#close second is malenia

[m1nsur0]

Messmer, the Impaler

[katyspersonal]

When a character has covered eyes in any way but lower side of the face is visible (and especially if they are smiling), it sparks SO much yearning in me. Nothing against eyes (what a BB fan thing to say xD), but this is just... so appealing? Basically if Bloody Crow and Annalise only had upper side of their faces covered, I'd simp. If Micolash had his eyes covered? There would be no survivors

[sadlazzle]

reached malenia. u guys rlly didn’t gas her up for nothin huh. this bitch really hasn’t known defeat

[mac-tirs]

the not-insignificant differences between the omen twins

so, i saw this picture posted by @amanaci which inspired me to write this rather lengthy piece on the contrasts between morgott and mohg. i decided that, instead of dumping this whole think-piece on their post, i'd make my own separate post and ramble here.

this difference in their height really tracks for how their fighting styles and personalities are like, i feel. i always found it peculiar how different they are despite being twins; i feel like there's a rather stark resemblance between miquella and malenia in their soft-faced features, pale skin, and long flowing hair, and a close resemblance between the carian siblings with their red hair, but morgott and mohg are rather different from each other, only bearing similarities due to their omen nature. i looked a little bit into that and found that there's pretty good reasons behind why.

firstly, morgott is severely malnourished and unhealthy in comparison to mohg. you can see it in his body and how his skin sags, how his ribs and bones show, and how dry it looks. below is a comparison between his hands and mohg's hands.

morgott's hands are dry, almost rubbed red and raw around the knuckles and fingers. it reminds me a little of psoriasis, or some kind of skin discolouration caused by his poor health. it's likely he isn't eating well, or at the very least, he isn't eating as well as mohg. his twin, on the other hand (ha!), has shiny, veiny skin with a healthy colour and gleam to them. it's like he wants to call to attention how well moisturised he is (which, in this case, compared to morgott, he is).

above is a comparison between the twins' horns. the difference is extremely evident to me; morgott's horns are dry, almost seeming brittle, like sun-dried bone that hasn't seen rain or moisture in years. it reminds me of the horns of a very neglected ram, almost, but despite that, the horn growths seem more controlled, less like the wild growths all over the royal omens of the shunning grounds and more controlled as a sort of jutting crown from mainly one side of his head. meanwhile, mohg's horns are shiny, curling wildly to the point of injury, taking his eye in its path of growth. they grew wildly enough to replace his hair altogether, if he ever had any, and give him an even more imposing silhouette with a literal crown of horns (and a beard to boot). beyond this, his horns look healthy, with clearly defined rings to each growth that shine under the light, much like the rest of him. he's oiled leather to morgott's dry hide.

another somewhat interesting detail of morgott is his tail. i know a lot of people see it as soft, and it certainly looks the part, but what i find interesting are two things: the first being that his fur looks quite matted in some lightings and angles but overall looks soft to the touch, and the second being that his tail's horns look much healthier than his own horns on his head. this is in clear contrast to the rest of his body, which looks dry and unassuming with smatterings of coarse white hair up and down his body, and i believe its a matter of the limits to his own self-care. he utilises his tail as another weapon in his arsenal, so he cares for it that it might serve him well in battle, unlike his head of horns, which only serve as a detriment to him with how they must obscure some of his vision, if not most of it. additionally, he likely could bear to look at his tail and care for it, but for an omen that hates his nature more than the average, he probably doesn't enjoy looking at his own face in the mirror enough to properly care for himself.

which brings me back to the sheer differences between these two. morgott, unhealthy and self-loathing, neglects many visual aspects of himself likely because he sees vanity as a luxury not afforded to someone like him. mohg, healthy and self-obsessed, cares and grooms himself to appear very much so like the lord he claims to be, loving himself to a heretical extreme (in the eyes of the golden order). their statures reflect this too; morgott hunches low to the ground, ready to pounce at any given moment but also due to his own shame and humility, while mohg stands tall and proud, though not as tall as he could possibly be due to his upbringing being one of likely having to hunch low to fit beneath the ceilings of the smaller parts of the shunning grounds.

above is a picture of an omen from stormveil, which bears resemblance to all the omen you see in the game. in terms of clothing, one of the big ways people set the omen twins apart, morgott is completely naked save for the ragged cloak of animal hides he wears, signifying he is not fit to even dress himself in a shirt or trousers as befits a king, much like the omen pictured. he wears even less than that, actually, since he lacks even the slightest adornment save for the rope that clasps his cloak together. on the other hand, mohg is entirely adorned in finery, wearing a beautifully embroidered, fashionable priest's robe with matching vestments, and beneath that (as seen in the first image) some underclothes, a plain black button up and some pants. mohg's entire silhouette changes with the removal of his robe, while morgott's barely makes an impact once you realise he has only taken off the one article of clothing he had.

then, of course, there are their fighting styles. there's this fantastic video on youtube that i recommend watching of the twins fighting every major boss in the game, and you can clearly tell them apart from their fighting styles alone. morgott is fast, his size making him look deceptively slow only for him to dart out and do sick flips and somersaults and pirouettes that rival even the most flexible dancers, and he fights with speed and almost animalistic ferocity, save for when he conjures his weapon incantations. mohg is slow but strong, capable of swinging that large trident around like it weighs nothing while hitting with the force to knock down most enemies in a few hits, and most tarnished in just one, but he fights with a steady gracefulness in his every move, walking slowly and carefully while casting spells that hurt a lot.

even their phase 2 transitions are markedly different, with morgott's being one where he drops to his knees, vomits, and releases his cursed blood(?) all over the battlefield, causing his weapon to become alight with his curse and for him to fight with more in-your-face aggression, and with mohg's being one where he simply ignores your attacks and begins stabbing his spear into the formless mother for power at your expense, gaining a majestic set of wings that put distance between you and him so he can cast more of his spells at safer distances. where morgott is pushed to his limit and forced to confront his nature, mohg has long since embraced it and enjoys the fruits of his bloody labour with the mother of truth's blessing.

speaking of the mother of truth, even their patron orders are at odds with each other. the golden order was built upon the foundation of a very carefully-guarded lie: that marika is the one true god, which she can't be, with the existence of radagon (as per goldmask, perhaps the number 1 fundamentalist we meet in game). the formless mother is known also as the mother of truth, existing in direct opposition of the golden order's lies and craving the honesty of one of the purest expressions of life: blood. these two ideals would war against each other, with one being dedicated to the upholding of a beautiful, corrupt lie and the other being dedicated to the instillation of a dynasty of raw, pure truths. as such, even morgott and mohg's own great runes reflect these contrasts in faith, though, remarkably, these two great runes are ones that fit perfectly over each other, with mohg's slightly elevated (seen below, taken from the fextralife wiki).

so, where does this leave us? i don't know, exactly. i wasn't really writing this with any sort of ultimate conclusion. i just found it really interesting how different they were, and i wanted to talk about all the noticeable, significant differences between them here. thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[thewisecheerio]

Elden Ring and Disability

Elden Ring is filled with disabled characters. What I love about the specific way that Elden Ring uses disability, though, is that there is almost always a lore-compliant accommodation provided to the disabled character. This world filled with magic doesn't erase disability, but rather finds magical and lore-compliant ways of accommodating it, much like Star Trek:

Here is some of the disability representation within Elden Ring.

