#radahn's story was done with the festival

[theribbajack]

"Now, the vow will be honoured, and my Lord brother's soul will return."

Radahn stans keep winning, but I personally am in Miyazaki's walls rn

[ganondoodle]

okay more elden ring DLC spoilers below the read more

what fucks me up the most is ....... that we never actually get to meet the real actual Radahn, hes either a rotting zombie or some constructed meat puppet with a manipulated soul of his

the most we know is from the base game stuff, his men and everything, but we never get to meet him- and now ... it undermines the whole festival, i felt like it was sorrowful goodbye and attempt to grant him an honorable death- that made me fall for him in the end, the lore around that and the whole build up and vibe of it, it felt so genuine but now you cant feel that, bc you know .... either way he will be suffering, let him rot for all eternity being a threat to friend and foe alike, as this mindless monster chowing away at corpses like a beast when he used to be a powerful respected general

or kill him but instead of giving him the death he wanted his soul is instead grafted into a meat puppet by his half brother so he can be controlled and made to agree to marry him despite rejecting it in life (as far as i understood it, he definitely did reject it though bc otherwise malenia wouldnt have tried to assassinate him to get him delivered over)-

so theres no good answer and im left wondering, did his men know of that? im gonna guess no, bc the whole point of the festival was to bring him HONOR when there was nothing of his honor left, of him left, and theres no honor in being turned into a literal marionette for your half brothers sick play

you could call it tragic, and it is, but it feels so much more ..... like just wanting to violate him even in death, just because he hasnt suffered enough, lets make it even more horrible just for sufferings sake (like i get it, i like when my favs also get to suffer, what happened to him in the base game was a part of why i love him so much- but theres a limit to that imo) it takes away from so much of the festival and everything, you are not taking part in one last final battle so Radahn can die fighting, you are handing his soul over to his half brother that wants to use him like a puppet, LITERALLY, to make a mockery of his memory, make him do things he would never have if he was himself, i cant think of anything more horrible to do to him

and his people are utterly convinced they are doing right by him, when the rot was probably better than what miquella would do to him, as horrible as that was.. and if they WERE aware then wow ....... i guess miquella really had everyone on his side huh uwu, like that sucks even more, so none of them ever felt and cared about him or were all also brainwashed YIPPIIIE

(not to mention how much interesting miquella lore gets twisted into actually he was just a scheming little creep and everyone that followed him was quite literlally brainwashed- i know the whole bewitching thing is like, his thing, but MAN- it feels like whoops it was all a dream and it never actually happened when its done bad)

(and i know Radahn is a fictional character but people are gonna pin it on him i just know it, like espeically those that dont care about lore and are just there for the fights .... like its not his fault!!! and i felt like he was already hated enough, first by his too hard boss battle in base game and now in the DLC its a repeat of that even harder (though i find the complaints a lil >_> bc i have seen people just walk right over story bosses so just ... overlevel yourself if you want to do that too, you dont have to fight a boss for three days, explore and level up?) and it was already annoying how malenia defenders AND radahn defenders kept trying to make the other into some horrible asshat, when they are both not great and thats valid, but now its??? )

[cobaltscribe]

Shadow of the Erdtree final boss spoilers below:

Deciding to put my thoughts in one semi-coherent post on my own blog.

Like pretty much everyone else has said, Promised Consort Radahn is not what I expected to be the final boss going into the DLC. By the time I got to the Shadow Keep and progressed Ansbach and Freyja’s quest lines, I realized that was the direction it was heading.

Full stop, I don’t care for Radahn’s involvement in the plot of the DLC. The fight itself was actually very fun! Probably harder than Malenia on the whole, albeit without a sole waterfowl-esque move that defined the entire fight. Phase 2 and it’s lasers add far too much visual clutter and extra hits to an otherwise good moveset, and some of his attacks I simply couldn’t figure out how to consistently dodge (specifically the gravity shockwaves he follows up a successful pull in with, and especially the phase 2 variation).

I did use the Sekiro parry cracked tear, so I’ll be interested to see how my impressions end up when I fight it further and attempt to purely dodge.

Back to the story and lore relevance, however, it just feels like an odd and unsatisfying choice. Radahn was a figure never very closely associated with Miquella, and was honestly not much of a compelling character in his own right. He serves his purpose in the base game as this force of a man who, even as a shell of his former self, was once the strongest demigod, but I don’t think there was enough there to warrant final-boss status alongside Miquella.

It makes pragmatic sense for him to be Miquella’s chosen lord, sure. He was frequently toted as the strongest of the demigods, he’s a warrior, and he’s loyal. Considering Miquella can compel affection, having their interests or goals align doesn’t really matter. But that doesn’t really change the fact that it felt odd. They didn’t feel like significant characters to each other before the DLC, and even within it, we barely get any history on their vow or relationship outside of simply knowing that Radahn promised(?) to be Miquella’s consort. It’s not a narrative choicenInhave seen anyone excited about outside of brief surprise that Radahn is back.

I initially thought about Godwyn being the obvious replacement, partially due to the fact I simply wanted to see more of the other main demigod not to be interacted with directly in the base game. While he does have a fairly complete story with Fia’s quest line leading to his eventual resurrection, if they were going to use an existing demigod, why not the one who we don’t already fight in game? His soul is dead, of course, which complicates his involvement by probably preventing his resurrection, so I understand not using him in the DLC, particularly in place of Radahn. But I still also don’t think Radahn is a particularly better choice, since he also had a very complete story!

Mostly, though, he already had a complete fight! The Radahn fight is generally seen as one of, if not the best fight in the game, and it’s personally in my top 5. The music, the arena, the spectacle, the moveset, the festival and summoning aspect: basically every part of the boss is nailed and top notch. Some of he best work Fromsoftware has ever done on a boss. Promised Consort Radahn, no matter how good it is in its own right, will simply pale in comparison since it’s treading old ground.

