#ghostflames lore

[sirstrawberryhead]

finally made a ref(?) sheet for the fantribe featured in my WOF AU :]

—Mistwings—

Description: thin, small dragons with long, finned tails, shorter wings. Typically within shades of greys, desaturated blues, browns, and rarely greens or purples.

Abilities: can remain underwater for prolonged amounts of times, strong swimmers, night vision, weak paralyzing venom, can exhale mist with varying temperatures

Queen: Queen Ghost

[twinflameauwof]

I’ve decided that it’s time to actually get into the lore of the Ghostflames Story

Story under cut

Princess Strike was meant to be the greatest. She couldn’t be queen so she picked the next best thing, a Champion. She was loved and applauded for years.

That was until that MudWing showed up.

She didn’t think anything of it, at first, Egret was allowed to compete just as much as anyone was. Strike had probably beat a hundred MudWings before her.

So when the giant dragoness was on top of her, seconds from winning, what was she supposed to do?

For a bit of context: in the SkyWing arena, you aren’t allowed to kill or severely harm, it’s meant as entertainment for both observers and fighters.

Strike is the first ‘POV’ we see in this ‘Arc’ I made, which means we can expect 4 more dragons to show up. Maybe including a certain missing MsitWing.

[tarnishedinquirer]

Stormveil Larder

In one corner of the courtyard was a staircase leading into a basement. I followed it down, and found the castle's main larder. It was close enough to the kitchen, but it was still in an awkward place. Yet another casualty of the castle's expansion and the difficulty of building into such a steep hill.

Unsurprisingly, most of the food was spoiled. Equally unsurprising but still caught me flat-footed, the room was filled with giant rats. I had just taken on an entire courtyard full of soldiers and their pet ogre with ease, but these vermin brought me to the brink of death. Always stay humble.

For some reason, someone had locked half the larder with an imp statue. Why would anyone do that? There must be something valuable behind the gate.

This part seemed to be a wine cellar, only made slightly awkward by the fact it was well above ground on the other side. Here, there were two chests, and when I opened them, I didn't know what to make of what I found. A Godskin Prayer Book and a Godslayer's Seal

Sacred seal of the Godskin Apostles, inlaid with obsidian. Said to represent the manipulation of black flame, this catalyst enhances godslayer incantations.

Prayerbook bound in supple skin. Incantations of the god-slaying black flame are written within.

What in the hell. I recoiled from the prayerbook, realizing what it's bound in. Is this the actual skin of gods? If so, it's indistinguishable from human skin, and I wasn't taking my chances. I stored them both away and planned to keep them there for a while.

Who are the Godskin Apostles?

Is Godfrey aligned with them?

Were these among the treasures he stole from the capital?

What is the Black Flame? Is it different from Ghostflame?

[geminialchemist]

I made this originally as a comment on a post on Reddit, but it seemed well liked, so I thought I’d expand on it a little and make it a post here on Tumblr.

Spoilers for Shadow of the Erdtree abound, don’t read any farther if you don’t want the ending spoiled.

I really loved a lot of the lore about Miquella up until the big reveal that he Miquellested Mohg, and was bringing back Radahn as his consort. I remember finding the crosses across the land, and then finding the one in the fissure, and seeing that he abandoned his love there, and man, that was so good, so chilling to see that Miquella, known for his compassion and kindness, had thrown that away. We were going from cross to cross, learning just how much he was willing to mutilate and change himself for godhood… only for him to cling to a childhood crush he had on his older brother. That’s lame. Like, really lame. And gross!

And Mohg. I know we joke about how he beat the allegations, but remember that he needed to wed an Empyrean for his plans to work out with the Formless Mother. These plans he already had in place before Miquella charmed him, since Sir Ansbach was already a Pureblood Knight working under Mohg before Mohg was charmed, meaning Mohg had already established the foundations of his dynasty. That means Mohg was going to go after either Miquella or Malenia, since they were the only Empyreans left, and tell me, which one sounds like the easier target, the small child, or the undefeated champion? Miquella was always going to be taken by Mohg, the retcon just exists to make Miquella look more morally questionable while stripping Mohg of a bit of his agency and villainous identity. The entire Mohg portion feels like a rewrite when the entire reason he was charmed by Miquella is because he had some unspecified way into the Shadow Lands, and it’s never really talked about ever again. Mohg’s entire purpose in this plan comes off as an afterthought, with no specifications as to why he was needed, other than a vague “he was needed.” Even the use of his body to resurrect Radahn is unexplained as far as I know, though I headcanon that it’s due to Radahn’s body being too rotted after the centuries of Scarlet Rot infecting it, and they needed a demigod’s body, so Mohg was the only one to use available, but it would have been nice if that had been explained.

