#morgott not included because he is just normal

[art-from-within]

My dadfrey hc is that he is honestly the most ACCEPTING chill parent/partner man you can have in the lands in between but like in the most fucked up way. Because he himself is a blood thirsty, genocidal might makes right sigma male, his idea of a "moral-line-we-should-absolutely-not-cross" is astronomically far and thin.

Radagon is Marika? Okay so he has two wives now cool. Radagon marries Rennala? Ok so she wants in too cool. "Slay those groups of completely innocent people for me " "yes babe thank you babe"

Mohg does blood cult and is the king of sh twt? Yes go son slay (I mean he himself is filled with bloodlust). Might even commit a bloody genocide in the name of the formless mother for his son, just another Tuesday for him. The whole 'kidnapping step bro to become his consort and gain power' plan has his head scratching tho. Like..why? What is the need? Just learn his feet smashing technique and he could get there, but oh well

Rykard fed himself to a snake to become a god devouring serpent? He did what he had to do. Ranni killed his son? Yeeeeaa that's sad but he has also killed many sons ya know? *head scratch*. It's not that he didn't care for Godwyn, its just that he is good at placing his affections in to neat little boxes that he can store in the attic to protect his emotional health better.

Godrick grafts himself into oblivion? Now Godfrey will judge him, but only because those grafts look UGLY(and because he didn't earn his strength the RAW. ALPHA WAY). Look at them!? Not even size/symmetry coded. Serosh is way better

Malenia is at the verge of unleashing a nuclear weapon every waking moment of her life? Tells her to "be herself", and "not to be scared". He will accept his step daughter "even if she was a worm"

(Finding out she nuked Caelid) it would suuure suck to be Radahn. That's a shame, he was fun to grill with (moves on with his life)

[blasphemousclaw]

Are the omens and hornsent the same?

short answer: no

so to explain why the omen and the hornsent are different, we first have to understand what it means to be hornsent… the hornsent aren’t a species, they’re a civilization of humans defined by the horns that grow on their bodies:

“Hornsent view the Crucible as sacred for the refinement wrought through its evolutionary gifts. Most prominently, their tangled horns.”

“Horns are sublime artifacts to hornsent, and their presence confirms the belief that they are a chosen people. Only the repeated sprouting of fresh horns can create a tangled horn, which is viewed as an irrefutable symbol of primacy.”

“The Crucible has a particularly strong influence on the beasts of the realm of shadow, causing many to grow horns despite the characteristics of their species.”

the hornsent sprout horns because the Crucible has a strong presence in the land of shadow and causes horns to sprout on creatures who don’t normally have horns… the hornsent, who revere the Crucible and its “spiral current,” saw this as a blessing and as proof that they were “a chosen people,” so they cultivated this trait. in hornsent society, the larger and more tangled your horns are, the more awesome and cool and holy you are. this is why Jori, the leader of the theocratic hornsent inquisition, has the largest, most tangled horns of all:

however, hornsent can also be born with no horns at all. this means that they'd be seen as sad and cringe. you can find hornless hornsent bound in chains, which means they might have even been a sort of slave caste... which, given what their society is like, wouldn't surprise me if that were the case:

(source: Zullie the Witch)

the omen, on paper, are the same as the hornsent — humans who were influenced by the Crucible, which caused horns to grow on their bodies. but the reason why they aren’t actually the same is because simply having horns doesn't make you hornsent. again, the hornsent are not a species, and “hornsent” isn’t a generic term for people with horns… the hornsent are a culture, a culture which the omen were very much not born into! unlike the hornsent, the omen were born into a society that sees their horns as impurities:

"A vestige of the crucible of primordial life. Born partially of devolution, it was considered a signifier of the divine in ancient times, but is now increasingly disdained as an impurity as civilization has advanced."

traits associated with the Crucible, including horns, became less and less accepted under the Golden Order as time went on... basically, the omen were seen as impure and unclean, unfit for the Erdtree's grace and excluded from society.

but there's actually something else that makes the omen fundamentally different from the hornsent... they're referred to as having "accursed blood"?

"Warped blade of shifting hue used by Morgott, the Omen King. The accursed blood that Morgott recanted and sealed away reformed into this blade."

"The mother of truth craves wounds. When Mohg stood before her, deep underground, his accursed blood erupted with fire, and he was besotted with the defilement that he was born into."

