Update: Berserk will be completed! Kouji Mori, along with Miura’s other apprentices, will be finishing the manga according to Miura’s drafts and conception. Praise the sun! twitter.com/berserk_project/status/1534023434174627840?s=21&t=Jhfri-6Awa4bjWWgnHCtKw

In the video you mentioned how Malenia and Miquella were both flawed because they are both "half a person" having been shattered from Radagon and Marika and how there are the Aeonian Butterflies and Nascant Butterflies associated with the former two. Though I think they might be even less than "half a person" since there is a third type of butterfly: the Smoldering Butterflies. this suggests there is a third sibling from this union and because the smoldering butterflies' description and her dialogue it is implied that Melina is the third sibling. Furthermore, one could interpret her brown hair as a mix of Radagon's red hair and Marika's blonde.

The great rune of the unborn is used to perfect the birth of demigods. The reason Morgott and Mohg were born cursed under Marika and Godfrey was because of the lack of the great rune, which Radagon had. Radahn, Ranni, and Rykard had no curses upon being born. Possibly the reason behind Miquella and Malenia’s curses are because of the Radagon leaving the great rune of the unborn with Renalla, and then the reason the tarnished suffers no I’ll effects of rebirth is because of their possession of the great rune.

I think the reason the unnamed demigods don't have growths like Godwyn is because they died in both body and soul.

In the battle of Aeonia, "Malenia fought to a standstill." The items relating to the blue fairy and the blind swordsman relate stillness with stagnation and rot, and the waterfowl dance is described as warding away the Scarlet Rot, so I wonder if the fact that she was forced to a "standstill" is what allowed her to bloom.

I just had an idea of why Malenia would go down to Caelid and fight Radhan. The spirits and items in Fort Sol connect Miquella to Godwyn. A solar eclipse is part of Miquella's plan and is required to help Godwyn. Starcourge Radhan holds the heavenly and by extent fate in place. In order to get an eclipse you need the moon to move infront of the sun. So what if Malenia was sent to kill Radhan so this part of Miquella's plan can happen. Meanwhile, while Malenia was away, Mogh snuk in and snatched Miquella away. Also isn't the placememt of the teleporter to the Moghwyn Dynasty a bit peculiar? In the same general area as the teleporter to the Haligtree. Mogh might have used for a quick gataway.

one interesting thing is that the albinaurics are connected to almost everyone: rykard experimented on them, gideon massacred them, miquella and malenia offered them a safe haven, rennala may have played a role in their creation through rebirth, the nox may have created them, the golden order looked down upon them as they had no grace, etc

A correction: 14:38 Malenia did not 'vanish and flee.' From Cleanrot Knight Finlay Ashes: "Finlay was one of the few survivors of the Battle of Aeonia, who in an unimaginable act of heroism carried the slumbering demigod Malenia all the way back to the Haligtree. She managed the feat alone, fending off all manner of foes along the way."

Think about this for a moment: the connection between the naming conventions used for Miquella and the other souls games. The name "Quela" or "Quella," altered with extra syllables, is both peculiar and mysterious, but is nevertheless ubiquitous in FromSoft's work. Consider the following: In Dark Souls 1, Quelaag is a daughter of the Witch of Izalith. She has red hair and is dedicated to the protection of her frail and ailing sister, the "Fair Lady." I here draw parallels to the red-haired defender of a frail sibling as analogical to Malenia, meaning that in this analogy the Fair Lady is analogical to Miquella. Consider the cocooning that goes on at the Haligtree that you've associated with Miquella, and the cocoons of the Fair Lady spread about Quelaag's domain. More Importantly: in Dark Souls 2, there is a god mentioned sparsely named "Quella," this being even closer to Miquella. The lore is too; consider the item description for the "Grand Spirit Tree Shield" from Dark Souls 2: "Shield of the blue spirit tree that and is said to possess divine powers. Appears in the allegory of Quella, God of Dream, and can deflect spells by parrying. Once there was a boy who was easily frightened, until the talking tree of dreamworld transformed itself into a shield to protect him." Miquella is associated with dreams (St. Trina) and trees (Haligtree) as well. My theory, then, is that the Miquella and Malenia are attempts to expand and combine the stories and concepts associated with the word "Quela/Quella" in Dark Souls 1 and 2. The name, then, is like a kind of bookkeeping mechanism to sort the aligned themes. The fact that the character in Elden Ring is named "Miquella" may even be a mere concession to the naming schemes of having things start with the letters G, R, and M, and that the correct understanding of the name is to identify it as Quella, the same as was mentioned in passing in the previous Dark Souls games.

