#or my Malenia bug theories

[cinderflower]

Originally this started as an attempt to organize my notes that got way out of hand so I might as well post it here to also be easier for me to reference. So let's get into my rebirth theory and the direction I originally thought Elden Ring was going with Miquella and Malenia's characters and the Age of Abundance.

So here it is, my Miquella & Ancestral Followers lore theory as well as my broader Haligtree theory. This is what I thought the base game was leading up to with Miquella's character, not... what we got.

I've done frankly too much lore digging since beginning writing Field of Reeds in earnest and in trying to have a solid enough lore foundation to make sure how I write the fic is grounded in the base game lore. There's a lot I plan to cover in that fic that I won't be covering here so for those interested, you can check it out here.

So with that said, my main theory for base-game Miquella (not including how he's presented in the DLC since this theory was based almost entirely on the base-game info) has always been that his goal was to break the cycle of Erdtree-controlled rebirth in the Lands Between that's currently controlled by the Erdtree.

To read the pre-theory lore & item crawl setup, scroll down to "ADDITIONAL INFO" in big, bold, blue letters. As I said before, this was mostly to get my own notes in order, so I'm going to try my best to make this make sense in how I present it.

Let's actually start with starlight shards for both and the ties between the stars and fate. We know which are collected in various astrolabes and a great many can be found in Manus Celes, but there's quite a lot to starlight as a concept in Elden Ring and these overall themes.

Starlight Shards - An ephemeral sliver that gives off a pale blue glow. What remains of a passing flash of starlight. A prized item that was once used in the Eternal City as an ingredient in intoxicating draughts.

Celestial Dew - A hidden Tear found in the Eternal City. Also known as a Night Tear. Once upon a time, the stars of the night sky guided fate, and this is a recollection of those times.

Seluvis's Potion - Used to turn someone into a puppet, created from starlight shards - Small flask received from Preceptor Seluvis containing a cloudy tonic of bluish black.

Amber Starlight - An ephemeral sliver that gives off a pale amber glow. What remains of a passing flash of starlight. If the stars command our fates, then amber-hued stars must command the fates of the god. Such is the belief that inspired the use of these shards to prepare a most special draught.

Notably, the amber starlight is found at a statue of Miquella and Malenia, the same found in the Haligtree. This implies that the starlight shard is one of their fates - or perhaps Godwyn's. But it more likely points to Miquella's given his preparation to shed himself of his body and all things golden.

We also see the influence of starlight elsewhere in some ingredients, namely the boluses created with dew-kissed herba. Most boluses use only normal herba, but it is the deadly afflictions of madness, rot, and death-blight (Outer God/Death based) that require specifically dew-kissed herba.

Dew-kissed Herba - A herb that grows in the false night in and around the Eternal City. Soaked in arcane dew, it gives off the faint glow of starlight.

Clarifying Boluses - Dew-kissed Herba | Crystal Cave Moss | Eye of Yelough - Alleviates madness buildup.

Rejuvinating Boluses - Dew-kissed Herba | Crystal Cave Moss | Golden Centipede - Alleviates death blight buildup.

Preserving Boluses - Dew-kissed Herba | Crystal Cave Moss | Sacramental Bud - Alleviates scarlet rot buildup and cures rot aliment.

Now hold on a minute, let's look at that last one that specifically helps scarlet rot. It uses sacramental blood to alleviate rot which is all but confirmed to be Miquella's blood (or a derivative of it at least) as it is also used in the bewitching branch.

Sacramental Bud - An immature bud containing fresh blood. Believed to originate long ago from a strain of buds cultivated with youthful, sacramental blood.

So if, somehow, Miquella found out that this combination worked together with his blood, then that would be something which could at least provide some relief to Malenia, though it wouldn't be able to cure her entirely since her rot is at the influence of the rot god directly.

This of course is just the tip of the iceberg of Miquella's blood but we know first and foremost that Miquella used his blood to try and water the Haligtree and grow it into a full-fledged Erdtree, an effort which was unsuccessful.

Haligtree Knight Armor - Though watered with Miquella's own blood since it was a sapling, the Haligtree ultimately failed to grow into an Erdtree.

We know in addition to his blood, Miquella also has his unalloyed gold lilies.

Miquella's lily - A delicate water lily of unalloyed gold that has started to fade and wilt. A flower signifying faith in the Haligtree. Thought to be beloved by the Empyrean Miquella in his youth.*

*I theorize that the lilies were grown by Miquella's blood because how could he love them in his youth if he was the one to create unalloyed gold???? It also lends some tie between the sacramental bud and unalloyed gold for why it is able to treat scarlet rot.

