Elden Lore - Tumblr Posts

Thinking about the relationship between Ranni and her mom.

How Ranni came to her mom’s defense during the Rennala fight, praising her mother, “Send word far and wide. Of the last Queen of Caria, Rennala of the Full Moon. And the majesty of the night she conjureth.”

While also conjuring an apparition of her mother in her prime - grand, powerful and steady. Why couldn’t Ranni just create any apparition or a regular ole trap if the goal is to defend Rennala from trouble? Ranni specifically had an apparition of her mother conjured so people would actually think they were fighting the real Rennala - Ranni didn’t want people to think of her mother as a defenseless, ill woman who had been locked away in a tower. She wanted to salvage her mother’s greatness and preserve her dignity. So Ranni modeled her apparition after mother, so the last thing intruders would see is the Great Queen of Caria killing them. So people would still have some semblance of respect for Rennala.

And what the apparition says as it’s “killed”? “Oh little Ranni, my dear daughter. Weave thy night into being.” No mention of her other kids. And being specific to Ranni, she encourages Ranni to carry on the worship of the moon that originally pitted the Carians against the Golden Order. Could it be that Ranni’s infatuation with her Dark Moon is because she wishes to honor her mother and restore the glory of the Carian family that Radagon destroyed? Coukd it be she is siding with her mother because of the grief Radagon bestowed upon Rennala? He manipulated Rennala and now she is infatuated with that egg, driven mad. The Carian family and Raya Lucaria are in ruin. Ranni wishes to get back the honor that was stolen from her family and to avenge the harm to her mother.

Cant get it out of my mind that Miquella actually sent Malenia to kill Radahn to free the stars...

Like in Rannis quest-line both her, and her retainers are scrambling to find a way to get into Nokron, and they could only do that by getting Sellens help and she is the one who reveals that they need to kill Radahn to free Rannis fate.

Like holy shit even Ranni, with all her scheming and intelligence, even she didn't know that Radahn needed to die in order to move on with her plan BUT MIQUELLA DID KNOW THIS ENTIRE TIME.

What else does Miquella know???? And with him giving the Spirit Caller Bell to Ranni and Torrent to Melina all to pass off to you, Miquella probably knows so much of what's going on to a terrifying degree.

If you don't mind me picking your brain, howdya think Rykard went from "ruthless justiciar" and head of the Inquisition to "These pagans are cool actually"

oh my god YES I was hoping someone would ask me about this one day because I think about this a lot

Essentially, I don’t think Rykard was ever truly an Erdtree zealot for several reasons.

Firstly, he has a unique background for someone who enforced Erdtree law: his mother is a legendary sorcerer, who once fought against the armies of the Erdtree in battle. Growing up as Rennala’s son, we know he distinguished himself as a talented glintstone sorcerer, an art once seen by the Erdtree forces as heretical. Basically, Rykard has heresy in his blood — I think his background gives him an inherent sympathy to other practices deemed heretical to the Golden Order. We know he developed an interest in reviving the “ancient hexes” of Mt. Gelmir, an interest which is specifically identified in the text as stemming from his mother’s influence:

“After discovering the ancient hexes of Gelmir, Rykard, son of Queen Rennala, brought them back into practical use as new forms of sorcery.”

Rykard comes from a long line of heretics, who instilled in him a sorcerer’s curiosity.

So why did Rykard become praetor in the first place? We don’t technically know at what point Radagon left Rennala, but I think it makes the most sense if Rykard was propelled to his position as praetor after his father became Elden Lord. While married to Rennala, Radagon was regarded as a “mere champion,” with Rykard and his siblings being royalty in Liurnia alone… it makes more sense that he’d rise to the position of chief justiciar in Altus after Radagon married Marika and he became a demigod step-child. Basically, he nepo-babied his way to a powerful government position… a position that gave him a prestigious reputation, a foothold in altus, and a standing army — more power than he ever could have achieved if he stayed in Liurnia, since his sister Ranni is stated to be the sole heir of Caria (Caria was likely matriarchal; it doesn’t seem like Ranni’s brothers stood to inherit much of anything).

There is also a relevant detail from the Blasphemous Claw description:

“On the night of the dire plot, Ranni rewarded Praetor Rykard with these traces. Should the coming trespass one day transpire, they would serve as a last-resort foil, allowing Rykard to challenge Maliketh the Black Blade, the black beast of Destined Death.”

Rykard colluding with Ranni before the Night of the Black Knives shows that Rykard’s later treason was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but something pre-meditated. Ranni rewarding Rykard with traces of the Rune of Death with the intention to challenge Maliketh indicates that the siblings shared talks of treason leading up to this event — while Rykard was still praetor.