As far as Miquella goes, I rather liked how his story played out. I figured he would likely end up being someone we have to stop, rather than aid, and the confirmation of his ability to compel affection was so interesting! Especially the confirmation of Mohg’s bewitching by him, which so completely changes my perception of Mohg as a character and boss! I don’t think Miquella was character assassinated or ruined, and if anything I think he’s more interesting this was as opposed to actually being a clear, morally pure savior.

Still, I can’t say that the choice of involving Radahn in his story was to the benefit of either of their characters, and if anything is more of a distraction than anything. Instead of wondering about their connection as characters and why Miquella chose him as consort, I’m wondering why the writers/devs chose Radahn to be involved at all! It is, at least, a relatively small blemish on an otherwise great DLC, and one that I think largely surpasses the base game in quality.

[miirshroom]

Elden Ring - The Fool's Journey

The Fool of the tarot deck is sometimes interpreted as the protagonist of a story and the procession of the Major Arcana as the steps of this story. The Fool begins with nothing but the ignorant faith to undertake a journey full of hardship and pain, and believe that in the end they will reenter the world with new understanding. But the journey never ends, and so The Fool soon begins another cycle and strives for greater heights of understanding.

Rider-Waite-Smith tarot developed by members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Spoilers ahead from some specific characters from other FromSoft games (Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Armored Core V).

Prophesy and Storytelling and Fate

Prophesy is a literary device. It's a kind of promise from the author to the reader that there will be a payoff for the planting and the prophesy will come true. So effectively when prophets in-universe are able to know the future it is because they have a direct access to the will of the author. The common form of the prophesy is that it is written vaguely, and retroactively shown to suit the events that actually occurred. The belief of the Fool that they can follow the proscribed steps and achieve mastery of the world is a kind of prophesy.

Elden Ring has the prophet class, and the Prophet insists that the path of the future is already laid out. One method of fortune telling is palmistry which is the reading the lines on a hand to predict a person's future. And the Finger Readers strongly allude to this, as well as Godrick directly acknowledging that palm reading is fashionable in the Capitol in volume 1 of the Road to the Erdtree manga. So the Prophet starts with the Two Finger's Seal and the Two Fingers are associated with fortune telling, and Blaidd - a Shadowbound beast assigned by the Two Fingers - is one of only two characters to ever mention the concept of "cards". Tarot card readings being another practice of fortune telling.

"The wheel of fate has been set into motion. If it's on the cards, I'd be glad to meet again." - Blaidd, after Radahn festival if not in Ranni's service"

"There is no denying it, now. A culling appears to be on the cards. One that won't overlook even an aging soldier as myself..." - Sir Ansbach, upon being repeatedly attacked

However, where these two methods differ is that the state of a person's hand (and thus the reading they would be given) is partly influenced by the features that a person was born with and partly by what the hand has been used for. In fact, the joke in the manga is that by grafting so many arms Godrick has taken the fortunes of others to give himself more to choose from. He has tried to subvert palmistry by defying the fixed path set by the hands he was born with. Grafting was his unsuccessful effort to cheat fate.

"One day, we'll return together. To our home, bathed in rays of gold.... ...Not the fool Omen King. Nor the rank malformed twins. O, we are the Golden Ones. The true and rightful heirs." - cut dialogue from Godrick the Grafted

In comparison, a tarot reading is done by choosing cards at random. But from a literary perspective it would be poor setup and payoff to shape a plot based on a random set of cards. Therefore, assume that they are not random - the Fool's Journey. The most well known tarot deck and interpretation guide (Rider-Waite-Smith) were produced by members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (a late 19th century secret society focused on spiritual development). It is packed full of alchemical and astrological symbology, as is Elden Ring.

Who are the Greatest Fools of Elden Ring?

According to the cut-content Godrick speech, Morgott is a fool Omen. According to Sir Gideon Ofnir, Godrick is an old fool, and the player appears at first assessment to be an irredeemable fool. Morgott agrees that the Tarnished is a fool with foolish ambitions. Bloody Finger Hunter Yura thinks the player to be a fool for picking a fight with the dragon Agheel. D, Hunter of the Dead calls the player "another fool" for seeking places touched by death, seemingly self-aware of his own foolishness in seeking to weed out deathroot.

Smithing Master Hewg thinks that all Tarnished are fools:

"I see you've noticed the chains. Nothing special. I'm a prisoner, and these are my chains. I'm trapped by the Hold, undying, smithing for you fools. That's all there is to it."

From the DLC: Hornsent calls the player a mongrel blood and a fool (he places importance on blood purity in his own way, not unlike Ansbach), and Ansbach calls himself a fool for underestimating Thiollier (as mentioned before Ansbach believes in the "cards" and is thus bound to them, while Thiollier's themes are external to the Fool's Journey). If the player fails to defeat Bayle, Igon seems to have some dialogue that laments giving his finger and his soul to a fool.

The Stranded Soul at Fort Laidd is hiding from fools and brought the Fire Scorpion Charm with him in the hiding place. The charm contains hearts in a cyclical motif and nearby the fort there is a magma wyrm created by a human consuming the hearts of dragons. The Stranded Soul in Dragonbarrow near the Caelid Divine Tower complains of dryness and begs a fool dragon to surrender its heart to be feasted upon.

Boc wonders if he must be reborn - and seems to have misgivings about his fate after that rebirth - but calls himself a fool for not having the answer to this question. Castellan Jerren calls himself a foolish old warrior, wears armor that resembles a kind of Fool's motley, and calls blacksmith Iji an old fool.

Kenneth Haight has this to say of a fool: "I want you to take back my fort...A Knight commander from Stormveil took it. A fool, and plumb mad to boot. Simply obsessed with blood!" He also remarks on the Player's foolishness for refusing the offer to enter his service after clearing the fort.

The Dungeater mentions fools (and fate!) in his mad rambling:

"Hundreds will be reborn cursed, and they'll bear thousands of cursed children, who'll bear tens of thousands more. A few of those will be born just like me, and they'll kill, and defile, and bless in my stead! The rotten fools. My fate was the grandest, most brilliant of them all!"

