#ensha talks

[ask-mrpuzzles]

Hi Pusztavision!

P: .. .

E: Oh that's your actual name?

A: hehe Pussyvision

P:NO.

[katyspersonal]

I have an idea why Ensha doesn't talk....

Okay, hear me out. I've always thought it was a little strange that the Taunter's Tongue dropped by Alberich is golden. Not super unusual for this setting, but... strange. But the solution was RIGHT here:

Guys.

This is entirely palatable that whatever the deal with 'golden' bones was could have transmitted into his own body too, like making entrails, including tongue, colored golden too.

Alberich might have cut Ensha's tongue off for talking shit about him. Ensha doesn't talk because HE PHYSICALLY CAN'T.

Dear gooodddd it was SO obvious this whole time!! I don't even know why it tool me so long to figure out!

[izar-tarazed]

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

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

[alberichfanpage]

Oh Jolan... you will warm up to me eventually.

[a-house-of-crows]

The moment the thrall moved she tense, dagger gripped a little tighter, raised a little higher. It put away one of the strange weapons it was holding and began making gestures with the free hand. She inhaled sharply, bringing both of her own hands up close to her face and prepared for a spell of some sort to be cast. Of course they would wait for the moment she let her guard down just enough to strike. 

Was it typical for thralls to have spell casting abilities…?

Instead of magic being flung her way, there were only words. From the mage, of course. Skeletons didn’t usually speak. But they seemed to be relaying a conversation had with their re-animated corpse. Was that typical? Desta knew a fair bit about Those Who Live In Death, but the necromantic arts were not something she had any real knowledge about. Even so, something about this situation didn’t seem right. This thrall had too much autonomy. Too much intelligence.

Again, silence hangs over the three of them as she turns these thoughts over in her mind, as well as their words.

“I don’t need it.” Comes the response, finally, arms lowering again as it seems an attack won’t come just yet. She is clearly on edge, though, ready for the inevitability. Her eyes drift, only momentarily, to the flask mentioned. It wouldn’t be of much help to her, she knew. Crimson tears may heal the flesh- and hers did need healing, it always seemed to -but it could not sate the hunger that drove her now. Besides, she wouldn’t be so foolish as to accept help from a stranger, especially when that help is offered in a flask.

“And I don’t give my name freely to strangers.” The thrall’s- skeleton’s- …..The not-mage’s name she had, in the least. Ensha. That made them less of a mystery, but they were still very much a mystery. The necromancer-

The pair of them were confounding and it only made her discomfort grow with each passing second. She feared knowing more about them would only make matters worse, but she wasn’t going to release any information with receiving something first. “Tell me who you are.”

Izar couldn’t help but furrowing her brow at this answer, uncertain what to make of it. She searched her memories for the few things she actually knew about ghostflame—brief remarks she had caught during her travels, fragmentary notes she had come across in her research. Of course, as far as she knew, ghostflame was in some way fueled by burning the dead, so in a way the stranger’s reply made sense. But it still didn’t explain why the ghostflame seemed to be within her. ‟I… see,” Izar said, the confusion in her voice just thinly veiled. Ensha straightened, then huffed quietly—about the only sound he ever made. By the way he ever so slightly shook his head—not directed at anyone—, she could tell that he wasn’t exactly convinced by how she approached this conversation. He shifted back a little, tucking one clinging bone back to his side so he had one free hand. The other weapon remained at the ready, and a part of his attention clearly remained focused on the stranger, but he turned around just enough that Izar could see him sign: Ask who she is. What she is. This is unsettling. As always when he resorted to signing with just one hand, both gestures and message were kept brief. The dark gaze of his eye sockets met hers just for a heartbeat to make sure she had seen and acknowledged his remark. Then he turned back to the stranger, but didn’t draw the second clinging bone again. Izar cleared her throat. ‟You’re right,” she muttered, then glanced at the mysterious figure in front of them. ‟So you eat bones to feed ghostflame? That is unusual. Who are you?” Also, Ensha signed, this time without looking back, she’s hurt. She raised an eyebrow—she hadn’t noticed any sign of injury, but she also knew better than to dismiss Ensha’s observations. He was way more perceptive when it came to picking up on such things. Letting her know about this was both a reassurance that he believed they could deal with the stranger should she prove a threat, and an asset to use in the conversation however she saw fit. ‟Do you need assistance of any kind?” she asked, then tapped the golden flask attached to her belt. ‟Ensha says you look hurt. I have crimson tears, if you need a sip.” She almost expected him to give another discontent huff at her suggestion—offering aid was likely not what he had had in mind—, but he remained still.

