#Her with Marika is default ending

[justagaycryptid]

hey what if I drew some straight up freak shit

[writingwithcolor]

How do I respectfully discuss the topic of diversity with a co-author, as well as assigning a race to an “ambiguous” character?

Anonymous asked:

My co-author and I, for context, are both white and in highschool. For the main cast of our story, each of us ended up creating three characters. All three of her characters were white. Two of mine were white as well, alongside one character who is ambiguously brown-skinned. Do you have any advice on respectfully bringing up the subject of diversity to a co-author, even if it means potentially changing our established characters? Additionally, do you have any advice on retroactively assigning a race/culture to a character? I now understand after reading this blog that “ambiguously brown” characters should be avoided, but I did not when initially creating him. I worry that I could fall into stereotypes— while portrayed positively, he’s somewhat of a “nerd” archetype. But I don’t want to whitewash him either.

“Hey, why’d you think we made a mostly all-white cast?”

In other words: Just be normal about it. As you yourself note, you also didn’t exactly put a great deal of thought into the racial/ ethnic identity for your single brown character either, so it’s not just about your writing partner. This is about how you guys like to create as a team, and what sources of inspiration you both tend to gravitate towards. If a pair of high school students who write together can’t have a chill conversation about the races of the characters they are creating, then I’d worry more for their dynamic as a creative team. Discussions of race are only as weird and awkward as people decide to make them, and that’s often framed by the baggage each person is bringing into the conversation.

Whether or not you change the characters is up to you.

“Diversity is a marathon, not a sprint!”

Write diverse characters when and because you want to. I think the push for diversity is best when it’s self-motivated. Strangers on the internet telling you to do something is definitely not the reason to do it. I’ll note the same applies IRL. Otherwise, you’re changing your behavior for the sake of peer pressure. Writing groups on the internet like our blog do not exist to sit in judgment of your work. These are venues to discuss, critique and receive feedback, but the final choice always rests with you.

There’s not enough info for me to tell if the experience of whiteness is so intrinsic to your characters that changing their race will alter them greatly. I would argue the same for gender and sexual identity. Sometimes, changing dimensions of a character’s identity alters a lot about who they are. Other times, particularly if the character is not thoroughly fleshed out, changing their race only adds to their characterization. Only you can say which scenario applies here.

Other mods have written on how to handle your dilemma of “white as default” in an earlier post available here. Please explore our #POC Profiles for more inspiration. 

Your third paragraph can be answered by re-reading all 3 sections of the FAQ and exploring our archives using the tags. 

Marika.

[galactickohipot]

Going thru the ER fandom after the DLC really is fun. It's the first rodeo with a souls game for a large portion of the fandom it seems... It's mostly people raging about the difficulty of the last boss, or Radahn fanboys freaking out abt their man. It feels like the fact Elden Ring exposes its lore very openly in comparison with other titles, pushes some people to take it very literally too. Those people often forget that the lore is in service to a broader narrative, and lose themselves in tiny details at the expense of the feeling the story is supposed to evoke. imo that's always how Soulsborne were supposed to be read, but the lore was so nebulous in comparison that it's what people would naturally default to. That said, I really enjoy watching deep dive videos about the lore, bc those games are so well crafted. It's just really satisfying! Anyways, here are my (unorganized) thoughts on the ending:

So far, we really don't know if Radahn did consent. That's the point: the text emphasizes what Miquella wanted, but never questions what others around him truly desired. If anything, people asking the question themselves had the intended effect. That's pretty great, me thinks! Funnily enough, Miquella/Radahn are kind of a subversion of the Power of Love character/Shonen protag tropes, except you are on the receiving end of it.

On the other hand, my interpretation is that the promise was made by a very young and impressionable Miquella, a very long time ago. Like a promise a tiny child would make, innocently. It's tragic that in his and Malenia's horrible situation, it probably meant so much him. At the same time, I would imagine an older Radahn would pay it no mind at all. My interpretation of Radahn is of a simple and honest guy; kind but ultimately unconcerned with these issues. It feels like he'd be the most down to earth and straightforward of all the demigods in that regard. The vow was probably lost to time, in an age and a context that was vastly different from after the Night of the Black Knives and the Shattering. How sad is it that it probably meant so much more to Miquella than anybody could've imagined. It's heartbreaking, that after centuries, this is all Miquella could hold onto, as well as the tiniest hope he could make the world a gentler place. He sacrificed everything for it and yet still... it was all so very naive.