One Finger Reader Crone speaks of a fool, but it is ambiguous who is the fool here, the “all-hearing”, or the “big pot”:

"Miquella's favour can be yours. Slaughter, slaughter, slaughter... The all-hearing slaughtered, but alas, it was for naught. But all you need do, is snatch it from the big pot....Pity the poor, poor fool!"

The Demi-Human Queen's Staff is "sneered at by fools in the academy". This does not necessarily mean that everyone at the academy is a fool, but applies to a certain faction. The spell "Glintstone Arc" declares that "fools travel in packs". Animals that may be grouped in packs: dogs, mules, rats, weasels, wolves. The singular mention of "weasel" in the text of the game is Gostoc addressing Godrick. The other animals are more common.

Seluvis speaks of the player's ability to make fools of others - naming Nepheli as being successfully fooled and Ranni as a prospective fool (doesn't work).

Diallos Hoslow is a good case study. He has seven lines of dialogue calling himself a fool - the most of any character. And the animal theming of House Hoslow is that of a ram - which has association with "beginnings" similar to "The Fool", as the warlike Aries is sometimes considered the start of the zodiac. At the least, this astrological zodiac association shows up fairly early in tarot with the 4th Arcana: The Emperor. Observe the storyline of Diallos as understood through the Fool's Journey:

10 Wheel of Fortune - Where we pick up with Diallos he has entered the service of the Round Table Hold. This is a turning point - destiny called him here as it called all Tarnished.

11 Justice - Diallos considers the cause and effect that led to the death of his servant and childhood friend Lanya (and perhaps his Lover, calling back to the 6th Arcana), and decides that he must confront the Recusants to seek Justice. This is also the first instance where Diallos applies the word "fool" to himself.

12 The Hanged Man - Rather than a direct confrontation Diallos finds himself with an opportunity to join the Recusants - originally accepting their offer for the purpose of infiltrating them. Volcano Manor also stands above the Prison Town where likely the Dungeater was hanged. In a reversal of fortune Diallos is soon swayed by the words of Lady Tanith. Interestingly, he describes the decision to pursue becoming a champion of Volcano Manor as thus:

"According to Lady Tanith... I've got the stuff of champions. And champions, ironic as it is, are oft forced walk a tainted a path. It hit me like a bolt from the blue... That my former thoughts were simple naiveté. Of course, my heart weeps for Lanya. That unfortunate incident was a cruel twist of fate indeed. But succumbing to the pain and sadness caused won't make me a champion, will it. Lanya knows this, I'm certain. Fate has laid hard roads for us both."

The "bolt from the blue" is a classic motif of "The Tower", which is 4 cards away from the Hanged Man. The reference to two roads is significant, it will come up again later.

13 Death - Diallos in his previous dialogue claims that "[these hands will] be darkened by grit, once I've set out on the path of champions". And then after the player has completed two missions for Volcano Manor he will say "I haven't achieved anything at all thus far. Even though I've dirtied my hands time and time again." It can be inferred that in the time between Diallos has set out on the path of champions - paralleling your own progress - and killed assassination targets for the Volcano Manor. In the process he experiences a death of his former principles by cutting away that which he believed unnecessary:

"I always resented these hands. Their pale complexion, a far cry from any warrior's."

14 Temperance / 15 The Devil - These also occur in the space before Diallos' next dialogue. Temperance is balance and stability - Diallos falling into the routine of Volcano Manor. The Devil is the ignorance of being in a situation from which one could easily free themselves, but do not even realize that they have been bound to a limited range of experience - Diallos failing to appreciate that there is much more that he could be living for other than dealing out death for a sight unseen benefactor.

16 The Tower - Diallos faces a crisis either when Rykard is slain (by the player who sneaks through the back routes to find Rykard) and the blasphemous core of the Volcano Manor is revealed, or when he is suddenly confronted with the final contract from Volcano manor: Juno Hoslow, Knight of Blood. This crisis shakes him free from the allure of being a Champion for the Volcano Manor.

"It's just as my noble brother says. I'm a complete fool. I can't believe I thought I could become a champion."

17 The Star / 18 The Moon - Diallos finds himself healed by the peace of Jarburg. He is hopeful that his soft hands will finally be good for something in becoming Potentate to the jars. However, Liurnia is also governed by the moon and this peace is an illusion, for the pots themselves are mad/lunatic/crackpot creations that look innocuous on the outside but are internally stuffed with gore.

19 The Sun - Diallos finally has his moment of greatness in defending Jarburg from attack. He is tragically enlightened as to what it means that "the tale of House Hoslow is told in blood" when he meets a bloody end.

20 Judgement - Diallos sheds his ego with and so his soul is freed from his flesh. That flesh will be reborn soon, as the contents of a Warrior Jar.

21 The World - Diallos's worldview was coloured by blood, and so becoming reduced to blood was his fate. A macabre twist on the end of the Fool's Journey, but it was what was called for by Diallos's character arc. And to emphasize that "blood" means more than simply a red liquid, the visual design of Hoslow's Petal Whip is fashioned in a way to evoke the visual of a DNA strand. A person's DNA is indeed something passed down through generations, as indicated in the item description.

Overall, there is significant textual support that the Tarnished in general and the player in specific is seen as a Fool. Dragon-hunters and dragons themselves are considered to be fools. And obsession with blood is a recurring trait of Fools.

Authorial Intent for the Tarot Sequence

As I mentioned previously, prophesies are an expression of the hand of the author on the story. Aside from a few references to "cards" and "fools", there is little enough evidence to be found looking solely within Elden Ring. Rather, the circumstantial evidence extends outside of the game, which is to say, from paying attention to the development history of FromSoftware.

There are coincidentally 22 years between Elden Ring and a FromSoft game called "Eternal Ring" released in 2000, which is long enough for a full cycle from Fool to Fool. One of the antagonists of Armored Core V (2012) pilots an AC unit called "Hanged Man" and with an emblem alluding to the iconography of the Hanged Man tarot card, which is the 12th Arcana. An added detail is that the hanged man is positioned in front of a guillotine - the looming spectre of death by beheading.

