#cathedral of manus metyr

[azotho]

"Long ago, we began as stardust, born of a great rupture far across the skies. …Is that not divine? Is that not sublime?" 🌌

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[ezethriiel]

Count Ymir, finds his solace in the stars

[bellepeppergirl]

RANDOM CARIAN AND FINGERS CONNECTION NOTES

The first place we encounter Finger Creepers is likely at the Carian Manor. Obviously connected to Carians.

Finger Creepers are present at Mt. Gelmir, as is the Ringed Finger hammer, which is in the Gelmir Hero's Grave and said to be part of a Finger Creeper. Mt. Gelmir is of course the are where Volcano Manor can be found, and Volcano Manor currently belongs to Praetor Rykard; a Carian.

Finger Creepers can be found in the Carian Study Hall, which is connected to the Divine Tower of Liurnia. Once again, there is an obvious connection with Carian being in the title. The Divine Towers also where we can find the Fingers linked to each Demigod's Great Rune, and this one in particular holds the corpse of Lunar Princess Ranni's physical body. Ranni is, of course, a Carian.

Following Ranni's quest eventually brings us to the Cathedral of Manus Celeste. "Manus" translates to "Hand." Hands are connected to fingers, literally, and when we count Manus Metyr in the Shadow Lands, this connection deepens.

Manus Metyr is currently home to Count Ymir; once a tutor of the Carians who now wishes to unravel the secrets of the Fingers. He will send us to the two Finger Ruins to blow into strange instruments, which will somehow allow access to another Finger Ruin beneath the Cathedral, which will then take us to a world that seems to be under water, containing Metyr, the Mother of Fingers. Manus Metyr = Hand of Metyr, Manus Celeste = Hand of Celest or Celestial Hand. Ymir has a connection to the Carians, the places he sends us to are related to the Fingers and contain Finger Creepers, and Metyr is the Mother of Fingers and spawns baby Finger Creepers.

Many Finger Creepers, including extremely large ones, can be found in the Mountaintops of the Giants. According to certain items, the Mountaintops of the Giants once served as the home of the astronomers because it was higher up, and thus closer to the stars. The Astronomer Heirloom, found on Ranni's corpse, mentions how an astrologer would one day become queen. Rennala is the queen of Caria. Rennala uses lunar magic. The moon is in space. Rennala was an astronomer. Astronomers were in the Mountaintops. The Mountaintops has Fingers, including massive ones.

The only place that doesn't seem to have an immediate connection to the Carians would be the Leyendell sewers, where we can find a small group of Finger Creepers guarding the entrance to the Dung Eater's cell. Some tangential connections can be made though. Radagon was once married to Rennala, and so he may have taken some Finger Creepers to guard the Dung Eater while he had access to them. Alternatively, Rennala may have lent them to keep watch over the Dung Eater when the war between the Carians and the Golden Order ended, as both sides were likely equally disgusted with him. Another alternative answer would be the fact that all of the Demigods seem to have had some presence in Leyendell, given the appearance of their thrones in the intro cinematic for Morgott's fight. They would likely also need to come here for political reasons. It is possible that, while things were still good between the Demigods and Marika, one of the Carian children was able to lend Marika some Finger Creepers for the Dung Eater. Personally, I think the most likely option is Radahn. Thus far, both Rykard and Ranni have Finger Creepers nearby, but Radahn does not. But Radahn was, of the Carians, the only one to be loyal to the Golden Order, and so it seems likely he would use his connections to aid them.

Radahn's defeat also causes a massive hole to be opened in Limgrave and, as we know… try finger, but hole.

Radahn was also seemingly holding back the stars, though the exact reasons why is a bit unclear. With the Carians' connection to the Fingers and to space, it's possible Radahn knew something we didn't and, under loyalty to the Golden Order, he tried to stop the stars from falling to the Lands Between. We know that Metyr was the first star to do just that.

It seems likely to me that the Carians were the first ones to ever make any contact with the Fingers and Metyr. There also seems to be an even deeper connection considering just how prevalent the fingers are around the Carians, but why? Why are they so close? There has to be more to it than them being the first ones to contact them.

Truly has had me stumped for a while now.

[shyfurby]

🕯️High Priest of Manus Metyr🕯️

Kind of a quick piece because I really wanted to do the cathedral as a backdrop.

