#merman godwyn

[pkbth]

I love your Godwyn and Fortissax art! I find it funny tho how you made his lower body vaguely merman-y, there's a hilarious fan theory that he'd always had a fish tail to begin with xD

https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/vxz4sk/godwyns_strange_appearance_fishman_and_the/

Yeah he would be perfect for the new little mermaid cast I'm sure of it xd

[ghostofashina]

"What lieth in one's soul, lieth within the other."

War & Death for A Severed Sun

[connor-dioda]

Gotta love how the Elden Ring fandom took one look at the blonde demigod who turns into an undead cancerous fish tree and decided "ok, but what if he was a hot merman?" Honestly? Can't disagree.

[orange-coloredsky-archive]

looooove when i rb art of godwyn elden ring and one of my friends is like "is there. a merman in elden ring" out of intrigue and the answer is yes!!! but also. look out !!!!

[birbycakes]

anyways I've been playing some Elden Ring finally and I am attracted to Radagon and Godwyn, among others. Why is it whenever I play a video game I get Feelings for the fictional men within it.

[flameclipseth]

The Prince of Death, a personal concept

I want to draw (and write) about this concept at some point, but I liked it so much I wanted to bring here a closer look!

So, this is my personal concept of a scenario Godwyn returned graceless and disabled.

The Eyes.

Three of Godwyn's corpses lack eyes, those we find at Stormveil and Lands of Shadow. His original corpse has eyes, however, seem blank and (ofc) lifeless.

While we see his eyes in many other places, I think that himself might be, actually, blind. Which takes me to another part of the concept.

The Third Eye.

We argue a lot about the correct way of looking at Godwyn's face. And I, personally, believe it's like this:

If we look to the hair direction, or even how the Stormveil's corpse has teeth underneath the gills, I tend to believe it's a crooked neck, also because of the thorns impaling him. And why a third eye? To fit a Sacred Seal!

We have more Soreseals in game beyond Messmer's, and they all say the same thing about a curse from which there's no deliverance. We know it's Messmer's curse, but his curse shares a lot of similarities with the Prince of Death. I believe that, rather than a Miquella's Needle, a Sacred Seal would help to tame the curse and hold back the Deathblight, but not without a cost, as we see with Messmer.

The Costume.

So, once we have a Sacred Seal, his features are more human once more. He is dead gone and for too long neglect. The Golden Boy now has more of a putrid, torn look. The Braided Robe from Hornsent reminds me of a fishing net, which fits for the water aesthetic, as if he was caught in the riptide. It's torn, old and tangled.

But his legs became a fish tail, since he is a merman. In order for him to walk again, he'd need some support from his younger sibling's prosthetics. And since Godwyn embraced the Cursed Twins, Malenia's Prosthetics would be the same for him. He'd have a hard time, though, learning how to walk all over again and struggling with his blindness.

In this concept, I also imagine the possibility of him being graceless, lacking not only a soul, but his Mother's grace and facing conflicts in this new world, shattered, that he never met, but with his own family.

I had so much fun doing this, even more because I already had a Godwyn, the Golden, to play with as a Lord.

So, if you want the sliders to commune with the Prince of Death, here it is.

[vlad-wakinyan]

Merman Godwyn? Merman Godwyn

[jiayn]

Godwyn

Drew this for mermay. I mean technically he is a merman right??? Funnily enough it makes sense when you remember mermaids are traditionally soulless

[zephyrins]

what if Godwyn was the only sibling who personally knew Messmer?

Messmer is possibly the oldest child and participated in the war against giants, and maybe he was sent away after everyone saw Godwyn as the new perfect heir. Maybe Messmer hated his replacement, but Godwyn was the only one who somehow remembered him and told Miquella about Messmer's existence, and that's how Miquella found out about the Shadowlands

imagine Messmer's feelings when he discovered how many siblings he has and that he's not that special unloved child anymore because now he also has: omen twins from the sewer, other twins but cursed, a bunch of Renalla's kids who are a blue space doll, a giant snake and a guy with a pony and brain rot

oh and his perfect golden boy replacement is a giant half-dead deformed merman now

[dragon-communion]

Concept:

All of Marika's children are born cursed in some way. Messmer's snake business. Melina's rune from birth was probably Destined Death and its blackflame. The omen twins and their blood. Miquella's eternal youth/oblivion and weird blood. Malenia's rot.

I don't think Radagon's kids were cursed as badly, and I actually blame most of their issues on him being the world's worst transmasc father. (/j)

So where does that leave Godwyn? Obviously his fate was to be the first to die and gestate deathblight, but that's all to blame on Marika messing with the Elden Ring as opposed to anything innate about his birth. And the kids we can 100% confirm as belonging to Godfrey show signs of the Crucible, which he's intimately and thematically associated with.

I really love the idea that Godwyn was always a merman, but if I look at him critically using what I know about the base game, I don't think it entirely makes sense? Crucible influence seems to make everything revert to a dragon. Reptilian tails, feathered wings, horns, breath attacks. Devolved dragons, sure, but it's really obvious to me when looking at some of the more elaborate Misbegotten as an example. Mohg and Morgott are also two halves of a whole- Mohg got the wings, Morgott got the tail.