And even then, what did Miquella truly bring back? After so long, after loosing his wits, eating corpses and fighting off the rot for an eternity, what was there left of Radahn to restore? An idealized and distant memory perhaps? Even if he tried to create an alternative to his mother's order, Miquella still made the same mistakes. And so he resurrected a person that spent his life trying to emulate Marika's Lords and champions.

A part of me would like to think that Radahn's heroics were more genuine than Godfrey's or Radagon's ever were. That despite having these two as role models, he took better decisions and was a more accepting person ( also he had a pet cat and Leonard come on!) Yet, Radahn still represents an outdated ideal of what a Lord should be, especially for Miquella's intended "Age of Compassion". He is a character whose development was left during the Shattering, untouched forever. Would this have been another cycle of the same thing? Would Miquella have made the same mistakes as his Mother again, and would he also have reached the same breaking point? Could the same cause have the same effects? In learning about Miquella, we learn a lot about Marika; the inverse is true too. The Shaman Village revelation is two-fold. We learn of her kindness without Order: the genuine sadness she had for her people, and her true honest motivation. Kindness was intially the reason behind her action, just like Miquella. We know from St. Trina that just like him, her godhood ended up being a prison. Her kindness "with Order" is conditionnal and institutionalized. We know of the unconditionnal love all of her children yearned for, the afflictions they suffered because of her actions, and the strong reactions they had towards all of it. We see her struggle, between the love she wants to give her children and the order she is supposed to uphold. When this paradox becomes too much for her to bear and her kids are either killed, cursed or rebelling, she breaks. The vessel she molded herself into is then exploited, until grounded to dust, until Ranni lets her go or Chaos swallows everything. By contrast, when it is revealed Rennala was exploited and betrayed, she is solely reduced to her motherly role; earning her the scorn of her people. She rebirths children anew, in a process that ultimately became sterile. Mother Metyr, herself a daughter of the Greater Will, is abandonned and broken, forever waiting for a sign from her maker. Finally, Count Ymir, who is quick to place the blame on Marika, truly fails to understand the heart of a mother.

Miquella's ending in the dlc is also a perfect parallel to Ranni's ending. While Miquella promises you an age where you won't have a choice but to be loved and saved, Ranni gives you an age of loneliness and uncertainty, wherein she'll grant you the free will to save yourself. Miquella's action started selflessly, as he was intent on helping others above all else; while Ranni started her quest because she selfishly didn't want the Greater Will dictating her fate. If you put your love and compassion in the hands of a God that won't give you a choice in the matter, is it truly love anymore? Is it the unconditional love that you dreamed of anymore? Isn't it an issue if you rely on an external figure for these matter (ie a godly mother figure)?

All those years ago, I started playing Dark Souls because I watched an essay about it. It ended with something like: "You despair when you realize everything is pointless, and you become wiser when you realize you can find your own meaning. Dark Souls is a game that makes you happier, because it makes you just a little bit wiser." Maybe this game is about finding acceptance. Although this may start as a lonely road, you still have the power within you to love yourself and others, regardless of the love you were given. It's difficult and it takes a lot of courage, but you already beat this game so why not? But also, they made jar people so you would feel bad about breaking clay pots in their games. You can throw dung at gods and dragons, and Radahn is a shounen protagonist... so who knows lol

[katyspersonal]

I'd say it makes perfect sense that in one way or another, a God (which Empyreans are supposed to become) should reflect the duality with their gender one way OR another! For what a God entails, and to be able to have children with the consort of any gender, I suppose!

At the same time, Miquella IS quite a lot like little Marika, in every sense! He takes her association with plants and Radagon's association with needles both, when Malenia gets none of these! (her "plants" aren't hers, they're Scarlet Rot..) But Radagon IS Marika, so... Basically, if he takes everything from his parents, even Radagon's 'orange' eyes, should splitting have been unique to Marika for some reason, he'd get that too?

It also feels oddly coincidental that Malenia yielded her fate to Miquella and Ranni never wanted to be an Empyrean on her own! And both not have alters. If God should have two sides and they never pursued Godhood, maybe it just didn't manifest? Ranni technically goes become a God anyways, but without her Empyrean flesh, so this can't happen anymore at least?

