#Malenia frankly

[death-rebirth-senshi]

Elden Ring really did something to my brain thinking about guard dog coded men.

[phagodyke]

once again saved by elden ring 🙏

[tlgtw]

Bits and pieces of the still incredibly written backstory of Elden Ring continue to poke out from the dogwater, as it were.

St. Trina, as we learn, was a specific aspect of Miquella that was made separate: In Miquella's words, St Trina was the embodiment of his 'love.' And when he abandoned St Trina, he abandoned that aspect of himself that made her.

This newly introduced example reveals to us what the nature of Radagon's exactly was, in turn.

Radagon, the 'other half' of Marika in the exact same way that St Trina had been for Miquella, we learn here, had *himself* been a specific singular aspect of Marika's emotions or feelings.

With St Trina having been made out of Miquella's 'love.'

You wonder, too, what Radagon should have been made from.

What aspect of herself did Marika separate into her second person, as called by her the "Loyal Dog of the Golden Order"? We know Radagon was created prior to the creation of the Golden Order itself, since he was involved in the invasion of Liurnia.

So at the same time as Marika was married to Godfrey, begetting Godwyn and Mogh and Morgott. Radagon was married to Renalla, begetting Rykard and Radahn and raising the potential successor of Marika--the Empyrean Ranni. He was given a massive amount of responsibility, the seeming crux of the Liurnian-Leyndell alliance that ended the Liurnian Wars that Marika's empire was losing, and he by every account was completely dedicated and successful; even weakening the strength of the Carian royal family by reducing their practicing of astrology.

All yet, when push came to shove: After Godwyn was assassinated and Marika sought to destroy the Elden Ring. It was Radagon who dropped everything he had and stepped in to stop her.

"Proudly" as his Golden Order Greatsword says,

Radagon divorced his first wife, married his 'original self,' begettedthe Twin Prodigies Miquella and Malenia as two more potential successors to Queen Marika, set up the brutal inquisition and censorship of the Age of Radagon headed by his own son Rykard, and was even involved with the very the development of Golden Order fundamentalism!

Radagon did so much fucking stuff! He was so damn proactive! So what exactly must he have been!?

That Marika initially separated from herself? And who went on to try and stop her very own plans when they turned against the wishes of the Greater Will??

This conflicting 'half' of her original person! That nonetheless was all this strongly willed on his own!?

What part of Marika COULD Radagon have originally been!?!?!?

And it's awesome. It's really really well-designed writing.

Frankly, even, it's genius. It's not anything revolutionary in terms of narrative devices or anything like that, but it's really elegant. It's really meaningful and concise, and it's really cool!!!

A lot of Elden Ring's base game is, or now maybe--was. (It having been the basis of my entire show on YouTube.)

But the actual story, instead of solely the backstory, of the DLC, unfortunately, is not!

You ever seen a boss item whose entire description was literally entirely the game just fucking QUOTING ITSELF?

Hyetta at Frenzied Flame Proscription: "Become their lord. Take their torment, despair. Their affliction. Every sin, every curse. And melt it all away. As the Lord of Chaos."

Ghost outside Church of Inhibition in Liurnia: "Ahh, Lord Vyke, it seems that you were no lord, after all."

Midras's Flame of Frenzy, from killing Midras, Lord of Frenzied Flame:

Or! Better yet, ANOTHER boss spell, whose entire description is dedicated to literally just acknowledging its fucking colour!!

Land of Shadows, from killing the Scadutree Avatar:

I definitely sure wish I still hadn't!!

In fact, I don't think the level of vacuousness from Shadow of the Erdtree's descriptions has ever been seen before!

Not even in Dark Souls 3!!

AUGH

[notarobot1006]

I'm cooking up an idea of why Mohg is Like That about Miquella that doesn't paint Miquella as either a helpless damsel or a Machiavellian jerk.

We know Miquella can 'compel affection,' but that could range anywhere from outright mind control to just...making people like him. Which is frankly an understandable survival mechanism for a guy stuck in a kid's body. He has one means of keeping himself safe that doesn't hinge on Malenia being right next to him 100% of the time, and I can't blame him for using it.

So I think it goes down like this:

At some point pre-treesleeping, Miquella meets Mohg. Who would be an enormous horned blood mage at this point based on the cursed blood pots being a 'childhood memory' of his. Miquella sees this guy and uses his Please Be Nice To Me power because A) basic precaution to not die and B) a powerful Omen like Mohg would be a really good ally to have for the brave new world Miquella's cooking up.

Problem: It's Mohg. Mohg grew up in Sewer Jail and has had maybe one positive relationship in his entire life based on Morgott's use of cursed blood magic in his own bossfight and Mohg's projection in the Shunning Grounds. Mohg's context for a healthy relationship that doesn't involved his self-loathing fanatic brother or deranged Outer Gods is, to put it gently, lacking.

So instead of thinking "This Miquella fellow sure is nice," Mohg thinks "This must be what love feels like."

Fast forward to Miquella fusing with a tree, and Mohg has had time to grow obsessed and also make a blood cult. Now "I should help out that nice Miquella dude" has warped into "I'm going to help my beloved Miquella by undoing his curse, ascending him to godhood, and marrying him." The whole 'this is literally incest' issue may seem less concerning to someone whose mom committed selfcest to create her second batch of kids. And who, you know. Sewer jail. Outer God. Blood cult.

Anyway the point is, Miquella can have agency in the narrative without being cartoonishly-even-by-Elden-Ring-standards evil.

[shade-of-vermillion]

Gonna be honest. The DLC ending isn’t as out of left field as people think it is. (Spoilers under cut)

Yes, even the Radahn part. There is some evidence for it in the base game. Specifically, we know Miquella had or has ties to the Carian Royal family. We can infer that from two pieces of evidence, 1) Loretta’s presence in the Haligtree and 2) the description for the Miquellan knight’s sword. In the case of Loretta, you could of course make the argument that she sought him out on her own while looking for a place for the albinaurics, but with the sword, I think to go as far as to model a sword intended to be given to his knights after Caria’s implies he had contact with or at least a great deal of respect for someone from that house.

I’ve seen people in the past posit this as evidence he and Ranni were in cahoots but frankly I don’t believe their goals are aligned even in the slightest. Ranni after all believes that the best path forward is to reject godhood utterly and leave the lands between so that mortals can decide their fates on their own, whereas Miquella in the base game has literally been growing his own Erdtree, a new system to replace the old rather than a rejection of the system altogether.

I know there has also been a lot of upset about how Godwyn may have made more sense as his lord consort, however I believe Radahn was chosen specifically as a way to save Godwyn. In the base game through exploring Castle Sol and looking through the descriptions for the gear of mausoleum knights we discover the possibility of returning soulless demigods to life via an eclipse and find out that Miquella was working towards making one happen to bring Godwyn back. Radahn is shown as capable of binding the stars to prevent Ranni’s destiny from coming to fruition. He could probably force the moon into position in front of the sun if he wanted. If Miquella’s goal really was to restore Godwyn with an eclipse it makes a lot of sense that he would tap Radahn to force one to happen.

As for the Mohg thing, come on now. Gideon gives you the recipe for the bewitching branch the second you tell him you visited Mohgwyn palace. If it was just because Miquella was there he could’ve given us sleep pots or sleep arrows or maybe one of the rings of light spells. But no, he gives us the bewitching branch. How the hell else am I supposed to take that.

Honestly I also don’t think this ruins Miquella’s writing. I think it just makes him more interesting in the long run. He does have good intentions, but pursuing godhood requires dirtying your hands. I also don’t think this undermines his connection to Malenia or his drive to see both of them healed. I just think he’s more complex than people thought he was at first brush.

[reitziluz]

hey about the vow made to radahn?

i had a moment of red string insanity while, as i have been since the dlc dropped, thinking about the motivations and agency of radahn.

(please tell me i'm not the only one stumbling into this hypothesis)

i've been long pondering about gaius, radahn's older brother figure, being an albinauric, one of the opressed people miquella is trying to save. and how he is stated to be cursed from birth, cursed people being also part of miquella's motivations.

i am in the camp that miquella has good intentions, but desperation has driven him to extreme methods. the "he is controlling everyone, nobody is willing!!" angle doesn't sit right with me. frankly, it makes for a less impactful story. it makes things convoluted, where seeing miquella as someone with limited power and a lot of his moves as scrambling to recover from setbacks makes sense. everything didn't go down as planned, there were things out of his control.

so. radahn. he promised to be miquella's consort, for better or worse. what did miquella vow to him?

i considered it, but wanting gaius to be saved doesn't feel like enough motivation for him. or if it was, would the man who learned gravity magic to keep riding his beloved horse decide to abandon his sworn brother so that he can, what, go hog wild in the shattering war?

but thinking about gaius made me think of albinaurics. lack of feet. being cursed from birth. radahn lacks his feet during the festival. that's not anything, scarlet rot rots away limbs all the time.

but scarlet rot doesn't turn your skin gray and sclera black.

marika's children are prone to being born cursed. cursed to be taken over by entities. losing their minds.

it's hard to find a sensible reason for radahn and malenia to have fought. two possibilities i've seen before are 1) radahn wasn't on board with the plan (likely had broken out of miquella's charms and control) so malenia was sent to bring him back in line 2) for some reason, miquella specifically needed him to die and be resurrected, and all the weird circumstances are somehow part of the same plan and make sense for reasons we just can't know but trust me bro they do.

it's interesting that in the story trailer, in radahn's and malenia's fight, radahn's face is shown only for a split second.

gray skin. black sclera.

was radahn, too, cursed from birth?

was he doomed to be overtaken, to lose himself?

had he lost his mind long before he was afflicted with scarlet rot? had he turned into a scourge, and not much else, before he and malenia fought?

did malenia see herself in him? did she want to give him the death he would have wanted? did she want to help him keep a promise he wouldn't have wanted to break?

did miquella vow to save him, like he did the albinaurics, like he did malenia?