[drenched-in-sunlight]

I'm sorry but like, how are ppl believing that Rellana and Messmer are a thing when the evidence provides otherwise? Apparently there're a lot of small details that have been surfacing lately and apparently it confirms that they're a couple? Even though there's a lot of evidence that there's also not? Like what's the truth? Also I'm reading some Japanese text as well, which they're also unsure of, but they're still concluding that it's one sided. Can you tell me lore wise what's going on?

i mean if ppl ship something then every small details can become sth to talk about (i literally look at Rellana's sword having gold engraving and claps my hands "gold? gold. oh she's in love with Marika i knew it." 😂😂)

i don't ship those two, so i can only give you a rundown of something that doesn't involve any romantic connection, cuz i don't think there's one. so idk whatever i said can even be considered "lore wise"?

but there's one lore implication i find fascinating: Ymir probably has a hand in convincing Rellana to follow Messmer, so he can gain access to LoS and Cathedral of Manus Metyr via her (he was her mentor + at the place where you find her dueling shield, there’s a glintslab firefly). we know how much of a manipulative rat he is so i don't put it past him to do so.

also, in an absence of any items confirming outright mutual affection, you turn to character dialogue. and Messmer and Rellana have no dialogues involving each other, even in cut ones (which i know ppl are upset about, but i find it funny ajdfd). hell, everyone only agrees Ciaran has a crush on Artorias because Hawkeye Gough's cut dialogue confirms it so.

have you seen Godfrey's cut dialogues about Marika? if From wants a canon romance they can very much write it cuz what the hell is "Dearest Marika is precisely what I must take back." "Dear Marika, do not fear. I am returned." "Oh Marika, I will take thee in mine arms once more." (he's so real for that).

so like... believe whatever you want, you can ship something from one throwaway detail, you can ship something because it's canon, you can do whatever. a validity of a ship doesn't have to rely on "truth" (which is always vague in From lore to begin with), and even if a ship is canon, you can choose to ignore it too. ppl do that all the time lol. just don't crash other ppl's party. leave each other alone and enjoy our own crops.

[fareehaandspaniards]

What are fingers? (I don't know) And another post of Ymir adoration

I'm so confused trying to realize the logic behind the existence of the Fingercreeps. We have Ymir. He's a high priest. A former follower of the Moon. A Carian - he taught young Rellana, confessed the stars and chanted them, and he is also obsessed with the Fingers (or rather, their birth). Beneath his cathedral can be found Metyr, the Mother of the Fingers. As well as under the cathedral of Manus Celes, the Two Fingers that Ranni killed.

(Also they look much more like Metyr than Two Fingers from Roundtable hold)

These cathedrals are ancientt. And the Fingers have always been there; we can tell from the name that they are cathedrals erected on the site of the Fingers. As best we can tell, High Priest Ymir is VERY closely related to the Carian sorcerers - he also has in his arsenal spell of Miriam that attacks us in the Carian library. Plus, the statue in the Carian library shows him wearing robes like Rennala's and a headdress similar to Ymir's.

But I can't understand - if the Fingers have always been around the Carian family, how could the Liurnian Wars have happened? The Liurnian Wars were a conflict between the Golden Order and the sorcerers. One didn't want to accept the laws of the other. But the Two Fingers (and other fingers) - the RETRANSLATORS of great will - have always been with the Carians? How is conflict even possible if they lived hand in hand (lol) ? Perhaps I'm just being inattentive or not remembering something? Again, like with Bloodborne, where Sky and Cosmos are different realities, then here the Moon and stars are different things. The moon (as I understood it) is a deity and something along the lines of the Great Will, the Formless Mother, etc. Stars are the course of life, the very course of fate, which Radahn sealed, and which was used by astrologers back in the days of the neighborhood with the Giants on the Mountaintops of the Giants. Ymir denied the moon, but accepted the stars. He was an ardent orator and preaches things. Also, does he long for "redemption?" But to whom and for what?

Nevertheless, Ymir embodied a true ambition to take the place of a deity in his own mind. He is the high priest of Metyr, the mother, but a far better mother in his opinion would be himself. He has gone mad for love! Yuri may have been his first heresy - an attempt to replicate the miracle of motherhood, most likely with the power of Metyr herself. More likely, having created the unsuccessful Yuri, to whom he became attached with all his soul (We never once see the Fingercreeps usually have names), and the desire to become more powerful and embrace all possible Fingercreeps at once with his love was born? In the ashes of the young Fingercreeper it is said that they love their mothers very much when they are young.

Ymir desired this love :(

But I still do not really understand the logic with Liurnian Conflict and Carians/sorcerers being so much connected with Fingers and Fingercreeps. Two Fingers and fingercreeps seems to have one bloodline, they all come from Metyr and she comes from the Greater Will.