Godwyn would have been better as a final boss, and it didn’t even need to be actually Godwyn to work, since I know some people don’t think that would work from a lore perspective since his souls is gone, and his full return would wreck the Duskborn ending. Of course, “gone” is weird way to put it, since his soul isn’t destroyed, it’s in whatever afterlife exists in Elden Ring and just not being reincarnated like everyone else who dies after the rune of Death was removed, so Miquella could maybe work a way to get him back. The DLC is in the Shadow Lands, where all things that die pass through, after all. Get rid of Mohg being brainwashed, but keep his body being used so that Sir Ansbach, one of the best NPCs, still has a quest to follow in putting Mohg’s body to a proper rest. It also makes sense, Godwyn’s body is really messed up, bloated, and multiplying all over the Lands Between like a cancer, and can’t be used for ressurection.

Still, I think a failed Godwyn would be better. Maybe we skip the whole Promised Consort part, and just have it be the first act of Godhood Miquella does, because ew, am I tired of the incest surrounding Miqella’s character. Godwyn The Golden starts the fight off back in his prime, doing loads of attacks infused with Holy damage, coming off as the perfect and powerful Demi-god he’s always stated as being in the lore. Then he starts falling apart at phase 2, his phase 1 attacks being switched to being ghostflame infused rather than holy, Miquella now on his back and any new attacks added to phase 2 take on the holy affinity due to his presence. Then phase 3 hits, no holy infinity at all, all attacks do ghostflame or deathblight buildup. Deathblight is already so underused, so it would be great here. Godwyn is falling apart faster the more we fight, and Miquella, holding on, is getting hurt by the ghostflame and deathblight while desperately trying to keep his beloved brother together.

Have the fight set during an eclipse, too, sorta like the final boss of Dark Souls 3, the Soul of Cinder. Really tie it into the lore of Miquella trying to bring Godwyn back, like we find out at Castle Sol, where he had hoped to use an eclispe. I’d even say to make the light from behind the eclipse change color as the fight rages on, starting off bright and holy, and change it to the horrid dark grey and sickly yellow that deathblight has by the third phase, so rather than the arena getting brighter than a flash bang like it is in canon, have it get darker and gloomier. And of course, after the fight, the eclipse has faded entirely.

Instead of a cutscene that is nothing but information we already know(Seriously, what was even the point of the cutscene we got? It gave us not a single piece of new information), Miquella is lying on the floor, mostly dead, much like Morgott after we beat him in Leyndell. He isn’t dying because of us(honestly, I don’t even know why he died in the DLC, he’s so high up on Radahn’s back we never really get a chance to hit him directly, but he dies when Radahn does for whatever reason), instead he’s dying from clinging so tightly to Godwyn and trying to hold him together, burned by ghostflame and deathblight. He laments that even as a god, he wasn’t able to fix anything. Not his sister, not his brother, not the Haligtree, none of his plans ever work. No matter the sacrifices, personal or otherwise. He’s a failure in every way, and the knowledge breaks him as he sobs and dies.

However, if you visited every cross before the boss fight, you can absorb the essence of Miquella’s discarded body, and if you beat him then, you’ll get the option to return his discarded flesh and emotions after the fight. Doing so heals him, and gives him back everything he discarded, like his love, his fears and doubts. He fades away into light particles, and if you sit at the grace in the arena, he’ll appear like Melina does, sitting across from you and with a healed character model. This gets a few bits more dialogue, some exposition, yadda yadda. He’s a god without a consort, you’re a lord without a throne. He’s unsure, and not confident it will work, but maybe if you work together, something good can come of this tragedy? Giving up now would just be spiting in the faces of everyone he’s hurt. You’re strong enough to stop him if he loses his way again. (I think the reason he chose Radahn in canon was because of his strength and kindness? He trusted Radahn to do what was right after he threw away his love and compassion, entrusting Radahn to lead him down the right path when he lacked those things, and to be strong enough to resist his charm. That’s again entirely headcanon due to our lack of knowledge about their vow, but I’m adding it here because this is MY fanfiction and I can do whatever I like!)

(This part is more of a personal bit I’d have liked added because I find it amusing, rather than because I think it would make it better. Remember when you go through all that trouble to find Fia, and she asks if you’ve come all this way to kill her, and you can just say “No, I want to be held,” and it’s the funniest chunk of text you get in game? I really wanted something like that with Miquella. He wants to know why you came all this way, entered the Shadow Lands, a sealed off region of the world where only death awaits, where you fought against insurmountable odds, all to get to Miquella, presumably to stop him, only to heal him at the last moment, in which you can straight up tell him to his face you want to be his consort, and he’s just as confused and amused as Fia was. He knows you aren’t under his charm, but still he questions if it’s possible you are if you went this far just for that.)