First Generation Albinaurics

First generation albinaurics are synthetic humanoids. Their legs do not function normally, so they are unable to locomote by walking. In the worst cases where no accommodations are provided, we see them crawling to move. But we get two really cool examples of ways to accommodate this disability:

First, we have Latenna the Albinauric. Normally when you summon her as a spirit ash, she functions as a static archer due to the state of her legs. However, if you summon her near a wolf, she will climb onto the wolf and ride it around to avoid enemy attacks and even gains a new attack (freezing mist) with the help of her ride. This puts the onus on you, the player, to make sure that you summon her under accommodating circumstances if you want her to be able to move. And of course, you could also choose not to, accepting her disabled self as-is as a perfectly great battle companion.

You can see a video of the wolf companion in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st6vGIpsHLs

Second, we have Commander Gaius. Gaius is also a first generation albinauric with non-functional legs. But you'd almost never know without reading his lore or looking closely at his model, because is accommodated. He rides his Battle Tank Boar into your fight and has absolutely no problem wiping the floor with your sorry ass.

In both cases, a support animal functioning as a mobility aid allows the first generation albinaurics to locomote.

Malenia, Blade of Miquella

Malenia is missing some limbs due to the Scarlet Rot infection she was cursed with at birth rotting. She is also blind due to the sickness taking her sight. However, Malenia is still able to fight you (and win and win and win and win and...). There are two accommodations at play, the first of which is canon and the second of which is a canon-compliant fanon.

The first is the prosthetics made by the Shaded Castle. Malenia's iconic blade is physically attached to her arm prosthetic, allowing her to wield it in battle regardless of the lack of (natural) limb.

Fun fact: this is based on a real, historical practice with armor where old armor was recycled into prosthetics! There was even a mercenary famed for using a prosthetic limb to hold his sword after an accident that damaged his arm. You can learn more here (timestamp 16:58): https://youtu.be/PJwNjOvn-Ow?t=1018

The second accommodation that allows Malenia to be battle-functional is the water in her battleground. Because she is blind, she can listen for the player character's movement in the water, responding in a Daredevil-esque way. This is probably helped by the fact that her blade instructor--the blind swordsman named in the Blue Dancer Charm--was also blind and likely taught her how to accommodate that disability.

Millicent

Like her mother Malenia, Millicent is also afflicted by the Scarlet Rot. We find her alone and largely non-functional in the Church of the Plague at the beginning of her questline, writhing in pain. We then bring her the Unalloyed Needle, which keeps the Scarlet Rot at bay, relieving pain and allowing her to travel once more. Toward the end of her questline, Millicent removes the needle, which brings the Rot back in full force and ends her life.

In this way, the Unalloyed Needle functions as a treatment regimen for a chronic illness. It does not cure her, but it keeps the illness in check well enough for her to function.

The fact that Millicent chooses to remove the needle at the end of her quest is Important! Disabled people aren't under any obligation to "meet their potential" or continue treatment because it is convenient for others; if they wish to stop their treatment—even to accept palliative care—that is their right. Anything less disrespects their bodily autonomy and choice to make their own decisions. The fact that we get this representation in Millicent, who actively chooses against continuing her treatment after a certain point, is Good and Important.

And of course, we also provide Millicent with a prosthetic from the Shaded Castle, same as her mother. Once properly accommodated in this way, she can fight by your side as an NPC summon.

Messmer the Impaler

A lot of people speculate that Messmer is blind. This is because his left eye is (as far as we know) permanently shut, while his right eye appears to be a grace-filled synthetic seal rather than an eyeball. It's entirely possible that the grace seal does allow vision, but there are a couple of reasons to consider why it might not:

1) When we first arrive, Messmer is sitting in the dark. You could interpret this as being a Sad, Broody, Wet Blanket (which he is), or you could interpret this as evidence that things like light and dark are of less consequence to him than to a sighted person. Or, you know, both. A Sad, Broody, Blind, Wet Blanket.

2) Shortly after he lights candles--probably for your benefit--he sends one of his snakes into your face. He is able to tell from what the snake sees that you are Tarnished and comments on it. We can tell this means he can see what the snake sees, because he would have to figure this out from looking at your eyes and only the snake is close enough to do so.

This suggests that the snakes function as a remote viewing aid, providing a sight accommodation. And yes, again you could choose to interpret the snakes as existing in addition to a sighted right eye, but it is still interesting to consider what they mean if they are simply Support Noodles.

Ranni and Melina

There is a syndrome in our world called Locked-In Syndrome, in which paralysis prevents the entire body from moving with (usually) the sole exception of the eyes. As a consequence, the disabled person is unable to affect the physical world without help due to an inability to physically interact with the world around them.

Ranni and Melina have a similar situation going on, but with different ways of dealing with it. They are both disembodied spirits, having lost their physical bodies.

Ranni chooses to deal with the problem by incarnating herself into a doll's body at least twice: once as the doll's body we spend most of her quest interacting with, and later as a tiny actual-doll-sized doll that the player can interact with. Essentially, she has given herself a prosthetic that allows her to interact with the physical world once more.

Meanwhile, Melina goes a different route. Rather than incarnate physically, Melina requests that the player character help her reach her goal--the foot of the Erdtree, and then the Forge. In this case, we provide the physical support necessary for Melina to interact with the world, much as support workers do for those unable to care for themselves.

Goldmask

Goldmask never speaks to us in words. Rather, he communicates largely via physical movements. Brother Corhyn, a pupil of Goldmask, refers to his master's communication as "the movement of his finger". When Goldmask stops his movements, Corhyn reacts with distress, "I'm a little shaken since the master ceased his movements." He then proceeds to translate what the movements meant up to that point for us.

The fact that Corhyn is distressed at the master's lack of further communication after his movements cease suggests that this is his *only* mode of communication with him.

This is entirely a canon-compliant headcanon, but I like to believe that this means Goldmask uses sign language that Corhyn is learning to interpret in order to communicate with him. Additionally, the fact that we cannot necessarily interpret it ourselves and must rely on Corhyn to translate means that Corhyn is also acting as a support worker by being Goldmask's translator.

And yes, I think this is largely to poke fun at the Gesture system in the game, but it's also fun disability representation!

This list isn't exhaustive. There are yet other characters that either are disabled or could be easily argued to be so, like Roderika (grief and/or PTSD, given a space to heal and process), Rennala (depression and/or grief, NOT accommodated AFAICT), and Hyetta (blind, accommodated with...uh..."treatments"). But the fact that this post is already over 1400 words and has yet to touch upon all of the disability representation in the game just shows you how much there is.

[biolumien]

If you write for narumi from Kaiju No8 could you do him and reader gaming just some sweet fluffy evening

notes: thank you for your request! this is my first time writing gen properly, so i hope it's okay... it's a bit on the shorter side.

gaming night

gen narumi x gn!reader i used this as an excuse to talk about elden ring wc: 519

on your off nights, you were lucky to spend time with gen when he gamed. for all the mess in his room, he kept his gaming setup spick and span and very tidy, with RGB lighting that was less tacky and cooler in shades of blues and purples surrounding a very nice LED screen TV with the latest gaming trappings. gen looked more like a burrito than a human, wrapped in his hoodie. 

