#both bewitched and fearful of the abyss | headcanons and lore

[izar-tarazed]

Ensha has never particularly cared for books. They just are… there, well within their right to exist as they serve for research and gathering knowledge. This, at least, is what he sees his master doing, and to an extent, Izar as well; her eyes never shone brighter than upon entering the Great Library for the first time.

However, as he soon learned, Izar wasn’t just after knowledge. There is more to books. Some aren’t just tools… but treasure.

Because some contain stories—sometimes long forgotten legends of giants and dragons, fables supposedly told by the Nox and the merchants; sometimes things that were entirely made up, tales of sorcerers and knightesses and all kinds of heroes who had never actually walked the Lands Between, but whose fates nonetheless captivate her. She will spend hours devouring those tales with an eagerness usually reserved for her map-making.

At first she would simply tell Ensha the most intriguing bits of what she was reading; then she would start to read fragments to him. He merely listened politely at first, but she was good at choosing what parts she read out loud. Bit by bit, Ensha has found himself hooked as well, until one day he urged her to keep reading because he wanted to know what was going to happen next in the storyline.

And so, eventually, they have made it a habit—sitting down next to some fireside at the Hold, with pillows and blankets, and Izar reading to him for a while.

He finds that he loves it, as much as it surprises him that books can be a source of joy and suspense, or that he would be so fond of storytelling. (Still, he will never pick up a book on his own. The magic of stories works best when it’s shared.)

[izar-tarazed]

Oh hey thanks for tagging me, always happy to see folks’ thoughts about Ensha!

I’ll just add a handful of loosely related thoughts to the mix:

I’ve thought a lot about how Ensha might relate to TWLID, too. His armor restoring HP, most likely due to properties of the golden bones, certainly feels like a play on TWLIDs’ ability to get up once again after being slain; it’s not the same but has a similar vibe of ‟clinging to life”.

However, to me he has always felt like being something else—and yes, in part because his presence at the Roundtable Hold causes no tension whatsoever in that regard. You’d think that D and/or Fia would have something to say about that (of course, the absence of a certain dialogue topic doesn’t necessarily mean much; both D and Fia already have a lot going on so maybe adding a mention of Ensha would have made it too convoluted. But it would have been such a great opportunity to illustrate both of their perspectives regarding TWLID with having one right at the Roundtable Hold… if he was one. On that note, D being freaked out by Ensha’s appearance—and Ensha being slightly uncomfortable around D—is also a firmly established headcanon of mine.)

Another thought I have is that if Ensha was one of TWLID, it might have been emphasized more in our fight with him by giving him the exact same ability to get up from the ground, but he has a whole different set of moves and abilities that I feel do set him further apart from TWLID. (Not me forever overthinking the question of why on earth he has a meteorite staff and does gravity magic. Is there anything to that beyond it being a mechanically neat idea to pull your enemies close with Collapsing Stars?)

And yes, the blessed bone shard! I still have to sort my thoughts on that one, but I audibly gasped when I came across the first one in SOTE because I immediately thought of a possible connection to Ensha as well. (So far, I hadn’t thought much about the gold of the Scadutree as opposed to that of the Erdtree, so that’s certainly interesting.)

On the question of Ensha being Tarnished or not, I actually had a whole wall of text done re: his eyes, but I feel like that’s too much to put here so I’ll make that a separate post.

I didn't read the document you've sent to me, sorry hdghhgbv But:

Do you think D tried to kill Ensha upon first seeing him? Ensha's bones (and tongue that Alberich cut, apparently...) are literally golden and he was revered as 'Soulless King'! We learned from DLC that golden bones are of those who fought in Crusade and got buried with high honor, and the armor of Ensha is literally his remains, it isn't just a style! But the NPC is named Ensha, it IS him lol. He is dangerously close to Those Who Live in Death!!!

