#pidia

[carsmg]

pidia comic

[blaiddfailcam]

I don't know how I forgot to check the astrolabe at the Royal Moongazing Grounds after starting this weird scavenger hunt, but it looks as though this one points to Rykard's site of grace, and to... Pidia? ...in the opposite direction. It may be the most accurate alignment I've seen yet.

I don't see how these two characters are exactly relevant, besides their connections to Caria, so maybe it's only meant to point to one, or it's an "either works" type of deal, lol. (Or, as ever, it could be nothing but a weird coincidence.)

[primelight]

Concerning Seluvis (and Pidia)

Ok, I completely understand where the ‘Pidia is the puppet master’ theory came from (Vaati, alternate interpretations of lore etc.). However, all the evidence in favor of that is circumstantial, AND can be countered.

1. We already know that puppets can be given (or loaned) to someone who isn’t the original creator. After all, the player can get a few.

2. The Raya Lucaria soldier puppets are being used to guard the rooftops of Caria Manor. Pidia is a servant of Caria Manor, and looks to be the only sane Albinauric sorcerer left. It makes sense for him to tasked to use the puppets to protect the Manor.

3. This also explains why he says ‘You!’ when you first come down the ladder; he saw you on the rooftops.

4. There’s no law that there can’t be two perverted dolly-botherers. And Pidia is absolutely a perverted dolly-botherer.

5. You can hear the soldier puppets kill him after you find Seluvis’ body. If we’re talking ‘real’ puppet master, that’s an interesting coincidence.

6. Yes, he has the map to the amber starlight shard. However, he runs a storeroom. It makes sense that there’d be old, forgotten things in there.

7. From a meta perspective, you, the player, are just browsing the shelves when you buy stuff from Pidia.

8. Gideon has beef with Seluvis. It’s clearly mutual. Seluvis chose Nepheli, Gideon’s adopted daughter, as his target for the puppetizing potion. Why would Pidia, an Albinauric sorcerer with no apparent connection to the Roundtable Hold, order something like that?

9. Puppetry is specifically called out as a Night Sorcery/Nox thing. Carians in general are connected to the night, and the stars. Seluvis was one of Ranni’s father’s Preceptors, and a master sorceror. Seluvis’ bell bearing indicates a clear visual connection to Carian and/or Night sorcery....and that’s an entirely different post, stay tuned.

11. We’ve seen a non-summoned remote-controlled puppet in action: Finger Maiden Therolina. She shows up at the Radahn festival, and is utterly silent. She bows and...that’s it. You can buy her from Seluvis, too, or get her as a free puppet. And you see her in his chambers, so, yeah, she’s a puppet. And Seluvis himself has an awful lot of personality for a remote-controlled doll, doesn’t he? So...I speculate that he isn’t.

12. The biggest one IMHO is that Ranni knows that Seluvis puts you up to giving her the amber starlight draught. Either she is...spectacularly stupid, or Seluvis is the puppetmaster. And she knows it.

And, finally...Seluvis’ puppet body...This is a stretch, sure, but there are a few explanations:

13. We already know that sorcerers can body-surf. Sellen does it, using a body that Seluvis made. Jerren himself says, when he finds her ‘dead,’ that she’s doubtlessly got another body stashed somewhere. We help her upload her consciousness with that primal glintstone.

14. The merchant note on ‘the Preceptor’s Secret’ claims that Sellen visits (of visited) him quite frequently. Circumstantial, but it is not out of the question that they were both in on her backup plan. Why wouldn’t he have a backup plan?

15. ...He was totally being a pervy dolly-botherer with her new, empty body though.

16. So one explanation is that he somehow ditched his body for another. Or shut it down for future use. But we’ll never get that proven one way or another.

17. Another explanation is that Ranni made him drink one of his potions. He gets puppetized after you give her the fingerslayer blade....so he’s outlived his usefulness to her. And since she absolutely did know what he was up to, maybe she thought it was time for some justice?