“what do you want to play tonight?” you ask gen, who was currently sprawled back on his couch, flicking through games on his ps5. 

“umm…” gen blinks hard, pushing his bangs up to observe the screen. “i was thinking like… a bit of elden ring, i think. i wanna beat malenia. it was… not great. last night.”

“i remember.” you frown ominously, remembering the fact that he’d nearly used his future-seeing eyes just to read her attacks. he lamented the fact that his reaction time still wasn’t fast enough to clear the final boss–despite the fact he could read the movements of infinitely deadlier kaiju.

(“i’m convinced miyazaki made her to fucking haunt me,” he complained, and you’d laughed–only for him to stay up till 5 AM trying to figure out how to beat her, until his combos and dodges became so sloppy that he’d die within the first few seconds of fighting her.)  “you sure you can beat her this time?” 

“i don’t need a hater who doesn’t believe in me,” gen says. “i don’t care if you don’t think i can’t beat her–i’m gonna.” he pouts in that telltale way where you can tell he cares maybe a little too much. you laugh, sitting down next to him, dramatically cuddling him, and pressing your cheek to his. his skin feels a bit clammy, but you’re used to it from him. you’ve always teased him about how cold he gets when he plays video games–and he’s defensively always retorted.

“oh, i’m sorry gen,” you say dramatically. “you’re the best gamer ever, and i bet you’ll beat elden ring this time–maybe you’ll even beat unalloyed malenia–”

“now that’s pushing it.” gen’s pink eyes stare at you for a moment, curving upwards with a small smile. he kisses your cheek, reaching out his hand to pull you closer. “i’m not a dog. i don’t need your praise to beat her.”

he says it, but he seems more spirited than before, and he starts up the game.

you cuddle yourself close to his side, content to just watch.

“you know her lore, right?” gen asks, peeking at you in his periphery as his character rolls into the boss chamber.

“yeah,” you say. “because you keep telling me.”

“well, because elden ring’s a good fucking game,” gen retorts.

“i know,” you reply.

“mm.” you adore the way gen has something approaching a triumphant little smile on his face, the way it opens up and lightens his face. 

(he doesn’t beat malenia that night either, but he doesn’t get to sulk for long, because you end up kissing him again, and he seems to relax, leaning hungrily into your touch.) 

[geminialchemist]

It’s been about a month since I beat Shadow of the Erdtree. Thinking it through, especially the ending, I think my thoughts have changed.

I think I hate that final boss and the lore around him even more than I did before.

Call me a Godwyn Stan, but I will die in the hill that he made far more sense than Radahn, and I’m gonna explain it.

Building up to the dlc, we know Miquella is close to three people in particular. His sister, Malenia, his father, Radagon, and his half brother, Godwyn. After Godwyn dies, Miquella becomes obsessed with bringing him back, or granting him a proper death. He tries an eclipse to bring him back, it doesn’t work, implied to be because the eclipse just will not happen. Now why would a heavenly body not move into its proper place again?

Oh yeah, Radahn! Guys got a hard on for holding back the stars. So it made sense that him being dead was a dlc requirement, on top of why Malenia would have fought him in the first place. It just fueled the idea we were going to see Godwyn even more.

Yeah, Godwyn is dead. I keep seeing that argument thrown around like it means literally anything. He’s super dead, prince of death, lord of the undead, blah blah, this argument is nothing but noise. The Realm of Shadow is where all things that die pass through. It’s basically the land of the dead! This argument that Godwyn is dead, to me, is the single dumbest argument against his return when you’re in a place all dead things go. That’s like saying Godwyn’s soul is trash, so you shouldn’t expect to find him in a garbage dump. If there was a single narrative way to bring that beautiful idiot back, it would be in this dlc because of where it takes place. If they had brought him back this way, no one would have batted an eye at its inclusion.

So, the dlc takes place in the land where all dead things pass through that is super hard to get to through by any normal means, so no one could really try to revive Godwyn this way. It has a plot where Miquella, who is obsessed with bringing Godwyn back, is trying to revive someone from death by shoving them into a new body, and then they don’t do it? They bring back Radahn like that made any form of narrative sense? Like two missable lines of dialogue from two separate NPCs can satisfyingly explain this stupid idea?

I don’t know if it was Miyazaki or GRRM who wrote this, but maybe next time they should let the intern with no writing experience do the plot for the next game, they might do a better job at crafting a sensible narrative.

There is so much to love about this dlc, and I’ve said it before in a previous post that I’m just better at airing out my grievances at a thing than my praises. But when I replay it, I have such a hard time finding the motivation to finish the second half of the dlc, knowing that is what waits me at the end. It feels like such a waste.

Rant over. I hope you have a nice day.

Edit: you know what, rant is not over(but I still hope you had a nice day)! This entire mess of a plot could have been avoided if they just… didn’t have Miquella resurrect anyone! Have an original boss! It’s almost as if this plot was designed with online discourse in mind because there is no way to not think of Godwyn when you think of Miquella trying to bring someone back from the dead!

Okay, now I’m done.

[arnaerr]

The more I think about the Elden Ring DLC after my second playthrough of it the more I hate that I noticed too many things that frustrate me in the lore. Not to be a hater on main but I feel the urge to note these down to think about it more later.

- the whole radahn situation. the fight design and the fact that it's the boss we've fought already sucks bonkers. But the fact that it lacks a proper buildup in a narrative and feels random as fuck is what really frustrates me. Feels like retconing. Am I watching Bleach again? Why tf the character who was dead and whose story had an ending is bringed back. The war festival felt like an ending to his plotline and it was fitting. "Miquella saw kindness in him" in a WARLORD?

- Miquella's actions make no sense. Why to bring a bunch of people into the Lands of Shadow. Why charm them if he planned to discard his great rune anyway. These people are not helping. They're just confused. And it's not like Miquella needed help in the first place? What's the point of crosses. Why are they in random places. Why is the one in the Shadow Keep and everyone there is ok with it. If the crosses are in random places bc Miquellla was travelling and searching for the truth about Marika, why is there no cross in the Shaman Village then 💀 it would make sense especially given all the parallels between Marika's and Miquella's ascension.

- if Miquella was obsessed with Radahn all this time he feels not very smart to say the least. Like, the whole scheme of counting on someone to find Mohg and kill him - what are the odds someone would do that. Why cocooning himself in the Haligtree. Why not to help his sister after she nuked Caelid. How did Malenia miss Miquella's kidnap or she knew about the scheme all along. Idk

- what exactly is a Scadutree. "Scadutree is the shadow of the Erdtree". Ok thanks

- the perfumers are growing minor erdtrees in two places DLC and one of them is the Shadow Keep and there's no lore behind it thanks for nothing I guess. When I discovered it, it felt important af 😭

- Torrent? Why the official art showed us that he belonged to Miquella. I hoped to learn more

- love how we use the kindling to burn down the sealing tree only to find out that other Miquella's followers got there before us somehow. Messmer is rolling in his grave

- I wish there was more Godwyn lore. Now the whole Castle Sol situation feels stupid and makes no sense, the mausoleums, etc.

- Romina. I know everyone adores her design but she's so lacking of context to me that I can't really like her. Who is she, what is she doing there why is she guarding the entrance to endgame area.

