#and he concluded that the erdtrees themselves were poisoning the land and people

[kinnoth]

ok so i think actually the thing that offends me most about the DLC story/ending is that ......this doesn't give us any new information? it doesn't give us new context or motivation or anything.

you, player character, set out in the base game to conquer the lands between and become the new elden lord. to this end, you fight and extinguish other potential elden lords.

in the DLC.... you set out to conquer the shadow lands. to this end, you fight and extinguish another potential elden lord

like there are 8 "elden lord" endings already, and 2 "alternate" endings where you a) choose to end all life forever with the frenzied flame or b) choose to leave the planet with ranni. the thing is, the "alternate endings" are NIGH UNIVERSALLY considered "better" or at least the "more complete" endings because they give us an option, a narrative that transcends the cycle of gods and elden lords.

making miquella/radahn yet another cog in the cycle of gods and elden lords gives us FUCKING NOTHING that we don't already have.

It's like, we know the system is corrupt and pointless and the concept of "moral good" is a lie and the concept of "moral bad" is bottomless. So why are we upholding the system. Why not burn it down or abandon it? Why are we returning to the idea that the only way to affect change is within this pointless, corrupt system. Why are we fighting yet another wannabe elden lord when we've established that elden lords are fucking peons and their gods are sock puppets to a formless, ambivalent Other.

We solved this fuckin riddle already!!! It was the giant amoeba what lived in mommy god's brain! How do we find this out and take miquella seriously! He's like fourteen steps behind!

Tldr miquella should have given us a different way of ordering the world that is separate from the established order. I think he should have advocated for the destruction of gods in its entirety. I think he should have been baiting you to kill all his siblings, his mother and father, the amoeba what lives in their brain, and then at the end of it, been like, good, now you kill me. I am the last piece of filth out of the room. Choose my ending and at last the world can be clean. That's ruthlessness. That's the greater good. That's the kindness of a god.

I STILL THINK MIQUELLA SHOULD HAVE BEEN MELINA