Unalloyed gold is important with regards to Malenia's rot through the needle we learn helps her curb the rot and also in use of her prosthetics to similarly prevent the rot from taking over.

Malenia's Gauntlet - Gauntlet made of unalloyed gold.

Hand of Malenia - Blade built into Malenia's prosthetic arm. Through consecration it is resistant to rot.

Radagon's Rings of Light - And yet, the young Miquella abandoned fundamentalism, for it could do nothing to treat Malenia's accursed rot. This was the beginning of unalloyed gold.

There's multiple forms of the Unalloyed Gold Needle as well which I want to cover the differences of:

Snapped Needle - An intricately crafted needle of unalloyed gold, snapped in half. A ritual implement crafted to ward away the meddling of outer gods, it is thought capable of forestalling the incurable rotting sickness. Sage Gowry has designs for this needle.

Repaired Needle - An intricately crafted needle of unalloyed gold. Once snapped in half, it has been repaired by Sage Gowry.

Curious here, we can see what looks to be blood used to repair the needle - though who's blood is unknown. I suspect Miquella's using the sacramental buds we have no definitive answer.

Restored Needle - An intricately crafted needle of unalloyed gold. Removed by Millicent from her flesh. Bears no trace of befouled blood, but is faintly moist with dew.

More dew references, which we can see even on the needle itself. This truly begs the question: what is dew? Dew is used to reference the starlight dew on dew-kissed herba, but it's also used in the blessed dew talisman description:

Blessed Dew Talisman - Talisman depicting a drop of the Erdtree's sap, a blessed boon. It was once thought that the blessed sap of the Erdtree would drip from its boughs forever-but that age of plenty swiftly came to a close, and with time, the Erdtree became more an object of faith.

So presumable dew/sap/amber are all interchangeable for life. This would also make sense with the amber egg containing the Rune of the Unborn that Rennala has in her possession. I have a previous post where I go into the concept of dew theory specifically in more detail here.

So after Millicent uses the needle, it's covered in dew, not blood. This would potentially put Millicent in the bloodless category above if she doesn't truly bleed and is considered an artificial life like albinaurics or the oracle envoys. Before we get into that, back to the needle.

Miquella's Needle - One of the unalloyed gold needles that Miquella crafted to ward away the meddling of outer gods. Capable of subduing the flame of frenzy if inherited, allowing one to cheat fate and avoid becoming Lord of Frenzied Flame. However, the needle is as yet unfinished and can only be used in the heart of the storm beyond time said to be found in Farum Azula.

This version of the needle is only possible after defeating Malenia and interacting with the scarlet aeonia she leaves behind. This finalized version of the needle is intricately detailed and the shape more closely resembles the Haligtree seal used during incantations. It also includes small braids and either dew similar to Millicents or strands of hair, but also small little sprouts.

We know Malenia doesn't have her needle through Millicent's quest dialogue, meaning this is once again the evolution of the needle. So why does the joining of the unalloyed gold needle, Millicent's dew, and Malenia's scarlet aeonia fully form this incomplete needle? My speculation is that its from the symbiotic relationship between Miquella and Malenia's conditions, combined with the concept of "dew" aka life. The harmony of life and death, the original abundance and decay the game was setting up.

Here's where we actually start to get into my Haligtree theory: I purport that Miquella's goal was to create a new Erdtree to replace the existing Erdtree, one which created a new cycle of rebirth completely detached from the necessity for grace. I haven't fully settled on the exact details of what this cycle looks like in it's entirety, but I believe it likely went through a few iterations.

The first iteration was likely the pursuit to grow the Erdtree not only because he could, but also because it would be an Erdtree of unalloyed gold. It's why it has to be watered with his own blood. It's why we don't find any other bodies being fed into it in the same way we do the Erdtree above - but I theorize that was the eventual intent of it.

Circling back to the seal symbols, let's also look at two others, the Erdtree seal and the Crucible seal:

Comparing with the Haligtree seal above, there's a lot more similarities with the Crucible seal than with the Haligtree seal. Dipping my toe briefly into the DLC lore, we know Enir-Ilim powered the Gate of Divinity with the power of the Crucible, meaning Marika essentially harnessed and reshaped the power of the Crucible to form her age of the Erdtree and subsequent Golden Order which is why the Erdtree symbol looks like a more minimalist version of the Crucible seal with a focus on the Elden Ring in the center. The Golden Order Fundamentalism seal takes it a step further entirely by removing all iconography of the tree and focuses entirely on the Elden Ring. The Haligtree symbol does the opposite, it removes the inclusion of the Elden Ring and shifts the iconography back to that of the tree itself.