[yolowritter]

A Perspective on Miquella the Kind

"Miquella the Kind...is a monster." Those are some of the first words uttered by Sir Ansbach once the Empyrean's Great Rune is shattered, and the charm placed upon his followers in the Lands of Shadow is lifted. But...are they actually true? With all the new information we have about Miquella in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, it's worth to re-examine all we know about his character. Naturally, a huge part of the community is budy combing every nook and cranny for more lore on this Demigod. And...others are displeased with the new information given, or more specifically, what Miquella's plan is revealed to be at the DLC's end. So today, I want to take a closer look at Miquella as a character, his followers, and of course, the overarching plot which the Tarnished becomes involved in after slaying Radahn and Mohg. As an aside, we really owe the Lord of Blood an apology as a community. Nevermind the murders and cult sacrifices, Mohg managed to beat the allegations! Anyway, I do intend to also give my own interpretation in regards to the more...questionable things in the new Lore, so let's get right to it!

Firstly, it's worth establishing a baseline for who Miquella is as a person. As we all know, he is the son of Queen Marika and King Consort Radagon, as well as brother to Malenia. As a side note, the whole "Miquella divested himself of Saint Trina" situation most likely explains how this family dynamic would be possible, but that's another post altogether. Marika's...questionable marriage choices aside, Miquella has always been described as a kind, gentle soul. In some ways, his narrative place in Shadow of the Erdtree serves as a foil to Marika herself. Where his mother schemes and conceals the truth, Miquella is extremely upfront about his goals. Make the world a kinder, gentler place. And honestly? I believe him. I fully believe that Miquella, having grown up next to his cursed sister and seeing the Golden Order unable to do anything for Malenia, wished for nothing more but to better the world. And after realizing the Order wasn't working, I've no doubt he went on to discover the many, many attrocities committed against those of the Crucible, like the Misbegotten for example. However...this is where things get a little muddy, in terms of morality that is.

Remember that Miquella is basically a God. He is one of the few who can succeed Marika in a new Age. But...he doesn't seem like a fighter to me. He isn't one, which is where Radahn comes in. Now, forgive the aside, but we need to have a chat about what exactly "Consort" means as a word. Yes, it's typically used in the context of marriage, but from the original Latin meaning (I'm no expert here, feel free to correct me), a consort is someone with whom an individual shares a destiny. Miquella himself talks a little about this, both in the fight against Promised Consort Radahn, and if the Tarnished is charmed by his Circlet. Yes, that's the thing he uses to hypnotize people, it's in the item description. We understand the concept of a consort as the more modern interprepation of a romantic partner, a spouse of some kind. However, Elden Ring doesn't work by the same rules. Yes, it can mean spouse, given that Ranni welcomes the Tarnished as one and grants the Dark Moon Greatsword as a wedding gift, but it doesn't have to.

Unfortunately, I think the community is falling into the same pitfall we did with Mohg's wording of his own desires to become Miquella's consort. Unlike Ranni, neither situation here necessitates romantic feelings, and frankly I don't believe they exist here. Miquella was fascinated by Radahn's strength and kindness, and believed his brother would be an excellent person to share the remainder of his plans for a New Age with. And Radahn was, objectively speaking. He's hailed as a hero from everyone who knows him, even Ansbach treats him with great respect should you summon him for the final battle. I think the Vow made between Radahn and Miquella happened before the Shattering, and was something along the lines of Radahn helping Miquella make the world a better, kinder place. It's something the Red Lion would absolutely want, since despite his element being war, we get many accounts of him being an honorable, good man. It would make sense why Radahn at first agreed with Miquella, so let's see why Malenia even needed to go and do what she did in the first place. Why did Radahn not hold up his end of the deal?

To put it blunty, it's because he's a Golden Order fanboy. I'm still not entirely sure how Messmer ties into this from a timeline perspective, but Radahn grew up with his older half-brother (presumably before the Holy War against the Hornsent), his father Radagon, and Lord Godfrey as his primary male role models. Even if Godfrey had been exiled by that point, the evidence of his crusades was memorialized in song for Radahn to be inspired by. Of course he believed the Golden Order to be righteous and good, and wanted to uphold the honorable values he was raised on. Considering his own character, I'm quite confident in speculating that Radahn saw the Order's faults, and probably agreed with Miquella that there was a distance between the stories he grew up on and reality. So naturally, upon seeing his younger half-sibling try to fix things, Radahn quite possibly supported the idea.

Where I think the divide happened...was Miquella's method of problem-solving. As I said before, I've no doubt that he is as Kind as they say; it's just that Miquella envisioned a world without violence and had the power of make it so. His broken Great Rune holds the power to resist charms, so it's pretty reasonable to assume that the whole thing once held the power to perhaps inflict them. Miquella later replaced it with the Circlet he now wears, but still. He was strong enough to evoke a cult following from most of those who laid eyes on either of his forms. Again, I firmly believe he was doing good here, as both himself and as Saint Trina. From Miquella's point of view, he is helping. He grants the restless a peaceful sleep, he gives a home to the outcasts, he protects the Albinaurics, etc. That's why so many people wanted to follow him. What interests me is that Miquella seems to be a classic case of the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

He undoubtebly, truly wants to make a kind and gentle world, but has little qualms about forcing people to stop fighting. As Leda tells the Tarnished when asked about Hornsent, she explicitly states that without Miquella's charm, he would be attacking her and the others right now. Yes, it is arguably better for people to not fight to the death, but Miquella enforces this "good" thing in the wrong ways. Everywhere in the Lands of Shadow, we can see something similar. Sir Ansbach for example explains that Mohg himself got charmed, and that upon trying to rescue his Lord, Miquella brainwashed him as well. And he only sounds upset about it after the charm is broken. This gives us a very interesting character, since Miquella is technically correct in what he states. Should his Age of Compassion come to pass, there won't be any more War, or violence, or destructive conflict. However, taking away people's free will is arguably worse. So, what happened? Why does there seem to be a difference between the morally grey (but with good deeds to his name) Miquella, and the more extremist version we battle in Enir-Ilim?

Well...I think Miquella's Crosses hold the answer. At every site, he "divests himself" of something. It's clearly stated that he had doubts, he second-guessed if this was the right thing to do. He had moral qualms, but forced himself to leave them all behind. And there is one more thing he abandoned. Saint Trina. I believe this is why he seems so jarringly different to what we know about him. Because Saint Trina is his love and compassion. Every genuine feeling that Miquella held was left behind to make space for the more nebulous "Greater Good" of his new age...and evidently, very little that made Miquella himself even exists anymore. Despite the radiant light at the Gate of Divinity, his demeanor seems cold and calculated, much more akin to how I and many others might characterize Queen Marika. In attempting to ascend to Godhood, Miquella ironically became what he sought to destroy.

That's why there's such a difference between the Miquella we hear about in the main game, who does seem to be using his powers yes, but for a good cause...and the DLC version of Miquella, who is abusing his charms. Ever since entering the Lands of Shadow after he cocooned himself, Miquella has slowly divested himself of everything except the greater goal. Godhood is all that's left of him by the time we arrive at Enir-Ilim, which is why Saint Trina begs us to kill him. Miquella has already killed himself in a way, and all that's left is a brilliant yet hollow shell. The genuine warmth and compassion he once held for the Lands Between and their people are void, leaving behind only the unfeeling rays of pure gold, much like the ever-present Erdtree. He seeks to supplant Marika's Age...and then install himself as a God, just like his mother. I'm sure that he did have genuine kindness in his heart, but now...there isn't any left within him. That's why he's enforcing his will upon Moore, Ansbach, Freya, Thiollier and Hornsent. Because he's become just like Marika.

It's unfortunate, and a brilliant tale a self destruction that if correctly decoded shows how masterful Fromsoft is at this kind of storytelling. Now, I'm not claiming to be completely correct in this interpretation, since this is just my personal viewpoint of how and why things played out this way in the DLC. Feel free to drop your thoughts below, I'm more than happy to open up a disccussion about Miquella! Anyway, if you'll all excuse me, I need to go replay Shadow of the Erdtree. I'll see you all soon, but until then, Stay Tarnished everyone!

[pseudowho]

mrs haitch i was wondering… in your free time are there any video games you or your husband like to play??

Yesss!

I don't get much free time (and neither does he), but some of my favourites to play are: Darkest Dungeon (all time favourite), Kirby, Untitled Goose Game (me and Mr.Haitch make an excellent pair of naughty geese), the Pokémon games, Fire Emblem, the Zelda games, the Mario games.

I'm more of a platform gamer, but I do love a tactical roguelike. I'm also an avid game watcher, so watch Mr.Haitch play things like:

Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Ghost of Tsushima, the Stalker Games. He's also quite the fan of Star Wars: The Old Republic, he quite likes an NHL game (we love hockey!).

We love playing immersive horror games together. It's a real event for us. We get excited looking for one, and the scarier the better, frankly. We'll order a take-out, crack open a bottle of wine and scare ourselves shitless.

Our sons have been introduced to gaming early, because we're such fans. We like them to access.media forms that are "too old" for them with our presence, because we know they'll access it themselves one day, so we're not turning it into a taboo subject, and instead assisting their understanding of the media they access in a safe environment.