And there are a few hints that I've noticed in Dark Souls - such as Havel the Rock drawing inspiration from the Hierophant of 2005 (a priest in keeping with Havel's background as a bishop, and the Hierophant is associated with astrological Taurus matching his bovine leg armor and proximity to the Taurus demon), and of which 2005 was also the Year of the Wood Rooster (Havel being derived from Gallus meaning "rooster" and having a cock's comb on his helmet). Those familiar with Dark Souls may point out that this selectively ignores aspects of Havel's character such as how he carved his own armor out of stone, his hatred for Seath the Scaleless, and reputation as a Dragonslayer who uses a dragon's tooth as a club. Also there is a significant difference between a "Wood Rooster" and rooster carved of stone. But to that I would say: read to the end of the last section about parallels from other fantasy stories that are structured around a "Fool" character.

And if that was all, it could be easy to pick apart the overarching story by looking for the steps of tarot. But the pattern has been growing for 30 years and it is far more complex than that. It is - for example - not my intention today to explain the throughline of the astrological wheel as it applies to all of the Armored Core games in sequence. I do think it important to describe the truly convoluted decision to merge a second Fool's Journey to the first.

A century ending in 0 is one natural start for a Fool's Journey, but so is April 1st - April Fool's Day, which is known in Scotland as "The day of running the cuckoo". There has been one single game that FromSoft has released on an April 1st - Kuon in 2004. And like the 12th Arcana being incorporated in the year 2012, one of the puzzles of Kuon also references the year of its release - the zodiac puzzle is solved by "rooster first - monkey last" with 2004 being the year of the monkey. A cycle ends and is on the precipice of starting a new one, from the perspective that the Fool's story only truly begins upon meeting Arcana #1: the Magician. Also coincidently backtracking a bit to the previous cycle on this track will land "The Tower" arcana on the release year of "Shadow Tower".

Remember back with Diallos where he talked about two roads, and also referenced aesthetic of "The Tower", while playing out the spirit of "The Hanged Man"? Both align in 2016.

So now consider as a case study the significance of the year 2012. The Fool is the Hanged Man and suspended in a moment where the world has been turned upside down. An experience that seems too difficult to endure and the only choice is to let go. With the benefit of hindsight we know now that FromSoft did let go of something in 2012 - mecha games almost entirely disappeared from FromSoft development for 10 years after being a core part of their development for the previous 20 years. 9 of 29 (31%) from 1994-2003, 16 of 31 (52%) from 2004 to 2013, and 1 of 7* (14%) from 2014 to 2023 (*8% if counting DLC’s). The true last mecha game before AC6: Fires of Rubicon was Armored Core V: Verdict Day in 2013, with a name that speaks of finality and released in the year matching the 13th Arcana - Death. And as well as continuing the Fool's Journey the natural next step is to travel into the underworld - and so picks up Dark Souls. Hence the double-entendre subtitle of the Dark Souls Complete Edition directed to both the player and FromSoftware's long-running AC game franchise: Prepare to Die.

In the second Fool's Journey, 2012 is Arcana #8: Strength, following after Arcana #7: The Chariot. These tarot build off each other, as the Artorias of the Abyss expansion built off the base Dark Souls in the consecutive years of 2011 and 2012. Strength is associated with patience and tolerance and with the Fool having the courage to go on despite disillusionment, such as that which occurs in-universe upon learning that Artorias did not defeat Manus, Father of the Abyss, but instead fell to the Abyss. The Chariot is the Fool achieving the will-power to grasp control over the environment and achieve adulthood, as Dark Souls achieved the assertive success that was lacking in Demon's Souls.

Demon's Souls itself was released in 2009, the year of the 5th Arcana: Hierophant in the 2nd tarot journey. The Hierophant represents the beginning of the Fool's education in an organized belief system - identifying with a group and belonging. One might be tempted to think that this was the beginning of a belief in "souls", but that is too narrow focused - a "soul" is "thought" and exists whether it is believed in or not. Rather the contemplation of the nature of thought and personhood is more suited to the first Fool embodying Arcana #9: The Hermit, who looks inwards to search for answers. The Hierophant I find to be better expressed in the gaudy religious figure enthroned in the Tower of Latria - the old monk who brings belief in madness and eldritch entities, and is the first of the King in Yellow references scattered throughout the souls games and Elden Ring. Perhaps the Hermit-fool looks inside and sees a developing cuckoo of the Hierophant-fool, but has not the power to do anything to separate the conflicting parts. There is indeed an acknowledgement of two entities to consider as it is said in the opening titles: "On the first day, man was granted a soul, and with it, clarity. On the second day, upon Earth was planted an irrevocable poison; a soul-devouring Demon." So, there is the man and there is the demon.

Compare Demon's Souls Old Monk with the gilded tree growing behind his head with Shadow of the Erdtree's Midra who has the roots of a tree growing through his skull.

And while it seems unlikely that game development cycles could be contorted to some greater overarching narrative, consider this: how often have FromSoft games shipped "unfinished"? They always seem to set their goals a bit too high, resulting in outcomes like the abandoned 6th archstone in Demon's Souls or the under populated Izalith area in Dark Souls. They cut so much content that it ends up incorporated into massive DLC's like Bloodborne's Old Hunters DLC or Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree. Rather than delay games by a year or so until they can ship "complete", they have seemed more concerned with releasing as close to schedule as possible. The amount of content left unfinished simply does not matter if the overarching narrative was never intended to be completed in a single game. The game developer can't control for dataminers who will scrutinize any unused strings of code and invent in their heads a more "complete" game that could have been, regardless of whether these unused pieces were simply cut in the editing process because they didn't suit the artistic intent.