This unlocks a new ending for the base game, the Age of Compassion. You summon Miquella like you would Ranni after beating Elden Beast, and together you usher in a kinder world, this time without the brainwashing. Or maybe with the brainwashing. Or perhaps it’s vague about the brainwashing, and if this is a good or bad ending in classic Fromsoft fashion. I’d prefer no brainwashing, and Miquella still unsure if things will work out, with it ending ambiguous if the Age of Compassion lasts, or fumbles and falls to a world blind to it. All you and Miquella can do is hope it will be better.

That might be a lot to ask, but look, it’s the only way I’ll ever get to live out my fantasy of being fought over by a cold, goth witch gf and a soft femboy twink with hair longer than I am tall, okay?

[roachymochi]

By the grace you always have amazing takes.

I picked up a few details about the black knives plot surrounding Stormveil.

While there is an assassin in a near catacomb, her knife lack the power of destined Death that every other assassin posess. This could mean that the assassin is exhausted in some way After running away from Leyndell, but also that her rune was "used up" and lost, somehow.

The theory of deathroot spreading to Godwyn and not the reverse is interesting, because it would mean that the eyes Comes from someone else. The Stormveil Corpse is distinctly eyeless.

In addition to the architecture making the secret place look holy, the way the many human corpses we can find there make it look like a burial site. Many are disposed on boat shaped leaves, like some kind of viking funeral. The Key here is, it's not Erdtree burial rites, which means the place, the Old Prince of Death and it's cult is way older thanks the black knives plot.

About the deathroot in Farum Azulla, the two landmass may have been linked in the past. In the opening, when the voice says "our Land across the fogs", we see the Erdtree from limbgrave, with Stormveil and the divine tower on the left, and the shadowy of a massive mountain on the right, where mistwood or Caelid would be.

The Coral color you mention is interesting, because it brings it clother to other plot thread surrounding deathroot and a certain bodyless soul that may have inspired Ranni's plot, but I really need to investigate before writing about it.

The Prince of Death Corpse we can find in the depth under Stormveil castle is almost always described as Godwyn's corps by fan. Since Godwyn is the Prince of Death, the mistake is definitely understandable.

However, there are a few details that hint at a more interesting truth :

The Corpse is (when lit with a torch or a spell) distinctly coppery in color, a reddish tin whit bits of green. This is distinct of Godwyn's gold.

Godwyn's corpse and all deathroot found across the Lands Between have eyes with a iconic ecclipse look with a halo of light in a dark sclera. Stormveil Corpse, however, has completely empty eyesocket.

There is nothing reminiscent of Godwyn's order under Stormveil : no deathroot, no Undead, no swarm of pest.

The theory that Stormveil Corpse is Godwyn makes no sense. While his Corpse did spread through the Erdtree Root, it never formed a full face and torso anywhere else. So Why under Stormveil of all place ?

Long story short, I find it quite likely that the Prince of Death Corpse under Stormveil is a completely different person from Godwyn.

Maybe, just like each cycle start with a new Elden Lord, they end by the Curse of a Prince of Death. Though I have no idea who this Prince was, or when he mattered in the timeline.

[katyspersonal]

So yeah, have been playing some SOTE this evening... and it is 4 AM... and I need to wake up to work at 7 AM... 🤡 me 🤝 @jarognieva

I don't believe I went far, some highlights so far:

1) "But never again" 💀

2) I spent 40 minutes alone on trying to kill annoying knight in the first Mausoleum, until I gave up and got @fantomette22 to help me. And then offered to help HER. We both now have the bitch dead thanks to our incredible strategy: she runs around and distracts the jerk while I spam him with the spells. Team work XDDDD

3) "Fantomette get off my DICK, you are way too good at killing bosses fast I don't want spoilers, sorry I am not as good at this game as you!!! 😭" *kills a Ghostflame Dragon* *kills the Lion Dancer* *kills the uhhhh that one Demihuman swordsman*

4) Lion Dancer battle was so fun and beautiful, holy shit...? Very impressive

5) I was forced to return to shield and spear strategy. :/

6) Celebrants lore?

7) Really interesting items

8) "Shut UP Val, you are TOO good at maps and finding places, stop rubbing it into my face I know I am absolutely useless and can't find shit on my own ;-;" *finds a bunch of curious places and secrets he didn't*

9) He straight up just.. ignored me...

I hoped if I moved very slowly maybe it could have stayed that way.. but nope, one millimeter and I was obliterated xd

10) I might be completely sleep deprived but that Demihuman swordsman used Waterfowl Dance?? Or not? I hope he fucking did because meeting Malenia's teacher is all I really want anymore

11) I absolutely love the feature to see the new items and items discovered in chronological order, helps me to not forget to read the lore as I proceed. Genuinely the most helpful feature after adding the jump button!

12) Interesting NPCs, curious about the guy whose mask weirdly resembles the Wormfaces, and the lore that only Miquella didn't give up on Frejia and healed her wound is sweet..