With this in mind, it becomes a lot easier to imagine that Miquella is looking to recreate the heart of what the Crucible was capable of but without the Elden Ring. The problem with that however is the fact that the influence of the Erdtree is quite literally everywhere in the Land's Between because that was the whole point of the Land's Between's creation - only those with the Erdtree's grace are permitted, the rest are either outcast, persecuted, tortured, and/or killed.

So, Miquella has to turn to the very small subpopulation that don't have grace in order to begin the new cycle of rebirth. Or - potentially - to begin the new cycle of rebirth specifically under his unalloyed golden grace. In theory since the unalloyed gold is able to ward off the meddling of Outer Gods, why should that same concept not also apply to the Greater Will? Or to Marika? And if his blood is what can create unalloyed gold, then feeding his blood to the Haligtree should inherently be the same as graceless blood.

I think we can even still see the remnants of the unalloyed gold of the tree he was able to achieve still at the roots of the Haligtree where he embedded his cocoon:

The rest of the tree is a husk, covered in rot, but in this one part where Malenia rests and the cocoon once was we see the gold still persists.

Compare this noticeable shade of gold in the roots now to the color of the Erdtree beneath the false-luminescence - notice how it's actually closer to the false gold in color than the actual Erdtree is?

Let's look at a couple other interesting images from the Haligtree:

More tree iconography, flanked by griffons and what I think is the lily shape.

This one has always especially intrigues me due to the humanoid figures connecting the tree together. Seems familiar doesn't it?

But there's also the bulbs that are attached to it, by their shape they could be some sort of fruit - but I doubt that given everything else - or perhaps cocoons, like the ones we see the albinaurics encapsulated in.

Or, my theory, which is they're the same as the aeonia blooms we can see in Caelid:

If that is the case, this then shows the desire for a symbiosis to be formed.

Regardless of if those are intended to be aeonia blooms, it does bring up the concept of symbiosis between the Haligtree and the scarlet rot fungi. There is some real-world basis for this if we look towards some botanical concepts. I specifically want to look at the botanical concept of Mycorrhizae which are fungi that have a symbiotic relationship with the root system of plants - namely trees. With mycorrhizae, a plant has a more robust root system which helps not hinders the plant and assists in getting water and nutrients into the plant's system.

If we consider this, it becomes more interesting for Malenia to be in the root system of the Haligtree of all places to rest. If they'd been concerned about her infecting the Haligtree after all, surely they would have put her elsewhere even if she wished to be by Miquella's side. It's also curious that the rest of the Haligtree is being consumed by rot and at alarming rate, but not in the root system, not in the heart of it. In fact, we see more non-fungal flora closer to the root system than elsewhere even while we also see the mini-lake of rot right above it as well.

The other thought to consider here is if the Haligtree was meant to replace the Erdtree, if it was intended to create a new cycle of rebirth, then both Miquella and Malenia's placement in the root system would make sense if they both intended to be reborn through the Haligtree and be cured of their various afflictions through this rebirth. That's why Malenia had to be carried back to the Haligtree no matter what is my theory, so if she did succumb to the rot, she could potentially be absorbed into the Haligtree roots and given a chance to be reborn through unalloyed gold and be reborn free of the Outer God influence.

One other point for this is actually in Miquella's cocoon itself. Miquella is very much moth-coded in the game rather than butterfly-coded and as such his cocoon reflects this.

Chrysalises are usually found hanging from a structure, while cocoons are typically buried in the ground or in leaf litter or attached to the side of a structure.  [x]

One other interesting parallelism I found in the Haligtree was outside the building leading to the Haligtree roots, in the graveyard (curious in and of itself).

On one side of the building we have Miquella's lilies and various soliders.

On the other we have ghost (not grave) glovewort and Kindred of Rot.

So we have the concept of symbiosis being achieved between Miquella's abundance and Malenia's decay - how do the Ancestral Followers tie in?

Remember the Crucible vs Haligtree seal discussion? Well, if Miquella is looking to imitate the ability to cultivate primordial life like the Crucible (while not actually being the crucible, but an even further cleaned version), there's a group that exist that already follow in the footsteps of the Crucible in terms of worship - specifically the Ancestral Followers.