On the other hand, Elden Ring was delayed by a year from the initially planned release in 2021 and the result: not a single FromSoft game released in the year matching Arcana #21: The World. The final twist of the Fool's Journey was that it simply failed to manifest a world on time. My guess is that a substantial amount of cut content remained unused because it would have been appropriate for a 21-year story concluding in early 2021 (with 2 DLC to follow) and simply didn't suit the restructured 22-year story that released in early 2022. But there has been one last entry for the cuckoo-fool's journey. Shadow of the Erdtree released in 2024, and corresponds to Arcana #20: Judgement.

And notice that again it is specifically Ansbach - a follower of Mohg, Lord of Blood - who most closely applies to Miquella the tarot phrasing associated with the concept of "Judgement" in the Fool's Journey:

"Pure and radiant, he wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men. There is nothing more terrifying"

Ansbach is not wrong - he should be terrified. From the perspective of Miquella-as-god, the Lord of Blood and his followers are the false ego that needs to be overcome in order to manifest as a pure and radiant being. There is no negotiating - it is simply what must be done before moving on to the next step of creating a new World according to Arcana #21.

A person could get forever trapped in the circular logic loop of which happened first: Mohg taking Miquella to bathe in blood or Miquella using Mohg for his goal of becoming a god. Because from a mythic story-telling perspective it is a loop - Miquella is the Golden Dawn and Mohg is the twilight before nightfall - they are two sides of the same spinning coin. Mohg looks at the ruins of his life and is enchanted by the idea of living on through the life of the younger generation, continuing the pureblood dynasty at all costs even to inflicting pain on everyone involved. Miquella is the child who is traumatized by the abuses of the older generation and determined to regain bodily autonomy, yet blinded to the way that the trauma has corrupted his own dream for the future. In time, Miquella would inevitably become a new version of Mohg, unless some outside force intervenes to break the cycle.

The Fool's Journey in Fantasy Novels

As for George RR Martin as writer, I can't say that I know much about what he thinks of tarot. I don't think that the decision was in his hands - as an astute reader may have noticed, I am making a claim that FromSoft has been sculpting their library of games since before even Miyazaki was hired. But I suspect that GRRM is aware of the Fool's Journey, as he has expressed praise for Robin Hobb's Farseer and Tawney Man trilogies (and with an unsourced quote attached to Liveship Traders as well).

“Fantasy as it ought to be written…Robin Hobb's books are diamonds in a sea of zircons” - GRRM book quote for the Farseer trilogy

The influence of the whole Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin Hobb upon Elden Ring should be considered for a lot of reasons. Not only is "The Fool" one of the named characters and a prophet with meta-knowledge of what will happen in the story, but also the series has the following uncannily specific parallels with Elden Ring:

- A metaphor around smithing and Forging, paired with an alchemical metaphor about attaining the status of a Golden Lord before fading/dulling/tarnishing

- A quest to a snowy mountain that unexpectedly ends in being teleported to an ancient city and a place full of stone dragons

- Creatures that made giant cocoons for themselves and slept within them in a secluded city, only to have their cocoons cut open and soft infant forms removed before they could finish metamorphosis. Also the sleeping creatures can project themselves into dreams and there is a major plot point around soaking the cocoons with blood being a form of mental trauma.

- An elaborate homage to Moby Dick that works in themes of the generational cycle of violence (even featuring characters of similar name with Igon and Igrot).

- Protagonist has a close spiritual connection with wolf (counting for Elden Ring that the Raging Wolf set is often used to represent the player in promos).

- Time is a wheel - from Demon's Souls to Elden Ring these games literally embody one of the philosophies outlined in Realm of the Elderlings. The player can try again and again infinitely as long as it takes to correct all mistakes and play perfectly:

"All of history, a great wheel, turning inexorably. Just as seasons come and go, just as the moon moves endlessly through her cycle, so does time. The same wars are fought, the same plagues descend, the same folk, good or evil, rise to power. Humanity is trapped on that wheel, doomed endlessly to repeat the mistakes we have we have already made. Unless someone comes to change it. ...And when an entire cycle passes in which every prophet succeeds, time itself will finally stop. ...For time is the great enslaver of us all. Time that ages us, time that limits us. Think how often you have wished to have more time for something, or wished you could go back a day and do something differently. When humanity is freed of time, old wrongs can be corrected before they are done."

This is where I wanted to point again at Havel the Rock from Dark Souls. In RotE's Liveship Traders trilogy a precious material is discovered in an ancient city in a room called the "Crowned Rooster Chamber" for the sigil carved into the walls. This material is a silvery wood that is as hard as stone and is sawn into boards used to construct the titular "Liveships". Despite being marketed as such by the secretive traders, the "wood" is not wood. It is the cocoon of an infant dragon - a sea serpent - spun from sand and toxic/acidic saliva containing the memories of mature dragons. Harvesting this wood kills the squishy scaleless dragon inside the cocoon, who would normally absorb the material in the process of gaining adult form.

In-universe the source of the Liveship "wood" is a well kept secret for generations where outsiders have no idea that it is made from dragons. Here in the real world there is a certain amount of symmetry in imagining that a book series that Miyazaki or anyone from FromSoft has never even mentioned in interviews could be the inspiration for some of the best kept secrets in the entire library of FromSoftware games.

Final Notes

There are enough pieces of circumstantial evidence that I am confident that the Fool’s Journey is a central concept in Elden Ring. In a way it is the “Golden Order” - the process of taking an insignificant fool and forging them into a higher state of being through a spiritual journey heavily associated with hermeticism/alchemy. From one tarot perspective, Elden Ring is about the life and death and resurrection of Armored Core. Or from another perspective, Elden Ring is about the rise and fall of Dark Souls from the buried groundwork laid by King's Field and Shadow Tower.

However, at the same time the outcomes of the game also point out the pitfalls of the Fool’s Journey. Diallos follows the spirit of the journey...but what he prophesied for himself was a tale told in blood, and blood was how he ended. Diallos couldn't bring himself to confront and overcome the Knight of Blood - represented by his own brother - and dies in obscurity protecting crackpots.

