#Mt Leyndell

[tlgtw]

It's finally here.

The Mt Leyndell Volcano Theory!!!

The first of its kind!?!??!

Why don't YOU see?

[aylameridiandrawsstuff]

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ps I'm working on Lake of Rot right now!!!

[blasphemousclaw]

Let’s talk about Mt. Gelmir

Mt. Gelmir is one of my favorite locations in the game because of its striking environmental storytelling… the minute you start exploring the slopes of the volcano, you can just FEEL that something awful happened here. The imagery is so potent that I wanted to go through every detail of the region and explore how it supports and expands the story we’re told through dialogue and text. Let’s start with the text on the Mt. Gelmir sword monument:

“The Assault on Volcano Manor

The squalid, the sick, the blasphemous;

A wretched, unending war with no glory”

This dismal description refers to Leyndell’s attack on Praetor Rykard’s forces at Volcano Manor. After the Shattering war broke out, Rykard declared his intention to take up arms against the Erdtree itself: this was not just treason, but blasphemy, marking him as “an enemy, never to be forgiven.” We can conclude that Rykard’s blasphemy was so unacceptable that Leyndell made it a priority to silence him as quickly as possible, sending an army straight to his doorstep. I believe it’s implied that Rykard had the Mt. Gelmir Minor Erdtree burned as his first act of blasphemy; we find the tree destroyed amidst a smoking ruin:

The assault on Volcano Manor, introduced to us by Gideon Ofnir as “the most appalling battle in the entirety of the Shattering,” was the site of some of the most horrific violence in the entire story. Traveling around Mt. Gelmir, we can observe the gruesome aftermath of the battle and the remnants of the armies continuing to struggle — some scattered groups of Leyndell soldiers remain, while the only troops left to Rykard are his marionettes and iron virgins, since his knights have long since deserted him after his hideous transformation. (Side note: I love the detail that Rykard uses marionettes and avionettes, which were “crafted to serve the sorcerers;” it further cements his identity as a sorcerer and his connection to his Liurnian heritage.) Despite having no real soldiers though, Rykard’s grim constructs seem to tear through the remaining soldiers of Leyndell with ease, which we can observe in real time:

The death toll of this conflict cannot be overstated — the slopes of Mt. Gelmir are literally piled high with bodies.

Within a pit of corpses, we can find the spirit of one of Rykard’s men, who says this:

“Lord Rykard… If this putrid field of death is what your blasphemy would bring, then I can no longer abide. No one can.”

These unspeakable horrors are enough to make Rykard’s followers question if the cost of resistance is too high a price. Leyndell’s armies are just as badly affected — stranded on the mountain with no hope of reinforcements, we can observe several soldiers feasting on the bodies of their fallen comrades:

These soldiers have long abandoned any hope of achieving glory, and are little more than mindless husks at this point. Furthermore, if we return to the sword monument, something you’ll notice as you make your way over is that there are several Leyndell soldiers who are affected by the frenzied flame. At the same time, the troll soldier guarding the door to the Manor is also affected by the frenzied flame:

The frenzied flame is affecting soldiers of both sides of the conflict here, which tells me it wasn’t being used as some kind of weapon, but that it took hold independently… I believe that the frenzied flame was embraced by the soldiers here due to the sheer hopelessness of those who have experienced this uniquely horrific battle. The ethos of the Three Fingers is essentially that the world is full of unendurable pain, so it must all be melted away so no one will suffer ever again: “the Greater Will made a mistake. Torment, despair, affliction... every sin, every curse. Every one, born of the mistake. […] Those who gave me grapes howled without words. Saying they wished they were never born. Become their lord. Take their torment, despair. Their affliction. Every sin, every curse. And melt it all away.” (Hyetta)

The soldiers who fought on Mt. Gelmir have experienced untold suffering, the very worst of humanity… it makes perfect sense that such people would be susceptible to the essence of the frenzied flame; to want to burn this tormented world to the ground.

[ettadunham]

just getting into my little coffin to take a nap after a boss fight, normal elden ring things

[paracausalwraith]

oughuhhhnh im like firmly in the midgame for my PC elden ring playthrough where things like really start to slow down....please...ive been here before i just want to play dlc..

