It did always seem strange that the only place you can remove the influence of the Frenzied Flame was in Farum Azula...

A fun tidbit, the Cinquedea was used in reneissance Italy, and the name translates to "five fingers", which indicates the width of the blade next to the guard!

Another thing to note about the two + three fingers: It always struck me how spaced-apart the three fingers look and I always assumed it was some alien or heavenly feature. But upon closer look it's almost like a thumb, ring finger, and pinky finger-and the two fingers look like an index and middle finger. Perhaps all of the five fingers were once a part of a single hand as the Great One?

I agree with your theory in almost all points. However, there's one thing I would interpret differently: The Five Fingers are not representative of the One Great, but of an earlier form of the Greater Will (Proto-GW). The One Great is just another word for the primal soup that everything came from. So the timeline is: One Great -> Crucible -> Proto-GW -> GW/Frenzied Flame. The theme of things fracturing and getting progressively smaller over time fits with many item descriptions. The player can use a mending rune to incompletely repair the Elden Ring and still keep the rule of the Greater Will going, so I supposed the GW/Frenzied Flame 2:3 split is the result of an ancient conflict that occurred the end of Placidusax's age (and that we know nothing about).

This is honestly the best explanation of the "duality concept" in this game, and is a theory I've been searching for for the longest time. Honestly I truly do believe that everything in this game is tied to the split between the Fingers, and it makes sense that everything else in the game reflects that great divide, like echoes of a great explosion.

I agree with these assertions and even came to a lot of these conclusions in my own lore hunting. This makes me feel so not alone in the woods on this train of thought. I'm also glad someone finally mentioned in a video how the 3 fingers have the power to open the way to the Erd Tree. No one ever pay attention to that little fact. Awesome video

Dude, the way you linked Placidusax's heads and positions to the Fingers just melted my mind.

FINALLY, I am so happy to finally see someone construct the theory based on structured assumptions, findings and conclusions, and not on pure “those two things look similar, so it must mean this and that”. Great approach!

Blaidd reminds me of Wolf/Sekiro in how they were both given to their master as shadows, but are meant to betray them when their true master deems it. However they both resist, to an extent.

Another symbolic instance of the duality theme - supposing Radagon leaned more towards the frenzied flame's one-ness and Marika the greater will division/fracturing, it's interesting that Radagon is rumored to have attempted to repair the Elden Ring after Marika shattered it.

Following your line of thought, could the so-called god whom the Dragonlord is waiting for at the end of time be the One Great? Maybe the Dragonlord is not waiting for the return of a specific deity, but is waiting the re-unification of the two aspects of the One Great.

Thank Godfrey someone has finally tied together the loose ends in my head. This idea has been bouncing around in my head for the last two weeks. Some add ons: I think the Greater Will refers to its victory in achieving an order over the Frenzied Flame. Greater than, rather than some sense of grandeur. Another piece of evidence to support the Unified Hands theory is that (correct me if I’m wrong) only the Frenzied Flame and Greater Will make use of maidens.

Brilliant as always. You’re very insightful and always bring a lot of things I never read or seen before. It’s always well written and easy to understand!

I'll point out one thing: No-one can understand the Fingers apart from the Finger Readers - Crones + Maidens. It's entirely possible the Crones are making it up as they go.

This is 100% the best channel for Elden Ring lore ou there

Even with the DLC, this theory still holds up. Good job mate, this is one of the best Elden Ring lore theory videos I've seen so far.

Your rigour approaches academia, as does your attention to detail. Most everyone knows the storytelling in these games takes place in the item descriptions and environment first and foremost, but your ability to pull on these threads and weave a picture is one I've only seen before in Aegon of Astora. And yet you keep your videos immensely concise. I hope you get more comfortable still with your editing style, and that you'll start to make slightly longer videos, expanding on aspects where it is right to do so. I'm so pleased I came back to your channel after the Astel video, and I thought this was your best video yet.