The God form of Miquella in the DLC follows the aesthetic of the journey (banishing doubts and becoming an angelic “good” being, on a path to literally restart the cycle as the base Fool), but an outside observer cannot accept Miquella forcing his charm on others - even if the ultimate goal is to achieve peace - and most likely rejects him. The will of the God Miquella is detached from the reality of the game, where the Tarnished are avatars of real world people who are clueless as to what they are "supposed to do" to play their role in following the tarot fate. The Fool's Journey is just a story framework with nothing inherently intuitive about it - if all of the pop culture keywords are stripped away it becomes unrecognizable unless a person goes digging for it. So instead the player opposes Miquella on the principle that he is an obstacle who can be fought and is placed in the way of seeing end game content.

These two are examples of fools who looked inwards and backwards and reached conclusions that were self-destructive. They reached greater understanding of themselves, but at the same time became detached from the outside world (for Miquella - literally retreating into the dream realm of the cocoon) and have no idea how to apply that understanding towards constructively improving the civilizations around them.

Seluvis tries to make a fool of Ranni and cannot. Ranni’s quest is one that involves actively exploring the most inaccessible and secret places in the game. It's an externalized journey compared to an internalized one like Miquella who retreats into the surreal dreamscape of the cocoon. Ranni is strongly aligned with the intelligence sphere of influence compared to Miquella being aligned with faith. The entire Liurnia area is structured in ways to help a player notice that story is being told literally through landscape elements (in short: try mushroom vision, or climbing up churches). Escape from the wheel of the Fool's Journey is achieved from an active and ongoing effort to understand the systems that intertwine and form the ecosystem of a whole world.

[craftyballoonwinner]

Miquella and Radahn (Spoilers Shadow of the Erdtree

I feel like I'm the only one who wants to know how the fuck Miquella of all people wooed Radahn the god damn Starsourge to be his consort.

But before we get into that let me be up front about the giant elephant in the room. Real life incest is BAD. We can all agree about that point. Second point. Pedophilia is DISGUSTING. That's a no brainer. These two characters are not based in the real world and they are related demigods. If you know anything about anyone in Greek mythology, you know no one is off limits and everyone, regardless of family, was getting it on. At one point Zesus cursed a woman to be lustful about a bull. Shit is crazy but it's a story. It can't hurt any one. It's also GRRM you know freaky shit is happening between siblings, it's a thing now with all his stories. As an adult I know right from wrong so this does not bother my enjoyment of fantasy land.

Which is why I have no problem that Miquella asked Radahn to be his consort. I don't see it as a problem if it's romantic in nature or a marriage because the consort thing comes into play when Miquella breaks his curse.

There. Said it. Get the pitch forks.

I really enjoy seeing adult Miquella and Radahn interact in stories and fan art. I like Miquella as a character. I love Radahn and the Radahn Festival is a game highlight. Do I want to see child Miquella sexy stuff with adult Radahn FUCK NO! NO one wants that and I think a lot of people are turned off by this couple and concept because of the eternal child curse. Let me be clear. I like them together as adults. I think people would like it more if it was Melania and Radahn but I think we all knew Melania wasn't going to make it to God hood alive.

I'm so curious! However how did this happen? How did Miquella bag the baddest bad boy out there in the Lands Between. It could be completely platonic but why did Ranni and our engagement scene with her seem so intimate and gothically romantic? Why does she sound like she cares deeply for us as we go into the deep night? So I think consort is as it sounds. Marriage and maybe romance. Why would Radahn agree? I need an entire game to play before the shattering to figure out Radahn's head space. I think nothing went wrong. I think the only thing that went wrong was Radahn not dying in his battle with Melania.

This ending leaves me with so many questions and I'm really sad to see people try to hand wave away a complex canon couple because one used to be an endless god stuck in the form of a child. And one was one of the greatest warriors ever known.

And the frustrating thing? We will never know. No one can talk about it because of the triggering matter of Miquella's appearence and subject matter of the couple can not be discussed in calm reasonable ways with other people without pedophilia being tossed around and brain washing as the only acceptable reason for this behemoth Carian general accepting a consort title.

Or if he did accept he backed out when the shattering happened for a grasp at power and Miquella sent Melania out to make sure he died and fulfilled his vow. AND THAT'S IT NOTHING TO SEE HERE FOLKS! MIQUELLA BAD!

It's just so frustrating.

What the hell was this vow! Show me! Ugh. Done right this could have been a cool reveal but it's very vague.

Also Radahn's image and bulk from the Starscourge days was wwwaayyyy more handsome then his tiny Consort Radahn form. Just my two cents.

it's sad that a great game expansion is leaving a bad taste in people's mouths. I know it won't matter in a couple of weeks but a part of me who likes Miquella and his adult design, would love to see a reasonable explanation. I would love to see them rule together because of their contrasting view points. Miquella is an adult now and a god, how is that going? Did he ever go back for Trina. Did he cure Melania? Did the hagiltree finally flourish? What did they think taking out Godfrey of all people let alone their father and elden beast. I just want to know so badly.

Sigh. Sorry, silly rant over. I'll go back to getting my ass kicked by them in shadow of the erdtree.