[modeus-the-misanthrope]

Been thinking and rolling around in my head something from Shadow of the Erdtree, that I cannot think of a proper answer towards...maybe I missed some item description, or was distracted and there is a single line of dialogue I failed to comprehend in regards towards....

This lil gal. Specifically where she claims "Godhood would be Miquella's prison. A caged divinity would be beyond saving." At the time I tilted my head, because I hadn't been to the Cathedral of Manus or met Metyr yet. So I simple thought, "Hmmm. Weird. The Greater Will seems willing to accept a pretty wide set of ending conditions in the base game. But maybe Miquella's patron isn't them." Then I got to Metyr's fight, learned her lore, and realized the Greater Will fucked off a long time ago. So I became even more confused. If Miquella isn't answering to TGW then who would "Cage" them after he reached divinity. And then Miquella's bossfight didn't offer me any clues either....what or why does St.Trina think that Miquella becoming a god is so bad for him?

[blaiddfailcam]

Now that it's been a week, it's hilarious how they did keep up with this hidden detail of the map alignments from the base game, but only in this one instance as far as I can tell: the moon in the Land of Shadow aligns with this astrolabe outside the Cathedral of Manus Metyr and Rellana's Moongazing Grounds.

I'd say it feels kind of tacked on compared to the more elucidating alignments in the base game, but since hardly anyone knows those exist either, I guess I have to appreciate their commitment to the bit lol.

[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.

[miirshroom]

The Shadow and the Anagram

At the start of June 2024 I released a post about anagrams in Elden Ring. Mostly because I found it a little too convenient that "Radagon" is an anagram of "a dragon" and an argument with the naysayers inspired me to search for other possible anagrams.

And now there is one confirmed anagram in Elden Ring! It was added with the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Count “Ymir” sits in the Cathedral of Manus Metyr above the Finger Ruins of “Miyr”. Furthermore, contained within the characters found in the Cathedral of Manus Metyr I suspect references to at least three works of fiction, including two that I already referenced: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code…and video game Devil May Cry 3.

1) The Harry Potter Series

Count Ymir himself is affiliated with the Carians considering that he teaches 3 Carian sorceries and a Raya Lucaria sorcery by default. Any magic school is bound to prompt comparison with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - but also I have seen this exact comparison made about Raya Lucaria.

And I suspect that Jolán is part of this reference for a few reasons:

a) Her name’s similarity to “Joanne” Rowling. The near portmanteau of Jolán and Anna makes Joanne, although “Anna” has its own separate significance. b) The weapon skill of her sword being “Witching Hour” c) It makes sense for her to be found in a Cathedral. Harry Potter as a series upholds a Christianized society of witches and wizards. This is shown through the following characteristics: the use of Latin in spells - which was the language of the Catholic Church for 1000’s of years, quoting bible passages for inscriptions on tombstones, avoiding comment on the real history where in both official and unofficial capacities the Christian church was responsible for witch hunts - and treating this real history of burning people as “witches” as a joke. d) The Sauron costuming of her armor set. Both JK Rowling and JRR Tolkein are British authors, and I would agree with an assessment that Joanne Rowling has used her overwhelming wealth and social capital to become something of a blight on the landscape of fantasy in recent years. Is that an extreme and negative characterization? Yes. But the point of media with subtext is that things like this are utterly unprovable by the people who would sue for defamation. Same goes for the armor set - enough features are different that it would be frivolous for the rights holders of the film design to take legal action....but I mean, what are the odds that the "Armor of Night" keeps so many similar features by accident.

2) The Da Vinci Code

Similar to Rowling, this book in particular makes use of a puzzle-phrase anagram: “O Draconian Devil” and “Oh Lame Saint”, which would resolve as a pair of anagrams: “Leonardo Da Vinci” and “The Mona Lisa”. What is especially awkward about this example is the linguistic hoops that need to be jumped through to make it work, as the setting of the book is France and these anagrams are created by a French-speaking man. Note also that the French name for the painting is “La Joconde”. And then there is the second anagram “So dark the con of man” which resolves to another famous Da Vinci painting: “Madonna of the Rocks”.

The answer that Dan Brown invents for why English is used in both cases: English is a “pure” language and the language of science that is used to create ciphers by secret societies opposing the Catholic Church. So the anagram word puzzles in this case are tied explicitly and indelibly to a concept of Anglo-supremacy. The logic of the world is contorted so that Dan Brown can have an exotic European setting where his American English professor self-insert character has an advantage in identifying the type of puzzle faster than the actual trained cryptographer who is actually assigned to the case.