I'm quite late to this video, so you might have learned of this theory already. But hey just in case. Godwyn the Golden might have had a golden sun as his icon. Thus the Sun Realm shield could indicate forces loyal to him before the night of black knives. Fitting that they are skeletons in Leyndell wielding the black flame of death. The shield might depict castle sol, which could in turn have been Godwyn's holding in those days. Since the sun is quite diminished in the sky and could be said to be pale, that lines up with the idea that Godwyn's undeath drained it of its gold color. It follows that a pale eclipse perfectly symbolizes a true death for Godwyn.

about the DLC, as a little hopeful argument from someone who would like to see more out of characters like miquella and melina, DLC in past games was almost never _completely_ detached from the main story. ds1 elaborated on the abyss and the legend of artorias, ds2 let you talk to vendrick and showed some other fragments of manus, bloodborne elaborated on kos, ludwig, laurence and the doll, and ds3, while being the most loosely connected to the already vague narrative of the game, at least showed one of the two previously unseen founders of the sable church it's never the kind of lore fanservice that most fans seem to expect when they talk about a "miquella DLC," but i'd say it's very likely that the inevitable DLC will use a less-than-complete character as a narrative springboard to thrust the player into a new, tangentially related setting, and miquella would be a good pick for that role

Regarding the Twins missing shadows: it could be argued that tgey are EACHOTHER’S shadows. Miquella’s motivation for all his actions is to cure malenia’s rot. Malenia’s fundamental motivation is to protect miquella. Its like a delicate shadow dance.

Berserk is coming back baby! Not over any more. Same studio is continuing manga along with kentaro Miura's close friend, Kouji Mori - the only person he told Berserk's story to from start to finish. He will take over the series.

Also btw when we looks at some of Fia's dialogue: "With this, Godwyn can take his rightful place as First of the Dead. And claim a second, illustrious life." "I will soon lay with Godwyn. And it will surely stir within me. the new life of the golden prince, and first Dead of the demigods, as the rune of Those Who Live in Death." She mentions there the mending rune of death will somehow lead to the second life of Godwyn and combining it with the similarities between the mending rune of death and the sign of the eclipse and the spirit dialogue about the eclypse I am quite confident that the "mending rune of death" is supposed to be the real eclipse that leads Godwyn (and possibly other soulless demigods) to be reborn. This does have a lot connections to the death birds.

Rani was an Empyrean since childhood as she was given Blaidd when she was just a kid. I think same thing happened with Marika and Maliketh. Even if the fingers choose the empyrean in the end the do so based on something and this something seems to be an inborn feature... not accomplishments. As you have noted being an Empyrean is associated with the body and body is the result of birth.

With us giving the Unalloyed Gold Needle with Millicent’s dew to Malenia in her bloom, this restores her sense of self(her sanity) and giving us Miquella’s needle and Ancient Smith Dragon Stone is a form of gratitude from her.(Maybe she is hinting to us how clew can remove influence from the Outer Gods/Three Fingers)

friendship with Vaati is OVER, my best friend is CRUNCHY now

I think Miquilla was trying to become an outer god himself. It seems that the only way to fully counter the will of the Rot God is to be an outer God too.

Hands down the most creative lore-hunter on KZfaq, keep it up!

Yooo, I loved you on Ratotoskr's podcast, you brought so many interesting ideas and a whole different perspective that changed how I look at the game! Keep it up, can't wait to see more content!

Considering “Radagon is Marika” as directly stated in game, then Ranni, Rykard, and Radahn are all offspring of Marika (as Radagon) The logistics of this is definitely confusing but I believe it fills many holes in the story such as how Ranni could be born an Empyrean

I heavily believe there is going to be a DLC continuation of the story about Miquella/Malenia(when she wakes) and the cut Age of Abundance ending(possibly). This game is going to be supported for a long time due to its great success and it being possibly last Soulsborne game for a while.

