#crumbling farum azula

[jauffre]

CRUMBLING FARUM AZULA (x)

[lulzyrobot]

I wanted to do more backgrounds so Elden Ring was the perfect choice for something picturesque.

[facts-i-just-made-up]

If you're an Elden Ring player, why is it called CRUMBLING Farum Azula?

Hmmm...

I'm gonna say because it has a streusel topping and no oats.

[blaiddfailcam]

Crumbling Farum Azula

The Golden Order was conceived upon the excision of a dark rune.

Ever since, the black beast of Destined Death has remained at great distance from the Erdtree, a sacrifice committed in full knowledge he would never feel the warmth of the world he had cultivated.

All for the grace of his beloved Empyrean.

[bri-the-nautilus]

Blorbo Headcanon: The Tragedy of Gurranq

This is one I've been kind of mulling over, but was spurred to devote some serious thought to tonight. Maliketh/Gurranq is adorable. The best, hungriest boi. A faithful shadow, true to the Golden Order. But I think his tragedy extends beyond just feeling like he let Marika down on the Night of Black Knives. To start, we'll need some background.

Farum Azula is a crumbling city in the sky at the center of a time storm. The southern provinces are dotted with debris from Farum Azula, but the city when we visit it is not only reasonably intact, but frozen. Nothing is actively falling. There's no day/night cycle. Passing time doesn't alter the skybox and nothing changes based on when you enter. It's clear that Farum Azula exists outside the normal flow of time, and can even counteract it: when we travel to Placidusax's arena, a destroyed section of the city reforms itself and the Erdtree doesn't exist. Farum Azula is populated by a society of intelligent beastmen, who were blessed with intellect and five fingers as stated by the Cinquedea, Gurranq's clerical shortsword.

Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman, is a robed figure who makes his home in Dragonbarrow, protected by a Black Blade Kindred. He guides and leads the Hunters of Those Who Live In Death, who weed deathroot. Deathroot is said to be the source of Those Who Live In Death, and Gurranq eats it. The Stone and Claw of Gurranq incantations say that he once went by a different name, which meant "Death of the Demigods." If the player feeds every obtainable deathroot to Gurranq, he thanks them for being a friend but states that he has "done all he can for this world" and promptly disappears.

Maliketh, the Black Blade, is to Queen Marika as Blaidd is to Ranni. He wields and protects Destined Death. It was he who defeated the Gloam-Eyed Queen in battle (Godslayer's UGS) and he who was robbed on the Night of Black Knives to create the blades that slew Godwyn and Ranni. For a shadow like Maliketh, the feeling that he let Marika down and the tragedy is his fault must have been impossible to bear. He vows that Destined Death shall not be stolen from him again. We meet Maliketh in Farum Azula, where he first dresses as a Beast Clergyman and wields the Cinquedea before unchaining Destined Death and facing us with his black blade and armor.

The game makes it pretty clear that Gurranq is Maliketh. Besides their identical appearances, Gurranq's old name meaning "Death of the Demigods," and Gurranq's sanctum being guarded by one of Maliketh's black gargoyles, as you progress Gurranq's questline he makes repeated references to a "past sin" and speaks of Marika as if he knew her personally.

Upon dealing enough damage after feeding the fourth Deathroot

"Put it away. I won't forget... again... mine appetite... My sin... So please.... Enough."

Fifth Deathroot

"My thanks Tarnished.... Death... My sin... Should not be touched by the hand of man... I shall grant thee... my claws... Feed me... more..."

Sixth, seventh and eighth Deathroot

"I won't forget... again.... mine appetite... My sin... I must have more... I must consume more..."

Ninth Deathroot

"It is... it is all... consumed. Still., I am not sated... Not nearly sated..." 

"Marika... Is this... what it is... to sin?" "Will things... never be the same... again?" 

"..." 

"Tarnished... my thanks... for thy... long labor. But I have done... all I can... in this land. Henceforth, mine appetite shall be my sole companion. Farewell."

Moreover, if you complete Gurranq's quest before challenging Maliketh for the first time, Maliketh phase one has special dialogue where he recognizes you and laments that he has to fight you.

Tarnished, why wouldst thou... Why... Tis no matter. I hereby vow, that Destined Death shall not be stolen again.

On the contrary, killing Maliketh before/during Gurranq's quest doesn't affect the Clergyman's dialogue.

But this leads us to some questions about the true nature of Gurranq and the timeline of Maliketh's life. Other demigods, such as Morgott, show the ability to project illusory duplicates of themselves. The Omen King does this twice: once in Stormveil and once in the old battlefield. One could easily assume that Gurranq is such an illusion. But there's one problem: He exists even without Maliketh. If you kill Morgott in Leyndell before either Margit, the Margit(s) in question won't spawn. If you kill Maliketh before finishing Gurranq's quest, it doesn't despawn Gurranq. Now the question is, when is Gurranq? Where in Maliketh's life does he fall?