My main problem with the dlc lore is that I always liked how Fromsoft kept this balance of known/unknown - they gave us little info but enough to be INTRIGUED and speculate further. And as with dlc lore...some of this stuff is so random and has no ties to the things we already know about - too much of unknown - that i don't want to even invest my thoughts into trying to figure this stuff out bc I know that I won't come even close to the truth.

But still the best game I've played this year, 12/10, will replay 10 times, love it

[miquella-everywhere]

Just murdered Gaius and I feel like a blood vessel is about to burst in my brain

Just... Really...? Radahn?

Okay. Okay okay okay okay- So first and foremost absolutely despise Radahns inclusion in the DLC. Which should be really obvious coming from me by now. His connection to Miquella is bullshit and cannot be supported via any evidence in the base game whatsoever, so moving on from there...

So with Gaius and his particular moveset, remembrace, and especially concept... lmao, like LMAO, are further proof of Radahn being disgustingly shoehorned into the SotE story.

An animal rider you say? Well guess who is also an animal rider? GODWYN. WITH FORTISAXX. but instead you say that its Radahn who held the close friendship with this guy. This guy who is guarding Scaduview at the command of Messmer who is wholly loyal to Queen Marika. And guess who isn't even expanded upon in the area with all the dragons despite being and evident founder of the Ancient Dragon Cult?

GODWYN.

You wanna know something I've always felt about the Carian siblings? I always felt as if they were completely disconnected from Marika and Leyndell. Ranni and Rykard are one thing, but Radahn was always a Godfrey simp and he even seemingly laid siege to Lyendell and was attacked by Morgott during the Shattering, and now with the whole SotE you have to ask....

WHY would he even do any of that????

If his whole thing was to become Miquella's Consort, or to avoid becoming Miqs Consort, then what was even the point of laying siege to Leyndell???? Did he lay siege just for the sake of War, which horribly weakens the logic of the DLC where Miq thinks he's a worthy Consort because he's "kind". Or did he lay siege to Leyndell so he could instead claim Marikas head and become his step-(actual)mothers consort and Elden Lord all so he could avoid becoming Miqs consort...........

do you not see how insane and stupid that is????? what the hell is wrong with you miyazaki/grrm????

Just... You have this whole base game plot of Miquellas love regarding Godwyn and how he tried and dedicated himself to trying to grant him a true death and its all just abandoned? Godwyn is reduced to a Catacomb decoration and his and Miquella's relationship is never expanded upon, and his presence in the Realm of Shadow despite being Marika's second(third?) born is so minimal and reduced to some knights that swear allegiance to his corpse after he was murdered? AND WE SERIOUSLY GET SUCH LITTLE INFO ABOUT GODWYN BEFORE HIS DEATH?????

WE SERIOUSLY DONT GET ANY INFO ABOUT HIM AND MIQUELLA????

And then I'm fed the information that Messmer and Gaius and even Melina were supposed to act as older siblings to Radahn and Radahn only, and that Miquella was supposed to be enamored with him.

Sure.

Sure.

Okay.

You sure are one uber special favored by the "fans" Gary-Sue now aren't you Radahn? 😊

GODWYN IS THE REASON WHY MARIKA SHATTERED THE ELDEN RING! GODWYN IN THE REASON WHY THE WORLD IS IN RUINS! AND DESPITE MIQUELLA DOING ALL THAT HE COULD IN THE BASE GAME TO REVIVE GODWYN, NOW ALL OF A SUDDEN RADAHN IS SUPPOSED TO BE MIQUELLAS CONSORT AND THE MOST IMPORTANT CHARACTER OF THE DLC????

R E A L L Y????

I...... Fucking hate Radahns inclusion in the DLC. It steals away the shine and story of the characters that the DLC should have truly been about, ie, Miquella and Godwyn. This DLC was supposed to be about expanding upon their mysterious, the two characters who we knew the least about in the base game and were the most enigmatic. MIQUELLA AND GODWYN.

Love how the Eclipse is forgotten. Love how the area with dragons is devoid of all information regarding the man who established a cult in their name is forgotten. Love how no other Demigod is mentioned in the DLC other than Radahn. Love how Miquella wishing to cure Malenia is forgotten. Love how the new lore trivializes Malenia and Millicents stories. Love how Miquella being Torrent's former master is forgotten. Love how Melina receiving Torrent from Miquella is forgotten. Love how Ranni receiving the bell from Torrents former Master is forgotten. Love how the statue in the Haligtree of Godwyn Miquella and Malenia embracing will forever be forgotten.

I will die mad.

[modeus-the-unbound]

Was thinking about what if the Princess vessels weren't in a visual novel...and specifically in games with combat systems to match their personalities.

Adversary: She is an fighting game character no doubt. Specifically I think she would be like Zangief from street fighter, lots of grappling moves with some designed to help her close the distance between her and LQ.

Razor: Hello Malenia's disciple. She is a fromsoftware boss that has everyone convinced she was designed for Bloodborne or Sekiro before being dropled into Elden Ring. She even has a second form with a new healthbar. (When she explodes into a giant woman made of swords.)

Tower: The secret fight that all of the Shadow of the colossus players have been trying to find. Definitely would have to nerf her reaction time though. That punch she throws in StP is WAY to fast.

Nightmare: She is the monster in one of those assymetric horror games lime Dead by Daylight. She would also be overpowered as shit, considering her shutting down your organs trick would probably play out as a slow down effect.

Witch: Turn based RPG, specifically one like in the older Fallout games. You have one conversation route to prevent combat and have her join your party. But it's based on four seperate skillchecks and those skills need to be in the upper 80's and 90's (out of 100).

[katyspersonal]

I had a fun dream regarding the Elden Ring DLC!!! In fact, it was a DLC for the DLC. Apparently it was my brain's spin on "how it could have gone differently", centered around at least 3 different endings (?) that I got to try! It was hard to say whether I was playing or actually being the main character and experiencing all this (best type of videogame-based dreams!)

The focal point was Divine Gate being destroyed and Miquella being spat back out, in his accursed child body again and the "plot" started when we returned some things/feelings to him to make him active. The amount of dialogue he'd provide depended on the amount of Crosses we visited, and before returning them he was completely limp. In either case he was labeled on the map as 'Heartbroken Miquella' or something. There was one 'default', ending that needed passivity sort of. There were plenty of quests and things to do still that were required for the plot, but provided you didn't do anything "special" it ended up in Miquella basically building a Noah Arc very quickly. Yes, because some unknown force triggered the great flooding that was coming. It would basically destroy the world Greater Will and Fingers created so far, and yet let it be made anew. The good side of it was, that since Death is connected with water in Elden Ring world (souls of those that didn't die properly assume Jellyfish form, Godwyn became a sea creature, Tibia Mariners) a LOT of people were coming back with the water but in pure form. Children of the Stars without their rotten flesh and all. This ending felt bittersweet though; having done so much to 'uproot' the fundamentally wrong things Two Fingers melded into this world, he still could not find the courage to let his friends die yet there was no time to separate their bodies from flesh like Ranni and victims of Astrologers' experiments... Effectively, preserving """filth""" into new world and saving what he could save.