You mentioned that being an Empyrean is tied to one's body and that it can be escaped by doing what Ranni did during the Night of Black Knives, but when Ranni departs after you deliver to her the Fingerslayer Blade Iji mentions that: "Lady Ranni has departed on her journey. Along the dark path of the Empyrean,..." and as well when you meet him and ask about blaidd he says: "When Lady Ranni renounced her flesh, and chose the dark path of the Empyrean, Blaidd and I swore allegiance as vassals, but none of us will ever forget our earliest days together." Implying that she is still an Empyrean, though not tied to the Greater Will through her pair of Two Fingers.

The music from Ran in the beginning is fitting, love it! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts through the vid

"Let us be shattered both" means let's shatter the Elden ring. This is seen in the first cinematic. As they break the ring, they themselves break with it. It's also seen in the final fight. both Marika and Radagon have a broken body.

Miquela trying his best to cure his sister Malenia. We as tarnish: " I got rot ? Great, maybe that pink pill that I found a few days ago on some random body will be usefull. "

I think your natural progression from this video is to do one on Godwyn. Your exploration of the themes of the spirit world and death in this game have been extremely interesting.

All the cuckoo symbolism and the brood parasitism those birds exhibit point strongly to Ranni being the child of Marika/Radagon. There’s even a big golden egg that Radagon leaves in Rennala’s nest. To me this also explains the connection between Ranni and Melina, given Marika’s predilection for producing twins.

I have yet to finish the game but I've seen a few videos talking about Miquella. It seems one of Miquella's goals was to revive Godwyn (or put him out of his misery). Castle Sol and the eclipse they were waiting for seemed to be key to this, but Radahn is holding the heavens in place. Miquella sent Malenia to kill Radahn, or she volunteered, or, if it was necessary but Miquella was against it, she waited till her brother was cucooned inside the Haligtree to go anyway.

I love the idea that Malenia knew Mogh had kidnapped Miquella, and that Malenia brought her army to Kaelid with the goal of going underground to save her brother.

17:30 I thought for a moment you were about to suggest something about miquella and malenia's mirrored natures that I've been thinking for a while, but you went in a different direction due in part to a point on which I diverge from your theories on radagon and marika. I believe it is much likelier that radagon was split off from marika and created from a part of her being (I mentioned in the comments to your stream with ratatoskr that I believe it to be a process similar to eve's creation from a rib that was split off from adam that created radagon) and I believe that malenia and miquella are in some ways one child that was split into two beings. I'm still fleshing out my thoughts on this, but between the idea of one spirit inhabiting two bodies, the clones associated with malenia, the complimentary nature of the twins, the androgynous depictions of miquella and st. Trina, and the fact that miquella is both absent from the game and characterized as someone capable of great manipulation, I believe there's something worth exploring here 🤔 Hope you continue uploading more videos, your theories do a lot more to spark this kind of investigation than most 👍

Excellent stuff - absolutely love the theory about Godwyn's soul, as far fetched as it sounds, and all the stuff with the unnamed demigods

With regard to the great rune of the unborn, Maliketh's boss room shows that the Elden Ring at one point had many more great runes than the one we're familiar with. The great rune of the unborn could be one of several great runes that was removed from it prior to any of this.

I love you Crunchy, thanks for the new video

I found that interesting that academy of Raya Lucaria, where rune of rebirth is kept, is built above the lake of rot. And Scarlet Rot is kinda about rebirth. I was always curious about Lake of Rot. It is between Nokstella, Astel and Raya Lucaria. All three are magical/starry things. Makes Lake of Rot kinda not in the right place. Btw, love your content. I found it the most interesting among Elden Ring lore videos.

Man you are the king of elden ring lore youtuber and you make high quality video

I like how you provide a lot of examples of what things may or may not connect rather than the "here's how it is, here's what happened" approach of a lot of other lore videos. Feels a lot more exploratory and invites a lot more theory development. Speaking of which, Renala, her egg, and her relation with Radagon seems to come up a lot in videos not about them, and there were a lot more connections than I thought. You've touched on eyes before, and one thing I find interesting is Renala's behavior and eyes throughout the fight. Initially she's got clouded golden eyes, is soft spoken, and seems obsessed with the egg. Her first phase is her sitting in a cradle, protected (or entrapped?) in a golden order-esque shield. The lyrics sound like a lullaby to a child, but in game it seems the children are actually singing the a lullaby to Renala. When it ends, Ranni's spell kicks in and says no one will disturb her mother's "slumber". And then phase 2 kicks in, Renala regains conviction, and her eyes are crisp blue, and becomes a legitimate foe. The lore implications if Ranni was an immaculate conception/Renala was more a surrogate mother get pretty interesting, as well as what actually happened between Renala and Radagon.