Radagon's red hair is also result of the curse of Fire Giants! It is more convoluted but not impossible: what if Empyreans have sort of a "defence mechanism" given to them by the Two Fingers, where to not be "wasted" should they fuck around and find out, only a part of them takes the damage and separates? This could explain why Radagon is not a God! As for Miquella, maybe Trina was a result of Miquella taking a sip of Scarlet Rot too much? He had insectoid wings once, and so do Cleanrot Knights, plus there is Trina's association with sleep when Scarlet Rot slowly causes stagnation and in the end makes you as active as a mushroom... Or stranger yet. Slumber Flame is so much an opposite of Frenzied Flame that even their icons and colors are mirrors of each other, Trina was calming Frenzied Nomads in beta version, and Torrent most likely was burnt by Frenzied Flame already (he has burnt marks, his ring already has a dent, and Miquella was shown to ride him in Shadow's Land before). Maybe, Trina was born as a force to combat Frenzied Flame when Miquella was damaged by it?

I think the latter version is really interesting, but yeah, it seems to coexist with the 'Empyreans have androgyny by default' idea since these "defence mechanism" alters are still gendebents!

[swallowtail-ageha]

Super late but 💕🏳️‍🌈💀 for the unpopular opinion ask game?

Sure! Going with elden ring here

💕 What is an unpopular ship you like?

I have two major ships that are unpopular but i really like! Albeit they are unpopular for two wholly different reasons, because one (malmiq) is incest and the other (ranni/tiche) is pretty much something i invented from scratch

Funnily enough, before dlc i didnt care much for it. I was very "oh they are codependent and malenia's dialogue does sound Suspect" but didnt put much thought into it. Then post dlc spite + me in the last year becoming much more outspoken into shipping incest and it became an OTP full force.

They are everything to me soulmates tragic siblings each other's halves the full manifestation of the inherent claustrophobia of incest. They are very antigone and polynices core to me (<-unhinged statement). Canon sunk the ship with a cannonball but it doesnt matter for i have mastered the art of Ignoring

Ranni/Tiche is very. Oh ok i made it up. My brain was like "oh so ranni instituted the NOTBK, she's also canonically into women, alecto had a daughter old enough to be an assassin herself so tiche might have been around ranni's age" and ran with that

I do not think their relationship ever ended up into something. I think they had a sort of unaware mutual pining where ranni truly didn't realize her feelings for tiche until she died, while tiche died bitterly and thinking that her Dear Friend ranni abandoned her (not too far from the truth tbh)

Surprisingly enough, probably my only ship where the characters pine and don't fuck at least once

🏳️‍🌈 Which character who is commonly headcanoned as queer doesn't seem queer to you?

I am pretty lax on queer headcanons bcs i usually default to "everyone is bi" as a way to just have several dynamics instead of being just limited by sexuality (and i also tend to gravitate more towards m/f ships or f/f ships). I guess the most is me going ??? at (an admitedly very small minority of people) who insist that rellana is lesbian and in love with marika and this is why shes following messmer just because thats not. Her characterization (tho i like rellana/moonirithyll and rellana/rennala)

💀 If you had to choose one major character to die, who would you choose?

Well basically every important character here dies so. I really do not have much of a choice but god annoying post dlc mohg fans that woobiefy (revolutionary, did nothing wrong mohg) the shit out of him make me feel glad i killed him. Which genuinely sucks!!!! Because i used to love mohg both pre and post dlc!! But some of his stans really make him hard to be liked! Hes getting turned into elden ring lady maria and I Do Not Like It

Thanks for the ask!

Ask game here

https://www.tumblr.com/fintan-pyren/747123238736429056/ask-game-unpopular-opinion-edition?source=share

[gastlygallows]

Me and five of the muses who live in my head creating 3 different Elden Ring OCs and none of them are even the OC I set out to make before starting the game Autism below the cut

Ok so originally I wanted to make an Empyrean OC of some sort I just didn't know *how* because there's no real way of doing that without veering into Mary Sue territory even with Messmer being a secret Marika kid all along providing just a tad bit of leeway There is always the camp of, "who fuckin' cares if your character is a Mary Sue just have fun with it" and the answer to that very rhetorical question is: me. I care. I care about making OCs that are believable and fit into the story that I am creating them for.

This isn't meant to come across as elitist and other people can do what they want and I'm not judging them, but I do judge myself harder than any other person on the planet.

Holding myself to certain standards is a default I cannot toggle and while sometimes it is annoying, since I do write professionally it's better I don't fight it lol

Maybe my subconscious will cook up an Empyrean OC anyway somehow, idk, but the OCs I do have thus far:

My Current Tarnished

I'm kinda just making her up as I go along, but from the beginning I knew two very important things about her: one, she was a student at Raya Lucaria and two, she always has loved and admired Princess Ranni This is because I wanted to be an Astrologer (I'm always either a mage, an elf, or both in these sorts of games) and I knew that I wanted take the Ranni route for my first playthrough She is wife, she is queen, she...is everything okay? I'm very very much gay for her<3 LOVE Ranni, LOVE the moon, PRAISE the stars, KILL the Fingers, shrimple as! Ranni is just too wife to ignore, if you get it, you get it! (I wish there was more art of her w/ female Tarnished but beggars can't be choosers)

I don't have a definitive name for my Tarnished, I'll come up w/ a better one than my character name later, and I'm still playing (80 hours in, 2 Runes, no big hurry) so I'm excited to get to know her more!