7:07 the fingers even fit perfectly into the hand, wow

I was always under the impression that Melina's ability to kindle the fire giants flame was specific to her, i believe there is some reference in the game to her being "the Kindling Maiden", and that her ability was the work of Marika, that in defiance of the Greater Will she created a spirit imbued with flame to burn the erdtree allowing a tarnished free her from Radagon's Lordship and her punishment for shattering the Elden Ring.

Spectacular lore video, the analysis of the 2 Fingers and 3 Fingers = 5 as the One Great is absolutely poggers.

Gotta say man, I really appreciate the videos. You seem to offer insight on this that even surpasses Vaati's videos. Super helpful, easy to understand, and impressive ttheories. I'm currently working on a 5e-ish Elden ring game and this, along with the Placuidisax video is SUPER helpful.

I really love your videos, especially with this one, how you structured it is really unique and i look forward to see this again in the future, keep up the good work big man.

I always assumed the One Great was connected to the Crucible, the source from which all life sprang. Then the One Great split into the Three Fingers, who became the envoys of the Frenzied Flame and the Two Fingers who became the envoys of the Greater Will.

One of my favorite videos on the Lore in the general field of lorehunting even if I disagree with the idea of what the One Great is. I think there is a common misconception of what Greater Will, Outer Gods, One Great and Crucible actually mean. But the link between fire, beasts, death and ring is a superb logical connection.

Always look forward to these lore analysis videos from you. Good work

Another video from my elden ring lore buddy! Its a good day indeed Btw: I love your video on Vyke. Probably my favorite npc. Loved him so much I beat the game first time using his armor and spear which is so good! Got the frenzied flame ending too which was very cool. If they make a follow up to this game I'd like that to be cannon ending. The part with Melina was so interesting I'd like to see that go further

I dunno if anyone said already, but in Radagon's fight, his 3-slam hammer attack, the final hit leaves a big glyph on the floor that looks remarkably like the 3-finger frenzy sigil but with 5 digits. Not sure the significance, but I think it's a neat detail that might point towards more!

Fantastic man! This was incredibly insightful and really helped me to see a new perspective of the denizens of Farum Azula. Keep doing what you're doing.

This is easily my favourite ER lore video I've seen so far. Some really insightful comments here, and I like the grounded approach of building up assumptions before stating your theories! Subbed.

Blaidd has one of his eyes closed and is scarred, i think this may relate to the beastmen having their eyes and ears covered. Possibly so he believes that he is loyal to Ranni while the truth, hidden from him, he is essentially a puppet of the Greater Will? Fucking excellent video! Much to ponder, thankyou.

Your videos are brilliant and insightful; Id suspected the five fingers origin concept, but you put in all the groundwork here that reinforces and convinces me! Well done!

Great work. One of the best lore videos I've seen. Do one on Nokron. There's lots of interesting stuff there that hasn't been covered i.e. Godwin's connection to the place (the walking mausoleums have similar architecture and furnishings), the Nokronian statue at the Church Of Vows and just who the hell are those dead giants on the thrones. Once again though, great work. Really enjoyed this.

I've been trying to understand why *only* two shadow-beasts were made - obviously Blaidd was half-formed, so that's likely why they stopped? Watching this, it occurred to me that if Queen Marika is pure Greater-Will-Stuff (her "stock" as a Numen, whatever that means?), her shadow can be pure beast. With Ranni being half Greater-Will-Stuff and half Moon-Stuff, her shadow is half beast and half really-tall-dude. That's the best the two fingers could manage. I think there's an overarching theme of loss of control of a dynasty (or family) as it grows. The G.W. wants heirs, but can't get "pure" ones no matter what it tries.

This finger theory is amazing, great work

Been binging this series, keep up the good work bro!

Completely brilliant. The symbolism of the beasts being blind/closed eyes is so good. Subbed.