We can see some similarities with the Crucible in their items, but also stark differences. For example, they wear crowns of horns which but into new life, very derivative of the Crucible while also being surprisingly detached from it. Where the Crucible horns are almost always horns like what Omen have, the horns that the Ancestral Followers wear are more akin to elk, moose, etc. We see this very well on the actual Regal Ancestor body itself:

We can also see here that it's "buds" aren't more horns but seemingly plant-like buds, like leaves.

Curiously we see something similar in a sense on the Cleanrot Knights which seem to be sprouting plants.

BUT we also see the same on the Malenia and Miquella statues in the Haligtree with sprouts carved into their very likeness:

You know where else we've seen plants/roots growing out of a person too? In the statues found all over the ancient Uhl and Uld palace ruins. In fact, it's one of the very statues Mohg's followers are gathered before.

I couldn't help but draw similarities between these statues and the ones we also see in the Haligtree - though in two very different contexts.

This second version surrounded by corpses is only seen in the section of the Haligtree where the scarlet rot is. Draw what conclusions you will, but I think the difference and the different locations where it appears speaks for itself.

We also know that the concept of death in the Lands Between gets completely upturned overnight after the Night of the Black Knives, after which Miquella desperately seeks to return Godwyn's soul to his body in order for him to die a "true death".

This is actually a concept we see in one other place where the game shows other wandering corpses that aren't considered undead but haven't truly died.

Putrid Corpse - True death does not come easily for them. Despite their appearances, are not undead and are not weak to holy. Most are vulnerable to bleed and fire damage.

True death seems to imply the death of the body and the death of the spirit - which is how Ranni was able to kill her flesh and Godwyn's soul in the same moment to circumvent true death for both of them. And, in the era of Destined Death being sealed, true death can only be granted by returning to the Erdtree or by being slain with holy incantations.

With the reintroduction of death though and the assumption that Miquella is attempting to start a new cycle of rebirth, the Ancestral Spirit philosophy would undoubtedly be appealing:

Ancestral spirits exist as a phenomenon beyond the purview of the Erdtree. Life sprouts from death, as it does from birth. Such is the way of the living.

Seemingly, these Ancestral spirits have found a way to already exist outside the bounds of the Erdtree's cycle of rebirth.

We also find these Ancestral Followers in a few odd locations outside of their usual Nokron/Nokstella locations related to Malenia and Miquella. Two in particular of note:

Lake of Rot

Consecrated Snowfields

Coincidence? Maybe, but there's very little in the Consecrated Snowfields not related to Miquella/Malenia or the Haligtree. The main exception is the pocket of madness tainted worshipers.

They also have connections to higher resistance stats through their gear and the fact that they guard the various horn talismans that raise these stats. But also, noticably, is the fact that nascent butterflies are also only used to created Dappled Cured Meat and Dappled Cured White Meat - both of which are only used to greatly raise resistances.

If we take this all a few small steps further into a leap of logic for the sake of theorizing, there's a few more parallels we could make.

Torrent - assuming Miquella was Torrent's former owner and is a "spectral steed" the baby buds on his head lend some credence to the theory that he is a juvenile ancestor spirit, another connection with Miquella

Spirit Calling Bell - again, assuming the above is true, that would mean Miquella gave this bell to Ranni and further ties him to spirits as well

I also suspect that the primeval current and primordial life of the crucible are two halves of the same whole - something somewhat backed up by concepts like Yggdrasil which isn't just the concept of life and death but is a tree which also spans into the cosmos and has the influence of the cosmos. We kind of see this in a few item descriptions as well:

Dweller Arrow - Arrow in which the spirits of small animals are thought to dwell. (Deals magic damage.)

Sellen's Primal Glintstone - Glintstone from within the sorceress Sellen's body. Seemingly half-alive, blood vessels are visible within. In essence, a primal glintstone is a sorcerer's soul. If transplanted into a compatible new body after their original body dies, the sorcerer will rise again.

This also seems to tie in well with the Ancestral Spirits and some of the sorceries we see used in the Haligtree and by the Albinaurics all only being these glintstone sorceries, never anything like meteors or gravity, etc.

Back to the Ranni bit, it's still incredibly unclear what Miquella and Ranni's relationship was and how it developed, because there's several things that I have no clear cut explanation for at the end of the day.

Black Knife Assassins in Ordina - Seems to be protecting the Haligtree entrance given the fact that they're in the goal along with the albinaurics, but why?

Black Knife Assassins in Sage Cave - A handful of ties in this cave to Miquella but another assassin here, why?