As such, our 6 year old's greatest achievement (in his mind) so far, was defeating Malenia, solo, on New Game Plus in Elden Ring.

Anyway yes.

We like games.

@mrhaitch jump in if I missed any...

-- Haitch xxx

[marina-the-witch]

MAJOR Shadow of the Erdtree Spoilers!!!

Alright I need to get this out, so here goes.

Promised Consort might be the single most conflicting boss in Fromsoft for me, and I need to talk about it. Firstly, I want to say in full honesty that I don't really mind it from a narrative standpoint. As much as I would have loved to see Godwyn get his time to shine, seeing Radahn in his prime, especially after he got beaten out quite hard by 4 other bosses in base game when he used to be my favorite after some consideration, is very cool and I don't personally think it assassinates either of the 2 characters involved, as it doesn't contradict or invalidate Miquella's previous actions nor does anything point strongly towards Radahn willingly being involved in this. However, one complaint I do have is that Mohg's involvement feels quite irrelevant and ignored by both the fanbase (aside from the dedicated Mohg club) and the game. Promised Consort has a couple horns slapped onto his arms and a SINGLE move that is reminiscent of Mohg, that's it. No shared weakness, no cool wings or scales or anything, hell, why not make Mohg's shackle work to make this difficult fight a little bit less over the top. On that note, I would like to address the fight. Aside from a wonky hitbox or two, I think, on paper, Promised Consort has a very solid and fair moveset in Phase 1 that's fun to learn and exploit, even if the openings do feel aggressively tight. Phase 2 on the other hand...Why? Why, instead of giving this conceptually sound and interesting boss an actually new moveset do you just slap frankly annoying AoEs and weird Dragon Ball bullshit ass afterimage attacks and the ability to fucking toast your CPU on what could have easily been the best final boss fight in Souls thus far if you had just TRIED. Many people have expressed they feel as though Promised Consort doesn't "try" narratively, that he's just a cheap, shoehorned attempt at fanservice like Soul of Cinder What who said that instead of providing an actual final boss to cap off the narrative, and I don't fully agree with this even if I did find the ending cutscene a bit underwhelming. But I do feel as though Promised Consort isn't trying to actually be challenging in a fair and fun way. Just kinda, overtuned. Aggressive. Unfair. I had my fun with the boss, no doubt, but I didn't feel good about beating it, especially not after the only way out I saw was summoning a tanky spirit who drew all the aggro while I tried to do literally anything in Phase 2, when no other boss in the DLC or in the game at all has ever made me that desperate (Note that i don't mind summons in general but don't personally enjoy using them as it takes the excitement and rewarding feeling out of a boss fight for me) (Also note that while i am fairly good at this game, I am extremely easily overwhelmed by too many bright visual stimuli as part of my ADHD/Autism, which is part of the reason I struggle with Fortissax and Bayle every now and then, now imagine that but tenfold for Promised Consort). This boss needs some sort of nerf. Not one that completely neuters it, Radahn has had enough of that already, it just needs to be towned down. The speed, the damage, I don't know, hell, toning down the visual clutter of phase 2 would probably be enough, so you could actually SEE what the boss is doing half the time, just do something to not make this fight as unfair as it is now. I don't know if I'll have the same experience I've had with this boss as I did Malenia, where after several attempts that ended in a mere , underwhelming, unrewarding "Glad that's over", to thinking its the worst thing ever to it being my favorite boss, I kinda hope it will, but for the time I can't say I'm excited to fight this boss again.

Stan Metyr and Romina instead everyone, we love weird nasty girlies <3

[huggingtentacles]

What Demigod would you switch with Radahn? 👀

If I had to pick one I'd say Godwyn or Malenia but frankly I would prefer to have Miquella as a boss on his own. Get down here and fight me shitling

[katyspersonal]

Okay the last post about SoTE progress for today!! (3/3)

1) So, after I defeated Romina, I of course....

came back and finally got to that bridge area that I wanted to get to!!!

Yes, I just wanted to get to that side of the map where I saw a Horned Knight that I just really wanted to murder for some reason XD However, to my surprise, I saw another Dancing Lion boss ;-; That one was a hard battle and I could not have imagined to need to do that AGAIN ;-; But my way layed through that spot, and also I am a perfectionist..

1.1) But surprisingly, at the Stage 2, it summoned several Basylisks and started to use Deathblight! That was significant for me! So yesterday I concluded that Scarlet Rot, Deathblight and Formless Blood (? is this even a correct term) all spawn flies and plants? And whereas Romina of course raised Scarlet Rot here since the buds in Rauh church she brought here were not always rotten, some Hornsent here use same flies swarms as Mohg's people! Seeing how a Dancing Lion here uses Deathblight, but no Deathroot was anywhere on its arena, I felt even more convinced that these three powers are basically Pokemon Eevelutions of the same initial concept, 'stagnation', whereas fly sickness that fell upon Hornsent is its initial unaltered form! + I guess all Hornsent in Rauh are runaways from Belurat particularly, then?

2) I finally killed that poor particular Horned Knight whom I had eyes on as soon as I saw them!!!!! They've dropped the greatsword if I remember correctly? Happy end! XDDD

3) So... Yeah, at last, finally, FINALLY I proceeded and burnt the sealing tree. I got to explore Enir-Ilim! It was already beautiful, with all the pale yellow trees. Took me some time to adjust, though, the place was tangled from the start!

4) Yeah yeah Inquisitors are female feminism wins whatever

Vfggghgjhgv unironically though, I love subversion of the trope xD

5) Something creepy/funny happened along the way though, I was laughing so hard wtfffff gfbfgcbfg

OKAY SO at some point my joy from the new location went down because my focus shifted towards the memory of the final boss, and I just remembered how much I dreaded them.. so, I broke my vow to not fuel the negativity which is already abundant and wrote a rant(ish) post about how much that decision soured otherwise amazing DLC and ranted about Radahn (disliking about his involvement, not the character jfhyggfg). And what do you think? That frankly sour post got eaten by Tumblr!

And yes, I know, Tumblr is a broken website and all that, but listen.. It never made the posts disappear for me. Ever. It could glitch out a post with bad internet and randomly publish it later as I log in, it could glitch an ask response and not have the draft saved thus losing it. It has invisible ask glitch and glitch where same post gets reblogged from 3 to 5 times. It never just made post disappear instead of being posted even with delay or giving me error message. Never. Ever. Ever. Except for now. The one time I spoke unkindly about that choice, not just "mannn weird how it wasn't foreshadowed :("

So since I am infamous amongst my friends for my super bizarre coincidences regarding fictional characters ( @heraldofcrow and @val-of-the-north witnessed so many they can swear I am cursed) me and my friend are joking that Miquella is real and he nuked the post for talking shit about his blorbo LMAOOOOOOO FFGDHTGG WTFFFFF 🤣

6) OK sorry hghgggggf Anyways, to my DELIGHT, I discovered variant of Hornsent Knights that wore smaller variant of Dancing Lions masks and use their powers like lighting and blizzard.... fun... :/

7) *points like in the meme* HEY I KNOW THIS ITEM, IT WAS SWORD OF ABUNDANCE AND DECAY REPRESENTING MALENIA AND MIQUELLA IN BETA VARIANT! XDDD

Kind of ironic how it is called 'Euphoria', because I could not be less happy about that lore being cut, all for...... *looks around in case if Miquella is somewhere in the walls*

8) There were so many nooks.. I found a secret passageway on accident, by trying to run from an old lady spamming so many spells under my feet that I was BARELY able to move! 🤦‍♂️

That eventually led me to a part of Belurat that I didn't get to explore before! Yes, the bridge above that area was where I picked Euphoria in! But below was poisonous swamp (truly a Miyazaki lol) where I got to fight a GREEN variant of Tree Spirit! It just dropped a Horn Charm that boosted poison and Rot resistance!

^ This find, though, was interesting for me, because it is a variant of a glove that was dropped by an NPC Maddening Hand earlier! That one had eyes and dealt Frenzy and specified to be weapon of Hornsent hunted by their own as heretics, but it was also forged in yearning for revenge! So, it is not even that exceptional; for Hornsent, it is a cultural thing to stitch a weapon of revenge from the skin of the victims! Kind of like giving victims a chance to strike back, albeit in death. Very poetic.

9) There was a lot of running, and a lot of getting lost. Found Spirit Ashes of Horned Knight, too (nothing new about them in description), had to use Rainbow Stones to finally stop running in circles, found Ancient Somber Smithing Stone secret via elevator (good because I ran out of them).. and THIIIIIIS:

I wondered where was the head piece of this set! Pieces of it are scattered and I found all previous three! And, again, isn't it interesting how white birds (death) are here, whereas bird variant of Horned Knights were favored 'gold' birds? Second half of Twin Bird is gold life bird guuuuuyyys-

10) Okay, eventually I've met Leda telling me to step away! I was given the choice to summon Thiollier and Ansbach, presumably because I finished their questlines, so I did! It just felt like it would be more fun.. and it WAS! Holy shit gfgggcbch I did NOT expect the ultimate NPC showdown XD And, again, Freyja and Ansbach had an actual CONVERSATION! Look, this is a breakthrough for Soulsborne games, trust me they just DON'T have characters interact "on screen"!

10.1) HOLY SHIT THOUGH DANE ACTUALLY SAID SOMETHING o_o GDGTHCJBB

10.2) No, seriously, I just wanted to jump on Tumblr and post just this! The best fucking moment

11) Instant interest:

Which Outer God? Is it one we know of, or some random guy? I decided to not think about it too hard, yesterday it ended in an over 3 hours long brainstorming and my brain still short-circuits! But maybe later! ...I am sure at some point I'll find a similar pattern in the game itself and it will all click..