This is different from what I have found to be the philosophy behind the anagrams of "Radagon". Casual knowledge of modern English is NOT enough - I looked at German, French, Tolkein's languages, and whatever popped up on wiktionary for each syllable.

But more to the point - Ymir’s questline reads as a spoof of Dan Brown’s plot structure used both in this book and in Angels & Demons:

a) A mystery is happening with a religious theme b) There is a scavenger hunt that involves travelling to various religious landmarks and solving very simple puzzles c) At the climax of the plotline the religious scholar who was a mentor for the quest turns out to have been a villain all along in a bizarre plot twist

3) Devil May Cry 3

This is more tied to Jolán’s questline and the decision whether to give her the Iris of Occultation or the Iris of Grace. If you give her the Iris of Grace, then Jolán’s identity is immortalized in the form of Spirit Ashes. If you give her the Iris of Occultation then Jolán’s identity is obscured (i.e. in the way that no writer attached to Elden Ring has ever cited the Harry Potter series as a reference), but her sword becomes available (i.e. the concept of “witching hour” - capitalizing on a young adult audience raised on fantasy stories of witches and sorcery and the dark academia aesthetic. The “witching hour” concept can be seen also with Bloodborne’s College of Mensis who research the blood moon that manifests at Midnight according to the astral clock).

The actual appearance of the witching hour skill is a series of katana slashes that have an appearance similar to the rapid katana combos used by Vergil from Devil May Cry. In Devil May Cry 3 (2005) Vergil is infamous for being a skill wall that needs to be overcome, and repeatedly asking “where’s your motivation?” as a taunt. This iris of grace/occultation questline basically acts as a soft confirmation of the idea that a character’s weapon acts as a visual representation of a character’s “motivation” or their “soul”. This is similar to another concept in Devil May Cry where the souls of defeated devils are transmuted into thematically appropriate weapons. Example worked through here for Maliketh's Black Blade.

The anagram comes from a semi-obscure Devil May Cry light novel released in 2002 where a bandaged-wrapped man named “Gilver” causes death and destruction and is implied to be “Vergil” operating under a fake name. This “Gilver” was later quietly retconned to be a demon clone by the time of DMC3 in 2005 - and the main feature that stuck with the character was his wielding a katana.

These references are consistent with a common trend in the Shadow of the Erdtree that it is fairly overloaded with pop culture references - but it’s easiest to identify them in places where it was already suspected of the base game. Other examples that I’ve looked at in particular being Midra as the King in Yellow, Hornsent Grandam as Enya the Hag from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and the sum total of weapon/ashes items found at Taylew’s Forge being a reference to the Wheel of Time book series.

Also one new anagram became revealed as of the DLC having the "rada fruit" item:

“rada gon” - From Old Czech “rada” means “advice/council, wisdom”, and from Old Polish it means “advice/tip, thought/decision”. There is also the Polish “gon” meaning “chase/pursuit” or the obsolete “hunt/hunting” which would frame Radagon overall as “decision hunting”. As in, literally eternally hunting a decision on how to fix the Elden Ring, but never achieving it.

[azotho]

Also I liked Count Ymir and a pity how the way quest ended was. Could be a fine mother and a sorcery teacher for my Tarnished🥺

Holy moly I expected a somewhat holy message but here it was😆

[paleyshelie]

MMOEXP-The game offers a vast selection of armors with unique attributes

In Elden Ring, a player's choice of armor isn't just a matter of aesthetics—it's a significant aspect of strategy, determining how well they can resist certain types of attacks and amplifying key stats for specific playstyles. The game offers a vast selection of armors with unique attributes that provide significant boosts or special passive abilities. Here, we’ll explore the top 10 armor pieces that can help players maximize their potential in Elden Ring, whether they’re focused on Elden Ring Runes high dexterity, stealth, or powerful magic.

Divine Beast Head The Divine Beast Head is a unique headpiece inspired by a legendary lion-like creature and can be acquired after defeating a divine beast in Belurat Tower. This mask boosts both strength and dexterity by 4 points each, making it ideal for players looking to blend raw power with agility. On top of that, it enhances storm-related skills, making it particularly beneficial for builds that rely on these abilities. However, this power comes with a trade-off: equipping the Divine Beast Head weakens the effect of flasks and reduces the player’s concentration. Therefore, players using this helmet should be cautious with their flask management and ensure they compensate for the lost focus in other ways.

Royal Remains Set The Royal Remains Set not only gives the player an intimidating, undead look, but it also provides an invaluable passive healing effect. This set is great for players who want to maintain health without relying heavily on potions, as it gradually restores health over time. This makes it an ideal choice for long combat engagements where careful resource management is crucial. However, players should keep in mind that the armor’s defenses may be slightly weaker than other top-tier options.