You just quickly stating the questions about Dark Souls 3 shows me how interested I still am in that world, even in comparison to Elden Ring. I hope you're gonna cover it someday

Something worth noting, Gideon describes Rennala's golden egg and Miquella as seperate shardbearers. We could just say that he simply wasn't aware that it was Miquella's Rune inside the egg, but personally that makes me think that the Unborn thing inside the egg was in-fact a third child of Marika and Radagon, making it's rune share position with Malenia and (presumably) Miquella's.

amazing new video! also, re: the albinaurics! the haligtree is a haven for beings that were shunned by the rest of the world: the Haligtree in game is of course full of Misbegotten and the horn blowing guys with turban hats (who interestingly enough don't have legs and can't walk, bearing a suspicious resemblance to Albinaurics), as well as the knight Loretta, who is strongly hinted at being an Albinauric herself (she is only on horseback). The Haligtree was a essentially a promised land specifically for the Albinaurics. Albus and Latenna both mention it as such in their dialog from what I remember. I can't remember why Miquella cared for the shunned beings like that, but I love the connection you made about St Trina and how St Trina is a dreamed manifestation of Miquella. Maybe they appeared in the Albinauric's dreams as a way to beguile them? What a dense and complicated story we have here! Looking forward to the next deep dive.

I doubt you'll see this, but I have to say: you may be new at this, but you're already the best in the business as far as I'm concerned. So insightful. I was getting ready to give up on lorehunting, as I felt there was just no way to connect everything in the game. Too much missing information. While that's still partially true, you've given me a lot to think about in these last two videos. I had been wondering why certain areas have an abundance of spirit animals and even spirit trees. It makes a little more sense now, but why some areas are more affected than others I have no idea.

I'm so glad to hear someone else mention the idea that the demigods in the walking mausoleums are the collateral from the night of black knives. It just makes too much sense. If you think about how the mausoleums are so painstakingly designed to never let these corpses touch the ground, I think they're a reaction to the first attempt to give godwyn erdtree burial which led to the horrifying spread of deathroot. Given that the shattering happened immediately after godwyn died, it's also possible morgott was the one who set this whole thing up since he'd be in charge of things by then. 'Unwanted children', to me, reads like the ghost assumes marika no longer wants them because they're tainted by the rune of death, and maybe they're not even 'properly' dead just like godwyn. therefore they're still technically alive, but discarded into this quarantine. It sort of parallels someone in a vegetative state on life support whose family abandons them because they're seen as a burden. That's the kind of 'unwanted' I always interpreted that as.

I was hypothesising that st trina was miquella while he was in his cocoon, dreaming (on purpose or even maybe unconsciously) of his own rebirthed self and manifesting similarly in symptoms to that of other greater influences in the minds of those in the lands between; however Miquellas sleep was interrupted by mohg so it was only fleeting a time that this would have happened in the history of the lands between; Its only telling of the power they would have had if they were allowed to complete their metamorphoses if they inspired equipment like the swords and a low key cult following that is also somehow the best kept secret in the whole game universe xD

You and Hawkshaw are the 2 best youtube channels right now. Im so glad I listened to that podcast you were in. You are very talented for lore analysis I hope you keep it up bro. :)

Great video ! About your comment on DLC : -Previous DLC always introduce some of the most hyped characters of the base game, such as Artorias, Friede (one of the 3 sisters of Londor), the Demon Prince (defeated by Lorian), Lawrence, Ludwig, and Kos. -DLC often introduce time travel or time shenanigans, which means we could see Godwyn alive and Miquella out of his cocoon -Finally Sekiro didn't get a DLC

you know you've reached the deeproot depths level of deep lore when the explanation of a theme or in game thing ends with "what all this means, i am not really sure"

Up until this I was under the impression that Radagon was always Marika, and was just an alter-ego she used to exert further control over the world. Sort of like a Zelda/Shiek scenario. When Godfrey wasn’t able to fully complete his duties as Elden Lord, Marika just went “ok I guess I’ll do it myself”. I definitely missed some of the readings lmao

Man great video….and now i have the biggest urge to dust off my Berserk volumes and do another read through, easily my favorite work of fiction ever