^ They were both picked by a respective final boss personally.. Simon+Brador to Ludwig+Laurence moment and so on

^ *points like in a meme AGAIN* Hey I read about it in a post, she killed all other Needle Knights! And by the way, I never found the seal (?) that revealed that lore! @val-of-the-north help bvbgggvh

12) Ansbach also had a dialogue after that battle to praise Thiollier's poisoning skills! That was lovely!

13) I kind of wondered though: why could not we summon Vengeance-Seeking Hornsent in this battle too, if we did his questline correctly? That would make fair 4 Miquella Simps vs 4 of "us" battle! Like, why just cast away the character to have him die as invader somewhere in Scarlet Rot place? I later realized that it would crash the "balance" of the final boss later, and I guess he was the "safest" to leave behind since he already had his goal (to see Messmer die)! Whereas other two target Miquella in particular!

13.1) This distribution is still a meme material for shitposts about characters doing competitive sport, fighting in an online game etc hfgfggbhcbx 4 vs 4

14) I actually checked and just like I thought, the last painting secret was only accessible after burning the seal!

Yeah no shit man we could tell

15) So.... yeah, finally, I've met the final boss. I never wanted to fight Radahn again; he somehow gave me problems even on Torrent with all the friends summons, and now I have to somehow dodge him in a small arena т.т Or maybe I am dumb and this is just my skill issue idk gfggjhhy

16) I actually got to the second stage first try somehow! It often happens how I play better when I still don't even know what I am doing XD And...

Okay, is this a good time to say that so far I only was spoilered some footage and lore, but not the voicelines? So.. I shared that story already some time, but a few months before the DLC, I was simply one of the people here 101% convinced about Miquella being kind and the good guy and all! I wasn't like aggressive or anything about it unlike some more avid fans (got stabbed by Bewitching Branch, did you? :p), but still also said "they should read something besides Berserk" or "people are reading into 'fearsome empyrean' line too deep". However, as DLC was approaching, at some point I had an extremely vivid dream where Miquella appeared to me, and his vibe was exactly like in the DLC in retrospective! Okay, maybe more sinister; not cold or evil, just... "forceful" in a similar way, "for my sake".

So, back then, not only that dream permanently altered my brain chemistry to accept and become open to "evil/manipulative Miquella" interpretations, but also helped me to Expect Anything which softened the blow regarding the DLC xd I had a shock moment, but far not as bad as other fans from 'this' camp! ...... so now, I found out that his voice is EXACTLY like it was in my dream 2 months ago. 🌛I really am cursed LMAOOOO WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME XDDDD

_____________

Like I said I am a dumb looser with skill issue so I've been trying to beat the boss for next 2+ hours and still didn't.. I will probably get them next time, for now I have to travel for a week and then work again т.т Watching what insane ways YouTube come up maybe will help..

I also one time got a grab attack where Radahn snatches Tarnished and says "I promise you a thousand years voyage of compassion" which got me flustered a little and already made it harder to play, but NOW that I think of it, Ranni also said "a thousand years voyage (under wisdom of stars") 🤔 So that's at least two Demigods hinting at how whatever order (or lack of) they establish won't/can't last forever, but only for 'thousand of years'! Good to know that any system, good or bad, will eventually crumble x) Gwyn: TRIGGERED

All in all, it is a very hard battle and I can't see shit in second phase, everything is too bright. But also oddly enough, I no longer dread new lore/final this much..? Meeting the final boss in person helped to finally accept actual Miquella and get over my prior mental image for good, and I am no longer hung up on Radahn involvement beyond 'some more foreshadowing needs to go in base game via patch now'. I start to wonder whether I simply got caught in the shared disappointment mood and effect of not having the full picture rather than actually dreaded thing from the start? It reminds me of that time when I was clowning agreeing that Malenia was unfair boss but only when I fought her like 70 times myself I realized I exagerrated hfhyggh Not saying Twin Dunces is a good battle, but just saying I don't dread it as much as I thought from spoiler and getting there MYSELF helped

[phagodyke]

I will say while I've loved most of elden ring I'm really glad I'm down to just 2 more main boss fights (malenia + maliketh) before I start the endgame boss fights... whew 😮‍💨

[cinderflower]

Originally this started as an attempt to organize my notes that got way out of hand so I might as well post it here to also be easier for me to reference. So let's get into my rebirth theory and the direction I originally thought Elden Ring was going with Miquella and Malenia's characters and the Age of Abundance.

So here it is, my Miquella & Ancestral Followers lore theory as well as my broader Haligtree theory. This is what I thought the base game was leading up to with Miquella's character, not... what we got.

I've done frankly too much lore digging since beginning writing Field of Reeds in earnest and in trying to have a solid enough lore foundation to make sure how I write the fic is grounded in the base game lore. There's a lot I plan to cover in that fic that I won't be covering here so for those interested, you can check it out here.

So with that said, my main theory for base-game Miquella (not including how he's presented in the DLC since this theory was based almost entirely on the base-game info) has always been that his goal was to break the cycle of Erdtree-controlled rebirth in the Lands Between that's currently controlled by the Erdtree.

To read the pre-theory lore & item crawl setup, scroll down to "ADDITIONAL INFO" in big, bold, blue letters. As I said before, this was mostly to get my own notes in order, so I'm going to try my best to make this make sense in how I present it.

Let's actually start with starlight shards for both and the ties between the stars and fate. We know which are collected in various astrolabes and a great many can be found in Manus Celes, but there's quite a lot to starlight as a concept in Elden Ring and these overall themes.

Starlight Shards - An ephemeral sliver that gives off a pale blue glow. What remains of a passing flash of starlight. A prized item that was once used in the Eternal City as an ingredient in intoxicating draughts.

Celestial Dew - A hidden Tear found in the Eternal City. Also known as a Night Tear. Once upon a time, the stars of the night sky guided fate, and this is a recollection of those times.

Seluvis's Potion - Used to turn someone into a puppet, created from starlight shards - Small flask received from Preceptor Seluvis containing a cloudy tonic of bluish black.

Amber Starlight - An ephemeral sliver that gives off a pale amber glow. What remains of a passing flash of starlight. If the stars command our fates, then amber-hued stars must command the fates of the god. Such is the belief that inspired the use of these shards to prepare a most special draught.

Notably, the amber starlight is found at a statue of Miquella and Malenia, the same found in the Haligtree. This implies that the starlight shard is one of their fates - or perhaps Godwyn's. But it more likely points to Miquella's given his preparation to shed himself of his body and all things golden.

We also see the influence of starlight elsewhere in some ingredients, namely the boluses created with dew-kissed herba. Most boluses use only normal herba, but it is the deadly afflictions of madness, rot, and death-blight (Outer God/Death based) that require specifically dew-kissed herba.

Dew-kissed Herba - A herb that grows in the false night in and around the Eternal City. Soaked in arcane dew, it gives off the faint glow of starlight.

Clarifying Boluses - Dew-kissed Herba | Crystal Cave Moss | Eye of Yelough - Alleviates madness buildup.

Rejuvinating Boluses - Dew-kissed Herba | Crystal Cave Moss | Golden Centipede - Alleviates death blight buildup.

Preserving Boluses - Dew-kissed Herba | Crystal Cave Moss | Sacramental Bud - Alleviates scarlet rot buildup and cures rot aliment.

Now hold on a minute, let's look at that last one that specifically helps scarlet rot. It uses sacramental blood to alleviate rot which is all but confirmed to be Miquella's blood (or a derivative of it at least) as it is also used in the bewitching branch.

Sacramental Bud - An immature bud containing fresh blood. Believed to originate long ago from a strain of buds cultivated with youthful, sacramental blood.

So if, somehow, Miquella found out that this combination worked together with his blood, then that would be something which could at least provide some relief to Malenia, though it wouldn't be able to cure her entirely since her rot is at the influence of the rot god directly.

This of course is just the tip of the iceberg of Miquella's blood but we know first and foremost that Miquella used his blood to try and water the Haligtree and grow it into a full-fledged Erdtree, an effort which was unsuccessful.

Haligtree Knight Armor - Though watered with Miquella's own blood since it was a sapling, the Haligtree ultimately failed to grow into an Erdtree.

We know in addition to his blood, Miquella also has his unalloyed gold lilies.

Miquella's lily - A delicate water lily of unalloyed gold that has started to fade and wilt. A flower signifying faith in the Haligtree. Thought to be beloved by the Empyrean Miquella in his youth.*

*I theorize that the lilies were grown by Miquella's blood because how could he love them in his youth if he was the one to create unalloyed gold???? It also lends some tie between the sacramental bud and unalloyed gold for why it is able to treat scarlet rot.

Unalloyed gold is important with regards to Malenia's rot through the needle we learn helps her curb the rot and also in use of her prosthetics to similarly prevent the rot from taking over.

Malenia's Gauntlet - Gauntlet made of unalloyed gold.

Hand of Malenia - Blade built into Malenia's prosthetic arm. Through consecration it is resistant to rot.

Radagon's Rings of Light - And yet, the young Miquella abandoned fundamentalism, for it could do nothing to treat Malenia's accursed rot. This was the beginning of unalloyed gold.

There's multiple forms of the Unalloyed Gold Needle as well which I want to cover the differences of:

Snapped Needle - An intricately crafted needle of unalloyed gold, snapped in half. A ritual implement crafted to ward away the meddling of outer gods, it is thought capable of forestalling the incurable rotting sickness. Sage Gowry has designs for this needle.