Rykard performed his job with brutal efficiency to the point that he garnered a “ruthless” reputation. But I don’t think he ever did this job out of pure loyalty to the Erdtree; rather, I think he did this job because he will do absolutely anything to achieve power and to gain the upper hand. I think he always intended to build up strength so that he could eventually topple the Golden Order which he so chafed under and place himself in charge; a “worthy sovereign.” And I believe that just as Rykard’s position as praetor was a means to this end, so too was his obsession with the Great Serpent — an obsession that spiraled out of control into “mere greed” for power.

I really appreciate the clarity you've provided here because I had no idea the GEQ came about later during Marika's reign! The way you've described it makes total sense to me now so thank you so much. I'm still not convinced on Melina being the GEQ because like you say we just don't have enough information. She does speak about her purpose quite often, I wonder if somehow the GW could somehow revive the GEQ in Melina's form, she does seem to not have been born the 'natural' way (with what she says irt Boc about being born of a mother). That's if she ever truly died? Maybe if we had a better understanding of what the GW could actually do it would be clearer. I wonder if we'll have something more concrete in the DLC... it could be likely considering we've been introduced to another child of Marika, but I also wouldn't put it past fromsoft to just leave us in the dark. and that's their slay :) speculation is fun!

my main issue with people claiming Melina as the gloam eyed queen is that it’s heavily implied she’s marika’s daughter, and the gloam eyed queen is theorised to have been an empyrean rival to marika long ago before she was Queen, how could both be true? maybe i’ve missed something (timelines r confusing) but that seems like such a glaring oversight to me

my main issue with people claiming Melina as the gloam eyed queen is that it’s heavily implied she’s marika’s daughter, and the gloam eyed queen is theorised to have been an empyrean rival to marika long ago before she was Queen, how could both be true? maybe i’ve missed something (timelines r confusing) but that seems like such a glaring oversight to me

It just struck me that narrative wise, Morgott having a heavy tail and Mohg having large wings may not have been a completely random choice on the part of fromsoft....the omen twins were both shackled to the ground in the sewers, one of the two still heavily worships the guilty system none the less. Morgott clearly toiled to keep the crumbling status quo a float, draining him. The tail could represent that he is still shackled in spirit.(Look at his tail 😭)

But the other, Mohg, possesses so rebellious a spirit, his wings symbolizes a strong sense of independence and freedom. Man got out, and unlike his brother said fuck yall and flew away.

Small little detail but the hanged bodies in the Mohgwyn palace are all wearing the exact same clothes as the Sanguine Nobels

Like Mohg, you're not gonna have much of a Dynasty if you keep murdering all your citizens

What if the whole Miquella/St. Trina dichotomy is actually about childhood and adulthood????

It's interesting how the Torch St. Trina specifically calls Trina's adult form "unnerving" almost like Miquella being an adult in any form goes against his curse/nature? 🤔

Perhaps St. Trina was one of Miquella's attempts at breaking his curse/becoming an adult? But now there's potentially a separate self of Miquella wandering around doing who knows what, and apparently there is something fundamentally wrong with that.

Maybe its the process of how he separated himself that was wrong? Or maybe it's now that this other self is their/her/his own person, and in the DLC we'll have to deal with Trina acting separately from Miquella's will.

Antagonist St. Trina maybe???? 🤔🤔🤔🤔

Edit:

What if Miquella saw the whole Marigon situation and attempted to do the same thing, to split himself thinking that it could break his curse, and Trina was born from that attempt.

And since one of the main points of Fundamentalism is that "All Thing Yearn to Converge" what if one of our main goals is to reunite Miquella with Trina?

i need to rave about this. I dont ever really see this perspective of Godfrey discussed but he is such a brilliant character. hes cool as fuck yeah but behind that, he serves a very clever role in the game.

Godfrey was the first elden lord. He did everything right. He is the most powerful guy ever. He did the in universe equivalent of fighting every dinosaur and winning. He did exactly what the greater will wanted, and he was unquestioningly loyal and powerful and perfect. He gave up his very name for this cause. His children were subjected to the shunning-grounds and he evidently allowed this. He. Was. Perfect.

And then, when he isnt of any use anymore, he is discarded and exiled.

Godfrey is an example of you, the tarnished, if you follow the path of grace. If this legendary figure who did the best anyone could ask was discarded, then what makes you any different?

It can be hard to notice, with how incredibly badass he is, but godfrey is deeply pathetic. He gave marika and the greater will everything. He helped found this terrible golden empire, and then he got thrown away when they didnt need him anymore. And the moment he has an opportunity to do so, he comes crawling back to give everything up again.