"Trident of Mohg, Lord of Blood. A sacred spear that will come to symbolize his dynasty. As well as serving as a weapon, it is an instrument of communion with an outer god who bestows power upon accursed blood." 

it seems that there is something inherently different about omen blood that doesn't seem to be the case with the hornsent? omen can also innately produce a black-brown flame, which we never see any hornsent enemies do (pretty sure the inquisitors' fire is just normal fire from their candles). INTERESTINGLY, there's two items from the base game, the Omen Bairn and the Regal Omen Bairn, that produce these brown-flame wraiths... but a similar item from the DLC, the Horned Bairn, produces "vengeful spirits" that are pale and colorless!!

it's almost like the wraiths produced by the omen are "unclean" compared to the hornsent ones!

so I think this pretty definitively proves there's something more going on with the omen? but why is this the case?? Dung Eater's ending makes me think that the omen might be "cursed" simply because their existence is incompatible with the Order under the Erdtree...

"Curse grown on a corpse killed and defiled by the Dung Eater. A tender pox afflicted with omen horns. The Dung Eater cultivates the seedbed curse on corpses. By doing so he prevents dead souls returning to the Erdtree, leaving them forever cursed."

"Loathsome rune gestated by the Dung Eater. Used to restore the fractured Elden Ring when brandished by the Elden Lord. The reviled curse will last eternally, and the world's children, grandchildren, and every generation hence, will be its pustules. If Order is defiled entirely, defilement is defilement no more, and for every curse, a cursed blessing."

but there's also the theory that the omen curse was actually created by the dying hornsent as revenge upon their attackers... Hornsent Grandam says this when attacked:

"A curse upon thee, rotten miscreant. A curse upon the strumpet's progeny, upon Marika's children each and all. The curse of the omen shall strike thee down... In the form of the sacred beast's ire. May the curse strike thee… To the very last..."

she specifically calls it the "curse of the omen!" the one thing that makes me question this theory though is that she also says "in the form of the sacred beast's ire," and we know the divine beast's ire takes the form of storms... nothing like anything the omen do. an interesting theory nonetheless!

anyway TL;DR, the hornsent and the omen are different because 1. the hornsent are a culture (not a generic name for horned people), and the omen were specifically born under the Erdtree's Order, and 2. the omen are tangibly "cursed," but the hornsent are not

[skyred-blog]

My headcanon story of the DLC

See people share their headcanon stories of DLC, I wanted to share mine too...Let's me cook, don't stop meeeeee:

The Caelid battle happens because Miquella believed that if the stars moved, he could become a god and fix things in the Lands Between, given his status as an Empyrean destined to become a god

Malenia came to Caelid to fight while Miquella stayed in Haligtree because the tree needed his body and who would bring a child to battle? However, Miquella wanted his sister to be safe, so he appeared as St. Trina in her and her soldiers' dreams to ease their pain from rot just like how she eased the Frenzy Flame

And when Malenia let the Scarlet Aeonia bloom, St. Trina caused her to slumber. Because St. Trina only appeared in dreams, Finlay was still the only one who could help Malenia at that moment. Freyja wasn't cured by Miquella; instead, she was left alone on the battlefield. In a state of desperation because of pain and hunger not Fear and Hunger, she somehow ate the ingredients of Boluses, which is how she got cured truly a Masterchief moment! and that is how we have Boluses. Yes, I'm still very salty about the fact that Miquella appeared in Caelid only to do nothing for his sister or her soldiers. Freyja wanted to revenge for her general so she went to LoS like the cut content of 1.0

Seeing Malenia and Radahn's rot states and remembering his failure to help Godwyn, Miquella became depressed and decided he would do anything to become a god.

Then Miquella got kidnapped by Mohg, but Miquella decided to use his power to activate his trap card. Get rekt, Mohg. Yes, I don't think someone who created a Blood cult and kingdom can be a cute little Omen, right? Anbasch is angry. Cut the body part, leaving only Miquella needing Mohg for the LoS.

Even though he was able to go to the LoS, Miquella is useless even worse than Ranni. So somehow our Tarnished goes around and sees him. FRIENDSHIP! at first. He still charmed the NPCs except Tarnished because you were chosen by Torrent.