Repaired Needle - An intricately crafted needle of unalloyed gold. Once snapped in half, it has been repaired by Sage Gowry.

Curious here, we can see what looks to be blood used to repair the needle - though who's blood is unknown. I suspect Miquella's using the sacramental buds we have no definitive answer.

Restored Needle - An intricately crafted needle of unalloyed gold. Removed by Millicent from her flesh. Bears no trace of befouled blood, but is faintly moist with dew.

More dew references, which we can see even on the needle itself. This truly begs the question: what is dew? Dew is used to reference the starlight dew on dew-kissed herba, but it's also used in the blessed dew talisman description:

Blessed Dew Talisman - Talisman depicting a drop of the Erdtree's sap, a blessed boon. It was once thought that the blessed sap of the Erdtree would drip from its boughs forever-but that age of plenty swiftly came to a close, and with time, the Erdtree became more an object of faith.

So presumable dew/sap/amber are all interchangeable for life. This would also make sense with the amber egg containing the Rune of the Unborn that Rennala has in her possession. I have a previous post where I go into the concept of dew theory specifically in more detail here.

So after Millicent uses the needle, it's covered in dew, not blood. This would potentially put Millicent in the bloodless category above if she doesn't truly bleed and is considered an artificial life like albinaurics or the oracle envoys. Before we get into that, back to the needle.

Miquella's Needle - One of the unalloyed gold needles that Miquella crafted to ward away the meddling of outer gods. Capable of subduing the flame of frenzy if inherited, allowing one to cheat fate and avoid becoming Lord of Frenzied Flame. However, the needle is as yet unfinished and can only be used in the heart of the storm beyond time said to be found in Farum Azula.

This version of the needle is only possible after defeating Malenia and interacting with the scarlet aeonia she leaves behind. This finalized version of the needle is intricately detailed and the shape more closely resembles the Haligtree seal used during incantations. It also includes small braids and either dew similar to Millicents or strands of hair, but also small little sprouts.

We know Malenia doesn't have her needle through Millicent's quest dialogue, meaning this is once again the evolution of the needle. So why does the joining of the unalloyed gold needle, Millicent's dew, and Malenia's scarlet aeonia fully form this incomplete needle? My speculation is that its from the symbiotic relationship between Miquella and Malenia's conditions, combined with the concept of "dew" aka life. The harmony of life and death, the original abundance and decay the game was setting up.

Here's where we actually start to get into my Haligtree theory: I purport that Miquella's goal was to create a new Erdtree to replace the existing Erdtree, one which created a new cycle of rebirth completely detached from the necessity for grace. I haven't fully settled on the exact details of what this cycle looks like in it's entirety, but I believe it likely went through a few iterations.

The first iteration was likely the pursuit to grow the Erdtree not only because he could, but also because it would be an Erdtree of unalloyed gold. It's why it has to be watered with his own blood. It's why we don't find any other bodies being fed into it in the same way we do the Erdtree above - but I theorize that was the eventual intent of it.

Circling back to the seal symbols, let's also look at two others, the Erdtree seal and the Crucible seal:

Comparing with the Haligtree seal above, there's a lot more similarities with the Crucible seal than with the Haligtree seal. Dipping my toe briefly into the DLC lore, we know Enir-Ilim powered the Gate of Divinity with the power of the Crucible, meaning Marika essentially harnessed and reshaped the power of the Crucible to form her age of the Erdtree and subsequent Golden Order which is why the Erdtree symbol looks like a more minimalist version of the Crucible seal with a focus on the Elden Ring in the center. The Golden Order Fundamentalism seal takes it a step further entirely by removing all iconography of the tree and focuses entirely on the Elden Ring. The Haligtree symbol does the opposite, it removes the inclusion of the Elden Ring and shifts the iconography back to that of the tree itself.

With this in mind, it becomes a lot easier to imagine that Miquella is looking to recreate the heart of what the Crucible was capable of but without the Elden Ring. The problem with that however is the fact that the influence of the Erdtree is quite literally everywhere in the Land's Between because that was the whole point of the Land's Between's creation - only those with the Erdtree's grace are permitted, the rest are either outcast, persecuted, tortured, and/or killed.

So, Miquella has to turn to the very small subpopulation that don't have grace in order to begin the new cycle of rebirth. Or - potentially - to begin the new cycle of rebirth specifically under his unalloyed golden grace. In theory since the unalloyed gold is able to ward off the meddling of Outer Gods, why should that same concept not also apply to the Greater Will? Or to Marika? And if his blood is what can create unalloyed gold, then feeding his blood to the Haligtree should inherently be the same as graceless blood.

I think we can even still see the remnants of the unalloyed gold of the tree he was able to achieve still at the roots of the Haligtree where he embedded his cocoon:

The rest of the tree is a husk, covered in rot, but in this one part where Malenia rests and the cocoon once was we see the gold still persists.

Compare this noticeable shade of gold in the roots now to the color of the Erdtree beneath the false-luminescence - notice how it's actually closer to the false gold in color than the actual Erdtree is?

Let's look at a couple other interesting images from the Haligtree:

More tree iconography, flanked by griffons and what I think is the lily shape.

This one has always especially intrigues me due to the humanoid figures connecting the tree together. Seems familiar doesn't it?

But there's also the bulbs that are attached to it, by their shape they could be some sort of fruit - but I doubt that given everything else - or perhaps cocoons, like the ones we see the albinaurics encapsulated in.

Or, my theory, which is they're the same as the aeonia blooms we can see in Caelid:

If that is the case, this then shows the desire for a symbiosis to be formed.

Regardless of if those are intended to be aeonia blooms, it does bring up the concept of symbiosis between the Haligtree and the scarlet rot fungi. There is some real-world basis for this if we look towards some botanical concepts. I specifically want to look at the botanical concept of Mycorrhizae which are fungi that have a symbiotic relationship with the root system of plants - namely trees. With mycorrhizae, a plant has a more robust root system which helps not hinders the plant and assists in getting water and nutrients into the plant's system.

If we consider this, it becomes more interesting for Malenia to be in the root system of the Haligtree of all places to rest. If they'd been concerned about her infecting the Haligtree after all, surely they would have put her elsewhere even if she wished to be by Miquella's side. It's also curious that the rest of the Haligtree is being consumed by rot and at alarming rate, but not in the root system, not in the heart of it. In fact, we see more non-fungal flora closer to the root system than elsewhere even while we also see the mini-lake of rot right above it as well.

The other thought to consider here is if the Haligtree was meant to replace the Erdtree, if it was intended to create a new cycle of rebirth, then both Miquella and Malenia's placement in the root system would make sense if they both intended to be reborn through the Haligtree and be cured of their various afflictions through this rebirth. That's why Malenia had to be carried back to the Haligtree no matter what is my theory, so if she did succumb to the rot, she could potentially be absorbed into the Haligtree roots and given a chance to be reborn through unalloyed gold and be reborn free of the Outer God influence.

One other point for this is actually in Miquella's cocoon itself. Miquella is very much moth-coded in the game rather than butterfly-coded and as such his cocoon reflects this.

Chrysalises are usually found hanging from a structure, while cocoons are typically buried in the ground or in leaf litter or attached to the side of a structure.  [x]

One other interesting parallelism I found in the Haligtree was outside the building leading to the Haligtree roots, in the graveyard (curious in and of itself).

On one side of the building we have Miquella's lilies and various soliders.

On the other we have ghost (not grave) glovewort and Kindred of Rot.

So we have the concept of symbiosis being achieved between Miquella's abundance and Malenia's decay - how do the Ancestral Followers tie in?

Remember the Crucible vs Haligtree seal discussion? Well, if Miquella is looking to imitate the ability to cultivate primordial life like the Crucible (while not actually being the crucible, but an even further cleaned version), there's a group that exist that already follow in the footsteps of the Crucible in terms of worship - specifically the Ancestral Followers.

We can see some similarities with the Crucible in their items, but also stark differences. For example, they wear crowns of horns which but into new life, very derivative of the Crucible while also being surprisingly detached from it. Where the Crucible horns are almost always horns like what Omen have, the horns that the Ancestral Followers wear are more akin to elk, moose, etc. We see this very well on the actual Regal Ancestor body itself:

We can also see here that it's "buds" aren't more horns but seemingly plant-like buds, like leaves.

Curiously we see something similar in a sense on the Cleanrot Knights which seem to be sprouting plants.

BUT we also see the same on the Malenia and Miquella statues in the Haligtree with sprouts carved into their very likeness:

You know where else we've seen plants/roots growing out of a person too? In the statues found all over the ancient Uhl and Uld palace ruins. In fact, it's one of the very statues Mohg's followers are gathered before.

I couldn't help but draw similarities between these statues and the ones we also see in the Haligtree - though in two very different contexts.

This second version surrounded by corpses is only seen in the section of the Haligtree where the scarlet rot is. Draw what conclusions you will, but I think the difference and the different locations where it appears speaks for itself.

We also know that the concept of death in the Lands Between gets completely upturned overnight after the Night of the Black Knives, after which Miquella desperately seeks to return Godwyn's soul to his body in order for him to die a "true death".

This is actually a concept we see in one other place where the game shows other wandering corpses that aren't considered undead but haven't truly died.

Putrid Corpse - True death does not come easily for them. Despite their appearances, are not undead and are not weak to holy. Most are vulnerable to bleed and fire damage.

True death seems to imply the death of the body and the death of the spirit - which is how Ranni was able to kill her flesh and Godwyn's soul in the same moment to circumvent true death for both of them. And, in the era of Destined Death being sealed, true death can only be granted by returning to the Erdtree or by being slain with holy incantations.