[yolowritter]

A perspective on Gideon Ofnir part 2

Follow up post to this ramble about Gideon. I stand by what I said last time. Gideon Ofnir is a tired old man who is clearly losing hope in the Tarnished, and the Two Fingers that are meant to guide them. Again, he is completely right in the regard that all current Tarnished staying at the Roundtable Hold are just waiting for a miraculous savior to sweep in and take the throne, and none of them embark on the journey themselves. Rogier has even lost Grace, possibly because of abandoning this goal, even if the exact mechanics of "gaining" and "losing" Grace are complicated. Alas, not the point. Gideon quite literally has only Nepheli that he can trust in, and he does in fact send her after Godrick the Grafted, the weakest of the Shardbearers. Make no mistake, this in itself is a show that he's done taking risks, or perhaps is following the mission half-heartedly by now. Nepheli is very clearly an accomplished warrior, since she managed to get inside Stormveil Castle and slay a Banished Knight inside of a cramped room (anybody who has fought them in tight spaces knows it's not easy). She is his strongest piece on the board, and Gideon sends her for the Shardbearers' weakest. There is a clear reason why none of the people present at the Radahn Festival are acting for or on behalf of Gideon. Blaidd is there for Ranni. Alexander is there to prove his own worth in battle, nevermind that he isn't Tarnished to begin with. Okina is possibly there on behalf of Mohg, since he already had the Rivers of Blood, which we know lore-wise he got after submitting to the Lord of Blood. Lionel is already dead and under Fia's control by this point, as we find his body in Leyndell, and Therolina is a puppet acting on Seluvis' orders. He even gives the Tarnished her ashes as part of his quest. Tragoth is following his own interests and travels the Lands Between to help his fellows, without ever going to Leyndell except to assist the Tarnished in defeating the Draconic Tree Sentinel (assuming he's summoned to help). Gideon literally has no more capable warriors at his side, no possible hope of ever defeating someone like Radahn.

That's why he sends Nepheli for Godrick, who is the weakest in all aspects. He's the only Demigod Gideon thinks even she has any chance of actually defeating. (Side note that the Radahn Festival must have already happened hundreds of times, due to the relevant Jerren dialogue, so even that is a failed strategy until the Tarnished shows up.) And what happens when the Tarnished returns to the Roundtable with Godrick's Great Rune? With or without Nepheli at their side, Gideon happly welcomes them, sounding proud to call the Tarnished a true member of the Hold. The player character becomes his new hope, that just maybe, if he keeps us on the straight and narrow, we might just end this Age of Fracture and stagnation.

Right after this, Gideon immediately launches into a whole discussion about the other Demigods. Those whose locations he knows of at least, and the list of targets that the Tarnished can hit. He's impressed by the fact that a Shardbearer has finally fallen and immediately urges this newcomer to keep going, offering knowledge and explicitly warning them to stay far away from the Capital until they've collected at least two Great Runes, and are strong enough to challenge Morgott. And yes, I know that the barrier at Leyndell's gate is an in-universe story beat possibly erected after Vyke got jailed, but that's not relevant to Gideon. Of course he has his own agenda, everyone in the Roundtable does apart from Roderika. Hewg is hopelessly smithing away and wants to be freed, Rogier is investigating Death, Fia wants to get as much vigor out of capable champions as possible, and D to hunt down the Undead.

Gideon is perplexed by mysteries. He admits that he can never know everything, and yet relentlessly tries to increase and expand his knowledge regardless. He does do this behind the Tarnished's back by taking magic from the Demigods they defeat, but consider for a moment that Gideon has no reason to trust the Tarnished with something so important just yet. Before Leyndell, the newcomer is a hope, yes, but one just as liable to fail as all the rest. Gideon is expanding his pocketbook of spells in case he ever needs them, and because why not? He's clearly got the power to wield all this magic, and the Two Fingers even deemed him worthy enough to learn Lord Divine Fortification, an incantion built to negate holy damage. Why would he recieve this knowledge if not for the Fingers intending him to challenge Radagon at some point?

And even in the cases where Gideon has the Tarnished do his dirty work, it's never a demand or a threat. He's passive, content to watch, and aside from Ensha (who explicitly acts on his own), has no intention to attack us so long as we don't end up being a threat to him. Don't stab me, I don't stab you. Pretty simple stuff. Gideon searches for knowledge, and while the whose fiasco with the village of albinaurics is absolutely unethical and cruel of him to do, it only serves to point out that he considers finding Miquella (and therefore possibly understanding one of the people that perplex him) more important than the lives of people who lore-wise are "widely considered impure and graceless". It's obviously wrong, but Gideon values a way out of this stagnation more than anything. Again, the Tarnished is never forced to find Latenna, not to mention that if they do while also eventually going to Ordina, a whole new generation of Albinaurics can be born. Gideon simply considers the Tarnished as a comrade of sorts, hence why they are trusted with Latenna's possible location. Hence why he then shares his secret thoughts about Mohg and Malenia. Gideon only wanted the Tarnished to prove they were worth it, and they have. Alright, I'm going to stop here and continue in a third and final post talking about why I think Gideon betrays and battles the Tarnished in the Ashen Capital. There is no 100% clear answer, but again these posts are just my two cents. See you all soon!

[simon-newman]

Update.

I am going out of my way to kill every single boss monster in the game. Usually tackling the story-related boss on the map when I'm mostly done. I mean - there usually are some endgame areas on every map where just getting to the boss is more of a challenge than the map's story related boss.

Also. Night-only and quest bosses are a major pain in the ass.

So. I might be really overtraining for the actual bosses by playing the game in this way.

Anyway.

After Margit I went back to finish most of the map bosses, clear the way to Godrick and then tackled the map bosses I've skipped due to difficulty like the Crucible Knight.

I didn't keep count like with Margit but I think he kicked my ass around 15 times. Definitely more than 10 deaths. Certainly less than 20.

He was the last step before Godrick himself.

Took me only 2 attempts...

Since it was weekend I went on a killing spree on the next map and got to the next story boss just 2 days later.

It went well at first. But...

Once again only succeeded on my 2nd attempt.

Meanwhile I've met a lover...

And went to Caelid next to finish her questline.

Radahn is so far the first and only demigod I've defeated on my first attempt. But this fight is unfair as it features a lot of summons to help you during the festival.

And with that.

I am maidenless no more.

But back to boss slaughter. I went to the Capital city.

Where I met an old friend...

And once again I've emerged victorious on my 2nd attempt.

Admittedly. The AoE attacks he does in phase 2 really got me on my 1st attempt. I knew they were coming the 2nd time.

After that I've spent 3 days clearing remaining bosses and exploring all the maps before I move into endgame.

I did find another infamous boss however.

I can say a lot of bad things about Mohg but he's one boss that's been respectful and welcomed me as a honoured guest without any insults.

And he took me a grand total of 3 attempts...