2. Varré's Finger Maiden

She shows up completely unannounced in my mindspace and demands an entire fic? How did this happen? xD I'm 1.3k deep into it (it was supposed to be just a oneshot pwp like 1,000 words but who was I kidding?? Not her) (I'm not even into the smut yet) and I'm taken off guard at just how appealing Varré was for me from the getgo I am no stranger to a strong case of "HEAR ME OUT" and certainly not to sadistic characters but prior to playing myself he sorta flew under my radar--next thing I know I'm spending like two nights finding a dead maiden to stain the cloth and progress his quest

Varré's finger maiden is passive and skittish, generally fearful of the world they live in and her own fragility Headcanoning here but it's not hard to imagine that the maidenless Tarnished might try to kill the maidens of their peers out of jealousy or otherwise petty motives, so to that end she's really clingy to Varré and ofc he indulges it

Her greatest fear is that the world won't ever recover from The Shattering, that she'll die before then, or that Varré will stop seeing Grace and lose all pathways to Elden Lord thus dooming them both She's told she has to keep him on the right road, but... Instructions unclear, having sex instead oops<3

3. Miquella follower

So this is an alternate version of my Tarnished character, except maybe I'll go with Confessor as a starting class in a new game plus? I sorta want to use the "join Miquella" mod for this, too? I've never modded a game before so maybe....

I will build this character more as I go through the game, but the rough idea is that her seeking out the Great Runes isn't to become Elden Lord but for Miquella as she was his follower in life She's a devotee who, if she becomes a lord, hopes that she will be accepted by him as a knight or lesser-consort (she'd never want to get in the way of him and Radhan~) Either way she is going to give it all to him, no brainwashing necessary but very much welcomed The Confessor description says they're a spy, so it would play into that to have her using the Greater Will for a change and it'd give me a chance to maybe experiment with non-magic weapons?

All my friends know I love a pretty shota character so Miquella was always gonna be a hit with me >:3

All these characters look roughly the same, the finger maiden fic is Reader insert so other than her eyes being golden I'm not going to go into too much detail there but she looks a lot like my Astrologer.

My Confessor (guess I already decided) will obtain golden eyes with Miquella's favor and her hair will turn blond, too, probably....maybe.....obviously all this is super self indulgent and I have black hair so not sure on that yet all my self inserts tend to have black or blue hair so it would be a first however it feels important for the lore so WE'LL SEE WE'LL SEE1!!

So yeah those are my Elden Ring characters I might eventually try to draw them!!! Fun times ahead!! Balancing some fic w/ my original book projects and we movin' a little every day...

[mossnobody]

Spoilers for: John Wick 4, Elden Ring

I dislike the current trend of narratives that come so close to saying that the establishment must be destroyed, but don't. You've got things like the Menu, and sort of Glass Onion, that are seem to be taking shots at capitalism and the state of the world, but they don't offer any fixes that would actually fix anything.

!!John Wick 4 spoilers for those who haven't seen it!!

My beef with John Wick 4 is that he got out not through his own ingenuity, but through a backdoor left by the very people who oppress him - the high table. Rather than attack the establishment that wronged him, he plays by their rules till the end. he rebels, but he does not really rebel. Maybe I'm just being nitpicky, but I don't think so.

Elden Ring has three endings, two of them are essentially the same ending. the three fingers ending burns down not just the Erdtree, but the whole golden order - everything is burned, consumed by chaos. in a metaphorical sense, it is the end of the world, but in the literal sense, life goes on. Ranni's ending puts her in the same position as Marika, making essentially no change. the default ending has you upholding the golden order, becoming Marika's pawn.

Anyway, if you are trying to upset an established system, don't play by their rules.

[maranull]

Melina thoughts of mine:

1) she could be Marika's daughter much the same way Millicent is Malenia's. Both parents are empyreans who's children are human sized

2) I can't think of any reason why she couldn't be both Marika's child and the GEQ, it definitely seems like the conflict would be very consistent with Marika/golden order's history of betrayal and alienation of family/ allies

3) what if the ranni/Melina connection is less siblings and more of a Radagon/Marika situation.