Anyway...This is also all circumstantial. We’ll likely never get a confirmation of any of this. I think you can run with either theory...Fanfic fuel either way!

(Image credit to Fextralife for Sellen)

[autumnblogs]

Seluvis doesn’t die until the moment that you give Ranni the Fingerslaying Blade. Meanwhile, as soon as he leaves the Radahn Festival, Blaidd is tricked into the Bloodhound’s Evergaol and imprisoned there by Iji, who believes he will go rogue. Even if Blaidd is still imprisoned (you have to be the one to let him out unless he gets out on his own at the end of the quest), Seluvis still dies, so forensically, Blaidd can’t be responsible for Seluvis’ death, he has an alibi. I believe that Ranni knew about Seluvis’ planned treachery, and that her plan was always to dispose of him as soon as he had exhausted his usefulness.

Okay but see... if you feed the potion to Pidia, you'll have access to Seluvis and all the other puppets too (If the whole Seluvis being a puppet theory is true)

explained this in the replies of the previous ask but I lean towards the idea that Seluvis isn’t a puppet because there’s some things about the chain of events that don’t entirely fit with the theory for me… it seems like after Seluvis is killed, the soldier puppets Pidia cares for rise up and kill him, implying that Seluvis controlled them and his death gave them an opportunity to break free. Blaidd also leaves us a message at the crater leading to Nokron saying “there’s a traitor taken care of” and when you go back to Caria Manor and rest at the grace, Seluvis is dead… we know that Blaidd has wanted to kill Seluvis for a while but didn’t because they needed his help finding Nokron (turns out he was kinda useless and he just made Sellen tell us everything) and Seluvis was planning on betraying Ranni by feeding her a potion, so personally I think Blaidd gave him a taste of his own medicine lol

[fiddlesqueak-fables]

Sometimes I wonder what real Seluvis was like. Not Seluvis controlled by Pidia.

My theory is that he was still an asshole, but nothing more. Just a jerk that Pidia figured no one would miss and no one would think anything of when he started doing things that were even worse. Maybe when we’re talking to Seluvis normally and he’s just rude, that’s actual Seluvis talking; but Pidia comes in when all the ‘puppet’ talk begins. Or maybe Pidia is just pretending.

[nutaiga]

[stayatsam]

sorry to admit that i actually really like seluvis and his armor set is one of the sickest in the game

[eolande]

i think i'm gonna bring aneska back even tho i'm also using her face but slightly to the left for another oc LOL. i had some ideas for her.... i'm gonna go back in when i get out of the bath and tweak her design a bit but i'm thinking i want her to be an albinauric, not a tarnished but more of a side character....

[absorbing-misfortune]

He frowned. "Well yeah of sorts though I don't really use it that much anymore." He sighed. "Don't worry I am not a threat to you."

@izzyfromdeadspace

Kai smiled as he ran over to Izzy almost tackling her into a hug. "God's I missed you so much, how have you been?" He asked.

[blaiddfailcam]

Ranni and Miquella's crossed fates

I've briefly mentioned before my thoughts on Ranni and Miquella's intertwined fates and their potential cooperation, but I swear I keep finding more and more subtle hints and decided I should probably start jotting them down, if only for my own amusement.

Some of these are observations, others are my own theories based on said observations. Take them with a sizeable grain of salt.

Torrent and the spiritcalling bell

The Shadow of the Erdtree promo art appears to imply that Miquella was Torrent's former master. Ranni was entrusted the spiritcalling bell by this enigma.

Torrent was entrusted to Melina, who by deduction is potentially Miquella and Malenia's amnesiac sister. It wasn't just chance that brought the two together, but could have been part of Miquella's plan all along.

The spiritcalling bell shares a similar function to those used by Revenant Worshippers to summon forth wraiths. For whatever reason, Revenants appear numerously in areas associated with either Miquella or Ranni, and seldom elsewhere.