Hes perfect!!! he sucks!! hes so cool! hes an example of how you will never be enough for the golden order! he sees his abandoned son dying and all he can say is "its been a long while"! fuuuuck!

has there been any speculation about why marika/radagon appear to be made of stone? it doesn’t seem like this was always the case from depictions of them in paintings, i wonder if it happened post-shattering… if the cinematic is to be trusted they weren’t made of stone when the shattering happened. wonder what that’s about

i like these theories!! i think there's definitely something to them. the idea of maragon (new name just dropped) becoming stone after becoming a god strikes true to me in the sense that it feels like something that would be hinted to us in the story - that although they are a powerful god, they are rigid, stuck in their ways (or the ways of the order), they have no freedom - they stagnate as stone rather than move freely like water. that, to me, sounds like what the game is trying to tell us about the golden order and the fate of the gods. they're no longer alive as they once were. perhaps they're even literally becoming 'icons' like the statues of them, rather than their own people with their own wants and desires. they're becoming a stagnating idea of what they are, in relation to the golden order... their existence outside of that has been diminished if not wiped out completely. in the ending cutscenes i always found it jarring how marika is essentially completely statuesque at this point - she has no say in whatever happens. you (or ranni) lift up her head and place it back on her shoulders, like a sculptor might. you're the creator - her wishes are negligible, cast aside, forgotten, irrelevant. idk if this is making sense but it's got my brain whirring

has there been any speculation about why marika/radagon appear to be made of stone? it doesn’t seem like this was always the case from depictions of them in paintings, i wonder if it happened post-shattering… if the cinematic is to be trusted they weren’t made of stone when the shattering happened. wonder what that’s about

No one talks about the best line in all of Elden Ring, “Is this what it means to sin? Will things never be the same?” And it hurts me literally every day. Absolutely terminally ill thinking about how that radically reconceptualizes original sin as an act of changing ourselves in a way that can never be reversed and that’s why we had to leave the ever stasis of the garden of eden. How by virtue of the fact that we as individuals ceaselessly change throughout our entire lives, we could no longer belong there. We gained self awareness and could introspect and change. We changed in a way that can never be undone. The beautiful symmetry of the concept of the Big Bang, going from an endless void space of nothing to all at once, existence, triggered by a single cosmic sin, and nothing was ever the same again after that.

circling back on this, ranni’s corpse looks weirdly stone-like

maybe there is something inherent in godhood that changes your physicality in this way. or maybe it only became a thing after death was removed from the elden ring… how long can a body really continue as flesh in a world where death has been removed? even as a god… much to think about

has there been any speculation about why marika/radagon appear to be made of stone? it doesn’t seem like this was always the case from depictions of them in paintings, i wonder if it happened post-shattering… if the cinematic is to be trusted they weren’t made of stone when the shattering happened. wonder what that’s about

has there been any speculation about why marika/radagon appear to be made of stone? it doesn’t seem like this was always the case from depictions of them in paintings, i wonder if it happened post-shattering… if the cinematic is to be trusted they weren’t made of stone when the shattering happened. wonder what that’s about

the elden ring twitter just posted this and i’m so alive bc WHAT IS THAT

the fact that you wrote this before even seeing the trailer is mind boggling omg

what the hell is marika pulling grace out of in the beginning? to me it looks like shedded snake skin, it reminds me of the godskin's, er, skin... at first i thought it was a sack of snake/dragon eggs but now i'm not so sure. the environment also reminds me of rykard's domain, with all the blood and bodies. if that's the creation of the golden order i'm truly gagged, the way the GO is spoken about is so sanitised and pure, to see it be created in such grotesque, disgusting conditions... that's so fucking cool

I had to make a BIG post going over everything that's got my brain whirring after watching the story trailer - it's all my speculation and personal opinion so don't take it as fact yada yada IT'S FUN SPECULATION TIME

(I'll put it under the cut bc this is gonna be a LONG one)

“Miquella the kind spoke of the beginning. The seduction. And the betrayal. An affair from which Gold arose. And so too was Shadow born."