With the reintroduction of death though and the assumption that Miquella is attempting to start a new cycle of rebirth, the Ancestral Spirit philosophy would undoubtedly be appealing:

Ancestral spirits exist as a phenomenon beyond the purview of the Erdtree. Life sprouts from death, as it does from birth. Such is the way of the living.

Seemingly, these Ancestral spirits have found a way to already exist outside the bounds of the Erdtree's cycle of rebirth.

We also find these Ancestral Followers in a few odd locations outside of their usual Nokron/Nokstella locations related to Malenia and Miquella. Two in particular of note:

Lake of Rot

Consecrated Snowfields

Coincidence? Maybe, but there's very little in the Consecrated Snowfields not related to Miquella/Malenia or the Haligtree. The main exception is the pocket of madness tainted worshipers.

They also have connections to higher resistance stats through their gear and the fact that they guard the various horn talismans that raise these stats. But also, noticably, is the fact that nascent butterflies are also only used to created Dappled Cured Meat and Dappled Cured White Meat - both of which are only used to greatly raise resistances.

If we take this all a few small steps further into a leap of logic for the sake of theorizing, there's a few more parallels we could make.

Torrent - assuming Miquella was Torrent's former owner and is a "spectral steed" the baby buds on his head lend some credence to the theory that he is a juvenile ancestor spirit, another connection with Miquella

Spirit Calling Bell - again, assuming the above is true, that would mean Miquella gave this bell to Ranni and further ties him to spirits as well

I also suspect that the primeval current and primordial life of the crucible are two halves of the same whole - something somewhat backed up by concepts like Yggdrasil which isn't just the concept of life and death but is a tree which also spans into the cosmos and has the influence of the cosmos. We kind of see this in a few item descriptions as well:

Dweller Arrow - Arrow in which the spirits of small animals are thought to dwell. (Deals magic damage.)

Sellen's Primal Glintstone - Glintstone from within the sorceress Sellen's body. Seemingly half-alive, blood vessels are visible within. In essence, a primal glintstone is a sorcerer's soul. If transplanted into a compatible new body after their original body dies, the sorcerer will rise again.

This also seems to tie in well with the Ancestral Spirits and some of the sorceries we see used in the Haligtree and by the Albinaurics all only being these glintstone sorceries, never anything like meteors or gravity, etc.

Back to the Ranni bit, it's still incredibly unclear what Miquella and Ranni's relationship was and how it developed, because there's several things that I have no clear cut explanation for at the end of the day.

Black Knife Assassins in Ordina - Seems to be protecting the Haligtree entrance given the fact that they're in the goal along with the albinaurics, but why?

Black Knife Assassins in Sage Cave - A handful of ties in this cave to Miquella but another assassin here, why?

Crystilians in the Haligtree - They do fall into the graceless category but why are they in the Haligtree? Primal glintstone?

Haima Conspectus (adjudicator) Sorcerers in the Haligtree - ???

A few other interesting things of note:

The cocooned albinaurics resemble in some ways the rooms of ant eggs & we do see ants on the Haligtree (also in the deeproot depths and outside the lake of rot).

The lake of rot is a much brighter hue and tone than the one we find in the Haligtree and Caelid and there's less plant variety (I hit the image limit but trust me).

ADDITIONAL INFO (misc)

To close this all out, here's some additional supporting/supplemental information.

To get a lore of base lore notes out of the way regarding basic concepts and item info, let's start with gold, silver, and grace.

Gold = Light = Life = Red/Gold hues

Silver = Shadow = Death = Blue/Black/Silver hues

Grace = Vestiges of gold granted by Marika/Erdtree to those in the Lands Between; takes shape in the eyes

The Crucible is one of the most notable examples of a red hue representing life; specifically primordial life. There's another primordial that the game references as well: the Primordial current. We'll circle back to that when talking about the Carians.

Sap/Dew/Amber are also concepts which represent life, but seemingly in a more abstract way at times and range between gold/red hues to silver/blue hues depending on if they're contextually in the overworld of the Lands Between or the underworld. More on this later.

Spirits are essentially exclusively blue hues though there are variations of spirits we need to consider:

Spirit Ashes - the actual ashen remains that can be utilized by the spirit-summoning bell to briefly bring forth their spirit

Puppet - it's unclear exactly what puppet summons are because we have the physical puppets we can see in Seluvis's quest, but the actual summons both the player uses and the puppets we see in the Caria Manor are all blue hued like spirits

Ancestral Spirits - These seem to be the spirits of animals most often but also the Ancestral Followers, all taking on a brighter almost greener blue tone

Roaming Spirits - Blue spirits roaming the Lands Between in graveyards most often (jellyfish in shape)

One interesting thing to note about spirit ashes is they all cost FP with a few very curious exceptions which cost HP instead:

Mimic Tear

Land Squirts

Miranda Sprout

Soldjars

Bloodfiend (DLC only)

We know the Mimic Tear is a silver tear and thus born outside of the Erdtree's circle of life (see below), thus it makes sense to have to sacrifice life for life, but what about the others? Curiously enough, these are all bloodless creatures, and we find not just these but many more bloodless creatures in close proximity to the Haligtree as well as inside of it (Miranda Sprouts).

We also have a LOT of death associated blues by way of the Ghostflame wielded by the Death Rite Birds which used to be used to "burn away death" which is a practice no longer used with the introduction of the Golden Order upon the removal of Destined Death and all life begins to get cycled through the Erdtree's roots. We can see this in all the catacombs across the Lands Between with the bodies being taken back through the roots.

In the same catacombs, we also find both Grave Glovewort and Ghost Glovewort where the grave-variety is the common variety while the ghost-variety is rarer.

Grave Glovewort - White flower that blooms in catacombs. Each a soundless bell used to summon spirits.

Ghost Glovewort - White flower that blooms in catacombs. A spirit nestles close to it. (see below)

So all death and all re-birth is controlled through the Erdtree, all things are returned back to the Erdtree upon death, right? Not quite. There's other life in the Lands Between that has either been created without the Erdtree's grace or has been stripped of it.

Confirmed graceless creatures are as-follows:

Omen - Though born one of the graceless Omen, Morgott took it upon himself to become the Erdtree's protector

Silver Tears - The Silver Tear makes mockery of life, reborn again and again into imitation. Perhaps, one day, it will be reborn a lord...

Albinaurics (1st gen) - Albinaurics are lifeforms made by human hands. Thus, many believe them to live impure lives, untouched by the Erdtree's grace.

Albinaurics (2nd gen) - The ornamentation represents the primordial drop of dew from which they are said to have been created. The Albinaurics' most formidable foes were sorcerers, after all.

Crystilians - The Crystalians are inorganic beings, yet they live. They cleave close to the ideals of the primeval current, and as such, they are revered guests of the sorcerers..

Suspected Graceless:

Misbegotten: The misbegotten are held to be a punishment for making contact with the Crucible, and from birth they are treated as slaves, or worse.

Interestingly, demi-humans and other variants don't seem to fall under the graceless category.

The silver tears and albinaurics also are very interesting when taken into context of the motivations of the different characters because we can see variations of how they're treated in different areas:

Silver Tears: Created by the Nox as an imitation of life, rarely seen above ground.

Nokron

Nokstella

Hidden Path to the Haligtree - suggest more connections to the Nox with Miquella/the Haligtree than just the Black Knives (more on this later)

Albinaurics (1st gen - males): Seen rapidly aging and losing the use of their legs as they fade out of existence - the legs on these 1st gen albinaurics quite literally are translucent and have no hitbox. These are seen in a lot of places. Some noteable locations:

Liurnia (Albinauric Village) - previously a home, we find them being slaughtered by an Omen Killer and Depraved Perfumer

Liurnia (Caria Manor) - Pidia is a known 1st gen albinauric who also serves as the puppet-keeper; a curious thing considering the Caria Manor connection with puppets and the Nox's hand in creating albinaurics and puppets

Volcano Manor - Tortured likely as a result of Rykard's role as Praetor and Inquisitor

Leyndell - Tortured

Castle Sol - Tortured

Haligtree - Cocooned (more on this later)

Albinaurics (1st gen - females): Not aging like their male counterparts and they seem to have a strong companionship with wolves, almost mimicing the Empyrean/Shadowbound dynamic in a way. They are likewise lose the use of their legs, but theirs are not fading in the same way as the male's are. Only found in two locations:

Liurnia - We find Latenna in her quest towards the Haligtree

Consecrated Snowfields (Ordina Town) - They appear pre-goal in spirit form, but in the goal they are life-like and dressed in the same blue-silver as the Nox as they seemingly protect the path to the Haligtree. We also find Phillia here where Latenna gives her a birthing droplet.

Albinaurics (2nd gen): More frog-like in their shape and less humanoid, these are the more common variant to come across, but usually in different locations:

Lirunia - Found around Raya Lucaria as well as various graveyards, we know they are hunted by the Knights of the Cuckoo - the same knights that rebelled against Rennala and the Carian Royal Family.

Volcano Manor - Tortured

Mohgwyn Palace - Normal and Omen Blood variants can be found throughout

Consecrated Snowfield (teleporter) - A single albinauric can be found outside the teleporter leading to Mohgwyn palace

The way the 1st and 2nd generation albinaurics seem to fail to overlap in locations throughout the course of the game is very interesting and I can't help but wonder when exactly the 2nd generation albinaurics were introduced since they seem to operate in an entirely different manner to the 1st generation. Where the 1st generation is undoubtedly humanoid in nature and can even talk, cast sorceries, and have motivations, the 2nd generation seems to lack all of these features.