4) the frenzy ending is the only time we see her physically interact with anything, this coincides with the destruction of the erdtree/torrents whistle, which I think implies that she was bound (sealed away as punishment perhaps?) to 1 of them, most likely the tree imo

Don't really have a grand theory myself yet, but I would love to hear your thoughts on each of those ideas

Ooooh, thank you for the ideas and the excuse to talk about Meli.

1) I'm 99,99% certain Melina is Marika's daughter. Both because of her dialogue and the fact that "Melina's internal name in the game files is "MaricaOfDaughter". (x <- trivia section of her wiki) The comparison with Millicent is something I never thought about, but a) it's brilliant and b) it makes even more sense. I am now 99,999% certain that Meli is Marika's daughter.

2) She could, but the reason why she is not the GEQ is how opposing their characters' motivations and actions are. The GEQ hunts gods and demigods, Melina wants to make you one. Also, following the default ending, you are made Marika's consort, restoring the order Marika had formed. The GEQ was Marika's nemesis, why would she want to restore Marika's order? Going by the descriptions of her followers (you know, the guys that casually wear the skin of their kills as clothes), the GEQ was one of the most ruthless and violent entities in the Lands Between. Melina is one of the most protective and kind characters we meet (based on how she treats Boc and the Mimic Tear from the cut-content, all her incantations when fighting, the fact that when dying she forms a small, healing tree to assist and protect you even with her final breath). ... If she was the GEQ, she wouldn't have need of us to travel. The GEQ still has followers loyal to her, why would she need a random Tarnished? Throw the whistle on one of her Apostles and just use them as a means to travel. If she was the GEQ, why are all her incantations Erdtree based (and healing instead of damaging) and not Black Flame?

Sidenote: the GEQ came to power maybe at the same time with Marika, and there's also the possibility that the GEQ was even older, maybe a Queen before Marika, serving a different Outer God..? Per the Godskin Noble Robe description: Nobles are the most ancient apostles who are said to have assimilated inhuman physiology. Not unlike the crucible, the Erdtree in its primordial form. (x) The GEQ could had been Marika's family, like a sister or a mother or something, but not a daughter.

3) I don't know... Maybe? They do seem opposites in the way Marika/Radagon are. And they do both have that freaking eye tattoo that I can never fit in any other theory. But at the same time, their goals do align in a way (contrary to Marika/Radagon's shenanigans). Melina wants to bring back death and a natural flow of life in the Lands ("This world is in dire need of repair… and Death…indiscriminate…"), and Ranni wants freedom for the creatures in the world (mainly freedom for herself, but she does extend it to everyone). I don't subscribe to them being one, but I think it's one of the most solid theories.

At any rate, I'm certain that they know and probably are in friendly terms with each other due to Melina (Torrent's "former" master) trusting Ranni with the Spirit Calling Bell.

4) Yeah... But also she is the one that gives you the whistle to call Torrent, which is a physical tool. Also, she beats the living hell out of Morgott when you summon her (sorry gramps). I don't think she can't interact with the world, she just can't move that far away from the Erdtree and Torrent.

(also times two, she holds your hand and if you are telling me that you can't actually feel it, I'm gonna riot ＞︿＜ )

I think she's bound to the Erdtree. And maybe the whistle is made from the the bark of the Erdtree, allowing her to "cheat" and move around as long as she has him..? Dunno.

~

I don't really have a all-encompassing theory either. The few points I have are that,

Melina is Marika's youngest daughter

Melina's goals aligns with Ranni's

Melina is kind and curious by nature

Melina wants to restore the natural circle of life that Marika broke by sealing the Rune of Death, which is why she calls for "Death…indiscriminate…"

I could probably write a better theory at some point, if y'all wanna read it. But me making a proper theory wasn't the ask, so Imma shut it for now. :P

Thank you for the ask!

[on-stained-glass-wings]

Headcanon/Blog Lore: Why Malenia Marched to Caelid

While there is some flexibility in terms of the direct cause of the Battle of Aeonia for the purpose of more streamlined RP interactions, here are the concrete facts of my interpretations of vague canon events.

NOTE: I know a lot of people are likely going to disagree with the following view of Malenia and her motivations. That is okay. I am simply interpreting the loose lore presented by the game via my frame of reference. All I ask for is respect for my interpretation. If you do not respect my interpretation of Malenia’s character and the events of the Shattering, then please do not interact with me.

With that, lots of words below the read more.