Crystilians in the Haligtree - They do fall into the graceless category but why are they in the Haligtree? Primal glintstone?

Haima Conspectus (adjudicator) Sorcerers in the Haligtree - ???

A few other interesting things of note:

The cocooned albinaurics resemble in some ways the rooms of ant eggs & we do see ants on the Haligtree (also in the deeproot depths and outside the lake of rot).

The lake of rot is a much brighter hue and tone than the one we find in the Haligtree and Caelid and there's less plant variety (I hit the image limit but trust me).

ADDITIONAL INFO (misc)

To close this all out, here's some additional supporting/supplemental information.

To get a lore of base lore notes out of the way regarding basic concepts and item info, let's start with gold, silver, and grace.

Gold = Light = Life = Red/Gold hues

Silver = Shadow = Death = Blue/Black/Silver hues

Grace = Vestiges of gold granted by Marika/Erdtree to those in the Lands Between; takes shape in the eyes

The Crucible is one of the most notable examples of a red hue representing life; specifically primordial life. There's another primordial that the game references as well: the Primordial current. We'll circle back to that when talking about the Carians.

Sap/Dew/Amber are also concepts which represent life, but seemingly in a more abstract way at times and range between gold/red hues to silver/blue hues depending on if they're contextually in the overworld of the Lands Between or the underworld. More on this later.

Spirits are essentially exclusively blue hues though there are variations of spirits we need to consider:

Spirit Ashes - the actual ashen remains that can be utilized by the spirit-summoning bell to briefly bring forth their spirit

Puppet - it's unclear exactly what puppet summons are because we have the physical puppets we can see in Seluvis's quest, but the actual summons both the player uses and the puppets we see in the Caria Manor are all blue hued like spirits

Ancestral Spirits - These seem to be the spirits of animals most often but also the Ancestral Followers, all taking on a brighter almost greener blue tone

Roaming Spirits - Blue spirits roaming the Lands Between in graveyards most often (jellyfish in shape)

One interesting thing to note about spirit ashes is they all cost FP with a few very curious exceptions which cost HP instead:

Mimic Tear

Land Squirts

Miranda Sprout

Soldjars

Bloodfiend (DLC only)

We know the Mimic Tear is a silver tear and thus born outside of the Erdtree's circle of life (see below), thus it makes sense to have to sacrifice life for life, but what about the others? Curiously enough, these are all bloodless creatures, and we find not just these but many more bloodless creatures in close proximity to the Haligtree as well as inside of it (Miranda Sprouts).

We also have a LOT of death associated blues by way of the Ghostflame wielded by the Death Rite Birds which used to be used to "burn away death" which is a practice no longer used with the introduction of the Golden Order upon the removal of Destined Death and all life begins to get cycled through the Erdtree's roots. We can see this in all the catacombs across the Lands Between with the bodies being taken back through the roots.

In the same catacombs, we also find both Grave Glovewort and Ghost Glovewort where the grave-variety is the common variety while the ghost-variety is rarer.

Grave Glovewort - White flower that blooms in catacombs. Each a soundless bell used to summon spirits.

Ghost Glovewort - White flower that blooms in catacombs. A spirit nestles close to it. (see below)

So all death and all re-birth is controlled through the Erdtree, all things are returned back to the Erdtree upon death, right? Not quite. There's other life in the Lands Between that has either been created without the Erdtree's grace or has been stripped of it.

Confirmed graceless creatures are as-follows:

Omen - Though born one of the graceless Omen, Morgott took it upon himself to become the Erdtree's protector

Silver Tears - The Silver Tear makes mockery of life, reborn again and again into imitation. Perhaps, one day, it will be reborn a lord...

Albinaurics (1st gen) - Albinaurics are lifeforms made by human hands. Thus, many believe them to live impure lives, untouched by the Erdtree's grace.

Albinaurics (2nd gen) - The ornamentation represents the primordial drop of dew from which they are said to have been created. The Albinaurics' most formidable foes were sorcerers, after all.

Crystilians - The Crystalians are inorganic beings, yet they live. They cleave close to the ideals of the primeval current, and as such, they are revered guests of the sorcerers..

Suspected Graceless:

Misbegotten: The misbegotten are held to be a punishment for making contact with the Crucible, and from birth they are treated as slaves, or worse.

Interestingly, demi-humans and other variants don't seem to fall under the graceless category.

