So there´s a real life presedent for the fingers turning woodlike when killed.
Final fact. People use to draw or write on the shrooms while they are still freshly harvested so that once it hardens the mesagge or drawing will remain there forever if cared for properly
This is up there with the Bloodborne eye parasite theory. I'm with you 100% on this one lol
Fr I agree lol. BB parasite theory really changed the whole game gets perceived
Bloodborne also has some mushroom-themes, so this checks out.
Some things off the top of my head:
Rom's grave
Celestial emissary heads
Ebrietas's wings (Mycelium)
Spores in Isz
Things growing from master Willem
Amygdala heads (morels/colus)
Now, all we need is a DLC to further expand on this theory.
One thing that always confused me... what happens after Erdtree burial... do people come back ? through rebirth? With intact memories?
Regarding the Erdtree, what about the fact that the brown, wooden interior of the tree begins glowing gold during "Mend the Elden Ring" endings? That seems to suggest that the brown wood and the gold are the same life form, along with the minor Erdtrees having brown wood and golden leaves. The saplings with the Golden Seeds are golden too, and being solid, "illusory" seems like a misnomer for them. The Shattering doesn't seem to have nourished the trees either, with many minor ones still being untouched by the Deathblight. Additionally, Fia and the Dung Eater's endings change the entire color of the Erdtree, so the Frenzied Flame is more just destroying the entire tree than revealing any kind of second tree.
There also appears to be a belief in Erdtree reincarnation, rather than souls being used as fuel, and the Great Rune of the Unborn implies that there was such a reincarnation process, even if Rennala, especially in her terrible mental state, cannot use this well. This, along with item descriptions saying that the Erdtree's golden light once had a healing effect and the Erdtree delivered bounties from its branches, suggest that the gold and the bark are naturally connected, and the Erdtree did give to the Lands Between rather than just taking from it.
Additionally, Marika's plan with the Tarnished was to fight against the Elden Beast, and she seems to have even fought it outright after shattering the Elden Ring, seeing as how she's found strung up and impaled a la the Elden Beast's grab attack. Melina's dialogues quoting Marika spell out a general plan to defy a system rather than sustain one.
As for Godwyn's funeral, his body was likely just given the highest honors of Erdtree burial, with him being a demi-god, as opposed to him being placed in a way to maximize the Deathblight's influence. The Deathblight itself might even be caused by yet another outer god, as the Twinbird, mother of the Deathbirds, is said to be the envoy of an outer god, and the Deathbirds can inflict Deathblight with their screams.
The rest of the fungi analysis is highly interesting and nicely researched! The idea of spores in the Eternal Cities is pretty neat, though I'm curious what that means for the pink false nebula.
I feel the Eternal Cities can have a greater mushroom/spore connection with the Starlight Shards potions as well. These potions, which the Nightmaiden & Swordstress Puppets description confirms existed in Nokron's heyday as opposed to being Seluvis' invention, destroy free will and make someone a pawn. Some fungi destroy a being's free will, most notably the cordyceps fungus.
Cordyceps in particular is noted as targeting ants, lining up with how the denizens of Nokstella use magic to enslave giant ants as cavalry. If the rider is knocked off or otherwise put to sleep with various items, the ant will regain its free will and attack the rider. A similar event seems to occur when the potion-enslaved troops of Caria Manor regain themselves long enough to kill Pidia.
As such, the Starlight Shards might be a sort of fungal spore, seeking people to enslave to varying degrees. Even Ranni might be bound without realizing it, as she needs a "fate" from the stars to wield the Fingerslayer Blade, and her soul is blue just like those enslaved by the Starlight Shards. The blue aura also appears for people whose soul remnants are puppeteered by Fia, and Rogier's dialogue implies that his soul is not a willing combatant.
Ranni's outfit also resembles the entoloma hochstetteri mushroom, whose toxicity is still unknown, implying a further innate danger. Adding in how her Dark Moon is likely the black moon of the Eternal Cities, and the Nox gear speaks of awaiting an Age of Stars, and Ranni might be yet another pawn rather than someone able to be free.
Regarding Miquella's Haligtree, he may have used his blood to nourish it in the hopes that his demi-god blood, along with the curse that made him eternally a child, could be a steady supply of superpowered, holy energy to allow the tree to ascend to something properly holy and supernatural. Additionally, in contrast to your claim near the end of the video, I don't think the Haligtree succeeded -- Mohg effectively sabotaged it, and the tree is now subjected to the Scarlet Rot. I'd like to hear your thoughts on Miquella's Bewitching Branches as well.