[redliongeneral]

It's been a couple months, and they stayed at the Academy. Rennala was happy to have her son around, and Radahn repaired all the broken bits, even built some railings to make the place less deadly. The Academy opened its gates again with Izar in charge, and they finally had a couple new students.

He tried to keep himself as busy as possible. He taught gravity magic to those interested, learned the sign language Ensha was using so he could converse with him, and hunted for giant crayfish and runebears.

Yet... he was far from alright. Miquella still haunted his dreams, and so did his past suffering. Time and again, he'd find himself in the desert, a raging beast feasting upon a dead. And they always bore the faces of people he loved and lost. Yet these dreams were still not as bad as the ones where Miquella ruled as god-king with him by his side. Those visions were all gold and beauty, he was admired and people said he had surpassed even Lord Godfrey, and yet... they felt wrong. He was not his true self and Miquella, for all his talk of love and compassion, felt cold and distant. And these dreams always felt like an eternity - a world unchanging, perfect, and utterly devoid of conflict. For a warrior like him, it was hell.

He started to avoid sleep at much as he could.

One night, he was up atop the Academy's highest tower, to be closer to the night sky. It was cold - it was always cold lately. Probably something to do with Ranni's journey. But he didn't mind.

I hope thou art doing well up there, little sister...

[blasphemousclaw]

Was that you who liked Alberich at some point btw? o: I swear I didn't hallucinate you drawing fanart of him! Love the obscure lore of Ensha not talking because Alberich cut off his tongue (Taunter's Tongue is literally golden, same as Ensha's bones). We'd deal with our haters the same way if we weren't stupid 😔

yesss I haven’t really made much content or lore theories about him but I HAVE drawn him!

(shhh I know his head is actually encrusted in red glintstone I just wanted to draw his beautiful face)

how could I resist a heretical wizard who does both blood magic and frost magic? side note, I wonder how he knows frost magic, since it isn’t very common! I believe it’s only him, the Zamor, and Ranni, who learned from the Snow Witch, who specifically cast cold sorceries? so how did Alberich get his hands on those spells?

anyway also obsessed with Alberich having cut out Ensha’s tongue! also like, the item is called the Taunter’s Tongue, and Alberich was driven mad by “jeering tongues,” it’s a literal taunting tongue he cut out from the mouth of one of the Roundtable Hold’s shameless bullies who tormented him and drove him mad! suddenly I feel better about being forced to kill Ensha 😂

[toweringclam]

The Roundtable Hold Tarnished all represent different fail states of Soulsborne players.

Gideon: Obsessed with the lore to a frankly unhealthy degree. Tries to fit every little piece together. Barely plays the game.

Brother Corhyn: Focuses on the tiny details while ignoring the big picture. Slavishly follows the words of others, be it his favorite youtuber or that message saying "try jumping"

Roderika: Thinks the game is too hard. The lore is too impenetrable. Tries playing it but bounces off it at the first sign of trouble. Was really only here because her friends were playing it

Dialos: Confused dabbler. Does whatever the last npc he talked to tells him to do, no matter how nonsensical or obviously bad. Just drifts from place to place with no idea what he's supposed to he doing.

D: Heavy roleplayer. His character has an overly convoluted and nonsensical backstory. Talks very passionately about things he doesn't understand. Is replaced by his identical twin halfway through the game.

Dung Eater: Griefer. Exists only to ruin other people's fun. Will threaten you with unspeakable things if you beat him.

Rogier: Loves the game, but it doesn't love him back. Doesn't get very far, but by God, he tries. Gotta feel bad for the guy, tbh.

Fia: Toxic co-op. You'll always end up soloing the boss, regardless of who summoned.

Ensha: pure fashion souls. Invades people just to show off his drip. Poses in the hub, hoping other people see his phantom looking cool.

Nephali Loux: A decent player who gives it her all and does her best to understand the game, but doesn't quite make it. Burns out halfway through, and honestly, that's valid.

[velvet-apricots]

Ensha for the ask meme since I don't see anybody talk about that guy

OHHHH YAYA

favorite thing about them

I love how he is just... there. All the time. Just outside the door, leaning and watching. Why is he there? *shrugs* He just is. Kinda creepy. I also love how loyal he is, to a fault.

least favorite thing about them

He is very underutilized. Like, if you go the whole game with out ever getting a medallion piece, he just vanishes at the end of the game. Doesn't even leave his armor. *poof* gone.

favorite line

Bro says nothing. He says less than Horace from DS3. Horace groans a bit but Ensha just looks at you and gives you a gesture and thats it.

brOTP

Ensha and Gideon, and Ensha and my lil Kindred of Rot baby, Geralt. That is his uncle bones right there!