I assume he got raised from the grave by grace or maybe a deliberate ritual. I doubt he is a Tarnished because those are raised back into living in a good shape, otherwise many of them would be raised as corpses. But like..... do you think D would just jump at the guy the second he saw him at the Roundtable and others just had to hold him back like NOOOOO WAIT ffhfggnn

so your question delivered a vision to me

i have wondered what ensha's deal is now and then. i never thought to connect the blessed bone shards to the gold of his bones!! good catch. when you take that into consideration, it may be worth asking what does it mean to be blessed by the gold of the scadutree, as opposed to the erdtree? the remembrance of the shadow sunflower says the scaudtree is "Born of dark notions that bear no sense of Order, that twist and bend its stock, rendering it brittle", so it's interesting such a blessing would be considered a blessing at all. the thorn sorceries are also pretty negative, going on about rejecting everything due to marika's abandonment. ensha's sort of the opposite of that - 'lord of the lost and desperate', someone who may not be quite so quick with such rejections. if his golden bones are those blessed by the scadutree rather than something decorative done after his death in his honor, or something to do with the erdtree's grace, were the crusaders disillusioned by their abandonment those 'lost and desperate' that he was lord of? and if so, how'd he end up in gideon's company? and how is he soulless! that's always been the main thing to attract my attention because it's so in line with TWLID, but he has no other point of intersection with them. we can assume he isn't one, because he's a compatriot of gideon, and hangs out in a golden order stronghold. if the order is seeking to exterminate them, it seems weird to make this one exception. so then that just leaves you to wonder why or how is he soulless? at any rate, if ensha's bones are in fact his very being rather than a macabre costume, then yeah i agree it's doubtful he's tarnished! they get to keep their faces after all lol i definitely think darian encountering a walking skeleton in a place that's supposed to be safe from such things would catch him off guard! although it'd be quite a spectacle to get to watch them face off. maybe whoever's around would let them go at it for awhile if they're bored :] (also just going to tag @izar-tarazed bc ensha chat may be of interest to them!! but no pressure to respond or anything lol)

[izar-tarazed]

You don’t remember, of course, but maybe you turned to lightning so that water would forever be painful to you.

Felt compelled to draw Dark Souls Izar. In time, she might remember what she once did.

[izar-tarazed]

Thoughts on Ensha's eyes

While I do have my own headcanon about what Ensha is (that I use in writing and RP), I still think a lot about what he’s meant to be in game and what clues we might gather from there. We know there’s an NPC model under the armor, which in turn raises the question of whether Ensha is supposed to be Tarnished or not (linking to this exchange between @katyspersonal and @wraith-caller who both briefly talk about this aspect, among others).

Personally I’m on the fence about what I think but one thing I’d like to point out (that I haven't really seen mentioned): If Ensha’s NPC model beneath the armor is intended to be more than a stand-in/technical necessity, it might well be implied that he is Tarnished because—as shown in Zullie’s video—his eyes do lack the gold of grace, and we know a lot of attention is paid to this kind of details in Elden Ring.

What’s more, Ensha’s eyes are actually pitch-black with no white in it whatsoever, apparently making him the only named NPC with that quality. (The Flame Guardians found at Mountaintop of the Giants apparently are the only other NPCs to have completely black eyes.) Of course, this opens up a lot of new rabbit holes:

Does it imply a connection between Ensha and the Flame Guardians? (I find that doubtful, but then again, I haven't really looked into the whole Flame Guardian thing, so... I don't know?)

Is the black color maybe in some way connected to him being soulless (as the ancient king Ensha mentioned in the description of his armor)?

I’m also extremely intrigued by the examples of 1.0 item descriptions that @wraith-caller highlighted here, stating ‟mask that mediates via body of famed ancestor,” whatever that's supposed to mean in detail.

And while I don’t assume that something used in 1.0 but removed later is necessarily canon, I feel like it does shed light on what they intended Ensha to be conceptually at some point? For me, it really feeds the idea of NPC Ensha—the human body beneath the armor—having a strong connection to the fabled soulless king whose bones he wears, probably having become a mere vessel (while possibly being a descendant of Ensha the soulless king)? But just to tie this back to the eyes: Maybe their complete blackness is (or was) supposed to show the absence of a personality of his own/the presence of someone very ancient within. (Quite the stretch, but just putting the thought out there.)