[blaiddfailcam]

Altus Plateau – Road of Inquiry

[death-rebirth-senshi]

Booted up my strength/int build and I have no idea why I abandoned it, I've got +6 Starscourge, Fallingstar Beast Jaw, and Ruins Greatsword and all 3 of them are shredding everything

[morning-day-yew]

Today’s emotion is: having trouble with the kingdom, head to volcano.

[nighthaunting]

I know we’re all just clowning here on tumblr dot com but I do think the perception of Morgott as like, ultra-religious and sort of blindly following the Golden Order despite their hatred of Omens is a really contextless reading of his situation.

If we read the description of his great rune it says:

That the Omen King was born of the golden lineage, and that he was indeed the Lord of Leyndell.

Morgott was the rightful ruler of Leyndell, Omen or not that was his golden city full of people who would revile him if they knew of his true origin.

I think his motives are less someone who’s tricked themselves into believing in something that hates him and more someone who’s wanted a place where he belongs for so long that now that there’s finally a place that he provably has a right to he’s never leaving.

Morgott isn’t deluded about what the Golden Order is or he’d never have invented the Veiled Monarch. Even the lines about his becoming the Erdtree’s protector don’t really indicate he had a particularly faith-based reason for doing so, but rather that he found that he came to love the Erdtree despite not knowing love.

Morgott is the gothic heroine who just inherited a big cursed estate but he wants a place that’s his own so bad he moves into the haunted house anyway and starts loving the architecture despite it being full of ghosts that hate him.

Morgott who led the Night’s Cavalry to hunt Tarnished, and beat the shit out of Rahdan, and launched the Seige of Mt. Gelmir and prosecuted the bloodiest and most costly war in the Shattering is not a guy who is getting his blind fundamentalist on, he’s a guy who’s decided that he’ll pile up a mountain of corpses before he lets anyone take away or threaten his place and is willing to be extremely proactive about defending it.

Editing to add:

And see the thing is, I think there’s even more nuance to it than just Morgott finally having a scrap of something to call his own and being willing to defend it with all his might!

In hindsight, I actually think Morgott had a better idea than anyone what the Tarnished would eventually have to do to get to the Elden Throne.

His dialogue as he’s dying makes it clear he’s known about the thorns blocking the way into the Elden Throne and been considering every way anyone might get through them.

In his dialogue as Margit in Stormveil, he says very specifically “the flame of ambition” and speaks of snuffing that flame.

I think Morgott realized that the only way a Tarnished could get into the Elden Throne would be to burn the Erdtree, and not only has he come to love this fixture of the haunted house he chooses to live in, but he knows that burning the Erdtree would destroy the place he calls his own.

Is it any wonder he’s so proactively trying to stop any Tarnished from even approaching Leyndell in the first place, when in his eyes it wouldn’t be unreasonable to view a sufficiently powerful Tarnished as a direct threat to the piece of the Lands Between that he’s carved out for himself?

[starrythroat]

I love this stupid guy since first playthrough. Imagine siding with malenia in shattering wars when your land is like between mt gelmir and leyndell. Poor old loyal simp

[tlgtw]

Things with Mt Leyndell

Probably I will go back on not using "Mt Leyndell" as the title for that theory as a whole. I thought I had a better one made up but as it progressed, I found myself returning to 'Mt Leyndell' over and over again. It really is a snappy name.

Still continuing with the script for that third video in bits and pieces as I'm working on the first one, I've also reached a point where, among my friends, I think my Mt Leyndell is just gonna dead-to-rights end up being correct. I think it's gonna be revealed.

(The three conceits that personally completely seal the deal for me being the pele's hair on Marika's hammer in the E3 teaser, the Fire Blossoms and the Erdleaf Flowers being same-looking plants, despite coming from different sources--which would mean that those different sources themselves should have the same origin, and the Flame of Ruin (What I'm becoming positive is just the direct image of Mt Leyndell erupting--this also being why it's the "first" cardinal sin, since it would necessarily relate to the Erdtree's actual origins as the tree sticking out of that very mountain--and how the 'Flame of Ruin' as a whole was able to have been known about and labelled as a cardinal sin from the start. The magic's conception is just the image of a real event from the past--blowing up.) having been "glimpsed within the faith all the same" by clerics like Corhyn. The exact same method of glimpsing, it so happens by which, that Goldmask discovered the secret between Marika and Radagon in his study of the faith.)