We can infer that the Golden Order saw the albinaurics as an affront to their Order in a similar way they do the omens as seen by the Omenkiller present in the albinauric village. So then why does Ranni have one at Caria Manor? It doesn't seem to be a Caria Royal Family thing either because we have Rykard over in volcano manor torturing them and nothing with Radahn, implying he is there with Ranni's permission specifically. His role in maintaining the puppets is also interesting when considering the coup of Rennala that happened and the subsequent siege on Caria Manor where we find the results of the fight with Knights of the Cuckoo turned into puppets reanimated and forced to defend the manor. So what is Ranni and the Caria relationship with the albinaurics?

More importantly - what is their relationship with the Nox?

There's no apparent ties between Rykard and the Nox that I've found or dug into, so we'll skip him.

Radahn does have some loose ties to the Nox through Sellia which has strong ties to the Nox in their specific flavor of assassin sorceries derived from the Night. But since Radahn does not use these same sorceries and uses only gravitational magic (whether by limitation or preference is unclear) from his teachings from the Alabastor Lord, there's no further ties.

Ranni has not only the ties with Pidia, but also Loretta who's shield resembles the dew drop and leads to the rumor of her being an Albinauric and thus derived from the Nox as well. More than any of that, we know Ranni did have very close ties with the Nox with the orchestration of the Night of the Black Knives - though this relationship seems to turn sour afterwards. The Nox also have the fingerslayer blade Ranni seeks in order to kill her own Two Fingers to continue on with her plans. But the most glaring of all the connections I think is her connection with the Dark Moon which influences not only Ranni's ambitions but also her sorceries.

Ranni's Dark Moon - The moon was encountered by a young Ranni, led by the hand of her mother, Rennala. What she beheld was cold, dark and veiled in occult mystery.

Moon of Nokstella - This talisman represents the lost black moon. The moon of Nokstella was the guide of countless stars.

Memory Stone - Said to be a fragment of the black moon that once hung above the Eternal City.

There's a very strong overlap between sorcerers and astrologers as well - another feature that ties directly back to the Nox.

Nightmaiden Twin Crown - Long ago, the Nox invoked the ire of the Greater Will, and were banished deep underground. Now they live under a false night sky, in eternal anticipation of their liege. Of the coming age of the stars. And their Lord of Night.

Ranni's Age of Stars Ending - Now cometh the age of the stars. A thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the Moon. Here beginneth the chill night that encompasses all, reaching the great beyond.

I have SO much more I could add but good god I doubt anyone made it this far as it is. This is what happens when I don't let myself look at other lore theories, local idiot fic writer goes insane trying to piece lore together all by her lonesome to avoid being influence by other's theories.

[keysinthecouch]

The reason I love the cattlepunk server is that I get to say whatever I want in there and it is the greatest thing ever except for the fact I get hit with hammers but I can look past that and grow. Anyway I LOVE Jayson and May Ferin . They are my world bc I think about them so often

Like how when May got pregnant, she just sobbed to a panicked and shocked Jayson because this wasn’t how this was supposed to go. He wasn’t even supposed to the with this girl, and he got her PREGNANT.

Sure, he held her, promised her that they’d be okay, that they’d get through this. But quite frankly, he wasn’t even sure if his mother would let him live through this.

“JAYSON YOU IDIOT! LOOK WHAT YOUVE DONE! YOU GOT A GIRL PREGNANT, RIGHT AFTER YOU REJECT THE GIRL WE SET UP FOR YOU?! “

“Mother, Please.. I love May, Mother I just.. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

Jayson stands in front of his mother, Faye Ferin, a woman who is.. far from happy.

“Oh, you didn’t mean it? Then I guess it’s JUST FINE AND DANDY THEN. JAYSON, YOU ARE GOING TO DESTROY THIS FAMILIES IMAGE! AND NOW YOU HAVE TO GET MARRIED, WHICH IS EVEN MORE MONEY!”

“I know, Mother.”

“I EXPECT SO MUCH BETTER FROM YOU, JAYSON. LOOK AT YOUR BROTHER! AT LEAST HES NOT GETTING RANDOM GIRLS PREGNANT!”

“I know, Mom.. please..”

“Get the fuck out of my sight.”

“Yes, Mother.”

And he leaves the room, facing one Malenia, who stands there and stares at him.

“We’ll figure it out, Jayson. We’ll be okay, she can’t.. she can’t stay mad forever, can she?”

But she can, and He knows that.

“Right. right.. go home, Maymay. You should rest.. I’m going to figure something out.”

“If you want me to leave.. alright. I’m not far away, you know that right? I’m right here, Jayson. I’m not far away. I love you, Jayson.”

“I love you to, Malenia.”

@elliotthinkssometimes @bizlybebo did you guys miss me

[lightlessentwine]

[ELDEN RING GRAND THEORY REVISION 2.2- SUBJECT TO INQUIRIES AND FURTHER REVISION]

The Narrator in the first DLC trailer opens with the line, "Pure and Radiant, he wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men.. There is nothing more terrifying." and frankly every aspect of Miquella's role in the Golden Order is terrifying from his perspective. He had to pass judgement in blessing others, which alone can be enough to break someone. It is from here that we may see part of Miquella's original reason in creating the Haligtree. At some point, it's posed that Miquella became St. Trina to guide followers to the Haligtree. Following the trail that Miquella is St. Trina, it is possible to extrapolate on Messmer's identity when applying the concepts of Alchemy and how it translates to a classical understanding of Analytical Psychology via the Jungian model. a lot of this speculation also ties back to extensive study of the world in-game, as well as a bit of real-world religion, history, perspective, chemistry, biology, crest/art analysis, and more. I may use terms that i don't fully explain. i implore you simply look them up on wikipedia and apply that knowledge to what i am saying, or this will be even longer than it already is

We must first establish that literally anything not understood in a binary in Elden Ring actually confounds and terrifies followers of the Golden Order. It in fact worries Corhyn so deeply that he refuses to believe Goldmask as he grovels in the ashes of the Erdtree-- One of the biggest revelations in the entire game is premised around breaking a binary that was never proven to be a binary at all. In other words, the entire Golden Order is based in dichotomies and binaries and there is a fundamental flaw in that regard; it disregards the individual and non-binary aspects of the World to force them into a simpler mold that was going to fall with time, regardless.- Much like with Gwyn's plight in Dark Souls; it was never about the people of the land with him, it was about preventing a coming age and clinging onto whatever control found in preserving the current one forever.

At the basis, St. Trina may have been able to inhabit Miquella's body because of having been born of a single-bodied Rebis, or at least as the Golden Order sees Marika/Radagon, a God. this is an ability only demonstrated by Marika that Malenia seems incapable of. I believe her bestowment from the outer god of Rot is the reason for her lack of other personal identities; she does not have any others to project other than what she is, due to societal perception of her bestowment/affliction and her choice to let miquella ascend to the role she could be in. In the current age, all she has been doing is dreaming (note: trina) and awakens promptly when we arrive; likely to the only movement of air she's felt in ages

I think Miquella is an entity of purity while St. Trina is a Lunar Reflection; or an Animus in Jungian Psychology, which also has heavy ties to alchemy in reference to "Albedo". She's the hero and protector of the people that Miquella often envisioned within himself. Messmer, residing in the shadow realm, represents a deep seated truth within- a sort of cognitive "Rubedo," or a "Truth in Mind," if you will. he is a truth that Miquella hates as much as others fear, and that nobody wants found. Part of this truth must be Marika's fault, and it has left Miquella with a lingering guilt that he sees as a shadow that was torn from himself and trapped away.

Imagine it like this; if St. Trina is Miquella's image of theirself as a blessed, pure caretaker and a sort of christ-like figure, then Messmer is the part of him that represents "Sins of The Father/Mother" Marika's own rise to power and established order themselves are what created a young Miquella. I believe Marika took whatever purity was within Messmer and literally created Miquella from this. It was with time though, and his noted brilliance and ability to "compel affection," that he found a way to break free of his fated identity which meant breaking free of the Order itself.

Applying the Realm of Shadows to this; having been physically separated from the Lands Between by Marika's own mischievous deeds, it is likely that the shadow realm now acts as a cognitive realm of Marika's, of sorts, which could contain the perception or persona of another person within it. (think Mementos from Persona 5, lol)

So.. Without the current Elden Ring there would be no Order, but the current Order hides the image of a serpent at its center. This seems to represent Messmer. this is the same concept as how a pentagram represents a human in alchemy, while being inverted, it represents a goat, or in most cases, Baphomet.

Baphomet is labeled as half-human, half-animal, male and female, good and evil.. he is referred to as a man but is essentially every binary and every dichotomy that arises from them. He is even seen as both a deity and a demon. I believe Miquella and Radagon's work on discovering the Law of Causality is the main hint toward Messmer's presence, which ties into the rest of the alchemy involved. He is a pagan cult deity who represents balance and neutrality, and is almost always depicted doing a gesture signifying "as above; so below" which is a condensed version of the Law of Causality, already known to be associated with Miquella and Radagon, well before the Shattering; "Causality is an influence by which one event, process, state, or object contributes to the production of another event, process, state, or object where the cause is partly responsible for the effect, and the effect is partly dependent on the cause."