My interpretation of this scene is that we are seeing the creation of the Golden Order by Marika. She plucks grace from something dead and fleshy, and holds it up to the Greater Will, beckoning in her new age. It would make sense to me, considering the voiceover, that this is a dead god that has been betrayed by Marika so she can pursue her Order and claim power. It does like quite reminiscent of Kos from Bloodborne to me. The fleshiness of the corpse also reminds me of the godskins/snakeskin. However, I don't believe this is the Gloam Eyed Queen. From my understanding of the timeline (mainly thanks to @eldenringslut) the GEQ didn't come about until later on during Marika's reign - if we are seeing the creation of the GO, and my understanding of the timeline is correct, I don't think it would make sense for this to be the GEQ. I can't deny different aspects of this do allude to things related to her though - the dusky sky, the godskin-like flesh. But I almost think that would be too 'perfect' for it to fit together like that, especially with how much people want to know more about the GEQ, I think fromsoft would want to keep us in the dark and surprise us. Whatever we are seeing here, Gold and Shadow seemingly came about at the same time.

We get our first look at what appears to be Messmer's army. They appear to all wield spears which ties into Messmer's whole Impaler thing, along with the shot of the person(?) impaled on the steps. I wonder who these people were, if they had to stay in the Shadow Realm after the battle was done (if it is?). I find the design on the helmet interesting - at first glance I thought it could be a tree or roots, but actually doesn't it kind of remind you of the black tendrils that shoot out of Messmer's flame? I think it could be either, or both, or maybe it's a chicken and egg situation and they're related somehow... my first thought when the initial gameplay trailer came out was that the dark tendrils in Messmer's flame could be deathroot or something similar to that. Maybe I wasn't far off?

We get our first shot of Messmer here. His pose pretty much solidifies to me that this is his army - this is the pose of a character commanding an army. It's so classic fantasy, the composition and everything, I love it. Messmer is awesome. I'm obsessed with the snake-like flames flying above the carnage.

"What followed was a war unseen. One that could never be put to song. A purge without Grace, or honour. The tyranny of Messmer's flame."

My take on this is that once Marika had won her battle/betrayed the God we see her pluck Grace from, she had her opponents banished and/or wiped out at the hands of Messmer. I have to say, it does surprise me that it seems Messmer was around and fully grown at the creation of Marika's Order. The implications there leave me with so many questions. Who is his other parent? Marika is Numen, and they seldom give birth. This is not an insignificant thing for her to have a child, especially if the theory of births being governed by the Erdtree/Golden Order is to be believed, and this must have came about before then. It would also go against the idea that Messmer is the full brother/secret triplet of Miquella and Malenia, considering that Miq + Mal were not born until Marika had left Godfrey for Radagon. I find that detail so intriguing... especially because I was so on board with the butterfly theories.

No idea who this is, but they're cool and that definitely looks like the kind of weapon we'd be able to pick up. It just looks like a PVP weapon, know what I mean? Very reminiscent of Vyke as well imo, similar pose to the box art of him along with the billowing cape. This reminds me, I'm noticing an emphasis on hair in this trailer too - I never took much note of Marika's hair before but in this trailer there was a lot of emphasis put on how long it is, how similar it is to threads of Grace, and Miquella's hair too. It's making me think of the bible story of Samson but let me not go too off the rails

Here we have some of the coolest shots in the trailer imo. This posits the Lion/Omens as enemies of Messmer to me - which to me supports the view that Messmer is aligned with Marika. The Lion/Omens always came off to me as if they were making a mockery of the GO - positioning themselves as enemies to Marika/the GO. We get another good look at his Flame, with the tendrils. They almost remind me of thorns actually. That final shot looks like a victory scene to me. It also really hammers home the Impaler thing. The man knows his brand!

Then we pan up to see what hangs above this burned city - this 'shadow tree'. THIS IS MARIKA'S RUNE.

I think we are seeing the origins of her rune as part of the modern Elden Ring here - Grace/blessings dripping from the bough of this tree. I have to say given the imagery relating to motherhood on the run up to the DLC, the rune does look vaguely yonic, especially on the seals. I think references to motherhood are in this trailer too - Marika taking something from a fleshy orifice with a voiceover talking about seduction, I can't imagine that wasn't intentional. So far the main character we have seen is her child, after all. The whole story of Elden Ring revolves around Marika's children. I have a feeling Marika's relation to motherhood and childbearing is going to be a big theme in the DLC.

I remember when the first gameplay trailer dropped, people theorised that this was Ranni's rune, and I was happy to believe that because of the similarities to Rennala's rune. But now I believe it's Miquella's rune, for several reasons, one being it reminds me of Malenia's rune, and they are twins after all. Although Rennala and Malenia's runes are oddly similar, it just makes more sense to me that it would be Miquella's, considering we are following in his footsteps. I think these rune spikes are going to be our DLC equivalents of sites of grace.

"And so kindly Miquella would abandon everything. His golden flesh, his blinding strength..."