If no one has mentioned it already, something else to consider are the Laws of Causality and Regression. One appears to be forward-moving, while the other seems to be backward-moving, but both are described in-game as processes to create one unified world. One of the explorations of Elden Ring's themes seems to be, "Should all things be just one big thing, or should they be many small, individual things?" Regression is described as 'the pull of meaning; that all things yearn eternally to converge.' Causality is described as 'the pull between meaning; that which links all things in a chain of relation'. Attention to the wording indicates a couple constants, which I presume to be constants of reality itself, independent of the Greater Will. The constants are "pull", "meaning", "all things." These all come from the wording of the laws that makes up the Golden Order. And yet, they seem to be inherently contentious, given that both describe a pulling of all things towards different ways to interpret meaning. "Meaning" in this case seems to equate to words like 'experience', 'logic', or 'perception' - words that are connected to the mechanics of how an individual understands reality. Perhaps there's something here to add weight to the conversation about the ties between the Crucible, the One, the Two and Three Fingers, the Erdtree, and the Greater Will. Also, from some other Elden Ring videos, I've learned that certain symbols are attributed to certain figures. It's their rune, so to speak, and the complex symbol we see below the Elden Ring in Farum Azula seems to be Placidusax's own amendment. Just as Radagon's symbol is that of intercrossing diagonal lines, its seems that former Elden Lord Placidusax's symbol is that branching iconography descending from the Ring. I don't know what it means exactly about his character, but we know that Radagon was fully invested in the Golden Order - and fittingly, he has a very orderly symbol. Perhaps Placidusax's symbol has to do with the roots or branches of the Erdtree? Those do seem to have their own meaning, and what's more, Placidusax is a character with somewhat tree-like physiology. His big torso (like a trunk) is unlike any other dragon, and he has five heads (branches) - three of which are gone by the time we see him. I wonder what that signifies for the connection to 5 equaling intelligence? It reminds me of how characters sometimes mention that the Erdtree is in decline, even though it seems fine to us, the player (even before we burn it). What happened to lessen its strength, and what was it like before?

The Elden Beast end position resembling a single raised finger vs Placidicax makes me think that the 2 fingers were originally interpreting 2 different outer gods, but now is only getting the Greater Will. That would also explain why the two fingers looks beat to hell as well as the weird 2 sides 2 fingers from the talisman that bumps faith.

You're channel is probably my new favorite lore channel, I appreciate your willingness to go more in depth that vaati and create logical theories using in game information. Also, with this particular theory, I had the same though when I first did the my frenzied flame playthrough. The crucible is a smelting pot in real life, it makes sense that it would represent the One Great, and be called the crucible because it is kind of the primordial substance that created everything, or at least a large era before th Erdtree. The crucible is related to the Greattree, which we know from the crucible knights, the erdtree seems to be spawn of the split and "mistake" of the greater will, spawning the Golden Order. There are references to a reddish or rust colored primordial substance in item descriptions, I wonder if that was related at all to the primordial form of the One Great.

This is the best video I have seen on the subject. Many of my questions now have an answer, thank you!

u almost lost me for a minute but then you tied everything back together so neatly with the 5 finger theory which rly makes sense! you have convinced me and i will now think of this as canon

I find it interesting that with all the opposing dualities in Elden ring, the two fingers want to keep going forward with their plans, and the three fingers want to go back to a previous state. more weight to your theory! I think looking into the specific wording in Japanese might be helpful with all the specific names and such. one thing I do not understand is why the three fingers has a frenzy flame, and the two fingers has no specific equivalent to the fire. is there something in the two fingers that mirrors the three's flame? exciting theories.

I really like how you format your argument

Oooh I love it! This makes so much sense! This was fantastic 👌🏼

great video man

Awesome vid dude

gg boi much enjoyment love these kind of videos that digg into the lore and attempt to illuminate the world with plausible explanation well done

Great analysis man

I feel that another important thing is that beast are attracted to champions that will become lords, as mentioned in the beast champion set, and that torrent seems to have chosen the player tarnished.