The silver tears and albinaurics also are very interesting when taken into context of the motivations of the different characters because we can see variations of how they're treated in different areas:

Silver Tears: Created by the Nox as an imitation of life, rarely seen above ground.

Nokron

Nokstella

Hidden Path to the Haligtree - suggest more connections to the Nox with Miquella/the Haligtree than just the Black Knives (more on this later)

Albinaurics (1st gen - males): Seen rapidly aging and losing the use of their legs as they fade out of existence - the legs on these 1st gen albinaurics quite literally are translucent and have no hitbox. These are seen in a lot of places. Some noteable locations:

Liurnia (Albinauric Village) - previously a home, we find them being slaughtered by an Omen Killer and Depraved Perfumer

Liurnia (Caria Manor) - Pidia is a known 1st gen albinauric who also serves as the puppet-keeper; a curious thing considering the Caria Manor connection with puppets and the Nox's hand in creating albinaurics and puppets

Volcano Manor - Tortured likely as a result of Rykard's role as Praetor and Inquisitor

Leyndell - Tortured

Castle Sol - Tortured

Haligtree - Cocooned (more on this later)

Albinaurics (1st gen - females): Not aging like their male counterparts and they seem to have a strong companionship with wolves, almost mimicing the Empyrean/Shadowbound dynamic in a way. They are likewise lose the use of their legs, but theirs are not fading in the same way as the male's are. Only found in two locations:

Liurnia - We find Latenna in her quest towards the Haligtree

Consecrated Snowfields (Ordina Town) - They appear pre-goal in spirit form, but in the goal they are life-like and dressed in the same blue-silver as the Nox as they seemingly protect the path to the Haligtree. We also find Phillia here where Latenna gives her a birthing droplet.

Albinaurics (2nd gen): More frog-like in their shape and less humanoid, these are the more common variant to come across, but usually in different locations:

Lirunia - Found around Raya Lucaria as well as various graveyards, we know they are hunted by the Knights of the Cuckoo - the same knights that rebelled against Rennala and the Carian Royal Family.

Volcano Manor - Tortured

Mohgwyn Palace - Normal and Omen Blood variants can be found throughout

Consecrated Snowfield (teleporter) - A single albinauric can be found outside the teleporter leading to Mohgwyn palace

The way the 1st and 2nd generation albinaurics seem to fail to overlap in locations throughout the course of the game is very interesting and I can't help but wonder when exactly the 2nd generation albinaurics were introduced since they seem to operate in an entirely different manner to the 1st generation. Where the 1st generation is undoubtedly humanoid in nature and can even talk, cast sorceries, and have motivations, the 2nd generation seems to lack all of these features.

We can infer that the Golden Order saw the albinaurics as an affront to their Order in a similar way they do the omens as seen by the Omenkiller present in the albinauric village. So then why does Ranni have one at Caria Manor? It doesn't seem to be a Caria Royal Family thing either because we have Rykard over in volcano manor torturing them and nothing with Radahn, implying he is there with Ranni's permission specifically. His role in maintaining the puppets is also interesting when considering the coup of Rennala that happened and the subsequent siege on Caria Manor where we find the results of the fight with Knights of the Cuckoo turned into puppets reanimated and forced to defend the manor. So what is Ranni and the Caria relationship with the albinaurics?

More importantly - what is their relationship with the Nox?

There's no apparent ties between Rykard and the Nox that I've found or dug into, so we'll skip him.

Radahn does have some loose ties to the Nox through Sellia which has strong ties to the Nox in their specific flavor of assassin sorceries derived from the Night. But since Radahn does not use these same sorceries and uses only gravitational magic (whether by limitation or preference is unclear) from his teachings from the Alabastor Lord, there's no further ties.

Ranni has not only the ties with Pidia, but also Loretta who's shield resembles the dew drop and leads to the rumor of her being an Albinauric and thus derived from the Nox as well. More than any of that, we know Ranni did have very close ties with the Nox with the orchestration of the Night of the Black Knives - though this relationship seems to turn sour afterwards. The Nox also have the fingerslayer blade Ranni seeks in order to kill her own Two Fingers to continue on with her plans. But the most glaring of all the connections I think is her connection with the Dark Moon which influences not only Ranni's ambitions but also her sorceries.

Ranni's Dark Moon - The moon was encountered by a young Ranni, led by the hand of her mother, Rennala. What she beheld was cold, dark and veiled in occult mystery.

Moon of Nokstella - This talisman represents the lost black moon. The moon of Nokstella was the guide of countless stars.