You could argue the scaly tail is draconic, but I don't know. We tragically don't really get any sea monsters in Elden Ring, and even the giant serpent lives in a volcano. We've got some land octopus things, some crabs. The Tibia Mariners sort of count.

I think Godwyn was at least marketed to the public as the most perfect man alive, so it'd make sense if he was just an unblemished Adonis and his curse was simply a matter of time, but that feels weird considering the rest of Marika's direct children explicitly have strange powers or deformities or both.

If we assume Castle Sol was his (part of me wants to think it belonged to Miquella but who can say), it's hard to tell if the eclipse iconography came before or after Godwyn's death. If it existed before, there's a good chance the Eclipse Shotel was actually his weapon. If the eclipse iconography came after his death, as part of their continued attempts to resurrect their lord, then Godwyn himself was not associated with the fucked up necromancy sun during his lifetime.

It's also worth noting that Castle Sol is only accessible by passing through the Forbidden Lands, the entire village of Zamor, an archer golem, and a gauntlet of Fire Monks, so anyone who lived there would've been shoved in the back of Marika's proverbial closet. The Mountaintops were probably locked down the second Marika wiped out the giants, if not during or before to bottleneck resources, so nobody would be visiting casually for a light chat and tea.

(As a side note, I really have to wonder how they feed anyone up there. Where's the farms? The livestock and game? Did the village of Zamor serve Castle Sol in any way? Does the massive graveyard up there belong to the astrologers, or the dead from the war against the giants? Both? Did Marika have an alliance with the ice dragons too? What's Borealis's position in the incredibly tense sociopolitical landscape of the Mountaintops???)

All of that taken together, it's not unreasonable to think that Castle Sol could be where Marika hid her strange merman son, but it's hard to draw any definitive conclusions. The duke of that castle would be in a position to oversee the continued imprisonment of the last Fire Giant as well as the Fire Monks and their prisoners, but given the castle's position so far from the fort I'm inclined to think the castle has more to do with the huge graveyard next to it.

I need to examine the architecture for clues as to when it was built and by whom, I think, because part of me wants to say it belonged to the astrologers, and that would make some sense. On first impression though I was reminded a lot of what it felt like to enter Radahn's fort for some reason. I'll come back to this.

[the-overanalyzer]

regarding godwyn

I don't think it's any kind of "plot hole" that Miquella's plan ultimately had nothing to do with him.

What we get in the base game is this:

Golden Epitaph: A sword made to commemorate the death of Godwyn the Golden, first of the demigods to die. Infused with the humble prayer of a young boy; "O brother, lord brother, please die a true death."

The eclipse church spirit in Castle Sol: "Ohh great sun! Frigid sun of Sol! Surrender yourself to the eclipse! Grant life to the soulless bones!"

And the Castle Sol rooftop spirit: "Lord Miquella, forgive me. The sun has not been swallowed. Our prayers were lacking. Your comrade remains soulless…"

This tells a few things:

Miquella hoped that Godwyn would die rather than remain the giant zombie cancer merman he became. (It's vague, but in context it can only be Miquella speaking, unless there's another "young boy" we don't know about)

The people of Castle Sol were working on Miquella's behalf to use an eclipse to restore Godwyn, either bringing him back to life or, as per Golden Epitaph, letting him die for real.

Radahn is not the "comrade [who] remains soulless". Radahn's soul is right there in his body until we the player come along and put him out of his misery.

There's no indication that Miquella's plans for Godwyn were anything but what they appear to be: a boy who wants to end the bizarre and unnatural undeath inflicted on his brother. Which isn't to say there wasn't (or wouldn't have been) a nefarious twist somewhere along the way—it's Miquella, after all—but his goals were always at least intended to help people. And if you go with the Duskborn ending, you and Fia provide a little of that help yourselves.

[ghostofashina]

"Curse the fiends, their children too. And their children, forever, true. A bottomless curse, a bottomless sea, source of all greatness, all things that be."

Godwyn, the Golden. Reference: Baroque Merman by Fyodor Pavlov.

[soporificlily]

I can't sleep and my mind is plagued by elden ring lore...

so....

(very long)

(i think) Marika ascended to godhood in an attempt to save her people, but she became imprisoned by this divinity and lost her own indivuality and free will under the command of the.. what's it called ugh- the the the space gods or whatever. and so she shattered the elden ring in protest or in an attempt to escape or something?? and where did radagon come from? why is this kind of splitting into two from one happen? Trina splits off from Miquella, as Radagon came from Marika. But why?

Also why was Godfrey and those who became Tarnished stripped of their grace? why would they be banished from their home? did they commit some sort of blasphemy against the Erdtree/Golden Order/Fingers or whatever? why were they called back?