Abandoning his flesh is very reminiscent of Ranni... but why would he need to abandon his flesh? Perhaps after Mohg stole him away? Though I have to say, I'm warming up the idea that Mohg never actually had Miquella, he just thought he did. That might not make sense considering that body in Mohg's palace is how we get to the Shadow Lands, but I don't know, something about it doesn't sit quite right with me for some reason. The line 'his blinding strength' is a bit odd. I can't take credit for this next idea, I saw it on twitter, but someone suggested that this is referencing him potentially abandoning Malenia - his strength, his blade. For Miquella to abandon Malenia though, it doesn't exactly align with what we know of his character. This is the person that turned his back on the GO because it could do nothing for Malenia's sickness. He'd need a really good reason to do that to her. Maybe it was his only option? I'm so intrigued about why Miquella is even in the Shadow Lands to begin with. What are his motivations? Perhaps it's something to do with his proclivity to want to welcome all, especially those outside of Grace, I suppose those in the shadow lands fall under that mantle.

"Even his fate."

Now THIS is super interesting - our first look at St. Trina! In her usual purple - associated with sleep. It does also look like she's sleeping here, sinking... What on earth does it mean to say that Miquella abandoned his fate as we are shown an image of St. Trina? Was he meant to eventually become Trina fully? We don't know much about her, but we do know Trina is an aspect/alter-ego of some sort of Miquella. Considering his parents were one in the same body, it's not a stretch to assume this could be the same case here. But in Marika/Radagon's case, it doesn't seem completely intentional - with the Ring shattering, I always got the impression they each fought to be in control of their singular body. Perhaps Miquella/Trina worked together rather than against each other? The queer part of me can't help but think of some kind of allegory to transition and Miquella having to walk away from it for whatever reason... but I really don't know enough to figure anything out from this.

I saw someone point out that this shot of Trina looks like Trina's lilies too, which is super cool (sorry I don't remember who that was).

"But we are not deterred. We choose to follow. Will you walk with us?"

I'm honestly surprised to see all these characters that we saw in the previous trailer just hanging out, I assumed they'd all be enemies of different factions. But here they look like allies, and from the voiceover they sound like it too, asking if we will join them. I think the voiceover is one of these NPCs. Seeing the fighting guy second on the left has got me super excited, what if he teaches us the hands-on combat we saw him do in the first trailer? I also think the crouching character on the right is the one we saw sleeping in the purple area (Trina?) from the last trailer:

Anyway, these are my thoughts, I hope they resonate in one way or another. I can't wait to come back in a couple months and see how wrong I was <3 yayyy

has there been any speculation about why marika/radagon appear to be made of stone? it doesn’t seem like this was always the case from depictions of them in paintings, i wonder if it happened post-shattering… if the cinematic is to be trusted they weren’t made of stone when the shattering happened. wonder what that’s about

Holy shit I just had an epiphany!

Okay so you all know my theory about how Radadon was created by the Greater Will to try and control Marika who was going astray? And how this could possibly apply to Trina as well? And how Trina could potentially be an antagonist????

Well everyone who is convinced that Miquella is evil all because of the Bewitching Branch seems to be overlooking something very specific about the compelling item, hell I overlooked it myself until just now... And that is the fact that the recipe the branch originates from the Fevors Cookbook.

Y'know.

The guy who is obsessed with St. Trina.

From cut content we have info that states that Trina was the one who sang to the merchants in the Subterranean Shunning Grounds. So between Miquella and Trina, Trina is the only one that has been to the Shunning Grounds. Hence, the only one of the two who could've had contact with Mohg.

So could Trina have actually been the one to bewitch Mohg?

Could she have compelled Mohg to kidnap Miquella all to try and sabotage whatever it is that Miquella is trying to accomplish within the Realm of Shadow? And could this be the reason why Miquella cast her aside, because he knows that she screwed him over and could still be trying to screw him over???? 🤔🤔🤔🤔

...Huh. Thiollier is seemingly the only other Tarnished to have arrived in the realm of shadow, yet instead of Miquella, he came in search of St. Trina.

St. Trina, who implores us to kill Miquella before he becomes a god...

Moreover, we were gifted the Spirit Summoning Bell by Ranni, under the instruction of "Torrent's former master." This was evidently Miquella, but... why would he call for the Tarnished if only to turn them away from his coming paradise?

But if St. Trina is Miquella's other half, and embodies his "doubt and vacillation," then perhaps it was actually she who gave Ranni the bell... After all, Ranni appears to have lulled Kalé and his donkey to sleep nearby, and one of her cohorts, Seluvis, was once familiar with another Tarnished who served St. Trina: Sleeping Arrow Dolores.

...Is St. Trina the real MVP of the entire goddamn game?