Memory Stone - Said to be a fragment of the black moon that once hung above the Eternal City.

There's a very strong overlap between sorcerers and astrologers as well - another feature that ties directly back to the Nox.

Nightmaiden Twin Crown - Long ago, the Nox invoked the ire of the Greater Will, and were banished deep underground. Now they live under a false night sky, in eternal anticipation of their liege. Of the coming age of the stars. And their Lord of Night.

Ranni's Age of Stars Ending - Now cometh the age of the stars. A thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the Moon. Here beginneth the chill night that encompasses all, reaching the great beyond.

I have SO much more I could add but good god I doubt anyone made it this far as it is. This is what happens when I don't let myself look at other lore theories, local idiot fic writer goes insane trying to piece lore together all by her lonesome to avoid being influence by other's theories.

[reitziluz]

i really need to catch up with my elden ring lore theorizing vids because man so like --

the people i follow seemed to settle pretty fast that the other part of the vow, what radahn is getting from it, is like. valhalla. eternal war. if even that, maybe he wants nothing and got mind controlled, end of.

and it just bugs me to hell and back like. what's the narrative satisfaction there. what is it saying. how does it play with the themes. there's so little to go on, and it leaves him feeling so disjointed. like of course there's no other answer, miquella just is the worst person ever and ~has manipulated him all along ooh~

and it just does not feel right. like the puzzle piece doesn't fit.

like miquella has Gone Wrong. no bones about it. but i just. things just make so much more sense if instead of someone Powerful and In Control, he's been scrambling for a long time from dead end to dead end, setback to setback. acting from pain, cornered in desperation as everything keeps getting worse, and oh if everyone just was more compassionate towards each other, if just they could --- like miquella feels like the kind of activists you see sometimes, who need to save the world and everyone in it but they can't and it breaks them.

and miquella has people genuinely following him. people choose to stay.

so. radahn. is there something if we assume that he's genuinely sworn to miquella.

first off, absolutely sick. why would the ostensibly likely most good hearted demigods out of the bunch do that? what would drive them to it? i lose my mind thinking about how nobody has healthy attachment here. i lose my mind thinking about how much it feels like miquella might have been isolated due to his condition.

point is. desperation. everything stinks of desperation to me.

what would radahn have wanted. and if he wanted something, why didn't he go miquella willingly.

i have been turning gaius around in my head for some time. cursed from birth, with an other half, a friend to messmer, an older brother to the lion. albinauric. one of the oppressed peoples miquella is trying to save.

is that enough? is his older brother figure so dear to radahn? did he change his mind, abandon a (sworn?) brother because he'd rather have war and whatever he was fighting for in the shattering? the man who learned gravitation magic so he wouldn't have to leave his beloved horse behind?

what would the story be. what else is there in the world.

does he just want to be a lord to be even more like godfrey?

miquella makes him look more like godfrey in their fight. he also looks kinda like serosh. serosh was there to hold back hoarah loux's bloodlust. the cutscene makes it look like radahn was about to freak out, but then miquella steps in and holds him (back?) but why would radahn want his bloodlust held back, when he's such a war guy? but what else is there?

... wait.

at the festival, radahn doesn't have feet.

he's not an albinauric. people suffering from scarlet rot lose limbs (though the asymmetry of malenia's legs feels pointed in contrast to the symmetry of albinauric fading...) but the rot makes you sickly pale colors, not the dark grey he's got going on (have i forgotten someone else that has gone his color from it?)

gaius was cursed from birth. an albinauric. the loss of legs starting from feet is so specific to albinaurics. what are albinaurics. why does the putrescent knight have albinauric-like legs. the putrescence oozing out of the coffin ships, the way shaman flesh easily melds bodies together, silver tears - wasn't there something about mimic tears and albinaurics, a theory(?) about them being related? what is going on with the albinaurics. is a curse something that is touched by outer gods? they are called by suffering, and suffering is how the dung eater is making curses.

marika's children are cursed (except, or maybe...?) radagon's children don't seem to be cursed. but gaius was cursed from birth. it's not limited to just marika's children, and radagon is marika anyway.

does any of this connect? resonate?

was radahn cursed?

had he lost his mind by the time he and malenia clashed?

is that why malenia had to remind him of his vow?

is he yet fucking another person, another SIBLING, who turned to miquella, seeking salvation?

did miquella vow to save him too?

i have fucking crumbs to go on and only second hand sources for them but that's only making me Lose My Mind more because i am in hell! hell!

what is the story here, miyazaki i just want to talk ---

[miquellah]