Twinsage Glintstone Crown For players who prefer sorcery-based builds, the Twinsage Glintstone Crown offers a significant boost in intelligence, raising it by 6 points. This crown, shaped like two large stone heads fused together, helps magic users meet spell and weapon requirements more easily, making it ideal for high-intelligence builds. However, the cost of this enhancement is a reduction in the player’s maximum HP and stamina by 9%. Despite this drawback, many magic-based players find the boost in intellect worth the trade-off, especially those focused on dealing maximum spell damage.

Mushroom Crown The Mushroom Crown is a perfect choice for players running poison or scarlet rot builds. This helmet grants a 10% damage boost for around 20 seconds each time the player inflicts poison or rot on a nearby enemy, stacking well with other poison-enhancing items. Players who love strategic gameplay that revolves around building and sustaining status effects will find this crown invaluable, as it allows them to amplify their attacks whenever they apply these damaging conditions.

Black Knife Armor For those who favor a stealthy, assassin-like approach, the Black Knife Armor is unmatched. Adorned with pearlescent scales and a translucent cape, this armor grants complete stealth to the player, allowing them to approach enemies without alerting them. Perfect for players aiming to execute surprise attacks, the Black Knife Armor allows users to maneuver through areas without drawing attention, making it a game-changer for stealth-focused builds.

Rakshasa Set The Rakshasa Set channels an aura of blood and carnage. This armor provides a potent 8% damage boost to all attacks, but this power boost also has a risky downside: the player receives the same percentage increase in damage taken. Players who enjoy a high-risk, high-reward playstyle will appreciate the Rakshasa Set, especially those confident in dodging and evading enemy attacks to avoid the extra damage.

High Priest Hat The High Priest Hat is an easily overlooked yet powerful headpiece. Obtained through the Count Ymir questline in the Cathedral of Manus Metyr, it offers a free boost of 1 point each in intellect and arcane. Although the increase is minimal, the High Priest Hat is one of the few pieces that grants a dual-stat boost without any additional drawbacks, making it a subtle but effective addition to any character looking for a small increase in magical and arcane abilities.

Silver Tear Helmet The Silver Tear Helmet is a standout choice for those focused on arcane builds. This headpiece increases arcane by an impressive 8 points, allowing players to maximize their arcane-based abilities. However, the trade-off is reduced physical damage output, which can hinder melee-heavy playstyles. Nevertheless, for dedicated arcane builds, this helmet is invaluable, allowing players to hit higher thresholds for arcane-based skills and abilities.

Imp Heads Among the unique helmets in Elden Ring are the Imp Heads found in Catacombs. Each type of Imp Head provides different stat boosts—ranging from intellect and strength to dexterity and endurance—making them versatile options for various builds. Despite their utility, Imp Heads have a low drop rate, with some variants only having a 0.5% chance to drop. However, for players who are lucky enough to find these rare items, Imp Heads can offer a valuable 2-point stat boost, allowing them to meet specific requirements for weapons or spells.

Guardian Garb Finally, the Guardian Garb tops our list as an essential piece of armor. This chest armor, worn by enemy guardians in Minor Erdtree, provides increased healing from crimson tear flasks, boosting their effectiveness by 10%. In some cases, players can receive even more healing, making Guardian Garb an ideal choice for builds that rely on healing efficiency. However, it also reduces the player’s overall fire resistance, so it’s best used in areas where fire-based attacks aren’t a major threat.

These top 10 armor pieces in Elden Ring each offer unique attributes that cater to different playstyles and strategies. Whether you're a strength-based warrior, a cunning assassin, or a powerful sorcerer, the right armor can provide significant advantages in combat. From boosting specific stats to adding valuable passive abilities, these armors not only enhance your combat effectiveness but also allow for a more personalized and tactical approach to best place to buy elden ring items tackling the game’s challenges.

[bellepeppergirl]

Elden Ring Theory: The Divine Towers are Gates to Other Worlds

I mentioned this in an earlier post, but it was buried underneath me rambling about how lore will appear in Nightreign. So, this is a more cleaned up version of that.

I believe that the Divine Towers acted as gates to other worlds.

In Nightreign, we face the Nightlord by enter Putrescence and ascending to the tower encased in a small, spiraling tree that glows like the Erdtree, albeit a much lighter color. The tower itself greatly resembles the Divine Towers of the Lands Between, which encompass the massive crater at the landmass' center. Each of these towers has what looks like strange growths or formations along their sides. Initially, some speculated this was related to a flood or intense heat, but I now believe these are the remnants of an age when all of these towers had trees wrapped around them like we find in Nightreign.