For clarity's sake, because i figure i'll be asked if not addressed: It's not impossible for Messmer and Miquella+Malenia to have all been the first child of Radagon/Marika with this Theory. Malenia was a twin born at the same time as Miquella, so she would be a first child with Miquella. If Messmer is a diety representing neutrality or, as I expect, a product of the Law of Causality, then he would be a product of Miquella as much as Miquella is of him. this idea lends to the possibility of Miquella actually being the remainder that was left over from a splitting where Messmer's counterparts (possibly both Miquella and Malenia, given their twin nature) are representative of his own aspects.. it does is beg a sort of "chicken or egg" paradox, but before we had a realistic answer to that, many would reply- and almost sarcastically, if not for the fact that it was the best answer we had- that the first thing to appear was "the Universe." The modern answer is, in fact, that the egg came first. (whether any of this analogy alludes to the actual lore or not is something i think we'd just have to wait for the expansion to know)

Marika herself had this Shadow hidden away, and this presents rather well because we know that there was a long period of time after the Night of Black Knives that Marika was still active but becoming more distraught, preceding the Shattering. on top of this, more proof resides in that, within Jungian psychology, it is that one's Anima/Animus comes to them in dreams, much like St. Trina came to people in theirs (who, as an Animus herself, was probably motivated by helping malenia look for her Anima, which perhaps never existed). It is also true that a Shadow Persona is borne of conflict tearing at one's conscious until it becomes its own entity, which i've already presumed of Messmer above.

[blaiddfailcam]

Miquella's lost Great Rune

Great Runes are unique imprints of the shattered Elden Ring bequeathed by Queen Marika unto her demigod children and stepchildren. However, only five of Marika's nine offspring are found in possession of Great Runes—neither Godwyn, Ranni, Miquella, nor Melina ever grant us one of these legendary artifacts.

(Frankly, I've debated with myself whether I should even bother writing this analysis considering plenty of fans have a deadset interpretation of Miquella's role based on cut content, coupled with the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC looming on the horizon that threatens to crush all our theories into dust. But, I figure there are still peculiar details worth ackowledging regardless of whether they mean much in the end.)

Great Rune general breakdown

In total, we acquire seven Great Runes throughout our journey. As listed in the key items inventory screen, they are:

Godrick's Great Rune

Rykard's Great Rune

Radahn's Great Rune

Morgott's Great Rune

Mohg's Great Rune

Malenia's Great Rune

Great Rune of the Unborn

Of these seven Great Runes, two are bestowed by characters other than Marika's direct offspring. Though Godrick is a demigod, he is merely a withered branch of the Golden Lineage that his Great Rune represents. The second is a bit more unusual. This is the Great Rune of the Unborn, held by Queen Rennala despite she is no demigod, and gifted to her by Radagon upon the dissolution of their marriage well before the Shattering.

But wait—how did Radagon get a Great Rune before the Shattering?

Great expectations

Although the Great Runes are regarded as the shards of the fractured Elden Ring, certain lore details suggest that even before the Shattering, Great Runes were fated for their respective demigods as if by resonance. This could explain why Godrick, weak as he is, possesses the Great Rune of the Golden Lineage itself, or why Radagon was able to give Rennala the Great Rune of the Unborn. (Furthermore, Ranni discarded her Great Rune, yet this would have had to have been prior to her corporeal death and the subsequent Shattering Wars triggered by the Night of the Black Knives.)

We as the player need only fetch three of the seven total Great Runes to "repair" the Elden Ring (two to be permitted by the Two Fingers into Leyndell, plus Morgott's unmissable Great Rune). No matter what, the Elden Ring is found whole at the end of the game regardless of how many Great Runes are recovered.

The Great Runes themselves are malleable things. Each one is warped in respect to their Shardbearer despite being fragments of the golden Elden Ring, taking on whatever traits defined their master while inflicting their mad taint in turn. Rykard's Great Rune writhes like the serpent that devoured and became him, and Radahn's burns in his resistance to the scarlet rot. Likewise, Mohg's is drenched with accursed blood, and Malenia's blossoms with the rot that festers within her. Even the very shape of a rune denotes its master, as indicated by the twin sets of Great Runes: Rykard and Radahn's (whose Great Runes even resemble the Erdtree eclipsing the moon), and Morgott and Mohg's.

Now wait a minute...

Hiding in plain sight

It's hard to ignore. As nonsensical as it seems, I can't overlook how closely the Great Rune of the Unborn resembles Malenia's Great Rune. They're even placed right next to each other in the inventory screen, despite the Great Rune of the Unborn is likely the second Great Rune the player will find, while Malenia's is typically the very last.

If Rykard and Radahn's runes reflect their relationship as brothers just as Morgott and Mohg's runes reflect theirs, then wouldn't it stand to reason that the Great Rune of the Unborn is actually Miquella's? He is Malenia's twin brother, after all. Should each Great Rune be visually altered in some way to symbolize its owner, it would make all the more sense that a notably smaller and pure gold Great Rune embodies Miquella's perpetual youth and his founding of Unalloyed Gold.

All this before unpacking how fittingly the Great Rune of the Unborn's function as a device for rebirth foreshadows Miquella's grim fate. Within the roots of the Haligtree watered with Miquella's own blood, the youthful demigod nestled into a cocoon in an attempt to rebirth into a proper god until his half-brother, Mohg, absconded him in his vulnerable coma. As such, Miquella remains quite literally unborn within his cocoon.

According to the Juvenile Scholar set, "Rebirth is as sleep to them." Upon each attempt to perfect themselves, the scholars are drained of their memories, devolving over time into mindless drones. Rennala herself is under a similar spell of dream-like delirium, as far as Ranni's dialogue posits. (Random fun fact: Rennala's eyes are golden in the first phase of her fight, but change to blue in the second phase when she recomposes herself as Queen of the Full Moon.)

It's not at all novel to infer that Miquella and St. Trina are likely one entity. Being a sort of patron saint of dreamtime, the Great Rune of the Unborn's effect of retaining coherence during rebirth would make it all the more appropriate for Miquella. The very function of the Great Rune as a protective charm against the adverse side effects of rebirth is reminiscent of the Unalloyed Gold Needle's use as a ward against Malenia's scarlet rot. Even her Great Rune depicts what looks to be a needle piercing the top right side of a ring, and the Great Rune of the Unborn reciprocates thus.

(While I understand that cut content would suggest Miquella was to possess a Great Rune symbolizing "abundance," and that abundance is still a vague notion in the game, I don't feel that this contradicts the Great Rune of the Unborn. We can see plainly that Rennala's rite reproduces scholars ad infinitum, despite their imperfections.)

With all this said and done, that leaves one last question: why?

A fate precluded

Upon his departure to the capital, Radagon gifted Rennala with a mysterious Great Rune, trapping her in a delirious spiral. If this rune was truly Miquella's, then how did Radagon acquire it if Miquella had yet to be born?

As aforementioned, Great Runes can be thought of as imprints, foretelling their destined demigods' function under the Golden Order. Radagon is Miquella's father, and his son was evidently fond of him in the days before the Shattering, offering him his newly discovered halo incantations to aid his decree. If Radagon was privy to the Elden Ring, the Golden Order, and its fundamentals, one could interpret that he was able to prevent his yet unborn son's fate by pawning his Great Rune.

Radagon himself is a peculiar figure. After a stalemate during his attack on Queen Rennala, he atoned for his transgressions and married her, siring three children. Rennala had become deeply infatuated with him, so much so that when he departed, her mind was left in pieces, and the Carian fates were fettered to the Golden Order. Perhaps most damning of all, Radagon destroyed Rennala's matrimonial gift of the Moonlight Greatsword and reforged it into the Golden Order Greatsword, devoid of its former magic in any capacity. The man cleaved ever to the future, hellbent on the perfection of the Golden Order—a leal hound, as Marika referred to him.

Miquella is referred to by Malenia as being the mightiest of all the demigods, despite she herself is evidently a terrifying force in her own right. The two are also Empyreans, indicating their destiny to succeed Queen Marika as the vessel of the Elden Ring, and as direct vassals to the Greater Will. Except, Radagon appears to have had little interest in permitting this fate. Ultimately, he becomes the acting god after fusing with Marika, his other half, and following her "death" as sentence for attempting to destroy the Elden Ring that bound her.

In order to achieve such, Radagon needed to devise an elaborate plot, playing both sides of the chess board to fulfill his ambition and prevent it from ever being toppled. Although Marika is blamed for the stagnant perpetuity of the Lands Between, it was Radagon who had everything to gain from the Shattering. Indeed, the three (possibly four) Empyreans chosen by the Two Fingers would have to be denied their fates to cement the Golden Order as truly eternal.

If the Great Rune of the Unborn is essential for a proper rebirth, certainly Miquella's attempt to resurrect was ill-fated from the start. Much like the amber egg, the cocoon he created as a vehicle for this transmogrification failed to carry him to his ascension. Mohg's abduction was certainly no help, but even still, Miquella grows within the cocoon, trapped in an unresponsive slumber. Thus, his dawn never breaks, and the Golden Order remains unwavered.

Further ramblings

I know this one was a doozy, and perhaps nothing but conjecture. Still, I can't unsee some connection between Miquella, the Great Rune of the Unborn, and oddly enough, Ranni. The implication of Miquella having been Torrent's former master, as hinted by the revealed Shadow of the Erdtree official artwork, certainly furthers the possibility of cooperation between Miquella and Ranni—maybe even a conspiracy.

Now watch me eat my words when the DLC drops and we get Miquella's Great Rune. Lol. Lmao. Regardless, the parallels are hard to ignore. Even if at first it would be easy to believe that the Great Rune of the Unborn is the rune that Ranni discarded, it doesn't make sense to me that Radagon would have then taken it to give to Rennala.

This could even indicate that Ranni and Miquella's fates were somehow crossed or intertwined. Perhaps the two of them appreciated this in the end, or at least used it to their advantage? I guess we'll have to wait and see what the DLC provides.