The second ending somehow stopped the flood by effect, granting it protection of his gentle pale yellow light (not to be confused with the oppressive gold of the Erdtree!). Protection from any Outer God and from corruption and rotting from within. That however would result in people like Malenia, Godwyn (Prince of Death), Romina etc getting sealed into yellow crystals for the 'next 1000 years' so they could not corrupt the world but alas they could not be healed still. This ending was centered on Miquella comprehending that no, Radahn wasn't "corrupted by sinful world" into becoming a warmonger compared to younger self but war WAS his nature. And for many people, alas their nature was 'necessary evil' without which the world would be a hollow place. So he accepted he could not "save" some people because that'd not be them anymore. However, he could still let the world rest in Heaven by putting it in preservation for a long time. Not cleaning, just preserving from evil, external or internal. And how this secret ending was achieved? ......by marrying Miquella, which included a large variety of activities in order to distract Leda, avoid Leda, lead him away before Leda appears, sending more friends to talk to Leda, having Dane and Leda shipped (lol okay??) etc hfhygxjjh Because if you messed up this part, she'd not let you close enough to Miquella and you'd be set back to flood ending XD

Third ending had to do with the darkness!! It was a secret one, where you would seek rifts Messmer left along the way where he used Base Serpent powers too much. The rifts were patched out by the earth itself, but you had to reopen them like wounds. Reverse Crosses collecting! Because.. if they all were opened, you could access the Lightless Abyss that Base Serpent came from and force it into the world! It would extinguish any and all light of this world leaving only blue star-affiliated one. A bit like Ranni's ending but EVIL!! Creatures of golden light would get striped from it though (Queelign copes and seethes lol). It ensured a lot of horrors being unleashed though and consuming every "weak" person. Tarnished, Albinaurics and other lightness were remotely safe, but those born of gold and under Ring and relying on it were FUCKED. Especially Marika's family. They'd remain defenseless and be the first to get swallowed, so from now on they'd need protection. And whereas blue stars remained the age would be darkness swallowing all of them until only one remained. I as a "player" knew it'd explode to bring the light again.. but other characters didn't.

.....yet when I wanted to try this unleashed Abyss ending, Miquella himself stopped me by stabbing me with Bewitching Branch (not swinging it, specifically stabbing) and I woke up from very intense feeling of love and yearning for him lol fgfggh The last thing I remember how scared he was that he barely stopped... all that. But I just suddenly found him the most appealing person in the world, as if I never loved anyone else. I can't even describe how it felt. It was like.. every cell of my body suffering and only his touch could cure this torment. I had to lay down about 20 minutes to finally calm down gjfggd I am actually embarrassed by it, especially since intrusive thoughts followed, but also I guess it wasn't my fault? Very weird type of alarm clock though 💔

[cerastes]

ngl Shadows of the Erdtree feels like the first FromSoft experience I’ve had where the optional superboss stuff feels *less* difficult and unfun than the main story bosses in general - I have to wonder what the development of the DLC looked like from a top-down design perspective or something

The only real native-to-DLC bosses I have issues with are Death Knights (incredibly boring movesets), Commander Gaius (That Forward Charge's Active Frames Are Kinda Bullshit) and The Final Boss' Phase 2, I think everything else was fun, Midra, Metyr, Romina, Rellana, Putrescence, Avatar, Dancing Lion, Messmer, Bayle, I loved all of them. At most, I think Metyr has some dumb attacks as well, Bayle has some camera issues when up close, and Dancing Lion's Lightning Form has some pretty fucked up combinations in which it calls lightning on top of you but you can't see it because the camera is looking at it from below, rendering the lightning markers invisible, but that's about it

The bad parts were mainly tied to fighting Another Death Rite Bird, Another Ancient Dragon, stuff like that, things that were already jank in the base game. Closest to True Jank in the DLC is when you have to fight a Ghostflame Drake on extremely uneven terrain, and not really a boss, but Wicker Men/Furnace Giants are so, so, so incredibly dull to fight. Otherwise, I think bosswise the DLC goes hard.

"I have to wonder what the development of the DLC looked like from a top-down design perspective or something" -> This is a really interesting line of thought, I have to say. I personally think that they focused first and foremost on having a big area that didn't feel empty: Both the base game and the DLC, for all their virtues and flaws, undeniably have the single best open world I've seen in my life. It never feels empty. My main complaint with open world games is that, sure, you have a big world, now, do you have jack all to do in these huge swathes of digital land that you used to make sales? Usually, No, but Elden Ring definitely manages to nail this spectacularly, so I think that was their priority, at the unfortunate cost of other things. I think it also has to do with FromSoft feeling like they need to keep upping up the ante compared to previous entries and overblowing things with sensational looking fights instead of thoroughly mechanically sound fights: Malenia, for example, I think suffers from this, because she's an amazing fight right up until she uses Waterfowl, which is by no means undodgeable, but it being a lingering, persistent implication of damage+healing throughout the fight past a certain point serves to annoy more than to enrich the fight; Waterfowl is cool as hell the first time you see it, and just a bummer every time afterwards. It's a really beautiful, showy move that'll have journos and youtubers making content for it, but it gets in the way of gameplay ultimately. Now, multiply this by 50 and you have Phase 2 of the Final Boss: EVERYTHING is this big extravagant light show, no simple attacks, everything has to be a rave. To a certain degree, this happens with other bosses, too -- 80% of the bosses announce their Phase 2 with a HUGE explosion, it gets boring and old fast -- but Final Boss Phase 2 is just needlessly extra in ways that make me think they wanted to make it look good first and make it play fun a distant second.

So, yeah, I think their priority was the open world, and they nailed it, but it was such a huge undertaking that everything else kinda suffered, in particular user experience imo, in conjunction with Making The Game Escalate More almost by necessity at this point.

Mind you, please don't get me wrong, I loved the DLC, it's just that I'm talking about the flaws more, but it's important to keep in mind this is coming from someone that Enjoyed It.

[cxrsedeclipse]

First time writing, might be sloppy…

STARSCOURGE RADAHN—GRATEFUL AFFECTION

Warnings: anal sex, size difference, mention of magic used during sex, dom!bottom!Radahn, sub!top!m!reader

Pairing: Starscourge Radahn x M! Tarnished Reader

Overview: Reader saved Radahn from Malenia, and be did not get Scarlet Rot, making him stay healthy. One day, Radahn feels a bit emotional and wants to thank Reader…

Not too long ago, you had saved Radahn from Malenia that threatened to hurt him. Radahn had definitely not forgotten that day, always managing to smile when he saw you every day. Sure, you were a Tarnished, and Radahn was like five times your size, but that didn’t stop either of you from loving each other so dearly.

One day, when Radahn saw you just hanging around Redmane Castle, he gently tapped your shoulder with his finger to get your attention. When you turned around, you saw the 27 foot giant man, in his armor and looking down at you with tender eyes. “Hey, y/n… I never really got to thank you for saving me… may I do that now?” You were a bit confused on why he had asked that. “… you don’t need to thank me, Radahn. You just being with me is enough”, you said. Radahn shifted on his feet a bit. “Yeah, yeah… but I still want to. I insist.” After a bit of thinking, you finally agreed to just let him do… oh wait, what did he want to do? “What do you even want to do?”, you asked. Radahn smirked a bit, looking down at you. “Some things… in bed.” You were stunned for a second but quickly got excited, feeling your bulge forming in your armored pants. “… sounds good to me”, you said. Radahn didn’t waste any time with that confirmation, gently picking you up with one hand and carrying you to his gigantic room.