Hi! I just wanted to ask about your thoughts on Melina and her connection to destined death. On if she’s the GEQ, or a reincarnation, or if whatever god that was connected to the GEQ cursed her to be a vassal of it in the same way Messmer Malenia and Miquella are cursed. I love Melina very much and I would love to hear some more perspective on it ^^

man i dont know what the FUCK is up with melina. shes probably my greatest question for ER, and thats probably very much intentional too. Tch

My gut does tell me the GEQ is in the equation somewhere. I do think it’s POSSIBLE she could be the GEQ, and a good amount lines up for that to be possible… i do still like the theories a lot also. I just can’t QUITE place how this all works out, nothing quite snaps right into place for me to go “aha!!”, yknow

One thing i don’t rly see emphasized enough exactly is that, while it IS confirmed she’s messmer’s sister, that also doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a DIRECT sibling. My thought is she’s another, far-down half sibling, and the youngest at that. I feel like this could somehow be key in figuring things along, and would also explain as to why she’s like, nonexistent, entirely, in the world’s history as it seems. Also her hair color…. that’s always bugged me. Actually not quite sure anymore she’s a radagon kid

Anyway. Smth else that just occurred to me now is how like, she essentially kind of fills the same role as an empyrean’s shadow? But sort of on a different scale and inverse. She is there to make sure Death is delivered to someone who should go against the will of… whatever. Life itself. But not the erdtree or GW, i think

It’s also been posited that her wacky eye is of course, a beast eye, but specifically Maliketh’s other eye at that. If we put stock into that, there’d definitely be a lot of implications to explore there… esp as I’m sure you can’t quite take an eye from him with the guy unwilling, or at least a GREAT struggle. Also potential pointing toward marika’s intention…?

What i feel most in vibes tho is that… melina as she is, is her own person. If she’s a reincarnation of the GEQ, i dont think she’d know it. She seems to be someone created for a very specific reason, perhaps as a failsafe for the whole debacle. She is marika’s for sure, and clearly has connections to the numen. (I also feel like GEQ couldve been a numen/shaman too). But as for how everything fits…! Man I Don’t Know

Bonus: ive slapped around the idea that maybe her body getting burned is what did that to the scadutree. Or maybe the ashes at leyndell. or maybe theyre both connected somehow. Hell she could even have been bernahl’s burned maiden. AUGH

[eldritchtouched]

Three promises without wording

We have the promise Malenia alludes to about Miquella, we have the return of Miquella's promised lord, and we have Mohg's spells being a Blood Oath. Importantly, we get none of the wording of any of these and they are presented ambiguously.

I have to wonder if they are all connected or if they are all alluding to the same promise.

The reason this is bugging me is because of how writing structures tend to work. It's very odd to have something like that in the background and have them all be separate, especially since they seem to tie into a few of the same characters.

Two are explicitly tied to Miquella (the one Malenia mentions, and Miquella having a promised lord), and one implicitly (Mohg's whole thing with Miquella, both their ties with blood magic, and how the emblem for the Blood Oath spells contains Miquella's recurring design motifs of helixes inside the prongs of the trident and lilies along the outer edges).

As a rule of thumb, stories are somewhat simplified, in that writers often don't multiply variables out unnecessarily. Think of it like storytelling version of Occam's Razor. Your assumptions should be simple, but specifically simple enough to explain all the information, as opposed to overly simple. This is a common trick in mysteries, too- the oversimple explanation is often a red herring, as are the overcomplicated explanations.

People, ironically, oversimplify Occam's Razor to mean 'the most simple answer is correct,' as opposed to the idea that the likeliest is the simplest one that also explains all details. It's why I'm hesitant to give up my theories just yet, though I know others are bracing for the worst. Because there's a whole slew of details without explanation left dangling with the prevailing theories that they have not addressed at all.

Stories are crafted things, so there is intention behind such decisions, after all. Coincidence in general is something writers avoid because it feels cheap. While my opinion has changed a lot about the book over the years and I'm now ambivalent about How Not to Write a Novel, one of their points that's good is that you can't just solve things by coincidence and luck. It loses its narrative weight by doing so.

And I'd note that neither writers' thing with twists is based around doing something wholly unexpected and out of nowhere. Both foreshadow their shit. What they do is hide that the twist is coming by playing with perspective. Which, given that we have none of the wordings of any of those promises and oaths, and the implications of them involving the same few characters, and that the DLC is about Miquella, makes me wonder...

[baerryjj]

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