I have two things to say about this video: 1. Your videos are among, if not the, most insightful and interesting takes on ER lore that I've seen. I love the kinds of connections that you draw, the way you separate fact from interpretation from speculation, and how you have just the right amount of skepticism to come up with many interesting ideas and rule out the most unlikely ones. 2. Lovin the Thanos build featured throughout

Hey Crunchy, seen your podcast with Ratataskr and was really impressed by your theories. These two videos so far really cemented that suspicion was confirmed. Do you think you could do a deep dive on Stormveil Castle, especially how it seems to be tied to the Banished Knights and Banished Footmen, who do not appear to be part of Godricks army, but seem to be much closer to Godfrey in allegiance and iconography. Adding to that it seems that the Roundtable Hold is also very much tied to the Banished Knights, having their armour and weapons spread all around. This has me thinking that the Banished Knights and Footmen might be those Tarnished who were chased out alongside Godfrey. Yet that begs the question why they would be in the castle all around Godrick. Except of course that Godrick is surrounded by corpses and weaponry, suggesting that the Banished Army might have been trying to kill Godrick, together with that Dragon, which is on the Banished Knights helmet crest aswell and may be connected to them too. It is just as strange that not a single Godrick Soldier would be found inside the Stormveil Keep beyond Margit, making me think that Margit may be preventing Godricks men from getting into the castle to aid their Lord.

18:05 Great rune of the unborn could reference miquella as in "he's yet to be born", when he wakes up from his slumber his rebirth will be complete.

Regarding the twins not having a shadow, it's possible both of them have an unalloyed needle within them stopping their two fingers from interfering and providing them with one. This would also explain why the blood of a formless mother has no effect on Miquella.

What a fantastic video, both this and your other! Looking forward to whatever's next up. More thoughts: Re: Unalloyed Gold - I think the "impurity" in the Golden Order is that the Greater Will doesn't actually *want* to stop Malenia's rot. It benefits from the conflict she generates, as this conflict is what the Erdtree flourishes on. Miquella, upon researching the power of "gold" for himself, would realize that the Greater Will had the power to help all along and didn't. Thus, the hard break with the Erdtree and starting his own. I love your Battle of Aeonia theory - especially considering that Moghwyn palace is directly below the Radahn boss arena, and there's cut content for a meteor hole exactly there, pointing roughly at the weird path that the Consecrated Snowfield warps you to. Perhaps Malenia wanted Radahn to quit Starscourging, either in canon or in original-but-cut developer intent. Re: Greatrune of the Unborn - The slot represented by this "shape" in the Elden Ring seems to be one that represents "the rule of rebirth". This rule is not currently part of the Elden Ring at all, as rebirth is only available to us via Rennala herself.The one in the Amber Egg is being used by to birth-and-rebirth all the kids she would've had with Radagon, but they are all so frail and half-formed (a theme!) that they die immediately - in Rennala's phase 1, when she "rebirths" her sweetings, they turn to tombstones first. Malenia's great rune having the same shape means that it is an alternative "rule of rebirth" - in her case, it seems a continuation of life, through rot, into new life like butterflies and the bug things. Rot is not fatal, rot is a transformation. Miquella's great rune seems to also be rebirth - via metamorphosis, but it's unclear if we'll ever see it, or if perhaps it's already just part of Malenia's. I also just now noticed that Malenia's great rune looks like it has a golden needle piercing it, repelling the rot. I love this game. Good call on the DLC. I wonder if we won't meet a Fanatic of St. Trina, though, who we can help on his ultimately futile quest to find St. Trina herself, and then when he gives up and dies we can loot his clothes to find out about who made them!

Finished the video and lore stuff aside, I want to say on a technical level, this was one of the best lore videos I've ever watched for a fromsoft game, the audio levels, the visuals, the addition of chapters, and especially the way you organized your thoughts, flowing naturally from one to the next with a very clear and logical script, all great. Almost everytime I watch a lore video, I'm frustrated by something other than the lore ideas themselves, the music is too overpowering, the script is too scatterbrained, the points aren't well-organized, and so on. But with your video, even though I didn't agree with every single theory or flow with every single idea, I absolutely loved it as a video. Great work.

I see miquella as a non-evil griffith, mixed with Bran from ASOIAF. I suspect Bran will use his powers to cut off the influence of the outer gods that are implied/shown to exist in AOIAF, and seeing that theme appear again in elden ring, almost beat for beat (crippled child, special powers, tries to stop evil gods) all but confirms it for me. I smell GRR Martins influence.