Ha...

These perceived connections, along with the rest will be included in that video. But, I will see what I can do to make sure that this sentiment itself doesn't actually permeate into the script.

In any case, *has* anyone else seen before, a theory like "The mountain Leyndell is sitting on was actually a volcano!" or anything else along those lines? I'm asking this because, if I actually am the first, then I hope that means I've gotten to pick its name.

[galedekarios]

The Altus Plateau, where the Erdtree's base can be found, contains the Royal Capital of Leyndell to the east, and Mt. Gelmir to the west. Scars from the Shattering remain apparent to this day.

[blasphemousclaw]

Okay, so at some point (or like during the Shattering in general) the only one in Rykard's immediate family that hadn't either fucked off or lost their mind (yet) was Radahn. Ngl that makes me emo because I feel like during the war these two could only trust each other out of the demigods. Just...brothers 😭

aaaand then Radahn gets rotted and Rykard's all alone (or who knows maybe Rykard fed himself to the snake first, leaving Radahn alone)

Also, does Radahn even know about Ranni? Does he think she's dead or is he like "yea she lives there somewhere in sort of hiding but also never answers my letters i think shes mad at me"? Cue Rykard sweating any time Radahn mentions her?

RIGHTTTT I think there was absolutely a degree of trust between Rykard and Radahn that endured even after the Shattering… even though they both seemed to be pursuing their own ends during the war, I don’t think they would have ever taken up arms against each other, regardless if Radahn knew of Rykard’s treason or not.

Rykard’s fondness for Radahn is evident, and I’m sure Radahn was fond of Rykard too, since he at least keeps the one abductor virgin guarding his castle (which is also a unique model with one of each weapon!). Even though they weren’t working towards one common goal, I like to think they would have at least trusted their bond as brothers.

Rykard also shared a closeness and trust with Ranni, but I think there was also always a degree of separation between her and her brothers because she was the only empyrean, and because she also had the special responsibility of being her mother’s heir… it must have been isolating to have these duties on her shoulders while her brothers did not. Rykard and Radahn on the other hand occupy essentially the same position in their family, and they’re both older than Ranni, so there was once a time when it was just them. These things would have certainly drawn them together when they were younger.

Which is why I think Radahn’s fate would have really affected Rykard. We can’t be sure if he even knew because we don’t know the precise time he decided to go snake mode, but if he was indeed still human when Radahn and Malenia fought, and the news spread to him, then I can see him being really upset and unstable. Especially because Leyndell’s assault on Volcano Manor prevents Rykard from leaving Mt Gelmir; he’s essentially stuck there unable to do anything about it. And if he did gift Radahn the abductor virgin army in the abandoned cave, it must have really hurt to know that he tried to protect him and failed.

re: Ranni and Radahn, I don’t really get the sense that they really collaborated in any way… there’s not a shred of a personal connection between the two of them, positive or negative, except for the fact we have to kill him to release the stars for Ranni’s plans. Radahn seems like an obstacle to her plans, but not even because he did it on purpose; I think he did it for his own reasons and it just happened to inconvenience Ranni: if the two were actively feuding, then surely Radahn would weigh heavily on her team’s minds, but the fact that Radahn’s actions hinder Ranni is literally a total afterthought to Iji. Blaidd seems to call him a traitor after the boss fight though, perhaps he means it in the sense that Radahn’s actions hindered his family as a whole, which Ranni represents as the heir.

Anyway, Ranni and Radahn’s non-relationship seems like it could be a combination of Radahn being older and moving away to Caelid, them having vastly different roles in the family like I mentioned earlier, and thus growing up to have different priorities. I kind of don’t think Radahn knows what she’s up to, but maybe he just doesn’t ask because that isn’t his business lmao

[sillovn]

Grace and the Serpent

Continuing in the series of the "back to basics" interpretation of SotE lore; I want to talk about Grace and Messmer's curse.

The simple question here is; what exactly is Messmer's problem?