His name calls to mind rushing waters, falling in line with the theme of flowing water to counter stagnation and rot. Malenia was tutored by the Blind Swordsman, after all, whose flowing sword sealed the Outer God of Rot long ago.

Torrent's eyes are the same pure gold color as the Miquellan Albinaurics, differentiated by their uniform pigmentation from the golden irises of "grace-given" beings.

Conescrated Snowfield's relevance to Ranni

It is the only location where Rimed Crystal Buds grow, an ingredient used expressly for crafting Frost Pots, a weapon devised specifically by Ranni's servants.

The white bowers are only found elsewhere in the regions of Siofra River, surrounding Nokron. Likewise, two Followers can be found in the Snowfield.

Astel reappears in Yelough Anix Tunnel.

Black Knife Assassins lend aid to Ordina to guard the Haligtree from unwanted guests.

Consecrated Snowfield's situation at the northernmost region of the map, west of the Mountaintops of the Giants, parallels the positions of the Dark Moon and the Full Moon in the northern sky, as seen from the Moonlight Altar.

Carian influences in Elphael

Loretta, a knightess of Caria, elected the land of the Haligtree to be the most promising refuge for the Albinaurics of Liurnia, pledging fealty to Miquella while maintaining a protective spell over her former house. She was not marked a traitor to Caria, suggesting an alliance between the two houses.

The Miquellan Knight's Sword illustrates a clear borrowing of craftsmanship by the Haligtree, modeled after Carian weaponry, yet substituting holy amber for glintstone.

On the contrary, the Black Leather Shield, purchased from Pidia the Albinauric, appears to hint at the location of the Haligtree: "From the north, this shield depicts the polar star in rivets of gold." The Celtic motifs typical of Miquellan weapons and armor faintly trace the edges of the shield.

There's also the mystery of the Amber Starlight Shard. Pidia offers a map leading to a hidden statue of Miquella and Malenia where the shard is found; Seluvis requires the shard to try and gain control over Ranni. The shard itself is said to be the lost fate of a demigod...

Ranni and Miquella's lost Great Runes

Certain details suggest the Great Rune of the Unborn had actually been intended for Miquella, from its function as a device for rebirth, to the amber egg that cradles it, even down to how its shape matches Malenia's Great Rune, albeit smaller and pure gold.

The children reborn of the amber egg all possess eyes of mixed gold and greenish-blue. Strangely, this mixed pigmentation only appears elsewhere in the eyes of Revenant Worshippers, again reinforcing that bizarre connection with at least one of the two Empyreans in question.

Ranni also lacks a Great Rune, yet a somewhat commonheld theory is that the moon bears a marking that can be seen within the Elden Ring, yet isn't connected to any of the other Great Runes. It depicts a vertical line intersected with upward arcs, like a sort of ripple.

This sigil is also seen in the Ripple Blades carried by young Albinaurics, and even in the Haligtree Crest itself. Though the number of "ripples" and their curvatures vary, the general symbol remains consistent.

Blind guesses as to what it all means

A sword memorial in Altus Plateau reads as follows:

"A sovereign alliance rots from within.

"Traces yet remain of bloody conspiracy."

At first, I thought this might have been referring to Mohg and Miquella, and that Mohg had sworn an alliance with the Haligtree in conspiracy to abduct the sleeping Empyrean. However, it's not entirely unlikely that it could refer to Ranni and Miquella's alliance, and perhaps their potential conspiracy that would culminate in the death of Godwyn and the shattering of the Elden Ring.

While Miquella had clearly worked to either ensure Godwyn would die a true death, or that he could restore his soul through the rite at Castle Sol, but either failed or was thwarted, just like when Mohg abducted him from the Haligtree. For all we know, maybe Ranni even deceived Miquella with a pact.

As for their missing Great Runes, and the Haligtree's plantation in a region more befitting a Lunar Princess, I almost get the sense that, having clarified her intent to rid herself of her Empyrean destiny, Ranni offered Miquella passage to the north, and possibly even the Great Rune she had inherited. This effectively allowed them to trade fates, but it remains to be seen what Miquella/Trina's plans truly were, if the DLC might offer any hints.