13) Every second fucking item I pick in this joke place mentions the crusade and how cringe Messmer is and whatever gfhyhgh I like how they can't let me forget for one second that he's a war criminal xD

14) I guess Smouldering Butterflies ARE still Melina's, since Messmer has his own now xD

15) I really want to access that like.. really red place I see from the cliff but don't know how to step into.. I hopefully will figure it out

______

Okay in general it is really fun to play, though so stupidly hard that I have to try different strategies. Again. But seeking everything in blind is cool, after all the only spoilers I've gotten is That One plot twist and the fact that final boss (?) is not my blorbo but some random idiot so gfgfhfhyj Still so much stuff to pick

[the-odd-laundromat]

On Miquella, St. Trina, and Spirits

Warning, this is a fairly long post. Best buckle up.

I've started to let my imagination wander of late about Miquella, St. Trina, and spirit ashes within the lore of Elden Ring and its DLC. I made this for fun and I don't intend it in serious spirit. If this doesn't line up with your own theories or headcanons, that's cool. There are billions of people on the planet, and some of us are bound to disagree. Let's all be civil about it, please. (Do note this is just my personal blog, not dedicated exclusively to ER).

My theory is this: Apart from sleep (through St. Trina), Unalloyed Gold and the Haligtree, Miquella holds dominion over spirits; specifically Torrent, Spirit Ashes and spirit bosses you fight.

Miquella fits, if abstractly, into Elden Ring's mythological basis. He parallels the god Baldr from Norse myth, already an influence on Elden Ring (e.g., The Erdtree = Yggdrasil) in some ways: Baldr was associated with light and all good things, and was specifically noted to be beloved by all. Baldr's death (though that's Godwyn in ER) triggers Ragnarok. Baldr is among the gods who survive and return to a renewed, clean-slate world (Miquella wants to create a new world order with the Haligtree).

Now, I'll go out on a limb and propose that he also parallels Apollo of Greek myth. Apollo wasn't specifically beloved by all (I don't think), but he was significantly venerated, comparably to big-shots like Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite, and Hermes. He's also associated with light (one of his most common epithets is Phoebus Apollo, meaning Shining or Radiant Apollo), and is a twin (granted, Apollo and Artemis are rather different to Miq and Malenia). In the DLC trailer, Miquella glows, and the camera cuts immediately to a bright light bathing the strangler-fig tree (nature unknown) from behind.

Now comes the fun part: The connection between music, death, and sleep. Apollo is also famously a god of music, and in Elden Ring, spirits are also associated with it. You summon spirits in combat with the Spirit-Calling Bell, and Melina gives you the Spectral Steed Whistle to summon Torrent (who some speculate Miquella is the "original master" of, as supported by promotional art for the DLC). Curiously, Miquella's alter ego St. Trina is also associated with music: One of their titles is Saint Trina of the Cradlesong, and as mentioned in a cut quest, Miquella, as St. Trina, supposedly sang a lullaby to the Frenzied Flame Merchants to ease their suffering. To my knowledge, no other figure has such an association to music.

Fittingly for a game constantly trying to kill you, Elden Ring is in no shortage of death gods and suchlike figures. Maliketh and Godwyn may be considered death gods through their relation to Deathroot/the Rune of Death, you have the Deathbirds/Twinbird and the Gloam-Eyed Queen and the Ancestor Spirit, Ghostflame and Blackflame and the Frenzied Flame - heck, Malenia/the Scarlet Rot God could even qualify, as a harbinger of decay and apocalypse. My proposition is that Miquella is or will become another death god, but of merciful death, of deathlike sleep and the peaceful dream of oblivion - hence his connection to the Shadow Realm. And potentially the first spirit tuner - Hewg tutors Roderika because he's "indebted to a spirit tuner [he] met long ago". After all, in Greek mythology, Sleep (Hypnos) is brother to Death (Thanatos).

Are there holes in this? Yeah, probably. Will the DLC canon crush this theory under Messmer's open-toed cowboy boots? Most definitely. That's okay. Part of the fun of speculation is seeing just how crazy you can get with it. Sorry this is so long-winded. I hope you enjoyed this deranged romp through the mythology of this super cool video game.

[annelidist]

isnt the only horror around death in elden ring that of "dying wrong" like wrt to godwyn? textually at least.

the death stuff in elden ring is such a weird mixed bag. godwyn is maybe the coolest thing they've ever done re: their recurring theme of deathless/unliving stagnation, and on the other hand you have the twinbird/ghostflame/generic skeletons-and-necromancers stuff, which is just an absolute nothingburger thematically and aesthetically, and on the other other hand you have destined death, which is a third distinct kind of death magic with its own associated imagery and mechanics. each of the above is associated with an incrementally different kind of black magical fire (from amongst the seven or eight kinds of unrelated magical fire in the game) and none of them are really played off one another in interesting ways. elden ring lore is a fucking disaster

[izar-tarazed]

Something that has made Izar happy in the Shadow Realm:

"They do have stars here!"