And lastly, of course, the pitch-black eyes might just be there for mechanical reasons again to emphasize and reinforce the darkness of the skull mask’s eye sockets (They’re also really deep-set). So they might not be about Ensha being a Tarnished but on the contrary.)

[izar-tarazed]

Just like her Elden Ring counterpart, Dark Souls Izar initially wakes with (almost) no memories of her past; she has not forgotten everything, but… most things. There is a big gap.

She wonders; she’s curious; but she isn’t desperate to find out who she was, or why she forgot. She seizes the chance to invent herself anew and from scratch. She becomes a wanderer, free and untethered, she experiments with whatever weapon falls into her hand, she’s curious about magic. There is nothing from her past to serve as an anchor, but she doesn’t mind. She has been like this for a long time when she ends up in the Undead Asylum, and escapes, and begins her journey as Chosen Undead, quietly scoffing at the thought: why would she, who doesn’t excel at anything, be chosen in any way. It doesn’t feel like a burden, though; she keeps travelling and exploring.

She learns magic. A storyteller at heart, she’s fascinated by miracles being tales of old, or fragments of tales; fascinated by magic unfolding through the power of remembering and reciting those tales. She learns to wield a lightning spear and welcomes the way this kind of magic sizzles and bites at her fingertips. She dabbles in pyromancy, fascinated by light and warmth. (Fire and lightning, she later realizes, are both opposed to water in their own way.)

She mostly stays clear of sorceries, though; a coincidence, she thinks.

And then there’s always those ruins: the dark ones beneath the Firelink Shrine; the flooded ones, silent and haunted.

They call to her before she knows their story. They feel like a place she should know, and Izar wonders whether she did, back when New Londo was an actual city. She probably learns about the city’s fate long before she first dares to venture into it, learning to fight off the ghosts. She probably hears of the darkwraiths before she first makes her way to that roof, and meets a solitary figure clad in the same crimson robes that she has taken to wearing, simply because she likes them, without any deeper feeling attached.

But then that figure—masked, unlike her—turns to greet her, and freezes, and says her name in an old voice. ‟You came back.”

And she blinks. Shakes her head, gives an apologizing smile. ‟You must mistake me for someone else, this isn’t really my robe,” and it’s his turn to shake his head and step closer, and she realizes that he has said her name. This is not about the robe she wears.

‟I’m Ingward. Do you not remember?” he says, and she falls quiet. She does not remember. But there is a sadness to his voice that can only come from truth.

‟Izar,” he says, cradling her name carefully as if it could be broken—as if this very moment could be broken, and he gestures to the dark waters. ‟You were one of us. When we flooded the city… when we sealed this place, sacrificing everything…”

And she shakes her head, but the motion does not seal his words from coming.

‟You helped,” he says. ‟Even though you had a friend among the Darkwraiths—you still helped when we drowned this place. Do you not remember?”

She does not, her mind as dark as the waters surrounding them.

‟No,” she mutters, turning away, ‟this couldn’t have been me,” but she knows. Even without remembering—she knows. She understands, too, why she forgot everything: they were not taken from her, those memories, not ripped out of her mind by some unknown tragedy. Izar herself, skilled sorceress that she was—a healer in crimson robe—had walked away and purged her memories. Flooded her mind with oblivion to drown the guilt much in the same way the city was flooded to contain the darkness, sacrificing everything else.

Fire and lightning and never sorcery, and it still leads her back to this place, to knowing without even remembering.

[izar-tarazed]

THIS. I found it so strange when she just casually mentioned it in her dialogue and didn't seem bothered at all by the fact. Maybe she gets to know because she's the one person among Miquella's followers who would be able to frame the charm entirely as a positive thing, from a pragmatic point of view: She outright tells us that without the charm, they all would likely be killing each other, and therefore it's good that they're charmed. The charm is the one thing that allows them to work together. (Whereas for Ansbach, for example, the charm probably made him forget his loyalty to Mohg, so being aware of it wouldn't have been a positive thing.) Now it's somewhat ironic that Leda turns out to be the one who's dead set on killing the others as soon as the charm is broken. But maybe her usual wariness/bloodthirst was so extremely strong that for the charm to work on her she also needed the reassurance that the others were under its effect, and that she could be completely sure they wouldn't turn against her (or Miquella)? Other than that, I'd agree it's likely her loyalty to Miquella that allowed her to know (he seems particularly fond of her) or deduce it. But I really think that her being the one person who'd view the effects of the charm as positive might play a role in her being aware of it (or being allowed to be aware).

