#The OSP Halloween Special on Mummies in media explains so much

[miirshroom]

One of the many roadblocks that I think the Elden Ring fandom needs to get over is the belief that Gideon actually knew Marika's Will. Like, he's a pseudo-archaeologist. He high on his own self-importance but he sucks at finding accurate information about the past. And the esoteric narrative that he has crudely cobbled together has warped his understanding of the present. For evidence, look no further than Ensha, the grotesque Catacomb Saint inspired underling that he has guarding his door.

What does Gideon do even? He sits in his room and reads and sends other people out to bring stuff back to him. If there's anything I've learned from YouTube archaeologists (ok, mostly Milo Rossi), it's that documenting a site involves carefully recording the context of the objects that are found. Once you take an object out of its context then so much of the potential information that could have been gained is lost forever. If untrained people are collecting eyewitness accounts and reporting back, then information is lost in transit, or even worse picks up an unrecognized bias. Gideon doesn't even know how much he doesn't know at the time when he makes his judgement on the situation.

Gideon is literally placed as a mandatory roadblock to player progress as a way to say "Hey! Don't let yourself become this guy! Reject the influence of Gideon from your thinking!"