This is a cool video with some great investigative and theory work. With regards to DLC, at first I agreed with you but then I thought about one of my more favorite DLC's: Artorias of the Abyss. The core Dark Souls game setup bits and pieces about the legend and we even fight his dog. All while learning why the area is called Dark Root Garden and what it use to be. I assumed St. Trina's sudden vanishing and not returning was a sign that Miquella was dead. If you remove caterpillar from its chrysalis rather than letting it emerge when its ready its body is gooey and it dies. Miquella didn't spin a new cocoon, that was the one he was in in the Haligtree. Mohg ripped it open and took Miquella (we can all agree he's very touchy with the lad) and likely had those who followed him take the cocoon. Then when they got home he stuffed in back in and crawled in with him. (I think they portrayed Miquella with the model they did so they wouldn't have to explain a defiled child corpse). Him being dead feels like the most Fromsoft way to end his story. Miquella put everything on the line for the shunned and in the end one of the shunned, his own brother kills him in a misguided venture for power. Mohgwyn will never come. The Haligtree will never rise. All because Mohg, the idiot, killed Miquella by ripping open the cocoon instead of just taking the cocoon like he was suppose too.

Whew! Finally got around to watching this. Great stuff again, think this one was even better than the Helphen video. I'm impressed by your ability to find links to items and themes - sometimes you threw so many at once it did my head in! hah. Let's see what I can add... Miquella's Needles: You posed a possibility that they are needles in the flesh because they need to interact with blood. I'm wondering how much the needles are actually just leftover from the cut content - Miquella has dialogue referencing his last drop of dew (read: blood) and he is of course watering the haligtree with his own blood. The needle connections to fate and mythology were amazing. really great perspective. You also mentioned the needle we find in Aeonia is unfinished - I interpreted this differently. I understood this needle as holding off the rot, stalling it's advance in the body just as it does for Millicent. In fact, this needle we give to Millicent IS Malenia's original needle. In the story trailer when Malenia stabs herself she's actually pushing the needle out of her body, once again allowing the rot to overtake her. The needle falls to the floor at ground zero of the scarlet rot blast, which is where we find it. Millicent then has this dialogue at the haligtree church "There is something I must return to Malenia. The will that was once her own. The dignity, the sense of self, that allowed her to resist the call of the scarlet rot. The pride she abandoned, to meet Radahn's measure." She's actually wanting to return a tangible object - the needle. The blood and gold connection - especially in the beast blood description which mentions rot and decay - was eye opening and something I had not picked up on. I don't know if there's enough in game here to really build on, but it's really interesting. Lastly - want to drop one really great Miquella theory I've seen. It's my personal headcannon because I just think it's so good. Here it is: Miquella's SPIRIT is in the Haligtree, while his BODY is in Mohgwyn Palace. Ranni has already proven to us that your spirit can live separately from your body. She's also shown us that those chosen to be Empyreans but who don't want to be Empyreans may want to consider abandoning their flesh. Miquella's watering and embedding in the Haligtree was clearly working at some point until his body was kidnapped. Go back and watch both Malenia's intro cutscene and her phase shift cutscene from this perspective - it almost seems as if there is an unseen force in the room waking up and urging on Malenia. The camera also seems to pan in a way that suggests the Miquella-shaped root is causing this wind. This theory would also explain why Mohg's rituals aren't working - him and the formless mother very clearly have real power - but they only have the shell, the husk of Miquella's body. Without his full essence, this rituals don't work. You've been a great addition to the lorehunting community, Crunchy! great work again and can't wait for the next one.

The lore of this game is so rich and so mamu questions are left unanswered on purpose.

I always took the line “Marika’s unwanted children” as them saying that because they were soulless, they lived in death and thus were a blight on the Golden Order

The use of Demon's souls music was a great way to get me captivated! That music just hits different, thanks so much! I also really find Miquella to be the most interesting character in Elden RIng so it's a perfect combination :)

Happy to see you make more of these! Really enjoyed your other video as a guest with Ratatoskr.

I do love how DeS ost is the most used ones in these lore, theory vids

Great job on this video best elden ring lore video I've seen tbh. Well put together and a fuck ton of context.

Great Video! Looking forward to more content like this!

the game is pretty explicit with the *impurity of the golden order* and one Man talked really well about it, his name is *GOLD MASK* , he discovered the impurity to be Marika herself

Wow, what an incredible video. Keep up the great work!