I've seen people require +100 attempts at him so I dreaded this fight. Turns out his moves are extremely telegraphed and easy to exploit when compared with the likes of... Say... Bell Bearing Hunter.

I don't think I have any more story-important bosses to slay other than Rykar before I get to the endgame... And I have no clue how to even get to Rykar as of now.

This'll take me a few more days to either figure out how to get to him. Clear some other portions of the map like Deeproot. Push the sidequests as far as i can now, etc.

I'd expect another update no earlier than in a week.

So I picked up Elden Ring after so many people told me to do so when I flooded them with Monster Hunter content.

The game felt weird at first. Took me a whole day to get a hang of it and stop getting killed by stupidly weak enemies like a pack of wolves.

And then... Then I went on a 3 day boss killing spree finishing with the first story boss: Margit, the Fell Omen.

I present to you the compilation of attempts at this fight.

[lidrens]

@papabirdurskeks

Give me the facts, I want to learn of all the ocs

Currently I am mulling over the story of Alma, a soldier of Radahn who took it upon herself to make the world a little bit better.

Fair warning that I take a lot of liberties with my interpretation of canon and several events, so certain things in her story cannot and will not line up with the game's progression.

Putting under the cut because it happened to be a lot:

She is not a tarnished, but a regular human who was born and grew up after the Shattering. Most of her life and service is given to the land of Caelid and what remains of it, to recover what can be and contain the spreading of Rot.

Before Radahn is slain, one of her many duties, alongside her fellow soldiers and superiors, is to arrange burial ceremonies, for honoring and safety purposes. Sometimes it extends to venturing into the Wailing Dunes and collect the bodies of those Radahn could not, would not, or already has done devouring.

Funerary marches are a part of the Festival, as the tarnished champions move onward into the battle, she with others would stand watch. Of course, the goal is to give Radahn an honorable death, but until it happens, the soldiers gather the remains to burn them, lest they contacted the rot and will spread it, or worse, be reborn with it inside.

The practice of making pyres rather than graves is relatively modern, but reasonable. After the bloom of scarlet rot in Aeonia, Caelid received very little in the ways of help and support from its neighbors. The faith in the Golden Order has been shaken, and not too late another arrives, with the aid of Fire prelates and their monks. The church up North is a place of congregation, thus it is discovered that the fire may, to a degree, smother the spreading affliction.

As Sellia falls to the disease, sorceries become less and less used, until the only trace of them remains with the archers that studied alongside Radahn once.

(All of this I say to explain Alma's initial abilities and affinities: as a character in game she is a str/fth build heavily leaning on fire and bestial incantations. Explanation for the latter comes later.)

It is a peculiar relationship with religion and death, that forms into a new form of culture among those surviving in Caelid. As the fire is discovered as a means to overcome and 'quell' the infection, people find more and more methods to apply it, developing flame arts on the battlefield or formulating prayers that would become the cleansing incantations. What once was seen as the death sentence, now may be only a loss of a limb.

Death is a price that many cannot pay. To their rotting Lord they wish to grant it, of course, but it is mercy. As such, many come to question not only their faith in the Order, but the idea of rebirth itself.

Alma is one of those people, who will ultimately come to realize that Death should have never been sealed away. Once or twice she meets Those Who Live In Death, and just as often she meets their Hunters. The latter being Fundamentalists of the Golden Order did very little, but only introduced her to the Beast Clergyman, whom she thinks to be burdened by his task.

On the other side, her people can't ignore the life that thrives in the rot-produced growths. Servants of Rot, donning their fungal crowns, all-too-clearly look human, and the pitiful Kindred rarely disturb the soldiers, cowering on the ground with their incomprehensible chants.

Alma is first made to question the life that exists within Rot when she finds Gowry on one of the trips to ruined Sellia. She convinces her men to aid the old sage. Besides, the commander she knows well about has gone mad long ago, and that eventually needs to be taken care of anyway...

(I will continue with this later, there is just not a lot until she leaves Caelid after Radahn is killed by a tarnished).

[foxingpeculiar]

Elden Ring:

Alright. I managed to beat the Moongrum guy and it turns out Rennala was right beyond him. I confess that, after a few tries of getting roasted by her second phase, I summoned a cooperator. This is the first time I'm playing a FromSoft game online, so the first time I've ever done that, but damn if, between the two of us, she didn't go down like a sack o' bricks. So okay, cool. (Also, the first phase of her fight was giving me Fools Idol flashbacks, kinda.)

So now I'm in Caelid which... sucks. It's a distinctly unpleasant place in a world of unpleasant places. Ugh. I went down to the city first thing and learned what the festival is. Gave Starscourge Radahn a go and... yeah, no. Not just yet. LOL at Patches noping out of that fight though--that's hilarious and very on-brand.

So let's see what else? Oh, a bunch of shit happened at Rountable Hold. First, I got attacked by that unfriendly edgelord hanging around outside Gideon's office for... some reason. Then he (Gideon) disowned his daughter, also for... some reason. (I'm piecing together the story, but there's a lot of it and it's FromSoft, so it's fucking obscure). Then Fia gave me a dagger, murdered D, and fucked off, so that was some excitement. Oh, and Roderika's doing spirit tuning now, bless her crestfallen heart.

I'm trying to explore Caelid, but there isn't much here except a giant Scarlet Rot swamp. Cos one kind of poison wasn't good enough for Miyazaki--no, he needed multiple kinds of poison swamps for a game this big. Jesus. This old dude asked me to find something called an "Unalloyed Gold Needle" to save some girl and he said it was in the swamp, but so far the only thing I've found in there is a dude who summons like a dozen smaller dudes to gank me to death. So that's fun. Dollars to doughnuts said needle is somewhere beyond him/in his possession, though, cos that's usually how these things work.

So my next step is figuring out how the fuck to win that fight. Then maybe we'll give Radahn another try, since I've gone up a couple of levels at this point. Maybe I can actually get over to him without using half my flasks now. Eeesh.