I find it interesting that Leda knows she and everyone else is being charmed, yet everyone else seems to have no idea. Like, Sir Ansbach doesn't remember his attempt at fighting Miquella or anything.

I wonder why she gets to know. Is it because she is loyal to Miquella? or did she know about his abilities and was able to deduce it by how everyone seemed to be working well together?

[izar-tarazed]

Once she noticed that Ensha liked coffee, Izar made it a habit to bring him a steaming hot cup in the morning.

[izar-tarazed]

There is something akin to winter solstice in the calendar of the nomadic merchants; the coldest, darkest days of the year, and they gather around their campfires, sharing food and light and exchanging gifts.

The tradition, with some variations, has spread throughout the Lands Between, even though not everyone partakes, and those who do are sometimes unaware of its origins.

Izar, being close with the merchants and fond of their tradition, knows, and celebrates in her own small ways.

[izar-tarazed]

I don't have a lot of lore/headcanons for Ashen Izar but I know for sure she's the lousiest Blade of the Darkmoon you have ever seen. Genuinely eager to assist those in need, but when she's actually summoned to a fight, more often than not, she can't even find the combatants.

[izar-tarazed]

My newest headcanon is that Izar develops the habit of thinking "what would Ensha do?" fairly early in their friendship (especially, although not exclusively, when feeling out of her depth against enemies) but realizes that while she almost always knows what he would do, it's very rarely something that would work for her as well.

[izar-tarazed]

In the beginning, long before Izar learned to understand his sign language, this is how they communicated: Ensha signing his messages into her palm.

A painfully slow form of communicating, but at least he didn’t have to waste her treasured ink, and there was another aspect to it: With those brief, invisible messages, fleeting words traced against her palm, Ensha didn’t have to worry about anyone—not even his master—ever finding out what he was sharing with the stargazer.

Then again, it required enough trust on Izar’s end to let him touch her hand. You might not want someone within arm’s reach who previously attacked you in a supposedly safe space.

She was rather tense when she first held out her hand. But she still did.

[izar-tarazed]

So few people know this, but whenever Ensha has to report to Gideon ...

... he will discreetly stand on some books to appear just a little bit taller.

[izar-tarazed]

Initially, Ensha doesn’t care much for books.

He is, of course, constantly surrounded by them, and knows how much Gideon treasures them. He recognizes their value. To him, they are tools, just not ones he uses himself.

He is content to coexist in the same space with them, leaving their usage to others.

Izar, however, gravitates towards books in a way that’s both similar and different from his master’s.

Sometimes her eyes light up at their sight with such joy that Ensha can’t help but feel a pang of jealousy (which is, he tells himself, ridiculous in every regard). In her hands, he feels the books come to life, the knowledge contained something to be shared.

There’s always a story to be told, and she loves telling them.

With Izar, a book suddenly feels like more than a tool. (It is strange, Ensha thinks, how much the same holds true for him.)

To her, books are joyful company, and comfort. She will seek them out and spend hours surrounded by them, retreating behind whispering pages, the smell of leather and paper, smiling as she hunts for treasure between the lines.

He starts keeping her company for a glimpse of that joy.

Eventually, though, she starts reading to him. ‟Did you know the story of the Academy’s fairy cat?” she will ask, and ‟Have you heard of the Thunderknight and her loyal companions?”, and ‟Were you aware that one day, when the stars still were moving…?”

He has heard some of the stories, but never like that. He didn’t realize they would hide in those books, brought to life by her voice and the crackling of the nearby fireplace.

He sits down with her to listen, absorbing the stories she offers up like gemstones and starlight shards, and keeping them like one would keep such treasures.

Still, Ensha isn’t likely to read on his own; it would just feel hollow without her.

But books… they now remind him of her, and they’re comfort and company.