Nightreign's tower also brings us to a place that isn't physically possible; a large, previously unseen bridge that leads to a massive door that floats among an abyss with no signs of a world below, or anything behind the door. Yet, upon opening it, we are taken to a vast landscape of dunes with a burning orange sky, at least in the case of Gladius. Once again, there is no realistic way this could be up here, meaning the only logical explanation is that we have entered another world.

Nightreign also has bosses from other Souls games, such as the Centipede Demon, Duke's Dear Freya, and the Nameless King from Dark Souls 1, 2, and 3, respectively. While I don't think that these bosses are the actual bosses from those games, their presence is still something otherworldly. As far as we know, things like demons don't exist in Elden Ring's world, and the Centipede Demon in particular doesn't really resemble anything we can find in the Lands Between or even the Shadow Realm.

And speaking of the Shadow Realm, this has been confirmed so far to be something of another world, though was once a part of the Lands Between before being cast away by Marika. The Suppressing Tower mentions it was once the center of the Lands Between, and if we place it directly in the center, it would be at the intersection of the Divine Towers.

Considering the tower in Nightreign still has a tree around it, I believe this is likely required for the world-connecting properties to work. It is possible that the Divine Towers not only linked the Lands Between to other worlds, but could also be harnessed together for mass transportation, such as transporting an entire landmass, I.E., the Shadow Lands. Doing such a largescale displacement may have been so intense that it sapped the life of the trees that once adorned the Divine Towers. Or, perhaps, Marika willingly did away with the trees to allow the Erdtree to be the one and only magic tree of the land, and/or to ensure that the Shadow Lands could not be "easily" accessed or brought back.

The tops of the Divine Towers all have the corpses of Two Fingers, as well. These could have been placed there after the warping as a method of repurposing the tower, or they could reside up there due to the world-linking properties. The Fingers come from Metyr, who is said to have been the first star to fall from space. In space, there are other planets; other worlds. It's also possible that she fell from another world, rather than just space, or was even summoned by the ancient culture who constructed the towers. Metyr can also be found in what is essentially another world below the Cathedral of Manus Metyr. Afterall, the arena we fight her in could not physically exist below the cathedral, and the strange structures that rise from the watery ceiling would be very visible from the surface if it truly was down here, but they aren't.

The Towers' peaks are also where we are able to purify Great Runes for use. Great Runes clearly have world-altering power, given the ability to straight up change the laws of reality by removing or adding Runes to the Elden Ring, much like how Marika removed the Rune of Death; the Elden Ring looking much different in Farum Azula, which comes from the Age of the Dragons; and our ability to add Runes at the end of the game for different outcomes that shape the world. While this may be a bit of a stretch connection-wise, world-changing and world-linking power are similar enough for me to think there could be a link here.

If we look at the Towers shape-wise, the Towers are in a spiral shape that ascends upwards, and the Suppressing Tower would be their center, their Singularity. The concept of blackholes is not new to Elden Ring; many gravitational magics resemble or mention it, and the DLC furthered the representation of black holes with the likes of Ymir's Microcosm or Metyr's apparent escape into one at her defeat, plus summoning one as an attack. In sci-fi, and even in some corners of real life science, there is speculation that blackholes could be used to either connect alternate universes or different points within the same universe. While there is little to no evidence for this in real life, its use here would not be unthinkable. The spiral shape of the tower, the prevalence of spirals as a concept, and the use of blackholes does make me think that this could tie into the other world theory; the Towers link other worlds and, together, they can do so at unfathomable scales.

Finally, the idea of other worlds isn't even a foreign concept here. Dark Souls' Archtrees were long speculated to connect other worlds, and entire worlds could be created within paintings. Bloodborne's Dreams, Nightmares, and Chalice Dungeons are all different worlds that we can traverse. The Shadow Realms were, again, confirmed to have been cast off into another world by Marika. Finally, throughout all of the games, co-op and invasions has been canonized by other players being from other worlds. Nightreign itself doesn't even share the same continuity of base Elden Ring, but still shares the same, albeit alternate, setting, meaning it itself is likely just another alternate world that these Towers can link, and in this version of events, this may be the only world in which the Towers remain active and usable.