My headcanon is this: After the NoBK, Maliketh seals Destined Death in himself. Marika orders him to go to Farum. Outwardly, she says that having him in the Capital where Destined Death could be stolen was a mistake. Privately, she doesn't want him around when she rebels against the Golden order, similarly to how Iji suspected Blaidd needed to be removed before Ranni killed her Two Fingers. Maliketh has dialogue expressing a strong adherence to the Golden Order, so it's safe to assume that unlike Blaidd with Ranni, he would not have been willing to side with Marika over the Greater Will. Maliketh leaves, but he doesn't go to Farum immediately. Yet. Confused? So am I.

Marika sticks her head into Farum, sees a self-loathing ball of fur, and leaves to plot the Shattering.

Maliketh, meanwhile, feels a duty to help rid the world of the evil that he thinks he allowed the creation of. Those Who Live In Death are a new phenomenon. Godwyn being slain and buried caused his influence to spread along the Erdtree's roots, raising the dead. Although he has restrained Destined Death and no longer wields it, Maliketh is both qualified and honor-bound to fight Those Who Live In Death. And as long as he's in Farum in about half an hour when Marika goes to see him, everything's fine.

Adopting the name 'Gurranq', Maliketh heads for Caelid. There, he sets up shop leading a cadre of Golden Order adherents (eventually including Darian and the Tarnished) in weeding the deathroot that allows the dead to wake. When Marika shatters the Elden Ring, he feels lied to and betrayed, but he pushes it out of mind. The Tarnished succeeds in excising every major deathroot node from the Lands Between and feeding them to Gurranq. Gurranq has done all he can for this world, and thanks his truest comrade for their service before they part ways.

Farum Azula is a city out of time, and Maliketh is demigod and high priest of the city out of time. He arrives right after Marika dismissed him, on time for her to see him there. He knows what she's going to do, but has to bite his tongue. There he sits for all the years after the NoBK. Until one day, the Tarnished arrives.

For them, it's been just days.

For Maliketh, it's been centuries.

Maliketh was betrayed by Marika. He spent centuries simultaneously laboring to repent as Gurranq and sitting alone in a lost city and blaming himself for what went wrong as the time-displaced Black Blade. He had one companion who shared his mission towards the end of his time in the Lands Between, but they parted ways and Maliketh lived all that time again alone. But now, his truest of comrades has returned to kill him and steal that which he swore would not leave his side again.

A second betrayal, more painful than the first.

[shapeforcesthemind]

Crumbling Farum Azula ☁️🐉🍂🌪️

[tarnussy]

Elden Ring assortment 1

[dromie-1111]

Crumbling Farum Azula

[elykodi-k]

Dragon cult

[areas-of-fromsoft]

Elden Ring Round 3, Side B. Favourite Area?

[averagemrfox]

Anyone in crumbling farum azula got a tampon? He forgor.

[simbic]

So, I got to the Ashen Capital before killing Placidusax, so I had to double back. I realized I also hadn't completed Fia's quest line, and so forgot about Lichdragon Fortissax, so I went back to do that. the completionist in me is not satisfied because I missed a few quest lines which seems normal for a game like this?

This is my first souls like, and from what I've read, it seems like FromSoft has a thing with keeping everything ambiguous as fuck. This isn't a problem, I've really enjoyed piecing this story together and learning the "why" for everything, but it means i spent a LOT of time (more even than usual) reading/exploring everything

I'm the type that needs to see and do EVERYTHING, so obviously a NG+ is happening. After shadow of the erdtree, I NEED MORE TBH

the other thing about this is I finished Millicent's quest, and she's one of the few NPCs that I felt genuinely sad for. it's like she just got dealt the shittiest hand with no real reason for it other than a god doing meddling god shit, and I genuinely felt so bad for her

on the other hand, while I really hated Seluvis, what sold me on not betraying Ranni was finding Sorceress Sellen's puppet in his secret room. I liked Sellen a lot, but didn't really care about how horrific her end was because she's a morally bankrupt maniac.

EVERYONE IS A PSYCHOPATH. LIKE WHY

anyways PERFECT GAME 10/10

[little-red-fool]

[headlessdog]

[itsryanguys]

Getting back into Elden Ring to try and beat it, I'm 120 hours in, lvl 130 and currently on Crumbling Farum Azula. Not liking the inability to leave but like that's the point so I can't complaint 😂 but also I feel my weapons are not amazing in this area and I keep getting my ass beat lol

[folkdevilism]