She had already resigned herself to never finding out with that seemingly eternally clouded sky above the Gravesite Plain. But this night, there are no clouds, and she can sit and marvel with her telescope, filled with joy at the sight of something familiar in the night sky.

_____

some random OOC thoughts on my progress so far:

I didn't get to play as much as I would have liked this weekend but still was able to do quite some exploring on that first map.

I love what I've seen so far, and also in the painful way because of all the details reminding us that these are lands charred by war. Exploring Belurat in particular felt intense. With all those burned shadows wandering the streets, the settlement somehow still felt inhabited and less of a ghost town than Sellia or even Leyndell. Passing through that one homestead with its kitchen and its private altar somehow made me feel like I was really getting a glimpse into what might have been everyday life in a remote time before.

I know everybody is talking about the Miquella storyline (and yes I'm aware of some spoilers but won't comment on that stuff until I've seen it in game). But I'm currently way more invested with what Marika and her people did and keep doing to the Shadow Realm, who the Hornsent are and how they lived before the war. (How political power structures such as the Golden Order come to be and are maintained, and at what cost; which tales are told and which ones aren't and who gets to decide that in the first place are in general questions I find worth exploring so I'm glad the game seems to be doing that.)

Sneaking into Castle Ensis was fun! Hoped to confuse Moonrythill by confronting her in Carian Knight armor but she was unfazed. (But I love that bit of lore we get that she was "a friend to the trolls who served the royal family". Please Moonrythill, Izar would have loved to get to know you better!)

I went into the DLC at level 184 or something and felt a little bad about it but wow, am I glad now. The bosses do hit hard and are challenging, I haven't taken down a single story boss so far; it feels extremely challenging but doable and I'm having fun in the fights I've tried so far.

(I've come across that knight in the Western Mausoleum, the Dancing Lion, Rellana and the Ghostflame Dragon so far, and another dragon in a cave that was fairly easy to shred with the trusty Shard Spiral.)

Can't wait to see more from the NPCs I've met and talked to so far and see what their deal is!

In terms of storytelling and headcanon stuff, Izar doesn't care too much about the whole "find Miquella" thing right now, she's intrigued as much as she'd be by any good treasure hunt. But she's way more shaken by the realization that there is an entire realm hidden away here with a cruel war being waged on it on Marika's or the Erdtree's behest apparently. (And she is about to burden herself with the question of how she can possibly fix this, even though Ensha is warning her not to.)

[cephalofrog]

the more I try to understand how death works in elden ring lore the more I hate it

judging by the whole existence of spooky skeletons, ghostflame, etc. (all linked with destined death) we can pretty much rule out destined death as literally meaning death like how it happens in our world. so what is it?

normally when you die your soul goes back to the erdtree automatically and is reborn (probably via the crucible but shhh) as something/someone else, basically just like a standard reincarnation type biz (related: if you wanted you could probably headcanon any characters you kill getting reincarnated via the erdtree if you go for either the age of fracture or perfect order ending. however I'm fairly sure it wouldn't just be, like, morgott strolling out of the tree one day, more like his soul being brought back as like a dog or something. idk the fanon possibilities there are interesting at least), which to me along with the whole of everything in the DLC says that what destined death actually is is, like, your soul not returning to the erdtree and instead just sorta doing what it wants?

this could mean becoming a skeleton or it could mean just hanging out but I guess it most likely means either heading to the realm of shadow or getting burned in ghostflame, the results of which are unclear but don't seem to result in a permanent end judging by the description of the ancient death rancor spell mentioning that it throws "vengeful spirits", raked from ghostflame. seems like a rough deal to me but what do I know, maybe it's better? maybe you could choose to go get resurrected by the crucible if that sounds like your jam but it's just not forced. idk

(as for what happens to spirits in the realm of shadow... idk. maybe you head to the scadutree to have... something... happen judging by DLC remembrances being "hewn into the scadutree"? or maybe you just hang out forever, or also get ghostflame'd but like in a different place. the hornsent seem to like spirits so it's probably not too bad assuming you don't wander into the abyss and get melted.)

so the duskborn ending right. after that ending when people die they don't return to the erdtree. sounds cool. until you remember the blessing of despair ending (in which people no longer return to the erdtree after dying) also fucking exists

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE THERE? what is the difference between people no longer return to the erdtree (spooky) and people no longer return to the erdtree (stinky)? what does the omen curse, a manifestation of the crucible, have to do with making people no longer return to the erdtree? the erdtree doesn't particularly hate omens, it seems to like morgott, so why is the curse of despair linked with omens? if the hornsent are basically kinda like omens and they like spirits (which exist cause of destined death) and the blessing of despair is linked to omens and it makes people no longer return to the erdtree (causing them to become spirits, which the hornsent like) are the rune of the fell curse and the rune of death just the same damn thing but in a different package???????????