[miirshroom]

Miquella's Two Fingers

"Exclude the impossible and what is left, however improbable, must be the truth" (The Fate of the Evangeline by A. Conan Doyle)

"Staff fashioned from the tail-fingers of Metyr, the Mother of Fingers, and the microcosm raised aloft over the crux they form. Catalyst for casting both sorceries and incantations. The Mother received signs from the Greater Will from the beyond of the microcosm. Despite being broken and abandoned, she kept waiting for another message to come." - Staff of the Great Beyond

Proposal: Metyr is Miquella's Two Fingers

Take it as impossible that FromSoft forgot to follow up on the statement that all Empyreans are chosen by their own Two Fingers. Elden Ring is a murder mystery story - being in denial about that and refusing to learn the tropes of the genre or attempt logical deduction is simply unhelpful.

Take it as not impossible that Miquella's Two Fingers are found in the Shadow of the Erdtree, because that is where Miquella's whole character and story arc is being deconstructed. Build from there.

Observe that Metyr's tail has a helical shape of Two Fingers. Observe that the tail is emphasized as important by being turned into a helical staff. This staff can cast both sorceries and incantations. Miquella is currently aligned with pure faith, but it is not impossible that he could have mingled sorcery and faith in the past as there is evidence of him crafting incantations that use both faith and int components.

One of the incantations of the Golden Order fundamentalists. Produces three rings of light and fires them forwards. The rings of light return to a position close to the caster before disappearing. This incantation can be cast repeatedly. A gift from the young Miquella to his father, Radagon. - Triple Rings of Light, requires 23 int and 23 faith

Metyr is called the "Mother of Two Fingers". Goshenite is called the "Mother of Beryls" because it can be transformed into emerald, morganite, or bixbite. It's still a beryl because it has a crystal structure based on beryllium. Metyr contains in her structure a very prominent Two Fingers. A termite queen is the mother of termites, has a substantially different body plan from worker termites, but is still of the species "termite". It is not impossible that Metyr is herself somebody's Two Fingers - both based on linguistic precedent and visual observation.

It is not impossible that Metyr's fall from status with the Greater Will is directly correlated with Miquella's Great Rune breaking. The Cathedral of Manus Metyr - under which Metyr is found - cannot be approached without having the Great Rune break. Additionally there is a naming similarity with the Cathedral of Manus Celes, under which Ranni's Two Fingers are found. This indicates a conceptual link, along with all of the other parallels drawn between Ranni and Miquella in their shedding of Empyrean flesh.

It is impossible that Metyr is intended to be Marika's Two Fingers, as indicated in a direct quote from Ymir:

"They were each of them defective. Unhinged, from the start. Marika herself. And the fingers that guided her. And this is what troubles me. No matter our efforts, if the roots are rotten, ...then we have little recourse." "Do you recall what I said? That Marika, and the fingers that guided her, were unsound from the start. Well, the truth lies deeper still. It is their mother who is damaged and unhinged. The fingers are but unripe children. "

This draws a clear distinction between Metyr, Mother of Fingers, and the Two Finger's guiding Marika. The simplest explanation for Marika's own Two Fingers is that they are the ones in the Round Table Hold. It is a place thoroughly dedicated to studying Marika's will, accessed only by the grace of Melina who acts as Marika's mouthpiece.

So, what is it exactly that makes it improbable that Metyr is Miquella's Two Fingers? Simply that she pre-dates all other Two Fingers and Miquella is one of the youngest demigods. That's it, really. But does that matter? The Shadowlands is a dream world and Miquella/St. Trina are associated with sleep and dreams. It is not impossible that this provided opportunity for Miquella and Metyr to come into contact. That's the trouble with dreams, isn't it - that nothing seems impossible in them. It is Miquella's flaw. It is also Metyr's flaw, as probably the most surreal/Freudian/psychosexual boss design in the game

As for Malenia's Two Fingers, go through a similar exercise. The DLC offered no additional information about her possible fingers. In base game her Great Rune is activated at a pair of Two Fingers. They are not substantially different from any other Two Fingers on the Divine Towers, but again does that matter? The game only presents so many sets of Two Fingers.

[tarnishedbloodhound]

The Tarnished Ludwig and Count Ymir reach neutral ground once more following their misunderstanding about the fingercreeper Yuri, but now the knowledge of the death of Lady Rellana might just jeopordise that newly rebuilt bridge. Ludwig endeavours to keep the truth of his involvement secret. Meanwhile the Shadow Keep still waits, and its lord carries no good wishes for those stripped of the Grace of Gold, nor indeed for vagabond liars and murderers.