His bed was huge, like it was for a giant… well, it basically was. Radahn looked at you in his hand as he gently placed you down on the bed and stripped his armor off but keeping his helm on, revealing his dark grey skin and his ripped, muscular body, his muscles bulging and rippling. And damn his cock was hard too… it was a 17 inch monster, but Radahn never used it with you since he knew that it was far too much for you. He stroked his huge cock with his large hand, smirking at you. “Like what you see, darling?”, Radahn chuckled, “Come on, don’t just lie there, get rid of your clothes.” You gulped at the sight of him and nodded excitedly, taking off your armor and clothes. You had a nice, 7 inch cock which was pretty big for a Tarnished. Radahn didn’t keep his eyes off you as he laid down in bed with you. His hand was almost bigger than you, but that didn’t matter to him as he just gently pulled you against his chest for now. After a bit of closeness, Radahn propped up on his elbows and started playing with your cock, making sure to use his pinky finger because his hand was too big. You squirmed and let out soft moans and groans, which was like music to Radahn’s ears. Radahn then laid down on his stomach, his hand on his large, muscular ass. “Go on, y/n… don’t keep me waiting.” You looked at his state and your mouth almost watered. You quickly crawled behind the giant, contemplating if your cock was even too small for his pleasure. Radahn looked back and saw that look. “Don’t worry… I love you the way you are. Plus, it feels good.”, Radahn reassured, reaching back to spread his own ass cheeks. “Now dig in…” You nodded enthusiastically, and Radahn let out an appreciative hum at the feel of your tip pressed against his nice, puckered hole. When you pushed in, he let out a soft groan, pushing back against you. “Fuck, y/n… it always feels so good… please just thrust as hard as you can… make me feel you…” You obliged and did just that, thrusting hard, rough and fast. Radahn was a mess of groans and moans right now, burying his face in his pillow, pushing back against you and humping the sheets of the bed. You had a trick up your sleeve, you were a sorcerer after all… you used a certain spell that made your thrusts way stronger, as if he was getting pounded by a 20 inch cock. He moaned and groaned loudly now, muttering pleas to not stop. The time he really tipped over was when he felt you cum inside him, feeling your warmth spread through. He moaned a bit louder as his own release hit him, cumming hard all over the sheets. Radahn was a bit sweaty, panting a bit as he sat up. He saw the dirty cum-soaked sheets and chuckled. “Guess we have a mess to clean up…”

[ganondoodle]

fuck it, elden ring DLC rant (spoilers) (long post ... oh dear)

so, to start this- this is a very emotional reaction, so take everything with a ton of salT (i need to get this out of my system bc i need to go and do stuff today, i literally couldnt get much more than 3 hours of sleep bc my mind was racing) i only know two screenshots and what others have told me (thank you) so i might be missing more context and havent seen or read it myself

(more details and spoilers for the DLC below the read more thingy)

also, just to explain a bit, i dont usually get this upset about things i like, i like alot of things, but its RARE as fuck that i care, like actually care care about something, and that just kinda happens, i dont choose it or can decide to not care, i just do, and when something like this happens its like ... a sort of grief? i cant help but care about it but it messes with me emotionally, i have no control over it and cant change anything about it when it gets bad or done dirty, leavign me to just have to watch it be real even when i dont want to accept it-- i wouldnt say so much that i 'expect' somethign specific and cant handle when its not like that (common accusation about disliking totk)- and no i dont have somethign specific in mind, i just dont want it to be bad OR things that seem done and closed off suddendly out of nowhere be revealed to 'actually' have been like this, new stuff that either makes no sense or invalidates alot about what i valued about it, what i thought was the point

(i remember two .. my only two other intersts before- see what i mean RARE- that also went down simiarly like this; transformers (bay movies and mainly prime series, listen i didnt choose it either) with each movie it got more messy and stupid, primes second(?) season had an end i hated and the following movie was the final nail in the coffin- and one piece after that, which i slowly fell out of love with bc every chapter seemed to go more into a direction i didnt like, then the reveal that luffy is a god actually was my final ok i hate that moment)

i knew demise for a long time but wasnt obsessed about him at all, it took me learning about how hylia was depicted in a non canon (?) manga (which made me annoyed me bc i didnt like it and made a design for her to counter demises instead) and then reading his few lines of dialog about her again that it suddendly HIT me, like cupids arrow into my head-- i liked but wasnt that super interested into elden ring until radahn showed up, instantly his design made me go owo and then learning his (base game) lore it HIT me (i love sort of tragic side characters that might have been powerful or heroic at some point but now arent anymore- not saying he is that elden rings lore i messy and no ones good tm- and especially so if that character is widely hated for no good reason, dismissed or forgotten, has little lore etc)

i have things i like but dont care this much about, like okami or bloodborne, i like it alot, theres characters i really like (oki) but im not like, fixated on them?- and to have two at the same time, while not equally strong, i dont think i had before, and then have both be damaged or potentially lose it in a similar way within barely a year hurts so damn much--- anyway, getting into the actual rant now lol

so, to sum things up (that i know), in the elden ring DLC later on

miquella is actually a master manipulator and brainwasher (even to his sister???? which means alot of impactful things about his relationship to people is kinda invalidated or made meaningless, shitty)

he wanted to become a god by marrying radahn (his half? brother, same father) of all people that has never been mentioned before until now somehow?? ) you can argue it was hinted to but i find it completely out of left field

miquella sent malenia after radahn to kill him so he could be put into the realm of shadow so miquella could marry him (there were better candidates for that??)- its unclear (to me) if radahn ever actually accepted when sound of mind or even knew about it at all, but failed and he was isntead inflicted with rot to slowly waste away but not die (like he is in base game)

which also means that, what i found really impactful in base game, the festival of radahn, that i thought was a tragic sort of last wish/effort for of radahn to grant him an honorable death as a respected general after being made into mindless people eating zombie, organized by his soldiers/friends- might have been just yet another attempt to kill him and get him over there to miquella (and even if not, it still makes it way less impactful and now i feel like letting him continue to roam as a zombie is more of a favor than killing him bc hes just gonna a puppet again! which turns the whole tradgedy of the stuff in base game on its head imo)

you need to kill him to get into the DLC (and i was even sus of that but shrugged it off when i heard it ..) bc that way miquella could take whatever was left of his soul and stitch it into mohgs corpse?? (which is why hes so small in that DLC fight) bc his body was rotten by that point, which also allowed miquella to control radahn and make him agree, force him to do whatever miq wanted (which ALSO might mean mohg 'kidnapping' miquella wasnt that actually but mohg too was manipulated so oud kill him and make his remains usable)

radahn in DLC is a voiceless meat puppet essentially ... like a mindless rotting zombie eating friends and fow alike wasnt enough- also means that we never ACTUALLY GET OT KNOW RADAHN HIMSELF bc hes eithe a zombie or a literal puppet (if you are gonna do him dirty at least let us meet actual real him *cries*)

his fight is super hard apparently (though i have been hearing people complain about the entire DLC being too hard, while the -casual player- streamer i watched is beating main bosses so fast they dont even get to start their second phase) when his fight in base game, and him by extentsion, was also hated bc of that ALREADY, which means more people are gonna hate his guts (he doesnt deserve that!!) AND most people probably wont get or care that its not actually HIM him so its like a repeat boss that everyone hates

it feels weirldy forced in for it to be radahn (like miquella was already said to be one of the strongest gods out there .. why hed want radahn so badly when his goal seemed to be rather .. combat less?? if you get what i mean, and radahn also rejected him??? and the tarnished is right there too????) bc theres plenty others it would have worked with that are barely used- it feels like someone jsut wanting him to be tha main guy not matter what (when he worked so much better as a side character!!!!)