Did Marika manage to extend grace back to the Tarnished with the purpose of using us to free her from her divine prison? Why else would a literal god have us come back to the land we were banished from with the purpose of becoming Elden Lord, which requires us to collect all the runes to put the Elden Ring back together, which in turn necessitates the killing of all of Marika's children. She must have known that they wouldn't just give up the runes willingly. Why is Radagon the one fighting us? Was he created by the Outer Gods that sent the Elden Beast as a counter for Marika's rebellion?

aaaaaaaaah

also, Ranni! Why did she kill Godwyn? I assume she cast off her Empyrean body to free herself from the divine responsibilities that came with it. The predestination of sorts to continue the Order's will. She wanted to be free to do what she felt was right. To give the people of all lands the freedom to live their lives free of the influence from divine beings. As far as I understand. But why did this path require the death of her half-brother? I saw someone's theory being that she had to kill him because he'd be her consort, but... idk I can't remember all the details. I guess maybe he wouldn't go along with her plan. but if she killed her physical body anyway then why would Godwyn being alive matter?

AND WHY DID GODWYN BECOME A FISH?

what is the connection between death and fishness?

I mean, not literally a fish but... he grew a fish tail. or like, a merman tail. and his face got all weird and he has blowholes. like a whale or dolphin. he became some abomination that spread to all corners of the Lands Between. Why tho? he's so big too. like physically.

maybe other fans of the game will think these questions have obvious answers. maybe I could think about it a bit more. maybe it's late and these thoughts are tormenting my mind like a cyclone ravaging the landscape of my thoughts, throwing everything in all directions.

I just love this game so much, and my partner is trying to sleep and I'm just feeling chatty and wanna ramble but she wants eep. she knows nothing of elden ring. maybe I know too much. I know so much yet so little.

How did Marika even have children? was she allowed to leave the weird pocket dimension inside the Erdtree at some point?

maybe she could still feel love.

or was it just a matter of maintaining a lineage or uhh yk how royalty would have kids just to have heirs to the throne. Maybe she was influenced into having kids so that whatever outer will or whatever could maintain and secure it's control over the Lands Between and the Elden Ring.

why is the elden ring even able to be destroyed. I guess would there ever be a need to pluck a rune out of it? change the rules of reality a bit? it seems kind of... risky, to have divinity and control over reality/the world/all of life somewhere in the material world where potentially anyone who was determined and skilled enough could reach it and enact their own will upon it. yk, how we can have different endings based on the allies we make. It's like, okay, here's god and I can just kill all of her children, and then her, and set fire to all that is holy in order to put together this all-powerful artifact that can then change the future of literally everyone and nature itself to whatever I want.

I want everyone to burn down and *incinerate all that divides and distinguishes*, ultimately returning everything and everyone to a singular matter, that being some sort of idk ashes? hot, melty thing? or I can just idk, help this witch take away all magic and divinity from the Lands for like a thousand years? orrrrr continue the Golden Order and just kind of return things to how they were before the Shattering. or whatever the other endings are. Something with Those Who Live in Death. I only did that ending once. oh and how about cursing everyone and their kids to become abominations who live tortured existences for all of eternity? cuz why not I guess.

what even is the frenzied flame and where did it come from? three fingers as opposed to two, wha-

(also, no thoughts of SOTE because haven't played it yet) (no monies)

okay, maybe I should stop now.

I'm shutting up.

Goodnight !

[killergirlfuria]

Love how the Elden Ring fandom decided that Godwyn was in fact cursed like all other of Marika's children and that he was in fact fishlike.

Anyway I'm hunting for more merman Godwyn art.

[sleepymaven]

Godwyn Has a Fish Tail Instead of Legs...

..so he is a mermaid. (Or merman, in this case, but still.)

Where I'm going with this is... reverse Little Mermaid. 🧜🏼‍♀️

Godwyn sings an edited Part of Your World while on a cliffside next to the ocean, lamenting how he can't swim. (No one in the Lands Between can. Everyone fells to water.)

He then gets his beautiful tail.

He doesn't know how to use it properly yet and is struggling and all that before he finally gets in the water and can actually swim.

Then he sings the short reprise of Part of Your World while in the ocean. (Which would also give us that iconic rock scene/pose with the waves behind Godwyn when he hits that final note.)

He's swimming with the fishies and having a blast under the water when he finds... the sea witch.

..and is instantly smitten.

He spends his time trying to gain her favor and win her over, bringing her little gifts that are from land.

It works.

She simply adores him and the little treasures he brings her from land, she loving all the shiny trinkets and jewelry he has given her and finds it a sweet gesture. (After all, fish love shiny things and come, come, come to the brightest thing that glitters!)

They get to know eachother more and she brings him to her lair in the deep sea which is just an underwater cave with tons of glowing sea plants to light up the place.

She then reveals that she's not actually a witch at all and was just called that because people think she's evil, the people of the ocean seeing the deep, dark sea where she resides dangerous and overall evil.

Meanwhile, our "Erik" of the story is actually someone from land who is trying to stop Godwyn from going between land and water.

And perhaps even tries to kill him along the way.

And is actually more of a true witch than the sea witch is.

You guessed it.

It's Ranni.

[modeus-the-misanthrope]

There are merman?

Just the one....we think.

Godwyn originally looked like this in the intro, this scene depicting his assassination.

Later on we find his corpse in game...which is beyond massive. Easily 100+ feet. And now oddly merman themed...there may be other mer-people in the setting, but the lore never says anything about that & the player character cannot swim. So it is unknown.