Chapter One - Little White Lie - of part three of No Man Is An Island is now up. We are still at the Cathedral of Manus Metyr, next chapter we will be taking a visit to the keep to see cheery Messmer~

[jarognieva]

It is interesting how the Carians were involved in the crusade and how it started. Did they want to study Fingers or was it only Ymir? The cathedral was built for religious purposes to worship the moon, and Ymir only later paid attention to the Greater Will and the stars? Or maybe both? When was Manus Metyr Cathedral built and for what purpose?

When talking about Manus Metyr, Manus Celes cannot be omitted. Manus Celes means "hand of god" or "hand of the stars".

They are similar but not the same. They are built on a cross-shaped plan, but there are differences, e.g. in the type of windows, the altar or its absence. It's hard to say anything about the rest because Celes is actually ruins...

Interestingly, how both astrolabes are on the left side of the "cross" (Manus Metyr's astrolabe is located a bit further from the cathedral)

It is possible that the Carians have been studying the Greater Will and everything related to it from the very beginning - the cosmos, the stars, the moon. They were objects of worship, but they were also scientifically researched (there was no separation between science and religion - just like in our world in medieval Europe, theology was as important a branch of science as any other). Only later, in The Lands of Shadow, Ymir stated that the moon (very important for Carians) was not worth attention and focused only on the cosmos and the Greater Will, probably under the influence of what he had already discovered in The lands of shadows

Manus Metyr could only have been built after Manus Celes and modeled after it. Or they were built at the same time. Personally, I support the first option - after all, it was abot a crusade. Carians are newcomers in The lands of shadows. Their culture existed much earlier and their religion, culture and architecture are something they "brought" with them.

Interestingly, under Manus Celes there is Ranni's two fingers. And what lies beneath Manus Metyr? Finger ruins and Metyr Mother of Fingers! Coincidence? I don't think so! 🤔

The motif of the hand and fingers repeats itself all the time. "Manus" means hand in Latin. Unfortunately I couldn't find the meaning of Metyr. It reminds me "mater" - mother (also: origin, source, motherland). So... Is it possible that two and three fingers were previously one "hand of god/stars"?

Two fingers symbolize order, three fingers symbolize chaos. Maybe there was some "separation" of the "hand of God"? If this was the case, I believe that previously three and two fingers were like an aspect of one God - chaos and order. It was more allegorical, and it was not until much later that the two fingers became associated with Radagon's golden order. And chaos was simply a certain taboo like evil in Christianity (i.e. something that should be avoided and not done) and not something that should be associated with particular people (the merchants) and prosecuted as heresy?

The motif of direct fingerprints appears in Land of Shadows. Ymir's outfit (the headgear and collar are decorated with what look like fingerprints) or the fingerprint-shaped ruins (there are... THREE finger ruins! Interesting - we see two of them and the third one is hidden). It looks a bit like something huge has taken the entire land in its embrace. 🤔 But... Not only in base game but also in SOTE (exploring Abyssal Woods) we see that communication directly through fingerprints is associated with Three Fingers. So why aren't there three fingers under Manus Metyr? Perhaps this cathedral was built before the theoretical separation of "hand of god". The "summoning" of the Three Fingers was an act of desperation and despair from a clan accused of heresy. There is no desperation or despair here. There are no three fingers as chaos. There are no two as order either. There are Metyr and Fingercreepers!

I have two theories:

1. Ymir, while examining the Greater Will, Metyr and the cosmos, stopped paying attention to what was heretical and what was not. He did not want matters related to religion and golden order to interfere with his pursuit of truth.

2. Ymir came to the Land of Shadows very early, before the creation of Radagon's golden order, which represented two fingers. So probably when Marika was married to Godfrey and Radagon was part of Carian family (or before that).

Sudden 1 am thought but like hm... wondering about ymir qnd why he specifically is in the lands of shadows. Like did he join the crusade just to have a chance to examine up close the finger ruins?

I'm thinking about it too! I thought he might have just been in these lands always? I mean, the cathedral was built here, and he lived in the cathedral, and then Marika "hid" the Land of Shadow? That said, we know for a fact that he was among the Carians in one way or another, and the cathedral is far from them… Nevertheless, it was in the local dungeon where Jolan and Anna were raised, and then somehow ended up with Ymir. So he has been in those lands for quite some time? (Well, I think so.)

I don't think he's one of the ones who "went" after Miquella - he doesn't seem to have any influence or charms on him, he just agrees with him xD

Maybe Ymir really did just leave Liurnia for the sake of exploring the Fingers and finding their "beginnings". Seems like most logical. But I'm confused by the title high priest. Someone had to assign it to him and give him clothes. We have pastor Miriel in similar type of cathedral (not same, but similar), so are they part of the same religion?