I mean it would make sense for there to be more than one way to re-add destined death since the mending rune of death seems different to the rune of destined death that maliketh has???

idk man. maybe returning to the erdtree is possible for duskborn but blessing of despair makes it not an option at all. or another possibility is that the blessing of despair ending doesn't let people become spirits and causes them to actually vanish after death but that's just baseless speculation, with nothing in the game to actually support it. it would be funny if the stinky poop man ending is the one that actually gives you what people assume the duskborn ending gives though

shit's driving me insane. frenzied flame is the correct choice just to sort out this goddamn clusterfuck of lore once and for all

[bimboficationblues]

Elden Ring spoilers, here be dragons, etc.

my take on how much I enjoyed the main bosses of the expansion. overall the DLC has some of my all-time faves of the game (as you can see, I liked more than I didn't). unfortunately the final boss is up there with Bed of Chaos in terms of an "unpleasant time" I've had in contemporary FromSoftware games, its first phase being a rehash of a base game boss with a wonkier camera (and just generally aping the design instincts of other main fights like Godfrey/Hoarah Loux), and the second phase tanks performance so evading becomes guesswork. as for the "great enemy and below" bosses, I mostly liked them - the Hippo was fun, the Demi-Human Swordmaster was really great, the new dragons were cool, I find the Furnace Golems a bit tedious but they're at least unique. most of the humanoid enemies weren't really much to write home about, but I still have some minor dungeons to explore that might change my tune.

the new levels were generally fun to explore and there wasn't anything super aggravating like the Lake of Rot. the art direction of the levels was interesting - I liked the sort of "dark reflection" of the base game's world but think there could have been a bit harder of a lean into that quality, it sometimes just felt like a remix of areas we'd already been. there's a stealth section in the Abyssal Woods; it turns out rather underwhelming, but it's initially quite unsettling. I think the new upgrade system is pretty ill-conceived by essentially making exploration into a chore checklist, though I understand that the devs had to solve a tricky design problem (how do we prevent people from just steamrolling through this with their end-of-game characters from two years ago).

there's been a lot of hate about the story/lore writing but I think that's largely unjustified - the only real decision I dislike is, again, the reuse of Radahn instead of giving the opportunity to see Godwyn in his prime (Ghostflame/holy combination boss, which would make sense given the repeated use of Ghostflame dragons throughout the DLC) or something similar. I can see how that might have been hard to pull off given Ranni's killing of Godwyn's soul, but I think they still could have cooked up a more interesting take on the Lothric/Lorian redux type boss. the expansion of Marika, Miquella, and their personal characters was pretty compelling to me, as were various revelations around factions and groups from the base game, and overall I felt that it added a lot thematically to the base game's narrative. the NPC questlines seem cool and really tie things together into Miquella, but pursuing the quests felt mostly out of the way to me - I kind of managed to lock myself out of most of them inadvertently, which was a letdown.

ultimately I think it's pretty solid, definitely more enjoyable to me than e.g. the Dark Souls III DLCs, but that's not saying much given my general feelings on that game. not quite at the level of the Bloodborne or Dark Souls expansions, which now feel crucial to the main experience - I could see myself flipping a coin on whether I would revisit this as part of a new playthrough, whereas I usually feel super-eager to seek out optional dungeons and bosses from the base game.

[sirstrawberryhead]

I normally hate drawing Nightwings but she was really fun to design :)))

[press keep reading for my Night Kingdom lore]

[btw none of the events of the main series happened, so Nightwings still live in the Night Kingdom because Darkstalker never happened]

So basically, just beneath the Royal Family ranks, are the Three Moon Houses, Oracle, Perception, and Imperial. (I wanted to make the moons more important bc they’re only named in book 15).

Stormseer is part of Oracle, she was taken in and raised by the houses matriarch, Lightchaser (seer) after a storm took her egg on the night of her hatching. She has two brothers, Smokescripter (older, seer) and Fogsight (younger, no powers). Their father’s name is Horoscope (seer and mind reader).

I’ll work on the rest of the houses later.

[twinflameauwof]

Queen Ghost of the MistWings

Queen Ghost had studied every scroll her ancestors had left them relentlessly. When new information about a tribe scrawled its way into the tablet in her throne room, she was the first to read it.

The other queens of the world were all the same to her. Either the only weight they carried themselves were the jewels on their backs, or they were aggressive, war mongering animals. They were why she kept her tribe hidden, unseen for the sake of her dragons.

That was, until the Ghostflame was stolen.

The enchanted object that kept her subject’s sanctuary hidden and protected, gone without a trace. She was sure it was one of her own, one of her advisers was certainly the dragon to steal such a treasure. But why?