Being cursed from birth is fairly common among members of the divine family, with who is/isn't shunned probably being related to the specifics of the curse. As with Malenia, Outer God influence is not innately a problem (even to be an empyrean). Melina shows that being fire-aligned is not a deal breaker either.

Messmer seemingly lived as a "mundane" warrior-Demigod until his exile from the Erdtree (see. Black Knight Andreas, Remembrance of Gaius). The reveal of his "serpent nature", later causes a rebellion within the crusade (see. Andreas and Huw), oddly implying that it wasn't widely known or observable? Yet, even before the crusade, there already seems to have been something profane about the man (see. Fire Knights are nobles exiled for serving Messmer). The one thing that does set him apart from other cursed Demigods is a lack of innate Grace, which he receives via. artificial eye.

I think this particular aspect is important and sets Messmer apart from other cursed beings.

2. Giving Grace

In literal terms, Grace is the blessing of the Erdtree manifest as light within the eyes. Some basic points on it...

Grace can be given and taken (see. Golden Runes 10-13, Tarnished, Iris of Grace). The Golden Runes also imply that grace began with the Erdtree's first converts. (ie. people marked with this distinction began to exist after a certain point in history, its not something that has always existed).

Grace also seems to be inheritable (eg. Omens)

Erdtree religion is expansionist and proselytizing (see. Sacred Tear, Wars of Expansion, ongoing inquisitions and crusades).

Said religion is the core of Leyndell's society. Thus, whether or not you have Grace is very important (see. Tarnished, Crusaders).

Put simply, I think Grace is best imagined as an analogy for religious membership - you can enter and leave, but people tend to take after their parents.

You could also see it as a marker of said membership. Lots of IRL examples for initiation rites, specific customs/dressing.

With all this in mind, I think its important to note the different reasons why various people lack Grace.

As mentioned earlier, Grace doesn't seem innate - it presumably was given to the Golden Order's first followers and spread as Marika's kingdom expanded. This process of Erdtree conversion carries on to the present day (eg. Mt Gelmir). This is just to say that there is a default state of being graceless; the unconverted people. Then you have the apostates (eg. Tarnished), people who had Grace, but were stripped of it. Messmer differs from all these examples in that he seems unable to receive Grace (by conventional means anyway).

3. The Grace Eater

In terms of 'hard canon', the Abyssal Serpent gets little elaboration, but it's major properties are related to being light-less (shorn of light) and devouring (see. Messmer's Kindling). In that sense, the Abyssal Serpent's title is self explanatory; it is a personified abyss.

The serpent may not have been fire-aligned originally, but has acquired it by devouring Messmer's Fire. You could also argue to what extent Messmer and the serpent(s) are separate beings at present (the 'reverse-Rykard' analogy).

In the literal, in-universe sense; perhaps the *specific problem* is that the serpent devours grace given to Messmer. In the ideological sense, perhaps his existence violates the belief that Grace can be extended to all. Leaning into the idea of Messmer as Satan-figure, you could say he exists outside the grace of divinity, the true irredeemable.

Extra Notes

Not going to speculate here if Albinaurics can be graced or not.

Some would say that Messmer cannot have grace by virtue of losing his eye (hence nowhere for Grace to manifest). While this idea is intuitive, Marika is completely eye-less at present (Malenia also arguably so). There's also no mention of a prejudice against missing eyes under the Erdtree.

---END---

~thanks for reading

[tarnishedbloodhound]

Flowers of Liurnia, Far From Home

Or, the Tarnished goes on a photography trip throughout the Lands Between, and all for one specific flower of royal Carian blue.

This small blue flower grows plentifully in groups, on dry land or in shallow water. Whilst found extensively in Liurnia, there are small patches of found growing in other regions as well. I've noticed that they are found near exclusively in or near places associated with sorcery, with a couple exceptions.

These flowers are scarcely found in the Shadows Lands, except for two places, the Cerulean coast, where they glow with almost magical effect, and the Manus Metyr cathedral.