Honestly your content so far has been peak Elden Ring deep-dives and I think you've got a great thing going here!

This is a great video, Crunchy. I particularly liked the bit about the eclipse, as I am a fan of Berserk as well. And watching this actually made me think: Perhaps the plan about the eclipse didn't exactly change- it just couldn't happen and the reason for that is Radahn. The way I understood was that he held the stars in some type of stasis and that may affected other celestial bodies movement/alignment, specifically the sun and the moon. Hey, it may be why Malenia fought Radahn, maybe? Rani couldn't progress with her plan due to this, so maybe it affected the plan for Godwyn to regain his soul as well.

Ah I missed the premiere, gotta wait for the Live to end to watch from the beginning!

I interpreted it as them being born Empyrean, but because they were born of a single god they had afflictions.

I hadn't connected Rennala's size and non-working legs with Albinaurics... this leads to headache lol However, my brain insists on finding meaning behind Rennala's rune being of the Unborn, even though what she does for us is Rebirth. To me Unborn speaks of those stories where the timeline gets rewritten and people who were never born in the new timeline cease to exist; so, long story short, by removing the concept of being unborn (the rune) from the thing that commands reality in the Lands Between (the Elden Ring) you make it possible for those who wouldn't exist in the new reality to remain. Thoughts?

Here's an interesting thought. All the children of Marika are in some way, shape, or form, the child of one God. Godfrey was no God, radagon is Marika herself, and radagon married rental, who herself was no God. All known empyreans are th offspring of gods, or rather the offspring of only one God at a time.

Great video! St. Trina being just a dream is really interisting!

I love how this vid went from an Elden ring vid to a berserk vid

Nice to see you making content now. Looking forward to more.

Great vid! I dont have any advice or suggestions, but I thoroughly enjoyed your presentation and your chat with Ratatoskr on the Yggdrasil Podcast 🤙

4:16 I don’t know if this was mentioned as a solution anywhere but I was just assuming that the whole “radagon is marika” thing might have retroactively applied to Ranni, thus making her offspring of Radagon and therefore also the offspring of Marika Last edit: Sol also means Sun so that might have something to do with godwyn’s being trapped in the sun

Very interesting and well put together video. Good audio quality as well.

I feel like the reason why Godwyns death is different from the other demigods mentioned dying. Is because he only died in spirit but not in body. while the other probably died true deaths.

Here bc of Ratatoskr podcast and man I love all of your both videos so far. Very much looking forward to more!

I'm sorry ? you can see Rennala using her legs on her second phase, a full recrearion made by Ranni of her mother. If Rennala couldn't use her legs, Ranni would have made her clone like that.

YES I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

Rennala is really interesting and probably tied to Miquella, but I don't know how. Her mind appears broken, which means we don't have a sense of her character at all pre-divorce. (I think this also implies that she has never made contact with Miquella, which makes her rune's similarity to Melania's rune all the more fascinating.) A couple of points to add on to your excellent analysis: -I don't know what to make of it, but this video made me realize that the arena we fight her in is similar but opposite to the arena we fight the Elden Beast in. We see the sunset/rise vs the moonset/rise across a shallow sea. (This I think speaks more to Ranni's influence than Rennala's, but I don't know.) Up until now I had sort of assumed that boss fight transported us to Ranni's dark moon, which would explain why Rennala's moon is so close. The extreme similarity to the Elden Beast fight makes me doubt myself, as well as the fact that we see Ranni's moon in her ending, while we presumably are still inside the Erdtree. Don't know what that's about. -Regardless, Rennala appears to be a fan of the moon, which seems to be a completely different outer god than the Greater Will! (I don't know what noun to use besides "fan"--"adherent" is perhaps a bit strong.) I'm far from the first person to point this out, but this makes her connection to the Greater Will.... tenuous at best, even if she is married to its champion. -From the Rennala's Full Moon item description: "Queen Rennala encountered this enchanting moon when she was young, and later, it would bewitch the academy." *Bewitch* is a very interesting word to use, as the only other time I can think of it being used is the Bewitching Branch, which has Miquella written all over it. (Curious if the Japanese translation would bear these similarities out.) -"Rennala as Albinauric" would answer an item description that has bothered me: "When Rennala, head of both the Academy of Raya Lucaria and the Carian royal family, lost her husband Radagon, her heart went along with him. And then, those at the academy realized. That Rennala was no champion, after all." It makes some sense why the academy might disown Rennala after she loses their political connection to the Erdtree, but she would presumably still be as powerful as she was pre-divorce (certainly they wouldn't "realize" anything as Radagon's leave seems to have had little to do with Rennala herself). Maybe they discovered she's an Albinauric? Though how that came to be is anyone's guess. Also, as a side note, everyone else seems to be able to make out what's happening in the Mohg/Miquella painting and I simply can't. I see his hair and ear, but the rest of the body just doesn't make sense to my eyes. If anyone reading this can help me out I'd appreciate it.