Overall, this is a very nice, interesting video and idea! By the way, since Rennala seems to have made contact with the moon and then rose to prominence, is it possible that even her moon is an outer god? That could also explain things like her sheer height and potential ability to live for ages, provided that the Erdtree and the Elden Ring didn't always affect Liurnia and its population. Also, what about the Fell God of the Fire Giants? That being seems to be an outer god as well.
I don't think the old tree was infected by fungi, but by an invasive vine species. Ficcus trees such as banyans are parasitic, and grow around a host tree, sapping their nutrients, until it eventually dies, and the ficcus forms a tree in its place. While they aren't identical to the Erdtree, there's a few species of ficcus that resemble the Erdtree when fully grown. One species of ficcus is called the strangler fig, and it is famous for the patterns it forms as it grows over it's host tree and eventually replacing it. These patterns can form nearly perfect lattice weave patterns, remarkably similar to the symbol closest associated with Radagon. The plant parts often seen as flower stamen similar to those of the Miranda flowers on the Radagon Icon are also similar in appearance of inflorescence, grown by ficus vines prior to them establishing roots. Even in this video, we see the vines growing up the tree, the highest reaches being the only places where the gold has not spread yet, but this is where the vines are seen growing towards. Then there's the many trees and roots depicted as almost rope-like, twisting around each other, as well as the minor Erdtrees, which look like they are infested with vines and sickly as a result, a common side effect of having their nutrients sucked away by parasitic creeping vines. Then there's other vines like Kudzu, which only produce fruit if they are growing from a tree or other structure, with some seeds being yellow, not unlike the golden seeds. The Erdtree was originally thought to not produce seeds as it was "perfect," but perhaps these seeds were not produced by the tree, but by the golden vines growing over it. It would also explain how there's a door leading directly to the centre of the tree, and how it can be hollow inside yet still alive. The vines grew on the tree and strangled the life from it, eventually forming an imitation of a proper tree trunk while having a hollow centre as the original tree decomposes and is consumed by the vines. Might also be why the Erdtree and minor Erdtrees have all stopped absorbing the dead, the vines having fully taken over and killed the host, which up until that point had been continuing to absorb nutrients with its roots that ultimately fed the vines
So I Love this so much, such an interesting way to make a story for a game. I can see this being like a 50/50 as to whether or not it's true. Like we go to ask them "How did you come up with this story?" and they answer "Well you see Mushrooms had a big part in it." That would be cool, but I can also just see them going "Nah, we just got some cool inspiration for designs in the game FROM mushrooms, don't look to deep into that."
But the one thing I will say that is criminal here, is how this hasn't gotten more attention. This is so well thought out and made, happy that I finally got around to watching this one after all the other videos that it's been mentioned in. I hope that this gets out there more so we can have more conversations around how Elden Ring is just about Mushrooms :3
Amazing video man!
The spores of this theory have really started to take root in my brain.
Definitely makes sense ... That they used these principals and facts as sort of dirivitive material / reference/ inspiration....to make the world have a sort of synergy and connected ecosystem.
3:29 The frenzied flame doesn’t want to burn everything down to start everything anew it wants to end life permanently and return everything to the one great. No more fractures no more births
Eerily, and almost certainly deliberately, the Outer Gods appear to be waging the own version of The Shattering. The One Great fractured (as Marika and the Elden Ring have been) and now the broken pieces vie to replace the old lord of creation with their new viewpoints and approaches.
And the parallels don't end there. Given that the Greater Will takes the blame for division, and thus suffering, in the dialogue from the Frenzied Flame camp, it stands to reason that the Greater Will is the FIRST DIVISION. (Or, at least, the first one that didn't return home. Which could also inspire it's name. It is the first being with a Greater Will than that of the One Great, the first to become a truly separate entity.) It is the first being other than the One Great to come into existence, a fracture from that parent being that achieved it's own will and now wishes to supplant it's creator and other self. Just as Radagon appears to have resulted from Marika dividing herself and who now seeks to supplant his mother/sister/wife and become master of the Lands Between.
The Frenzied Flame might not even intend to recombine everything, it might just seek to only have itself exist as a crude replacement to the One Great, or a general narcissism. Everyone affected by the Frenzied Flame seems to be especially miserable and tormented by the Frenzied Flame to boot.
Definitely a huge influence, I think it all started with the mycelial network idea and was built out from there. But "right" or "wrong" I think it is a great prospective. 👍
i thought the exact same thing during my playthrough, that the tre was a shroom. and the cult around it was due to spore altering the mind of people like the cordyceps mixed with genesteller of 40k.
Incredible take, I love this. Ive been looking into possible connections between Astel and Miquella, and this sparked something :)
Me after watching this video: I need to look up mushroom now