OTP

Don't have one. Ive considered Ensha/Gideon which shockingly has NOTHING about them (i thought y'all liked old man yaoi????) Also toyed with Gideon/Fyra/Ensha, but nothing has ever come of it. Id imagine if someone i knew started shipping an OC with him, I'd be into it.

nOTP

No one ships him with anyone. But let me filter through a list of npcs.... *pulls out a name card* Milicent? yeah okay. hate that ship.

random headcanon

Imma just toss a few in here, first i just flat out consider canon, second is an interesting 'what if?' thing, last one is from something an rp partner came up with (i miss you allknowingofnir =( )

Ensha is mute and speaks with sign language

Ensha is actually Gideon's maiden and is ftm. (he sometimes has breasts if you remove his armor)

Ensha is a former child soldier for a king named Ensha, who was an enemy of the Golden Order. Gideon saved him from death when the King and his forces were wiped out. He thus donned the king's bones and took the name Ensha

unpopular opinion

I don't really like the headcanon that he's a Puppet. I just think he's a loyal and weird dude who follows Gideon around.

song i associate with them

Uh.... Hmmm....

favorite picture of them

*shuffle shuffle*

[mercurialmalcontent]

I killed the Omenkiller with Nephili this afternoon, and when I noticed she'd vanished from the map I thought huh, maybe she's at Roundtable Hold. So I teleport there, notice it is ominously dark--

"Ensha has invaded!"

Excuse me????

After soundly beating his ass and asking Gideon what the hell that was, then finding out he cast out his own adopted daughter -- who he talks about like she's some useless underling -- I wouldn't mind giving Gideon a sound beating too. I mean, I already didn't trust him, but now I'm expecting a knife in the back every time I go back there.

Also, to hell with Cliffbottom Catacombs and its plague of Omens. (Yes, I died on the floor under the staircase. I had to go out anyway at that point, so I may or may not be back to finish clearing it out. Stupid Omens...)

[pyramidslayer]

replaying elden ring has made me realize i absorb information in fromsoft games like a total meathead

my first and second trips to the village of the albinaurics

back during the original launch of elden ring i gleaned a list of information during or after visiting the village of the albinaruics in liurnia of the lakes. this is fairly early on in the game and i had the loosest possible understanding of the central characters of this plot:

sir gideon ofnir: i know this guy is all-knowing because the narrator in the intro yelled this part the loudest. he gave me a list of bosses to go look at near the start of the game.

ensha: some guy in the hub area who doesn't talk. he stands right outside gideon's door for some reason

nepheli loux: friend :) i vaguely remember hearing about a "hoarah loux" in the intro

here's what a learned when visiting this location:

there are a lot of dead bodies here. it must suck to live here, in the village of the albinaurics

my friend nepheli is here, talking about fighting the good fight against oppression. knock em dead, nepheli!

these guys that are hanging around are probably albinaurics. and they're hitting me a lot

there's a guy in the village who gives me have of a key to an elevator and then dies. this elevator sounds important

there's a boss here called "omenkiller". he's standing here so he must live here. yet another reason it must suck to live here, in the village of the albinaurics

that's the end of the trip to the village, so i better go do some other stuff and then return to the hub area

now that i'm back in the hub area, ensha is beating me up... FOR NO REASON. probably a hater and a traitor and this tantrum was almost certainly not triggered by any recent events

gideon also seems disappointed in this guy's behavior. sucked that he betrayed all of us

nepheli has depression now because her dad disowned her. damn!! if i get my hands on him..... (side note: at this point in time elden ring had a bug where nepheli's arc straight up couldn't continue from this point and the only thing you could do with her was betray her and sell her to a wizard pervert)

you guys might be able to see where i made some bad assumptions, and you may be able to piece together the actual narrative of events here, but i didn't even think of sitting down and doing that at the time. i was there run around and hit things with the "mortal draw" attack from sekiro

now that i'm playing the game again, what's actually happening here is very clearly signposted and in some cases said out loud by the characters:

somebody has organized a pogrom against the albinaurics and nepheli is there to try and stop them. omenkiller is there leading the attack on the civilians and you and nepheli stop him together. one albinauric has managed to hide himself away because he has a really important key to get to one of the bosses (the bosses that gideon ofnir is so interested in). once you get that key from him, that triggers ensha, who is gideon's right hand man, to attack you to try and get the key to gideon. gideon is apologetic and tries to distance himself from ensha, but it's clear that he organized the attack on the village because he disowns his adopted daughter, nepheli, right afterwards

am i stupid? 🤔

[ask-mrpuzzles]

A: don't you fell like someone it watching us?