I think if the mortal dragons we encounter were transformed by the crucible when they shed their stone skin? When the dragons became accepted by the Golden Order after the dragon war, contact with the crucible of life would make them closer, to the Erdtree. The crucible also shares many characteristics with the mortal dragons, the long tail, the fire breathing, the wings, and (what I think is the most telling of their connection) the feathers. The crucible knights, misbegotten and mortal dragons all have winged feathers, while ancient dragons have six limbs and stony skin.

I was telling my Cousin about this not so long ago, im glad you made this video and structured it better than I could have, another point i brought up that you can lean on is in Dark Souls the Age of Dragons was defined as one without difference, same as the Flame of Frenzy is trying to achieve, and this difference was brought in by the age that ruled after, the age of Fire by Gwyn, if the age of the Dragons was before the Golden Order we can assume that just like in Dark Souls it can be regarded as the age that didn't have seperation or difference

Great video! I like your theory. Definitely subbing to your channel.

Holy crap! This is amazing lore. It deserves a LOT more views.

I love your vids man! x

Good stuff mate.

This actually makes alot more sense than most other theories Ive seen regarding Farum Azula

Great video!

I've thought similar, it's nice to see someone else talking about it and presenting the theory more eloquently than I could. Have you considered messaging someone like Ratotaskr or Smoughtown to do a collab podcast discussing this and other facets of the lore? They are big(ish) loretubers and collaborating with them might boost your subscribers.

Wow this was so insightful! 😁👍🏼

First off, you're the best resource on KZfaq for Elden Ring lore Second, I agree with almost everything you said But Third, I'm curious as to when the Elden Beast was sent to the Lands Between, what was the Crucible of Life? And what did life look like in the lands between before the Erdtree? Thank you as always for the amazing content.

This made a lot sense and is a great theory personally!

I keep hearing "Two fingers plus three fingers equals five fingers" and I've always felt uncomfortable about that. Do we all see four fingers in the Two Fingers Heirloom? And it always looked to me like the Two Fingers in Roundtable hold were severed "at the wrist" Not to mention we keep assuming Earth's evolution in this game. Maybe the Two Fingers are called that in-game because they indeed resemble fingers, but they could be a life-form that looks like fingers but has nothing to do with the fingers of humanoid beings in Elden Ring. Just a thought Even the passing idea of the Fingers being primordial life from which all other things with fingers evolved makes more sense to me (even if only in passing lol) Maybe thinking of them as actual fingers is nonsense, and somehow forcing a pair of Two Fingers to spring a third finger is what engendered madness

Great vid, pointing out the explicit links between the Fingers and the Outer Gods refers back well to a singular deity. The reference to "Five Fingers" throughout the game gives way to speculating if the Two and Three Fingers were once a singular "Hand of God" so to speak for the the One Great, acting as its vassal.

Love your videos

Very good video. I agree with you that the Great One before was before the Greater Will, with 5 fingers. Besides, you can only be GreatER when there was already something Great before you.

Really excellent video

This theory is very well constructed

Another Duality; Law of Regression: Regression is the pull of meaning; that all things yearn eternally to converge. Law of Causality: Causality is the pull between meanings; that which links all things in a chain of relation. The fundamentalists describe the Golden Order through the powers of regression and causality

the Fingers being the ones that give the Shadow-Bound beasts makes me think of a hand making a shadow puppet of a wolf. I feel like there’s a connection there but who knows

The deathroot is present in Farma Azula which I suspect is why the reanimated enemies appear.

Thinking back, It's funny that I was actually worried the ER lore wasn't going to be as deep or interesting as the DS lore. There's enough in this damn game to keep us all ruminating for frickin years!!

Some things to note about Placidusax: one of the stumps is most likely a severed tail, as there is evidence to support that he had 4 heads, not five (namely, the Old Lord's Talisman) Otherwise, great video as always!