The main motivation for Malenia’s march to Caelid will remain the same no matter what loose version I go with: there was a direct or interpreted threat to the Haligtree and/or Miquella, and Malenia chose to act in a surprise attack in order to protect her brother and/or their people.

Now, what exactly was this threat, you may ask? That’s where I’m willing to get a little lax and loose with the lore. While I have a preferred picture of events in my mind, there’s still a lot of play. The following are some of the treads I like to go down.

1) General umbrella narrative: This is the general, universal, big ‘why’ for the Caelid Conflict. Basically, Radahn posed either a real (or manufactured threat to the Haligtree and Miquella. These fears were likely exacerbated a great deal by Radahn attacking Leyndell despite not being an Empyrean. It’s very clear that Radahn wished to be Elden Lord and wasn’t afraid of throwing around his might to achieve that goal. He would also know that Malenia and Miquella--the only two Empyreans following the death of his sister--are direct threats to his rule. It’s likely that, no matter what, he would have marched on the Haligtree eventually.

Now, whether or not he was going to kill Malenia and Miquella is up to debate. Perhaps yes, perhaps he would have forced them to step aside from their designs to the throne, or perhaps he wished to become a platonic consort with one of them to replace Marika in the pantheon. Either way, the threat was there, and it wasn’t insignificant. Malenia was in the position to potentially stop his threat, but if they allowed Radahn to march to the Haligtree, it would likely lead to the deaths of their people along with all soldiers involved.

Something then convinced Malenia and Miquella that Radahn was going to act now. Maybe he sent them an official ultimatum. Maybe she received reliable intelligence from spies in Caelid. Perhaps Miquella even learned of Radahn’s intent through his role as St. Trina. Or, perhaps (and this is the manufactured bit), Mohg--wanting to get Malenia and a majority of the army out of the Haligtree so he could swoop in and take Miquella--planted false information or led a false flag attempt on the Haligtree and pinned the blame on Radahn.

Either way, after discussing the matter with her commanders and Miquella, Malenia decided that their greatest chance at victory without collateral damage was to take the fight to Radahn. While Miquella cocooned himself to immediately begin the transformation into a full god and adult (figuring, that he’d be more of an asset once he’d ascended, that the Shattering wouldn’t end unless he grew strong enough to force out the Outer Gods and end it himself, and that he’s likely safer tucked away in the very heart of the Haligtree than wandering around outside without his sister’s protection), Malenia took almost all of her Cleanrot Knights and marched directly for Caelid.

2) The Empryean Alliance (standard blog canon): I will default to this version for most blog posts unless it’s not feasible or per request of the mun. However, in general, everything above holds true with the notable addition that Malenia, Miquella, and Ranni have been working together since just before the Shattering to usurp the Golden Order and expel the Outer Gods. In fact, Malenia and Miquella knew of Ranni’s plan to slay her Empyrean flesh; they just didn’t know how she was getting the death rune (Marika) and what else would happen (the Two Fingers using the other fragment Marika obtained to kill Godwyn in retaliation for her theft).

The general plan has always been this: Miquella enters a cocoon and grows into a full god. Once that’s done, Ranni--with Malenia acting as her ‘Elden Lord’--usurps the throne and claims the Elden Ring for herself. She leaves with her order, and in the absence of the Greater Will, a newly adult Miquella steps in with enough power to expel the influence of Outer Gods in general. The Lands Between then enters a new age free of religious persecution and dogma, led by Miquella and his champion, Malenia. (Ranni visits a lot, of course.)

However, the Shattering (and Radahn’s sealing of the stars) completely undoes all of their calculus. Because of these changes, Malenia’s objectives in Caelid are now two-fold. Not only is she protecting Miquella and the Haligtree from the warmonger Radahn has become, but to defeat Radahn and remove his hold on the stars. With Ranni’s fate back in motion, all Ranni and Malenia have to do is acquire the Fingerslayer Blade and wait for Miquella to emerge from his cocoon, after which they march upon Leyndell, aided by Malenia’s new power as the bearer of two Great Runes.

Obviously, this...didn’t go according to plan.

(PS: Ranni knowing that her powers have been kneecapped doesn’t mean she knew about being unable to reach Nokron because of it.)