It wasn’t until her only daughter, Dewdrop, and her fiancé, Wonder, disappeared just as the flame did, and now she is left with a choice.

Stay put? Or go carry out revenge on those who wronged her?

RAHHHHH SO MUCH LORE THIS WEEK‼️ anyways I’ve actually started working out the Ghostflames story and will be posting the main characters hopefully soon!!! I really love Ghost and her daughter, and can’t wait to write more about them

[sir-virtem]

Thoughts on magic and transmigrations.

On elden ring, since I havent play anything that could kick it out of my head yet, permadeath was deactived, people still kind of die, some easier than other but everyone still dies, however Marika, goddess of all that is Golden & vessel of Order, sometimes curse people with inmortality, like her first husband and men, the thing that this work not like eternal life but base on resurection, someone dies, the grace bring them back on tracks dot

Now I am not really into lore of DnD but if i remember right when people die they souls get into some afterlife depending of their deity, deals and other, however you can bring them with a spell if they consent. They go somewhere but with return.

Other case is Elder Scrolls, where peopl cant revive as far I am aware, there are workarounds but not revify at all, they die they go to the after life, you can force them back with necromancy but isnt a full revification at all. Again, they go somewhere but without return.

So this make me ponder in how death in Elden Ring actually work, an interesting details are burial practices, ghostflame was once violace allegedly and is thought that lost it's color when permadeath was remove, it use was to burn the death and help them reach the helphen and even after permadeath still hold a conection with death. So people used to go somewhere and since permadeath is something Marika can unmake, they cant come back.

Other case is Erdtree burial in which people are lay in the greattree roots and this quite literally absorbes them and throught they are reborn. There is also Jar burial in which people is chopped and stuffed in jars that through some magic gain life. Finally there is tomb burial, which aint popular as both pass, is anywya still practiced by sorcerers.

Here is the thing, if someone recive erdtree burial they arent warranted to stay death, they could return as those who live in death (twlid), if they get tomb burial they came back too... or at least the sorcerers do so however they have blue eyes and probably has to do with their exposion too glintstone which according to Sellen well...

Glintstone is the amber of the cosmos, golden amber contains the remnants of ancient life and houses its vitality, while Glintstone contains residual life.

And thus, the vitality of the stars.

Later on Raya Lucaria she says too.

Do you recall what I once told you? That glintstone is the amber of the cosmos, and sorcery is the study of the stars, and the life therein. When you become Elden Lord, please illuminate me. Lay bare the secrets of life which course the Elden Ring

And while we see putrid bodies in catacombs and in places of rotness and bloodshell, only in Raya Lucaria is saw them emerging from the grave, this is people who died, were buried and decaid yet were still revified by something, which is probably the residual life on glintstone.

If in theory the residual life on glintstone can revive while the grace can fully bring back those recent dead, then in theory all those without guidance of grace could be bring back through erdtree or two fingers incantations. Maybe all the dead in castle morne could be bring back in some form someday.

Which set something, people when they die, dont go to the afterlife, they need permadeath through some process to achieve it, such as ghostflame... or blackflame I guess, tho maybe deathblight could too in some cases, once they leave not come backs, until then is fair game, perhaps those with grace rutinerly are revified by the golden one.

Other interesting thought is the mausoleum knights, whom were decapitated and instead to came back as twlid, they are spirit, they are disconnected of their bodies, spirit ashes are a similar yet different condition on which even if the bodies is destroy the spirit still remains on what stay.

So people dies and 3 things can happen, the spirit remains in the body awaiting propper burial, it so then could pass on to the afterlife, if permadeath is on, else would stay on mortal realm, the body could be destroy if the spirit remains in it would become in a spirit ash else it would disjoin and become in some sort of ghost, if the body is not destroy then if is expose to life then could be revified in different states according the magic involved else its close to permadeath it can gain strenght and take control in what remain of themselves as twlid.

I think if one can get into death magic of necromancy, take a time and think in those tging is important, it shade light into the rules on transmigration and set a score clean to how to abord this type of stuff.

[goattypegirl]

Like I get what they were going for with the final boss, it was like a re-do of the twin demon princes concept, but the animation for using the Dyad's Soul to switch your aura is just too long. It's like. Literally the same animation as using a rune arc, right? They just swapped the particle effects? And the item description says it's a damage buff to the opposite head but it's more like it allows you to do damage. I really hope it's a bug.

I wish you were directed a little bit better in the endgame too. Like, yeah I get it, Miquella's in the tower, but you only learn where St Trina is to get her soul half if you follow Thopps's questline or through process of elimination.

Lore wise, the twin death bird outer god being the final boss is a bit out of left field; the Godwyn summon was really cool tho. Also the "blue" the game refers too clearly being white is on purpose; one head is blood red the other is ghostflame blue. It's Lore or whatever.