a tragic but well rounded off side character (imo) was made into the main guy this is all about actually tm (i generally dont like main guys and this jsut feels so .... it just hurts, it didnt feel foreshadowed at all, and its not even truly HIM that is reveal to be a creepy asshat but hes just manipulated and controlled with the whole time, be it by rot or miquella)

and for miquella its like, no theres no even mildly good people there, hes brainwashed and manipulated everyone actually tm, a giant plan all to force his half brother into marrying him by making him into a corpse puppet bc he rejected miquella- inlcuding potentially manipulating his own twin sister, which goes agaisnt what you learn of what hes done for her in the base game i think?? (not that much into that part but yeah ... it feels unfair to her too)

it also kinda just leaves other lore from the base game in the dust? like the whole haligtree plan, how miquella cared for the rejected (i guess he didnt then??? and it was just more manipulation tm??) that castle with the eclipse stuff

(is the gloom eyes queen, marika, and or st trina even .. important at all to any of this??)

ok from reading tweets from people talkign about it, miquella says radahn agreed apparently but whether thats true remains uncertain and given the circumstances i do not think radahn did- others said that it kinda sounds he agreed to something that he didnt think would involve him marrying miquella

everything feels like its in shambles for every fan of every involved chaarcter

yes i know you can argue that it was all planned from the start and meant to be a twist and everything and that people having a different idea of characters isnt the fault of the creators .... only to some degree bc why then build up make so much lore and story about stuff that turns out to be like saying 'actually it was all a lie' like its not valid to feel betrayed then, you can plan things out all you want but that doesnt mean it cant be bad oder underwhelming

(i wished to be able to meet or know more about radahn but like in a non rot way or like past flashback whatever kind of way and then not like this anyway, like i was interested into his relationship with jerren and just .. more about him i suppose the monkey paw has curled hasnt it -or however you say that-)

and there i was like two days ago going "omg radahn mention!!!" when that one .. feyja? NPC says she fought alongside him at some point ............................................................

leonard isnt there in the DLC to my knowledge, you know it cant be truly radahn if his horse isnt there (the sole reason he learned gravitiy magic for and it stayed with him even after the rot!!! i know people have started to hate it bc people love that but i love that, it made him so endearing to me, like a character i already found cool omg has a confirmed softer spot??? in MY fromsoftware title??)

sorry for the long post of rambling, i am a mess, barely slept 3 hours, yes i am weird to care, autisms or whatever .. i need to go somewhere in an hour and havent prepared as all bc i needed my thoughts out of my head- might have forgotten stuff, idk if i will add it later or just kinda .. stew in it for a while

(and yes a big point why i feel so strongly is both bc its just gonna make more people hate him even more AND feels so invalidating of alot of other stuff- pulls other characters down with it- the entire time i was watching the streams i and trailers i thought i was like, its onw thing, with miquellas littel adventure and more background info on marika mostly on its own from the base game BUT NO I GUESS)

(read all this in the sense of an utteraly disoriented confused and drunken seagull yelling around pls i am not in serious mental distress ..)

[bellepeppergirl]

Why Marika Shattered the Elden Ring (Spoilers: She hates her children. Except One.)

We have long wondered why Marika shattered the Elden Ring; we know it happened soon after Godwynn's death, but exactly why Godwynn has always been a mystery. Why was Godwynn so special to Marika? Special enough to cause Marika to destroy everything upon his death? She does not seem this caring for her other children, and I think I know why.

In Marika's eyes, all of her children suck. They are all things she despises; her first children, Morgott and Mohg, were both Omen; reminders of the Hornsent who she despised.

Her second batch of children, which I believe were Malenia, Miquella, Messmer, and Melina, all had similar connections to something Marika was a opposed to. Malenia was afflicted by the influence of an Outer God, one of Rot. We can surmise Miquella too was influenced by one, though we cannot be sure which one. Perhaps there is an Outer God of plenty and bounty, thus giving him infinite youth. Messmer was born with the Flame of the Fell God within him, something Marika truly hated as this flame was the one thing that threatened her precious Erdtree. And Melina is, in my opinion, not the Gloam-Eyed Queen as some believe, but rather a potential reincarnation of the Gloam-Eyed Queen following her defeat to Malekith, which then led to the dismantlement of Death in the Lands Between. Upon seeing Melina's eye, I believe she did all she could to seal it and lock Melina away, which is why we never hear about her and her eye is almost always closed.

Melina is also described as "burned and bodiless," which seems to imply to me that Marika used her for something. This would not be the only time this occurs, as Messmer was also stricken from history and used to fight and unending war in the Land of Shadow where Marika would no longer have to acknowledge him.

So the only children of Marika who were not Omen or chosen by an Outer God was seemingly Godwynn. From what we see, he was perfect; he looked like Marika, he seemed to have similar ideals to Marika, and was likely next in line. So when Godwynn, her only "good" child (in her eyes) died, Marika felt as though she had lost them all, because she did not love nor care for her other children. On top of that, not only was her only "good" child gone, but he was also twisted into another thing Marika hated, another thing against the Golden Order; he became the Prince of Death.

So with all she worked so hard for ruined, she snapped, realized she would never get the world she wanted, and decided to just break all of it.

[blaiddfailcam]

Miquella's lost Great Rune

Great Runes are unique imprints of the shattered Elden Ring bequeathed by Queen Marika unto her demigod children and stepchildren. However, only five of Marika's nine offspring are found in possession of Great Runes—neither Godwyn, Ranni, Miquella, nor Melina ever grant us one of these legendary artifacts.

(Frankly, I've debated with myself whether I should even bother writing this analysis considering plenty of fans have a deadset interpretation of Miquella's role based on cut content, coupled with the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC looming on the horizon that threatens to crush all our theories into dust. But, I figure there are still peculiar details worth ackowledging regardless of whether they mean much in the end.)

Great Rune general breakdown

In total, we acquire seven Great Runes throughout our journey. As listed in the key items inventory screen, they are:

Godrick's Great Rune

Rykard's Great Rune

Radahn's Great Rune

Morgott's Great Rune

Mohg's Great Rune

Malenia's Great Rune

Great Rune of the Unborn

Of these seven Great Runes, two are bestowed by characters other than Marika's direct offspring. Though Godrick is a demigod, he is merely a withered branch of the Golden Lineage that his Great Rune represents. The second is a bit more unusual. This is the Great Rune of the Unborn, held by Queen Rennala despite she is no demigod, and gifted to her by Radagon upon the dissolution of their marriage well before the Shattering.

