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It's okay el meu amor 🙏

Just got a flood warning alert on my phone, it’s gonna get really bad in the next two hours

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He is at your door, he says

“Holi!!! Perdona!! Truco Trato 👻 si us plau, tinc gana!”

(He asks that you please don’t be mad at him for not wearing a costume, he didn’t like the one his mum bought him)

Oh my god poor baby you do have a costume ready, you're dressed as the love of my life!!!! He gets all my little kitty cat treats (no tummy ache)

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Trickle down Fallacy - A Poem

Misconstrued

Twisted

Changed

Communication trickles down the drain,

Whirring around the lip,

And teasing its edge,

Telling that the water will soon

Drop.

Then instead the water will sit on the brim,

And let the echoes of understanding falter within.

- Ippyhaj

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THANK YOU absolutely unnerving how widespread the belief that the DLC was either unplanned, unfinished, rushed or changed deep in development WHEN THERE'S ZERO EVIDENCE AND TONS OF FACTS THAT SAY OTHERWISE

Like jesus people who said this even in bad faith are so downright disrespectful towards the developers and disgusting outrage grifters

^^^ Honestly, looking at this again when I wrote that big post was really helpful! Miyazaki straight up says that nothing for the SOTE was just "made up"!

Like, of course there was no foreshadowing for Radahn and Miquella in the base game. Or foreshadowing for Marika having a firstborn before Golden Lineage that got hidden away and wages endless war. Or Hornsent culture. Or Fingers lore. Or nature of Greater Will. Or Bayle. There would not be foreshadowing because they were deliberately removing these pieces of lore from the base game! Because it already had "too much information"!

Except, Malenia was saying something in battle with Radahn, Duelists weirdly had not only Fell God imagery but also serpents imagery, wraits (aka souls of the dead) that haunt Omens have horns and primordial Elden Ring has spiral in the base, Fingercreepers are found in mass in Caria Manor and Mountaintops (both are connected with cosmos), Ranni already mentioned "the great beyond" in her ending which Ymir lore had and Eleonora, Drake Warrior, had Crystal Tear which only purpose is to defeat Mohg who guarded the way to the place with the biggest and scariest Drake to challenge! These were remaining hints of the ideas they scrapped but only kept functionally, so they would not SAY anything!

And don't forget further evidence that Miquella's ascension to Godhood was attempted to be included in the BASE game:

Honestly, I think they had lore from SOTE planned from the start! It just makes more sense when they straight up say that a lot of stuff never went into the main game because it already had too much lore, yet all this scrapped lore has small traces of having existed. Like it was concealed! The base game had elements that only meant anything for developers, because they're remains of what actually existed! At this rate I fully believe it is not retcon, it is unveiling!

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St. Trina in oil pastels

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day 5 - leda

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I think it's interesting to add to this how Malenia's Valkyrie theming in the base game continues in the DLC with the vow as she's the one sent to welcome Radhan to Valhalla, reviving him into the land of the dead (land of shadow) in order to fight an eternal war (bring forth the age of compassion), and Freyja's name is of course related to that. She wants that end for Radhan, so like the mythological counterpart she's part of the forces behind the Valkyries who seek warriors dying an honourable death to join their forces, willing or not.

There’s an interesting piece of DLC lore I don’t think I’ve seen anyone discuss in detail yet. Namely that Freyja and Jerren both want what’s best for Radahn, but each have very different ideas of what that entails.

Both of them consider Radahn’s death at your hands to be a good and honourable one. But upon learning of Miquella’s plans, Frejya says this:

She seems to fully buy into the image Radahn portrays of being a warrior who lives and thrives in war. And to some extent she’s correct, with Radahn modelling himself after Godfrey (a warlord and conquerer) and even attempting to invade Leyndell during the Shattering Wars.

Jerren on the other hand, would rather Radahn be left in peace after being given an honourable death. The description of Jerren’s helmet reads:

The wording here is very important, implying both a very close relationship between Radahn and Jerren (which is also supported by how intimately Jerren speaks about Radahn) and that Radahn himself wished for an honourable death. This means that Radahn’s preferences likely align more with Jerren’s than with Freyja’s, and that he never wanted to be revived as Miquella’s consort.