[yournextflame]

To add to your theory there’s also the candletree shield: “Thought to represent a surreptitious prophecy of cardinal sin, the lit candle-tree design was forbidden”

Just that description alone would seem to point to fire+erdtree=bad lol but you can find several candelabra like spirit trees that resemble the design on the shield and when you examine them a ghost leads you to something hidden nearby. Which reminded me of this part of Helphen’s Steeple description: “the lampwood which guides the dead of the spirit world”

I'll reply to you and other anon, who asked about connection between spirit world and Miquella/St. Trina in one post.

You brought a great point about wandering ghosts, not only they are spawning near candletrees, but lamps shaped like candletrees can be found in the praying room of Haligtree near the statue of Miquella. Or St. Trina?

However, at first I wanted to say that Candletree Shield might be unrelated to the subjext due to difference in design, until I found out that this shield is located in Sage's Cave, a home of Necromancer Garris. Garris is quite an interesting guy, he is a link between ancient death sorsery of Deathbirds and modern incarnation of death sorcery.

I really didn't want to touch this subject in a mere reply, but let me explain. Whatever ritual Ranni did with Godwyn allowed to rediscover old ghostflame magic of Deathbirds and their outer god that predated existance of the Erdtree (Explosive Ghostflame: in the time when there was no Erdtree, death was burned in ghostflame. Deathbirds were the keepers of that fire)

Ancient Death Rancor: sorcery of the servants of Death. Summons a horde of vengeful spirits that chase down foes. Charging enhances potency. They are cinders of the ancient death hex, raked from the fires of ghostflame by Deathbirds.

Rancorcall: sorcery of the servants of Death. Summons vengeful spirits that chase down foes. Charging enhances potency. Once though lost, this ancient death hex was rediscovered by the necromancer Garris. 

Background sigils is one the best future of Elden Ring from the perspective of lore hunting because they are allowing us to indicate origin of spells, for example in case of incantations we can easily define an object of worship. It works similar for the sorceries, but Death sorceries is the absolute ??? because their sigil is cursemark of Godwyn, who was killed right before the Shattering. I can see why new Death spells are using it, but how they are connected with the old magic? Wtf Ranni did, where did she learned about the ritual and how it's all connected to the outer god of Deathbirds?

So, before I'm going to lose my mind over death sorceries, let me summarize: Miquella cares about Godwyn, who was killed by Black Knives, but can't die properly, Miquella also has candledtrees near his statue - necromancer fanatic of Deathbirds rediscovered sorcery, which is powered up by Godwyn's cursemark, this dude also has nascent butterfly in his basement (his butterfly appears as if it's just emerged from its cocoon for its entire life), Candletree shield and... Black Knife Assassin and talisman that they used during NoBK (Concealing Veil: Part of one of the concealing veils used by the assassins on the Night of Black Knives) - Miquella also planned to do something with eclipsed sun, the eclipsed sun, drained of color, is the protective star of soulless demigods/ The sun in eclipse is said to be the symbol of the Wandering Mausoleum where the soulless demigods slumber, and the stars, as we know, is the source of power for sorceries.

Lord Miquella, forgive me. The sun has not been swallowed. Our prayers were lacking. Your comrade remains soulless... (Ghost at the Castle Sol)

(THERE IS TOO MUCH GOING ON WITH NECROMANCER GARRIS)

Okay, I do believe that dreamworld is connected to the spirit world if not the same thing. We find Godwyn's malformed corpses the location named Deathbed Dream.

Worth noting that items and objects related to sleep and some items with connection to death (Grave Violet, Godskins jewelry, water near Tibia Mariner) are violet (the hue of ghostflame, it's believed to be useful in calling forth spirits):

It also interesting how description St. Trina's Arrow

Priests of St. Trina use these arrows to spread their teachings. The sweet oblivion of sleep can become quite the habit

matches description of Juvenile Scholar Cap:

Robe worn by young academy scholars, the juveniles birthed anew by the amber egg of Queen Rennala, the head of Raya Lucaria Academy. Yet their rebirth is not without imperfections, and thus do they repeat the process, eventually becoming utterly dependent upon it. Rebirth is as sleep to them, and with each awakening, memory fades into oblivion.

There is an interesting theory in Chinese community that all Empyrean children of Radagon are connected via sleep sorcery. Miquella is self-explanatory, Ranni asks Tarnished do not disturb mother's rich slumber, goes to nap during her quest, puts into a sleep merchant and his donkey the first time we've met her. There is not a lot of about Malenia, but she is sleeping, while waiting for Miquella. Some people even suggest that Empyrean kids inherited those powers from their father, albeit it's never mentioned.

Ah, and last but not least. Do you know that you can see Godwyn's face on some crabs?

Well, crabs are one of the few enemies in game, who can cast a sleep status on Tarnished. They are usually doing it near Raya Lucaria.