P: No we should be-

A: WHAT THE FUCK!!

A:HEY WHO ARE YOU?! DONT YOU KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE IT IS TO REPAIR HIM?!

E: Oh sorry I got distracted....

[Mr Puzzles will be gone for 3 asks and New character Ensha will be added To our wacky adventures!]

[izar-tarazed]

Thoughts on Ensha's eyes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[tarnishedinquirer]

Gideon and Nepheli

It was time to talk to Gideon Ofnir. I wasn't looking forward to this, considering what a jerk he was last time we talked, so it was a welcome distraction when I saw a friendly face in his wing.

Nepheli Loux greeted me warmly. I thanked her for her help, and she offered me an Arsenal Charm she found in the grafting grounds. As she put it, she doesn't "make a habit of scavenging corpses."

To each their own, I guess.

An iron charm that resembles a mass of weapons. This talisman was derived from an unusual greatsword, once wielded by a hero hungry for vengeance.

Another trace of the Nameless Revenger. A talisman granting some portion of his power to carry an absurd amount of stuff. That'll be useful, as I like to wear heavier armor than is comfortable with my meager endurance.

She was heading out soon, but pointed me towards her foster father, Gideon Ofnir. (!) She also gave me the bodyguard's name, Ensha.

There must be quite a story there, but it'll have to wait for another time.

Despite his earlier behavior, now Gideon was entirely polite to me. It set me on edge. No one's attitude changes that fast, Great Rune or no. Even if his demeanor was forced, at least he was opening up and sharing information now.

As we talk, it becomes clear why we rubbed each other the wrong way. We're too similar. We both value knowledge above all else. We both have ambition to be Elden Lord (though for me, it's more a means to an end). But we're also just different enough. He seeks information, while I seek answers. I'm a woman of action, while he relies on proxies. We're destined to be either best friends or bitter enemies.

Considering that one of his agents walloped me on the back of the head with a mace, I think that coin has already landed. Despite my disdain, he was still a wealth of information about the remaining shardbearers. I'll be updating their entries soon.

How does Gideon see so much? What magic aids him?

How did Nepheli Loux come into his service?

Why did one of his agents attack me outside the Arena?

Who made the Arsenal Charm?

[headcanontheshitoutofsoulsborne]

Ensha is a spirit Gideon summoned.

This is why he never talks, and how he manages to apparently wear his own bones.

[catcas22]

Hey what do you think the Roundtable Hold is? Does it actually exist like outside time and space or is it more like shortcut for having a hub for the players?

Gonna admit, this one gave me some trouble. But I'll take my best shot at it.

First off, I don't think the Roundtable Hold exists outside time -- Rogier continues to deteriorate while we're gone. So it's not as if the Hold is in stasis.

Also, I don't believe that the "no aggro" mechanic is enforced in-universe. Tarnished within the hold are capable of attacking each other, as in they are not magically prevented from doing so. But they maintain a truce so that they can have at least one safe place to rest and recover. The idea is, if one breaks the truce, he'll immediately be attacked by everyone in the Hold.

We have a few instances of this truce being broken, proving that aggro is possible in-universe. Ensha attacks us because he believes Gideon's authority will shield him from the consequences. D attacks Fia, either in a fit of rage or out of fanaticism. Fia kills D and then immediately leaves before the Hold can punish her for it.

The Hold also seems to function (or once functioned) as a base of operations for the Confessors. We can find their gear and prayerbooks locked behind imp-gates in the lower levels of the hold. It also serves as a home for a single two-finger.

As for what the hold is -- it's definitely connected to the Erdtree in some way. When the Erdtree burns, the Hold burns. When the Elden Beast is slain, there is no longer any need for the Hold, and it presumably burns away entirely.

So here's what I think is going on. Even though Gideon pretends to be in charge, Hewg is actually the most important person in the hold. I believe that the Hold is a sort of liminal space, removed from the rest of reality but anchored to the Erdtree. And I believe that this space was created by Marika -- it's a safe place for Hewg to forge his godslaying weapon, right under the nose of the Elden Beast. All the stuff about guiding the Tarnished and seeking to repair the Ring and crown a new lord is just smoke and mirrors, covering for Hewg's real mission.

Thanks to @thatboreddrake for helping me talk through all this!