One could still argue that Radahn simply wished to have an honourable death before becoming consort, but I think that doesn’t make much sense. If he were willing, it seems strange and convuluted that Radahn would ask to be killed in battle before becoming Lord rather than just becoming Lord immediately.

Additionally, the story makes more thematic sense if Radahn is brainwashed. Remember, Fromsoftware loves to give characters ironic or contrary fates. Radahn represents stagnation. He holds the stars and fate in stasis, styles himself in reference to past Elden Lords and refuses to leave his scrawny horse despite how cruel it is for him to still ride his sickly steed.

In the base game, this is brought to an ironic conclusion with him being infected by the scarlet rot, a more literal representation of stagnation and decay. But the DLC takes it even further. Ironically given his goal of bringing about a new Age of Compassion, Miquella too is unable to move on from the past. He clings to his (probably one sided) vow with Radahn and forces him to become his consort.

The God of a new age unable to let go of the past, and a Lord of stagnation forced to participate in bringing about a new era. These fates are the height of dramatic irony, and honestly I think Fromsoftware’s only mistake here was not foreshadowing it enough in the base game beforehand.

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I wake and hear you calling And up those cliffs I climb And I find you with a thimble weeping "May I?" I ask, "May I?"

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Like idk is it that far fetched that the ever childish prodigy miquella desired to reach godhood in his youth and made a vow with a then young and idealistic Radhan? That with years Radhan would move past that, sour down the solitary path of the strong, wanted to test his strength against the stars, fate, a promise and Malenia the Valkyrie heralding a new age? That Miquella would still remember a vow made in his eternal infancy, that his ever faithful sister would honour her side no matter what?

Seeing that picture of the art book about Radhan in SOTE and really clarifying that all the negative opinions on it just use the foulest language and accuse fromsoft and Miyazaki so directly, haters of the DLC just want something to blame and spew vitriol towards so there's really no reasoning with em

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Seeing that picture of the art book about Radhan in SOTE and really clarifying that all the negative opinions on it just use the foulest language and accuse fromsoft and Miyazaki so directly, haters of the DLC just want something to blame and spew vitriol towards so there's really no reasoning with em

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100% sane and trustworthy Needle Knight Leda

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Hey Glenn buddy, you’re one to fucking talk

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Addressing the elephant in the room firstly, I do agree with you that Miquella's character, his goals, methods and intentions are different from Marika's, the golden order and the Erdtree. I also believe that those distinctions, even if I argue that they're smaller, are very important and make for a fundamentally different character and order. Miquella's kindness, his gold, his love for others and genuine drive to create a better world for Malenia and those reviled and accursed is important, it matters. I just don't think that having his story follow the patterns of Marika's undermines it or makes it worse let alone turns him into a different character.

Saying that he took the gold and image of the Erdtree because "those are the things he had at hand" is doing a lot of heavy lifting for your argument here. We know he rejected golden order *fundamentalism*, there sure are many other ways shown in this world to achieve power or change things, most of which he must've been aware of (the haligtree is a place of study and knowledge after all, his decision to create it coming after possible years of research and debating to find a way for Malenia to be cured), yet he still chose a tree and still chose gold. Sure, self sacrifice and his special blood are very different from what watered the Erdtree, and that's a noble and important distinction. I do think it would've lead to a better world, a gentler place. But it still was a world which required blood, which required sacrifice. It is a systemic change, not a change of system.

The symbolism of gold is as you say nuanced; the colour, shape and origin of it having vastly different meanings. It stands for or originates from the Greater Will (which bears repeating, is an outer god. Many love to claim Miquella was against outer god's influence yet he still chose to employ one's power in one way or another). Despite that, on its own it also stands for kindness (minor Erdtree, all the kindness of gold without its order), and the order that was established by Marika using it is a process that fundamentally changes it into the imperialistic, othering force that embraces few and rejects many. The Erdtree, a tree of gold towering over the lands, is at the same time a threat looming over those who lie outside its embrace and an overwhelming, constant presence to remind those who do that they're blessed. It's a mother's love, comforting and total to the point of becoming smothering. The haligtree, a safe heaven built on its shadow, fulfills a role that can only exist within it: a safe heaven, a place for the exiled. It is completely right, loving and works perfectly for what Miquella intended, but again it still needs this system to exist.