Now that I’ve told you all the reasons she went to Caelid, lemme tell you the reasons she did not, per blog canon:

-No, she didn’t go because she wanted to enter a pissing contest with Radahn. I’m not saying she didn’t have pride in her skills as a warrior, and maybe she and Radahn had a rivalry going on behind the scenes. However, from what I see in canon, Malenia is a relatively passive, reactive character, and I don’t see her literally risking the lives of her soldiers and everyone in Caelid just to prove she’s better than Radahn. Challenging him to a duel and going with a select few soldiers as escort to Caelid for the purpose is one thing; literally plunging a land into war and ensuring the deaths of your own men just because you want to spite your older brother is another, and Malenia just does not seem like the type.

-No, Malenia did not go to Caelid to find Miquella. There’s no evidence in game that Malenia ever knew who had taken Miquella and where, and while I have no doubt she searched for him after his kidnapping, it would have been nearly impossible for her to find the portal that Mohg used on the edge of a barren, blizzard-ravaged land. Also, I find it next to impossible to believe that Mohg would have had a chance to abduct Miqeulla if Malenia and the entire contingent of Cleanrot Knights had been present. Mohg is a simpering little coward, and I can see him biding his time (or even engineering an excuse for her to leave and take the army with her) before waiting to strike.

-No, she did not leave the Haligtree on a whim, especially without consulting Miquella. Given how utterly devoted Malenia is to her brother, I can see Miquella having to actively convince her that no, I’ll be fine, I’ll be deep in the roots in the most secure part of Elphael, and there are still some Cleanrot Knights and the entirety of the Haligtree Knights left to protect me. The Haligtree is near inaccessible. I’ll be okay. I’ll just be dreaming away the entire time you’re gone. This is important. We have to have done all this for something. I’ll be fine, Mal, I promise. Just...make sure you survive, okay? Come back safe. It’ll be fine.

(It wasn’t.)

That’s it for this discussion; tune in next post for Why Malenia Bloomed (and it Wasn’t Willingly).

[retphienix]

I genuinely think more in-game info could make at least a few of the endings work better without directly improving them. Like I think improving Fia's questline could make that lackluster ending still hit because you'd actually know what comes next- like that ending not including the prince of death is a crime- but if the quest included him then maybe it'd be excusable lol

Same thoughts for Dung Eater, if we knew more mid-game then I think the lackluster ending would still click pretty well.

Ranni is just more noticeable because the ending is certainly trying- but again that info ain't there.

You bring up a fucking perfect alternative to adding more info mid-game- JUST HAVE THE KEY CHARACTERS NARRATE MORE IN THE ENDING.

I MEAN LOOK AT RANNNI'S!!!

Aside from the awesome visual storytelling of how Ranni handles Marika or just the shocking awe of the moon- you! Get! To! Hear! Her! Talk! About! IT!!! Instead of just default dialogue with no story.

Like, I ain't saying I want Fallout slideshow mega deep narration, just have Melina talk, have Fia talk, have Dung Eater talk, they can shape the ending through their words in like 15 seconds of dialogue- just toss it in there instead of the meaningless "Age of _____" dialogue for each one!!

On Ranni's ending- the only 'bonus' explanations I am aware of are some extra dialogue with the doll which still really just reiterates the very little we already know.

I know I jokingly simplify it to space fun, but I mean, I think the game straddles that line between fun-vague and bad-vague and just falls off the rope onto bad-vague for her story and I want more :/

I do rather enjoy it and I think I'd say it's my number 2 as well, followed by a lofty tie between golden order and fracture (for the dark souls parallel) and then I really do just hold Dusk and Curse at the bottom for squandering such amazing ideas. Dusk is just so sick a concept to play with for a new "era" and the Curse is obviously less interesting but it's got a meaty gut hit with how disgustingly bad an ending it's supposed to be- and then both are duds- bleh lol

300% agree on closing statement. Here's to DLC because this game is SICK and I want MORE, and here's to what's there because even flawed I'm admiring the hell out of this gem. EASY game of the year, EASY lol

For fun:

Elden Ring ending opinions.

Default Age of Fracture: Middle of the road.

It's lacking that fun ambiguity of most Souls endings where you can really build a vision of what your actions will mean in the future- or even better- you can't at all and all you get are the hopes to build off of!

Instead it's just kinda.... lame vague.

It does have two good points though: It 100% involves my go-to motivation in souls games- you usurp the old power leaving the future a mystery- love that. And it has a fantastic name to at least ATTEMPT to build some intrigue because the Age of Fracture has some implications as to how steady a transition and what kind of land you lord over after your actions.

Basically a retread of the age of humanity / darklord ending from Dark Souls 1 and I'm cool with that.

Age of Duskborn: WHAT A WASTE OF POTENTIAL!

The tl;dr of my view of this ending is that this is supposed to be the age that death forgot. IE: this is the skeleton ending. Where the fuck are the skeletons!