Something something happened, god ritual or some shit so Miquella decided to cut himself. Our Tarnished is okay with everything because Miquella said he's okay, but he isn't. Basically, every self-harm act he does in public makes the group of NPCs think he's so determined and hardcore. Suddenly, he became extremely cruel, like killing poor Rot people because he thought they caused Malenia's pain instead of listening to their stories like he used to with other NPCs. We don't know why, but thanks to Tholier's feelings, we discover that he secretly cut St. Trina in the end and threw her away

So, in the end, Miquella becomes a god, but at the cost of becoming an empty vessel for every Outer God to use. He's simultaneously all-powerful and weak, which contrasts with his ability to create Unalloyed Gold, used against Outer Gods. He asks the Tarnished for help, offering the Lord title as a reward.

Seeing Miquella's unstable and pathetic state, we decided to finish him in battle. Miquella would use incantations of every Gods and summons spirits akin to O'Neil. After he was dead, memories flood back of the happy times with his family even before Messmer going to LoS, which means it will include Messmer, Melina, Godwyn, the Carian trio, Malenia, and even glimpses of Morgott and Mohg from afar. All he wanted was to experience happiness like a normal child.

[bimboficationblues]

Top 5 elden ring bosses

not going to include the DLC bosses because I know people are trying to avoid spoilers, though Messmer would probably be up there (and I'm fine with mentioning him since he's in the trailer). I will say that going back to base game bosses after playing the DLC was wild, most of the DLC's bosses have traits that are so needlessly difficult like every single one of them launching themselves at you like a rocket as soon as you step through the fog wall.

Honorable Mentions are Margit/Morgott (great initial skill check and satisfying to go toe-to-toe with him again later on more equal footing) and Dragonlord Placidusax (my fave dragon fight in the game)

5. Mohg, Lord of Blood - really enjoy the way Mohg demands you to maneuver, his vibes are rancid and I love them, I think it has some real clever busted mechanics that will reward the exploration the game relies on like being able to shackle him (fucked up) or negate the nihil blast

4. Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy - I think they really perfected their "spectacle" fight with this one, particularly the heritage from Storm King and Yhorm, by giving the weapon a full moveset. A lot of the huge monster fights can feel sort of awkward but this one just feels excellently balanced. And he acts as one of the more interesting antagonist characters in the game

3. Godfrey / Hoarah Loux - raw aggression, first phase is the culmination of the delayed-tell "knight" fights that characterize most of the demigod battles, then second phase is incredibly unique since normally humanoid enemies are using some form of weapon or magic. some of those tracking grabs in the second phase have frustratingly deceptive dodge timings but they're also so wacked out as a spectacle that I kind of appreciate them.

2. Malenia, Blade of Miquella / Goddess of Rot - masochistic of me, but I think Malenia is great. a lot of this is carried by her aesthetic and place in the narrative but overall I like the push and pull between her various strengths and weaknesses. beating her is always satisfying and while occasionally frustrating to get there, it always feels worth it at the end. (not something I can say about all bosses that take a bajillion tries, cough cough, the final DLC boss.) the Waterfowl Dance move is a fine idea that was poorly executed because it feels so luck-based in getting around it, but I've gotten more used to it. Also, I think she's a boss that really rewards a diversity of build designs, which I think is great for these games - her susceptibility to status buildups and poise breaks, for instance

Maliketh, the Black Blade - super fun glass cannon design, varied moveset, has a nice little nostalgia value via the similarities to Artorias while not feeling like an imitation or repetition. maybe a bit *too* easy to shred through if you know what you're doing but I always get a thrill doing this fight, especially dodging some of his ranged blasts or gap-closing swings. I really love his design and think the Shadow/Empyrean relationship is one of the most interesting details in ER lore as well, and his VA really sells the character. DESTINED DEATH. Plus I think the battle rewards a bit of exploration in going to Volcano Manor and then fighting Bernahl to get the Blasphemous Claw, if you're into that.

[tarnished-doll]

oh my god i bet stormveil would have the polar opposite to the reaction that everyone in leyndell would have if morgott got knocked up. They see Godrick looking a little more bloated and melodramatic than usual? they sigh and chalk it down as more grafting bullshit. Four new bastards suddenly show up mysteriously close to each other in birth? Who's even surprised at this point. Ten years later the fuckers are sticking on as many limbs to themselves as possible and everyone is still just chalking it up to normal Godrick Bullshit without making the connection

pros: nobody notices! he completely avoids any scandal

cons: nobody notices! including him, because he also chalks up any body weirdness to grafting bullshit