Talks about rebirth. Also mentions he will be talking about Griffith… Me: Oh noooooooooo.

The lore videos we deserve. Can't shake the feeling that almost every other channel (looking at Vaati) only parrot others ideas or are very superficial with their analysis. Amazing work

love your videos already, incredibly detailed. i appreciate that youre not necessarily trying to definitively answer questions and rather the focus is on presenting related information and possible theories. you give us the watchers the information we need to start developing our own ideas on top of putting your own perspective out there. and i think a really important aspect a lot of lore compilers miss out on is using thematic connections between ingame lore with the real-world lore/established stories that may have inspired it to flesh things out. nicely edited and quality narration. keep it up, i would love to see more

Excellent video. I find your ability to connect themes in the game with alchemical concepts really fascinating. It would be great to see a video devoted to the overlap between alchemical concepts and elden ring themes. Keep up the great work!

I really like your casual approach to piecing things together, with the odd "but I'm not sure about this" thrown in making everything feel like clever guestimation. It's a really nice way of approaching these videos that contrasts with some of the "for sure" videos. I also like how you're referencing the influences Miyazaki used and how theyight help explain certain inspirations, but aren't leaning too heavily on them. Also, nice use of the SotC music towards the end.

This was a fantastic video! Well done 👍 Miyazaki once again subverted our expectations by actually making the DLC about Moquella and Marika. Can’t wait to see the content you make after playing the DLC!

If the soul of Godwyn is trapped on the sun, it would make sense thematically why the Moon has a Great Rune carved onto its surface.

I think the eclipse thing is about draining the gold from the sun. Perhaps the sun is the true source of unalloyed gold.

thank you so much for your efforts in explaining lore like this. I never managed to appreciate miquella as most video's out there about him are a bit on the fanboy side. I understand miquella is one of the most beloved characters. you somehow manage to put enough distance between your bias if you have any, and the actual lore.

whoa THIS is the sort of deeeeep lore dive I've been looking for. The amount of thought put into these connections.. I'm 20 minutes in and I've had my mind blown about 5 times. Subbed

Just learned about The Blood Star, neat.

I think the unalloyed gold needle is just a reference to acupuncture. A needle is (supposedly) placed into the body along a path of vital energy flow. Honestly fits in much better as part of a magic system than a modern medical practice anyone takes seriously.

The FMAB music adds such a nice atmosphere for lore videos haha

I love your videos man ! So many channels talk like what they say is lore accurate and you really bring out the mystery that From Soft captures in Elden ring

While the broad strokes of the DLC don't generally serve to "complete" the game, they do often expand on already introduced points. Meeting the other 3 knights of Gwyn, expanding on the nature of the Abyss, and going to Oolacile in DS1. Seeing more of the Old Iron King and reintroducing the Flame of Chaos in DS2. Meeting Ludwig and Laurence, expanding on the nature of the Doll, and adding extra context to the snakes in the Forbidden Woods in Bloodborne. Meeting another member of the Sable Church and re-exploring the Painted World in DS3. Ringed City is pretty seperate though, I'll give you that. A lot of it relates to old stuff, but in a "And there was also this thing you never heard about that was there the entire time" way. Still, even if the DLC isn't ABOUT Miquella, I'd be surprised if there isn't an item description, NPC, or boss of some kind that we can glean new info off of about him.

I'm starting to think that all of the emperions are some how connected to different outer gods. We know about the rot God. It seems like ranni might be connected to an outer God that has to do with the moon and Michaela seems like he is trying to become his own version of marica. Idk though

in support of the Malenia is a shattered piece of Radagon; Radagon's left arm is immaterial, formed of shadow, while his right is whole. Malenia's right arm has rotted off and been replaced, while her left arm is whole. Each of these characters is missing an arm, but different arms.