This ending should have had skeletons all over the wazoo but all the default endings use the same 3 slide animations that really don't allow any fun like that.

Should have ended with the throne empty but then fucking Nito plops down in front of it and it's revealed that that's you!

Lame! But overall it's the default ending with some more fun lore to bounce around in your head, so it's "fine" but the disappointment kinda makes it a net gain of zero between this and fracture.

Blessing of Despair: God damn it, this default ending slide system doesn't let them have ANY fun :( This ending is lame but could have been the best alongside Dusk.

Same problem as Dusk, because of how the default endings are framed you just get nothing, and this one had so much potential as a horrifyingly depressing ending!!!

All you get is a nasty shit flavored sky and the narrator saying "Yeah shit's fucked up with a curse now" and adding that to the Dung Eater's dialogue and the seedbed curse item description is literally all you get.

This should have been a scene showing one of the outposts overrun with some rank curse, or showing some (I'd assume now revitalized but maybe they still look like walking corpses doesn't matter to me) people hanging in the capital but then you see one of those mega cursed evil children the Dung Eater implied would be born every generation to perpetuate his dark work and the kid(s) just run at the adults with knives and horrific screams come from off screen because we still don't know the full extent of how the curse is handled with the seedbed's- just that it's awful.

In other words, this could have been the ending that just shows a moment in the horrible lands between after the curse was spread, instead it's just "Poopy sky, you win" exceptionally lame especially when we get to know so very little about the curse aside from how loathsome it is. At least with Dusk we have more info to go off of.

Age of Order: Maybe my least favorite. Just being honest. But I'll say this and Fracture are the best current default endings.

I mean the age of order is just for players that go "Oh yeah, this mega fucked place must have been great before, no questions asked I'll believe any ounce of propaganda that implies the gods and demigods and lords before were the best and I will strive to recreate their world"

It's for first flame re-igniters.

It's fine. Whatever. Same prob as any default ending- just not so much meat to it, but at least this one and the fracture default ending have an old school dark souls 1 ending vibe to them, so despite being markedly less intriguing that Dark Souls 1's options they parallel them and I'm fine with that.

Age of Order sounds stupid and is stupid though, lmao.

Lord of the Frenzied Flame: This one wins, this is the best one.

I don't usually go for the objectively evil ending in any game, but this one hits, especially considering the competition.

I mean it's literally "Become the vassal for the universe's desire to become nothingness once more, all through the conduit and raw power of flames hot enough to burn all to ash"

That's pretty metal, and being one of the 2 unique endings it has visuals to back it up, this is an ending that you can see just enough to fully grasp the effect you've had on the world while still building intrigue as to whether you'll even "succeed" since you're given a glimpse of your new sworn enemy.

A+ ending, fantastic, and good enough both in intrigue and aesthetic to make me say the evil as hell ending wins.

Age of the Stars: Just kinda meh tbh.

To be blunt, I mostly don't like this one because the entire story of this one is "Oh but this demigod is a good one, let's trust them 100% and not try to make the world better according to our beliefs anymore. They know best. Give it to them."

I LIKE Ranni, but that doesn't change the fact that her goal in how to improve the lands between is to basically explore space.

Like she's gonna deep-freeze the planet as it flies through space, the moon is the new erdtree, she doesn't seem particularly interested in a single issue in the world- just in that space-race.

Kinda lame. Instead of usurping all the old corrupt powers we decide to give everything to one of them because we think they are cute and probably aren't corrupt- then instead of justifying that any by like showing they care about people or whatever they just go "I'm going to space now. That'll fix everything." and nah, not that great an ending lol

At least there's fun tertiary stuff to her ending. Like Astiel's race. But it's really an ending that throws everything about the world away so that the star obsessed demi-god can go to space. I mean alright, it's interesting in how little it cares about everything else, I'll give it that.

and that's that for my initial "I just beat the game a handful of times and now want to ramble" take.

Basically I think the default endings really suffer and do vagueness the wrong way compared to most souls endings, then I think Ranni's ending would be a fun option if it wasn't one of two endings that had any amount of production value put into them- when put on that pedestal where all the default endings are lacking it looks a lot less appealing.

And of course, even not considering the competition, I think the frenzied flame is an A+ souls ending. It builds intrigue, it's flashy in it's immediate effects, and it's an exciting shift of power to an outer god etc. Like just in general it plays with new ideas for souls in some fun ways- ain't every souls game you can go "Actually, destroy the entire universe for a god born outside of this narrative", pretty cool.