But wait—how did Radagon get a Great Rune before the Shattering?

Great expectations

Although the Great Runes are regarded as the shards of the fractured Elden Ring, certain lore details suggest that even before the Shattering, Great Runes were fated for their respective demigods as if by resonance. This could explain why Godrick, weak as he is, possesses the Great Rune of the Golden Lineage itself, or why Radagon was able to give Rennala the Great Rune of the Unborn. (Furthermore, Ranni discarded her Great Rune, yet this would have had to have been prior to her corporeal death and the subsequent Shattering Wars triggered by the Night of the Black Knives.)

We as the player need only fetch three of the seven total Great Runes to "repair" the Elden Ring (two to be permitted by the Two Fingers into Leyndell, plus Morgott's unmissable Great Rune). No matter what, the Elden Ring is found whole at the end of the game regardless of how many Great Runes are recovered.

The Great Runes themselves are malleable things. Each one is warped in respect to their Shardbearer despite being fragments of the golden Elden Ring, taking on whatever traits defined their master while inflicting their mad taint in turn. Rykard's Great Rune writhes like the serpent that devoured and became him, and Radahn's burns in his resistance to the scarlet rot. Likewise, Mohg's is drenched with accursed blood, and Malenia's blossoms with the rot that festers within her. Even the very shape of a rune denotes its master, as indicated by the twin sets of Great Runes: Rykard and Radahn's (whose Great Runes even resemble the Erdtree eclipsing the moon), and Morgott and Mohg's.

Now wait a minute...

Hiding in plain sight

It's hard to ignore. As nonsensical as it seems, I can't overlook how closely the Great Rune of the Unborn resembles Malenia's Great Rune. They're even placed right next to each other in the inventory screen, despite the Great Rune of the Unborn is likely the second Great Rune the player will find, while Malenia's is typically the very last.

If Rykard and Radahn's runes reflect their relationship as brothers just as Morgott and Mohg's runes reflect theirs, then wouldn't it stand to reason that the Great Rune of the Unborn is actually Miquella's? He is Malenia's twin brother, after all. Should each Great Rune be visually altered in some way to symbolize its owner, it would make all the more sense that a notably smaller and pure gold Great Rune embodies Miquella's perpetual youth and his founding of Unalloyed Gold.

All this before unpacking how fittingly the Great Rune of the Unborn's function as a device for rebirth foreshadows Miquella's grim fate. Within the roots of the Haligtree watered with Miquella's own blood, the youthful demigod nestled into a cocoon in an attempt to rebirth into a proper god until his half-brother, Mohg, absconded him in his vulnerable coma. As such, Miquella remains quite literally unborn within his cocoon.

According to the Juvenile Scholar set, "Rebirth is as sleep to them." Upon each attempt to perfect themselves, the scholars are drained of their memories, devolving over time into mindless drones. Rennala herself is under a similar spell of dream-like delirium, as far as Ranni's dialogue posits. (Random fun fact: Rennala's eyes are golden in the first phase of her fight, but change to blue in the second phase when she recomposes herself as Queen of the Full Moon.)

It's not at all novel to infer that Miquella and St. Trina are likely one entity. Being a sort of patron saint of dreamtime, the Great Rune of the Unborn's effect of retaining coherence during rebirth would make it all the more appropriate for Miquella. The very function of the Great Rune as a protective charm against the adverse side effects of rebirth is reminiscent of the Unalloyed Gold Needle's use as a ward against Malenia's scarlet rot. Even her Great Rune depicts what looks to be a needle piercing the top right side of a ring, and the Great Rune of the Unborn reciprocates thus.

(While I understand that cut content would suggest Miquella was to possess a Great Rune symbolizing "abundance," and that abundance is still a vague notion in the game, I don't feel that this contradicts the Great Rune of the Unborn. We can see plainly that Rennala's rite reproduces scholars ad infinitum, despite their imperfections.)

With all this said and done, that leaves one last question: why?

A fate precluded

Upon his departure to the capital, Radagon gifted Rennala with a mysterious Great Rune, trapping her in a delirious spiral. If this rune was truly Miquella's, then how did Radagon acquire it if Miquella had yet to be born?

As aforementioned, Great Runes can be thought of as imprints, foretelling their destined demigods' function under the Golden Order. Radagon is Miquella's father, and his son was evidently fond of him in the days before the Shattering, offering him his newly discovered halo incantations to aid his decree. If Radagon was privy to the Elden Ring, the Golden Order, and its fundamentals, one could interpret that he was able to prevent his yet unborn son's fate by pawning his Great Rune.

Radagon himself is a peculiar figure. After a stalemate during his attack on Queen Rennala, he atoned for his transgressions and married her, siring three children. Rennala had become deeply infatuated with him, so much so that when he departed, her mind was left in pieces, and the Carian fates were fettered to the Golden Order. Perhaps most damning of all, Radagon destroyed Rennala's matrimonial gift of the Moonlight Greatsword and reforged it into the Golden Order Greatsword, devoid of its former magic in any capacity. The man cleaved ever to the future, hellbent on the perfection of the Golden Order—a leal hound, as Marika referred to him.

Miquella is referred to by Malenia as being the mightiest of all the demigods, despite she herself is evidently a terrifying force in her own right. The two are also Empyreans, indicating their destiny to succeed Queen Marika as the vessel of the Elden Ring, and as direct vassals to the Greater Will. Except, Radagon appears to have had little interest in permitting this fate. Ultimately, he becomes the acting god after fusing with Marika, his other half, and following her "death" as sentence for attempting to destroy the Elden Ring that bound her.

In order to achieve such, Radagon needed to devise an elaborate plot, playing both sides of the chess board to fulfill his ambition and prevent it from ever being toppled. Although Marika is blamed for the stagnant perpetuity of the Lands Between, it was Radagon who had everything to gain from the Shattering. Indeed, the three (possibly four) Empyreans chosen by the Two Fingers would have to be denied their fates to cement the Golden Order as truly eternal.

If the Great Rune of the Unborn is essential for a proper rebirth, certainly Miquella's attempt to resurrect was ill-fated from the start. Much like the amber egg, the cocoon he created as a vehicle for this transmogrification failed to carry him to his ascension. Mohg's abduction was certainly no help, but even still, Miquella grows within the cocoon, trapped in an unresponsive slumber. Thus, his dawn never breaks, and the Golden Order remains unwavered.

Further ramblings

I know this one was a doozy, and perhaps nothing but conjecture. Still, I can't unsee some connection between Miquella, the Great Rune of the Unborn, and oddly enough, Ranni. The implication of Miquella having been Torrent's former master, as hinted by the revealed Shadow of the Erdtree official artwork, certainly furthers the possibility of cooperation between Miquella and Ranni—maybe even a conspiracy.

Now watch me eat my words when the DLC drops and we get Miquella's Great Rune. Lol. Lmao. Regardless, the parallels are hard to ignore. Even if at first it would be easy to believe that the Great Rune of the Unborn is the rune that Ranni discarded, it doesn't make sense to me that Radagon would have then taken it to give to Rennala.

This could even indicate that Ranni and Miquella's fates were somehow crossed or intertwined. Perhaps the two of them appreciated this in the end, or at least used it to their advantage? I guess we'll have to wait and see what the DLC provides.