Or, perhaps their fates had been entangled from the beginning, starting with Radagon's sly subjugation of the Carian lineage, and his vow of silence enforced upon the Carian Preceptors to hide what the stars might portend. Either way, it seems clear that Ranni and Miquella harbored a mutual distaste for the stagnation of the Golden Order.

...I'm fully prepared for this theory to split apart at the seams when Shadow of the Erdtree drops (hopefully soonish??????). Still, it's fun to mull over in the meantime.

[darksouls2-gendercoffin]

thinking about how Ranni adopts the alias Renna as a tribute to the woman who taught her sorcery, and how one of the ‘Three Sisters’ towers is named Renna’s Rise. thinking about how Seluvis’s Rise definitely used to have a different name before Seluvis entered Ranni’s service—was it Rennala’s tower before that? was it Rellana’s? I imagine two of the Three Sisters used to be Rellana’s Rise and Rennala’s Rise, and then Ranni gave one to Seluvis and renamed one after her mentor, and in fact I think it’s safe to say that Ranni did rename one of them thanks to Iji’s line, “Along the dark path of the Empyrean, from Renna’s Rise, as [Ranni] calls it.” but then who was the third sister? were the Sisters built before and named for a generation from even further back than Ranni’s mom and aunt?

granted, it’s possible that the towers are a newer addition to the manor grounds: the towers are in much better shape than the ruins around them, and the sending gate on Renna’s Rise was presumably placed there or at least enchanted by Ranni herself, or so I’d assume. Ranni could have had the Three Sisters built while she was still a living human, with her aunt off defending Messmer and her mother running the academy and nobody around to question or veto her construction plans, but Iji implying that Renna’s Rise was renamed does lead me to believe that the towers have been there a long time, and maybe only fell into disrepair because Ranni only cared about maintaining (or only had the resources to maintain) the Sisters. nobody is keeping the manor itself running and maintained, after all, unless you count Pidia, I guess.

still, it’s intriguing to wonder who the Three Sisters might have been originally constructed for or named after or both. I don’t think there’s any evidence that Renna, the ‘snowy crone’ Ranni learned magic from, is a third sibling of Rennala and Rellana’s, especially not if that rise was renamed. I’ve always imaging Rennala taking Ranni to meet Renna and learn magic from her as sort of a reference to the concept of the triple goddess or the Maiden, Mother, and Crone—a daughter, a mother, and a grandmother—which has always lead me to assume Renna was an elderly relative from an older generation the Carian line, and not a sibling, and the towers aren’t called The Two Sisters & Their Mom. plus, again, if Renna were one of the three sisters for whom the architectural Three Sisters were named, her Rise wouldn’t have needed to be renamed at all. so who the heck lived in Renna and Seluvis’ rises beforehand? who lived in Ranni’s? I’ve never given it much thought before but I just caught that line from Iji after replaying this quest for probably the twentieth time and now I feel like I know so much less about the Carians than I thought I did.

[shiranui7]

I know there are more, these are just my preferences. I only have 10 slots.

[cinderflower]

I appreciate the additional insight/interpretation! I still don't really think it makes the Gaius situation make any more sense though at least personally, just because the other main point of contention is that it discusses Gaius as being born cursed when the Gen 1 albinaurics are said to have been created not necessarily born (unless you take the "birthing droplet" into consideration which doesn't provide much more clarity and confuses the whole albinaurics creation process more). But also the game implies they've been intentionally persecuted specifically because they're created outside the careful grace-driven closed ecosystem Marika has created and fall into the same lump as Omen that get purged and don't get recycled via the Erdtree, which explained the Omen killer and depraved Perfumer being in the albinauric village as well.