[izar-tarazed]

Thoughts: Ensha was actually a better fighter than we see in the game

I went back to my Ensha run to keep exploring Stormveil Castle. And it’s interesting how the area feels much easier with this build than it did forever ago when I went there with Izar with her focus on sorceries. Of course, I now have several hundred hours of Elden Ring experience under my belt and am more familiar with the world and the enemies, but it also kind of reinforces my headcanon about Ensha actually being way more capable than our ingame experience gives him credit for.

When he ambushes us at the Roundtable Hold, it comes as a shock but isn’t too challenging in terms of gameplay, and often even described as a rather laughable experience. Like, how could Gideon seriously think Ensha would stand a chance against us? How could Ensha believe he would?

I think one reason for the Ensha fight being quite manageable might be that it being so was a mechanical necessity: We can’t return to the Roundtable Hold proper until we defeat him—our hub for interacting with several NPCs that act as merchants, teachers and questgivers, and considering the Ensha ambush can be triggered fairly early in the game, it stands to reason that it couldn’t be that extreme of a challenge because it would lock us out of accessing the Hold.

Also, it isn’t meant to be a big challenge (we merely get a fistful of runes upon our victory), but seems to serve a more narrative function; a storybeat (albeit an obscure one, as is the case with most in the game) to emphasize the importance of the Haligtree Medallion and prompt Gideon to give us more information.

I also think that the fight being not too hard serves to highlight our Tarnished's own prowess; we are more powerful than Gideon could have anticipated, and we prove it by dispatching someone he seems to have trusted: Ensha was tasked with guarding the door to his study (Nepheli explicitly tells us that) and even with the Hold being a supposedly safe space, I don’t think Gideon would have trusted just anybody with that, and that Ensha was a lot more skilled than we actually experience in game.

Regardless of the aesthetics and meaning of both his armor and weapon (and the fact that the design seems to be a nod to the Dark Souls’ series darkwraiths and their Dark Hand), this equipment provides extremely good survivability at least in early game. The clinging bone allows for swift attacks and the Lifesteal Fist skill saves a lot of sips from the Crimson Tear flask (in the right area), plus the slight healing properties of the armor.

Ensha was designed (narratively) as someone who’s hard to kill—who literally clings to life. (There’s also his use of gravity magic, in particular the Collapsing Stars sorcery that pulls enemies closer. It might not be perfectly executed in game but in a way, it does serve a narrative purpose as well—there’s no running from the creepy skeleton assassin.)

So. Ensha had probably done a lot of dirty work for Gideon, and reliably so, returning successful every time until being sent after our Tarnished. But thinking that he could overcome us wasn’t a foolish assumption on his end, he actually had been deadly and powerful enough up to that point.

[izar-tarazed]

just realized that maybe at this point I'll need different verses or rather, points in the timeline for Izar? the default would still be her (and Ensha) on their quest towards the Elden Throne; but her having defeated the Elden Beast somewhat calls for that post-game verse where she already is running the Academy of Raya Lucaria.

I made this post a few days with my headcanon for Izar's exploration of the Shadow Realm basically taking place in between those two phases, too...

(It's funny because I never thought I would need to establish these things because Izar's journey seemed like it would last forever, but now maybe I'll come up with something to add to my Stargazer's Cookbook.)

[izar-tarazed]

The little burnt-down candle on Ensha's besagew is probably one of my favorite details about him and I might write more about that at some point, but.

I remember being surprised when I first noticed it on his armor and was like, "wait, how did I miss this before?"

The reason is pretty obvious, though. With Ensha's iconic edgelord pose, we never get to see the candle. It's almost like he's deliberately covering it with that hand.

There's probably nothing to that and he was just meant to stand there in a casual pose that simply happens to cover this particular detail of his armor, but still funny.

(My first thought was "why give a character such a peculiar detail on their armor and then never show it," but then again, this is Elden Ring where nearly all the NPCs have individual faces and the game never bothers to let us see them, so... hiding a candle is nothing.)

Also, he's standing right next to three more burnt-down candles. Again, this might be pure coincidence but considering how much emphasis Elden Ring places on environmental storytelling in general, this arrangement might well be on purpose (...while probably not too meaningful).