6 Divine towers, 6 two fingers, 2 other two fingers in the form of the one at roundtable hold and the one ranni kills. 1 three fingers. 6x2 + (2+2+3) = 19 fingers. Elden beast has 2 hands with 5 fingers each and has 10 finger-like wings on it's back for 20 fingers. Quick maffs; One finger confirmed for DLC!?!?

I feel generally good about the idea that the Two and Three Fingers symbolize an original entity being divided, but there is a big "But". For example, if we believe that there were some ancient Five Fingers speaking for the One God, the division of said God would also be an interesting idea to explain why the modern Fingers are so sickly and monstrous: It wasn't their Natural state, they became like this following their God condition. But at the same time, it feels "strange" that the Dragon's God was the same of Humans before it went a bit nuts. We don't know much Dragon's culture or society, but they definitely don't look like they were simply ruling over the Crucible. Similarly, the big defining War of Marika's conquest was against the Giants, not the Dragons, and Giants' God is entirely unrelated. Also, all the motifs of duality to me seem to be about mortals trying to fit within the Logic/outside the Logic of the Order, not about the upper beings like the Elden Beast or the Outer Gods. Overall, it's an interesting interpretation but there are some weak links. The part about Beastmen and Dragons fitting within the same culture is interesting tho. I wish there was more about the Age of Dragons (?)

I don't think this theory is far off at all, it seems very on point being that after the ancient dragon's god left them and they attacked the lands between and the golden order maybe out of envy, and the greater will allows dragon worship, it seems both the greater will and whatever god left the dragons are two sides of the same coin. even that slight differentiation between the "greater will" and the "one great" is just perfect to support your theory.

honestly, i would like them to explain outer gods better in the dlc, as of now we really dont have any idea about who they are and how many of them have an influence in the lands between

Now THESE are the kind of lore videos I was waiting for! Vaaty is waaaaaaaaay behind.

Thank you for exploring this theory, it was always bothering me how some people would discard a mention of Five Fingers in an item description as simply being an evolutionary trait of the beast.

The moment that he put the theory slide up on I immediately thought two fingers plus three fingers equals five fingers

Subbed!

damn! so amazing I've often thought it was weird how serrosh and mal were so similar they had to be linked but could never come to a conclusion. what about the bloodhound nights? the one we fight with blaidd

11:43 This reminds me of the big brain meme/TooL song

I like your approach to theory crafting, its almost scientific

To me this makes way more sense then any other theory out there. I really wish it was more popular.

Actually brilliant

I still haven't even explored Farum Azula and the Haligtree but I've poured into most every lorehunt I can find. I really like your perspective and I always get the impression there's a longer stretched hierarchy in ER that isn't overt, but very much "there's always a bigger fish" that still falls into a balanced cycle of growth, destruction, stagnation decay and then compost into new growth. What are your hopes for DLC?

awesome!

I came to a pretty similar conclusion before watching your video. My idea is that the original Crucible was the impact crater of the Golden Meteor sent by the One Great (later re-written to be the Greater Will, we know the Golden Order rewrites history). Sort of a panspermia idea, dragons (aka, dinosaurs) came from the space goo carried in the Golden Meteor. However, even before that, there was already life in the Lands Between, in the form of the Beast Society. The Greater Will, or the One Great (we don't know when the fracture happened) enslaved these beasts and made them to be servants of the dragons. Eventually, the GW abandoned Placidusax for unknown reasons, and chose Marika as its next inner god. I also suspect the Dragons evolved into the Stormhawks of Limgrave, or that they are tangentially related somehow. Greyoll has feather.

I'm playing the game, and I'm paying attention, and I still don't understand how people are able to connect the dots like this. Great video. Great theories.

More evidence: the color of magic describes it's nature in this game. Chaos incantations and holy incantations are both yellow, the golden light of grace and the yellow flame of chaos are all fundamentally the same thing. The Erdtree incantations are also (mostly) yellow.