The Carian relationship with albinaurics has always been interesting just because we don't really know when they first appeared but it seemed as if it was a somewhat newer development, I always imagined it being between the birth of the Carian kids and the Raya Lucaria coup but the Gaius lore would mean that it actually happened before that. Other than Pidia (who is interesting imo for other reasons I believe is tied to the puppets and Nox not specifically the albinaurics) we don't see albinaurics associated with the Carians other than the mention of Loretta being rumored to be one which is seen as an unfounded/scandalous rumor (but she's also more tied in with the albinaurics through her switch to Miquella's service) and Rykard's fun torture manor which is full to the brim with tortured albinaurics. They're in Liurnia sure but they're not really part of it, they're very brushed to the side in small little enclaves or have taken over areas in the case of the 2nd gen albinaurics.

Either way I think the lore is hard to nail down because the DLC convoluted the already unclear timeline of the pre-Shattering events and they also never gave clear information on albinaurics as a whole on their whole deal and Gaius made what little could have been maybe taken as solid lore as now more vague. And like I said, I could still be missing things, I've honestly given up trying to get a lot of the DLC lore to make sense.

maybe i'm missing something but i swear to god gaius's inclusion and specifically being an albinauric has been breaking my brain for over a month now with how explicitly it goes against everything we know about how albinaurics came to be, their persecution by both the golden order and rykard, etc

like wdym he was a mentor to radahn and worked with messmer and went to the shadowlands but also the albinaurics are graceless and treated as outcasts by the order, esp when the game strongly implies they came into existence by some Nox/Carian shenanigans somehow so ?? ? ? ? ???????

[fareehaandspaniards]

Also for the Jolan/Anna thing, I find it very interesting that upon defeating Anna you don’t get “Invader Slain” but “Recusant Slain.” There’s implications there but I’m not sure which ones tbh.

0_0 really???? I never noticed. I just checked on YouTube and yes! You are right!!! That means she used this to invade us!

I don't know how to interpret that.

The only thing I can think of is that the finger doesn't matter, all that matters is that Anna is a "recusant". Perhaps, as my mutual @swallowtail-ageha mentioned, Anna angered Ymir with something.

I've written before that this is all very strange, since Anna's doll is in the upper floors of Rabbath's rise. Also, in the ashes of those two sisters Anna is named "Count Ymir's doll Anna". THEN we can guess from her dialog with Jolan that she didn't know what happened to Anna, as she is apparently relieved to get some information from some of us. My theory was that Rabbath, like Seluvis, made a puppet out of Anna just because him and Ymir could be rivals... But since she's a "recusant"…..

We know that Anna and Jolan grew up together. We know that Ymir knew Anna. He says she has a "heart of gold." They're all Nox in one way or another.

Perhaps Anna really was "punished" by Ymir and turned into a doll? Ymir seems like someone who doesn't accept viewpoints different from his, judging by the way he talks about Marika and Moon and stuff.

Perhaps Ymir turned Anna into a puppet just for her unwillingness to submit to his ideology. Or perhaps Anna, of all people, was the first to notice his insanity.

However, why is she invading us if she is Ymir's puppet? I thought he was attacking us, because we accomplished his goal of killing Metyr, and he doesn't need Tarnished anymore? But Jolan says the Count is disappointed in us??? xD Wtf?

Thank you for noticing anon!!!

Edit!!!: my mutual @asklesbianonceler reminded that we have a pair of nox, that became doll by their own Will! So another way to interpret the situation:

Anna chose to become doll to stop us from killing Metyr! But I thought doll need someone to call them and they can't act on their own (sorry Ranni lol)... 🤔🤔🤔 Someone using Anna? Or just Anna from another realm? (Shit like that happens in soulsborne games)

Edit 2: Doll doesn't need someone to act, as we saw with Pidia! Thank you, @wanderingmausoleum So Anna could literally made a doll of herself. Or Ymir/Rabbath could make a doll out of her, but she is still trying to stop player from entering Metyr's realm