Ultimately, to show that Miquella's and Marika's differences matter, I think it's important to see how they ended. Both failed sure, but Marika dies alone. A mother, imprisoned by her own body, rejected, abandoned or reviled by her offspring and those who she sought to protect. Miquella, however, is defended to their last breath by those who loved and believed in him. Even in the far off haligtree, either defeated or in her sleep, Malenia still wholeheartedly believed in him. Leda and her followers, charmed or otherwise, still believed in him. Miquella does fighting for what he believed for, wrong or right, with people by his side, and that distinction matters a lot.

i know a lot of ink is spilled in relation to the themes of cycles with regards to shadow of the erdtree. With particular focus given to miquella, namely as a justification for his actions. This never really worked for me as the theme of repeating cycles didnt make sense for Miquella because he as a character was almost custom built to see the flaws, the violence of Marika's order and try to do better. And the dlc does try to make this theme work, it tries its damnedest to show the player that parallels between Marika and Miquella. But it didnt work, and aside from the obvious, 'they didn't set this up in the base game' i wasnt sure why. But then i realised it's cause of how much they had to disregard, so much of the core components of miquella in base game must be stripped away so he can boiled down to marika 2.0. His haligtree, watering it with his blood rather than the blood of others, his relationship with Malenia, his opposition to the outer gods, his alternative means of ascension through fusing himself with the haligtree, his unalloyed gold creations, his title as the unalloyed. All are disregard so they can make the dlc about how much he is like Marika.

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Thought I'd do a run after farming the banished knight set (don't ask me about that) and cleared it rather easily 😭😭😭 I had been fighting this more in my head than in game so I already knew how to dodge all his attacks and was just a matter of praxis, dare I say very fun boss that's relatively fair

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The way Leda’s suspicions immediately fall upon Sir Ansbach and Hornsent is such a blaring and obvious warning sign that the narrative is asking you to examine your perceptions about Mohg and the Hornsent people it makes me wild that people miss it.

Leda is your mind murmuring to you: well of course Ansbach is suspect. He’s a former follower of Mohg. He admitted to attacking Miquella! And that Hornsent guy sure is ominous and rude. I *have* seen a gaol and maybe Bonny Village. Maybe the Hornsent don’t deserve my sympathy.

The game has such intense themes around judgement and who has the right to wield that power.

Does Ansbach deserve our good faith despite his past?

Does Hornsent deserve our sympathy- even after he betrays us later?

Does Queelign deserve the Iris of Grace even though he is an ardent and vicious crusader? With the Iris of occlusion we can damn him for his hatred and violence. But is that just?

And in making these considerations and choices, we are, in a way, following in Miquella’s footsteps spiritually. We are seeing what choices he had to make, and we are repeating them. Though we do not ever really interact with Miquella until the fateful end, we are still walking his journey with him.

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In regards to the haligtree and the distinction being made between watering it with his own blood instead of that of others, isn't that the kind of definite evidence that despite everything Miquella didn't see through it? Like that's still blood. It's still violence, suffering, that fuels the system he seeks to create. It's still another tree, built on the Erdtree's image, where there was none before. It's unalloyed, but it's still gold.

i know a lot of ink is spilled in relation to the themes of cycles with regards to shadow of the erdtree. With particular focus given to miquella, namely as a justification for his actions. This never really worked for me as the theme of repeating cycles didnt make sense for Miquella because he as a character was almost custom built to see the flaws, the violence of Marika's order and try to do better. And the dlc does try to make this theme work, it tries its damnedest to show the player that parallels between Marika and Miquella. But it didnt work, and aside from the obvious, 'they didn't set this up in the base game' i wasnt sure why. But then i realised it's cause of how much they had to disregard, so much of the core components of miquella in base game must be stripped away so he can boiled down to marika 2.0. His haligtree, watering it with his blood rather than the blood of others, his relationship with Malenia, his opposition to the outer gods, his alternative means of ascension through fusing himself with the haligtree, his unalloyed gold creations, his title as the unalloyed. All are disregard so they can make the dlc about how much he is like Marika.