This got a little long so more under the cut:

All throughout the Liurnia region, the player will ride and fight through countless patches of the blue flowers in question. Both within and without the Carian Manor and the Three Sisters grounds:

in the gardens of the Academy of Raya Lucaria:

outside the Carian Study Hall, glowing vibrantly as those in the Cerulean Coast in the Shadow Lands do:

the Church of Vows, but curiously only specifically inside the church, not outside. The blue and gold flowers together likely signify the bond once made here by the Houses of the Moon and Erdtree, by Rennala and Radagon:

Outwith Liurnia, these flowers can be found in Limgrave with their red counterparts, on the road south leading to the Weeping Peninsula:

In Caelid, there is no surprise they are found growing in the Sellia town of magic, suggesting a hardiness to these flowers to be able to resist the rot:

but also in the Caelid region they can be found surrounding Lenne's Rise:

I have found the flowers in two spots so far in the Altus Plateau Leyndell region, in a shallow pool of water between the windmill pastures, close to where a lone battlemage stands watch on the rocks above;

and in the outer moat, where you fight the Dung Eater and where the death-touched (coughGodwyncough) shell crabs live:

I've yet to find in the flowers are in the Mt. Gelmir region, but it is a volcano so I doubt there would be many flowers growing there. Still, I'll check in the future.

Even in the Consecrated Snowfields there are flowers to find. Whether they are actually blue flowers just covered with frost, or white flowers with a slight blue tinge, it is difficult to discern, but evenso. I'll let you be the judge of them:

Now, about those flowers in the Shadow Lands. My search is ongoing, but obviously they are found in vast glowing quantities in the Cerulean Coast, giving the region its name. They grow in such quantities that they are likely native to the area, and merely only happen to share the appearance of their Liurnian counterparts.

The non-glowing flowers can also be found in the Cathedral of Manus Metyr. In the tortoise ponds at the back:

And very specifically, growing around the grave of Yuri, son of Ymir:

So what's the point of this long flowery post? We know Ymir was once a mentor of Princess Rellana of the Carian royal family. Likely he came to the Shadow Lands as part of her entourage, either as a Carian himself or an independant researcher, we don't know when exactly he left his allegiance to the moon.

As Rellana's mentor, he would have had access to the Carian Manor, home of the royal family, and the Study Hall as well. As a learned sorcerer, he would have spent much time at the academy too. He would have likely spent much time in any one or all of these places, and travelling between the three. As an observant man he would of course have taken note of the plentiful, beautiful, blue flowers.

I like to believe that before he was sent or decided to go to the Shadow Lands, he took some of the flowers of Liurnia with him as a keepsake, and after all in the Shadow Lands were abandoned and forbidden by Marika from ever returning to the Lands Between, they were one of the few pieces of his homeland he managed to take with him. (I highly doubt those who left for holy war in the Shadow Lands knew that Marika would abandon them there. Would they honestly go if they knew?)

The flowers in the cemetery are well cared for. They and the grass around them are lively and with colour, the foliage around them the same drab lifeless colour as plantlife in lands touched by the war.

We don't know for certain if Yuri was always just a fingercreeper or once a human boy who passed away before the events of the DLC. Nevertheless Ymir loved him enough to surround him to with the flowers of Liurnia, of magic and sorcerers, of their homeland. A small patch of beauty amongst the bleakness of the land.

[toweringclam]

Two things collided in my head, and now I can't stop thinking about Elden Ring with the structure of an FFXIV expansion. Obviously, a lot of stuff would have to be changed and simplified, but here's how I see it:

MSQ Dungeons:

1: Stormveil

3: Raya Lucaria

5: Leyndell, Royal Capital

7: Mt. Gelmir

9: Farum Azula

10: Leyndell, Capital of Ash

Post-game dungeon: Deeproot Depths

One major change to the plot flow is that you'd need to beat Rykard to find out how to burn the Erdtree. Also, the return to Leyndell would be an entire dungeon, rather than just a boss rush. There would be other structural changes to each area, too, which I'll deal with if I ever do a more thorough breakdown.

MSQ trials:

3: Rennala

9: Maliketh

10: The Elden Beast

I put Rennala as a trial boss because that allows me to elevate Moonglum to an actual dungeon boss. I go back and forth on whether to make Maliketh or Placidusax the level 9 trial boss, but if he's not going to be a bonus boss, I think Plax works better as part of the dungeon.

Post-launch, it gets tricky. I think I'll leave the patch content until the DLC drops. I'll do more to describe each dungeon/trial later.