[blasphemousclaw]

underrated rykard aspect: he's still got the carian accent. yeah its kind of hard to hear in most of his dialogue because of his weird snake voice, but you can definitely hear it in his defeat dialogue

so first of all you’ve actually touched on a really interesting subject of elden ring’s worldbuilding which I’ve mentioned a few times… all of the Liurnian characters were deliberately and consistently cast as Welsh voice actors! This includes: Rennala, Ranni, Blaidd, Iji, Seluvis, Sellen, Thops, Jerren, Pidia, and Old Albus. I love that they did this, because every time you talk to a Liurnian native in the game, their accents make Liurnia feel like a more cohesive and unique and separate region from the rest of the continent.

However, regarding Rykard, I’m pretty sure his voice actor is not Welsh and it doesn’t especially seem to me that he’s doing a Welsh accent... listening to his dialogue, I thiiiink I can hear what you mean about his accent, but I still personally can’t really pinpoint it as Welsh like the other characters I’ve listed. I would guess that the casting team thought it was more important to cast someone who could sound like a grotesque amalgamation between human and snake, rather than someone who had a Welsh accent… it’s not like that accent would especially come through anyway when you’re choking and wheezing and slurring your words as much as Rykard is lmao.

Lore-wise though, it does make sense that the old Rykard would have also had a Welsh accent and I’ve always interpreted him as such… unless, as praetor, he adapted his speech to match the Erdtree capital? I also wonder if the Carian royal family might have spoken the Lands Between equivalent of the Welsh language with each other? I like to think so!

[mesaprotector]

My Elden Ring character tier list after finishing the game. Don't look at it too closely if you mind spoilers. Caption (since the images are hard to see) and some explanations:

S: Morgott, Miriel, *Kalé

Kalé being this high is based on his cut questline - without it, I'd put him right at the top of A/B tier. I probably don't have to explain Morgott or Miriel.

A: Alexander, Enia, Gideon, Hewg, Big Boggart, Melina, Jar Bairn, Blaidd, Mohg

I think Gideon is a fantastic character, not least because in my playthrough I screwed up Nepheli's questline among others so I had no forewarning of how callous he was. Mohg's voice actor and design are what make him so memorable for me.

A/B: Godfrey, Roderika, Fia, Malenia, Rennala, Patches, Ranni, Sellen, Radahn

While I'm not immune to cute blue witch girls, I never found Ranni very interesting. She's charming, sure, but I mostly followed her quest out of duty. Godfrey and Radahn are very similar characters in my mind - likeable warlords - and even though the Radahn festival was one of my favorite parts of the game, Radahn himself doesn't have much to say anymore. Him being in the upper half of the list is an accomplishment though.

B: Godfrey, Gowry, Thops, Maliketh, Rya, Rogier, Latenna

Didn't do most of Rya's questline, so she'd probably be higher if I had. Same with Rogier. I found Gowry more interesting than his charge Millicent, and unlike Gideon I was sort of on the line of whether he meant well or not the whole time, until the end.

B/C: Boc, Nepheli, Corhyn, Iji, Millicent, Goldmask, Hyetta

I did wish Boc well but man was I uncomfortable during most of our interactions.

C: Seluvis, Kenneth, Gostoc, Tanith, Albus, Shabriri

Seluvis's voice actor was great - I despised him. Shabriri was a lot more effective as a sinister presence in the game's background than he was after he actually appeared.

D: Jerren, Rykard, Radagon, Bernahl, Pidia

Jerren was fine but just kind of a nonentity. Rykard and Radagon each had like 1 interesting moment. I forgot who Bernahl was even after putting him on this list which should say enough. And Pidia is just Seluvis without the charm of being so obviously awful.

Not on the list: Diallos, D, D's brother, Dung Eater, Vyke, Varré, Yura

I missed the majority of each of these quests. I heard Diallos's was good, but I can't fairly rank him.

Also not on the list: Marika

I feel only someone who's studied this game's lore for months could even begin to get a sense of what kind of character she is.