I think the One great outergod was the god of the time when placidusax was elden lord but it got split and so he waits for its returm

Good job keep going. Try making videos of a Song of ice and fire.

You are a very convincing man, by the way just a sidenote about the ghost flame, You might want to look into The helphen Steeple Great sword.

at first when you brought up the theory that the frenzied flame and greater will were once one I was very dismissive of it but then you just started pumping out evidence like a factory and my brain feels physically larger now

Very similar to what I have been thinking. I have also noticed alot of similarities between rot god and formless mother, both seem to be representing the cycle of life and decay, which could mean these are twin deities also that used to be one.

Way too many people ignore the One Great, interpreting it only as a primordial soup, and consequently ignoring the existence of races and things before the Greater Will, Elden Beast, and Elden Ring.

Eh, interesting theory, but it's got some holes. The lightning connection to the Golden Order for example. Dragon lightning is red not gold, it's the Dragon Cult's lightning that was made specifically to mimic the Dragon's that is gold. While I agree the Shadowbound are likely natives of Faurum they're probably not really connected to the Greater Will directly. It's far more likely the Golden Order supplanted or defeated the Dragon's God and the Greater Will enslaved specific beasts as Shadowbound to watch over it's top agents (and kill them if needed). The Greater Will is kind of like a cancer or parasite when you actually pay attention to it's lore so it taking the tools and servants from another God by force is pretty in line with it's other actions. It's pretty obvious from Blaidd's fate that they are ultimately slaves not willing servants. The One Great is also described not as a combination of gods, but the primordial amalgamation from which literally _all_ things come from. Not just divine, _everything_ that lives was once part of it. It's less an entity or being and more along the lines of cosmic soup that all of reality came from. It never ruled over anything because when it existed there was nothing to rule over only it. Just *One.* Further the only real connection between the Flames of Frenzy and the Greater Will is that they directly oppose one another and are actively hostile to each other's goals. Beyond that they don't really have anything in common and the Flame has no connection to Faurum at all as it's ability to reignite the Flame of Ruin isn't unique to it. As for the Two Fingers (and thus Greater Will) connection to Farum that's even flimsier. Melina is very specifically acting _against_ the Greater Will's objectives when she lights the Flame of Ruin, the Two Finger don't help her with that seeing as 1) they're comatose at the time 2) the entire thing is done to _circumvent_ the Greater Will's designs and 3) Melina isn't a real Finger Maiden she's just "playing the part" of one. It's something about her specifically, likely her being the Dusk Eyed Queen and thus an Empyrean of a completely different God, that lets her light the Flame. It's doubtful any normal Finger Maiden could of done what Melina manages. The only real information we get from either Melina or us relighting the Flame of Ruin is that an Empyrean can rekindle it. If anything the entire sequence it implies there is some connection between the Giant's Flame God and Faurum's God.

I also believe that they were ONE hand previously, and separating them (fracture) its what they meant when all trouble started. BUT also looking at the hand you can see that the two fingers are the two middle fingers of a hand and the three fingers are the other fingers, this was done on purpose as they could of just show any fingers at random. (because an ALIEN can have 7 fingers in different order...also this is another concept and another story, whats up with the 10 finger hands running around?, but that is for another time). Also another thing to say its how even tho THREE fingers is the majority in the hand, the TWO fingers is running a mock with everyone blindly following. ..(sounds familiar). .....IMO.

In the description of the beast claw great hammer it says that the lion on Godfrey‘s back was the lord of the beasts, this item is given by Malikuth well he is disguised as the best clergyman.

Also, it could be that the meteor that struck Farum Azula was the same one that was carrying the Elden Beast? Observing the gravitational anomaly when the star fell into Limgrave, it could explain why Farum Azula is floating and NOT spinning like the tornadoes, and it would implie that it once was part of the main land, thus explaining the similar topography, architecture and beast remnants that we found across the Lands Between. Also, it could be that the Red lighting of the ancient dragons is more "primordial" thus referring to a time before the Eardtree?