Great video! Thanks for sharing the Mushroom theory. I got a ton of comments about the relation to Weirwood trees and how many connections there were. Glad to see someone put those together like this.

On the Godskins : The Gloam-Eyed Queen (or in the beta version The Black Queen) was an empyrean chosen by the Fingers. She led the apostles. She cradled newborn apostle in supple skin sewn together. From the Godskin Noble Robe : ''Nobles are the most ancient apostles who are said to have assimilated inhuman physiology.'' From the Scouring Black Flame description : ''The black flame could once slay gods. But when Maliketh sealed Destined Death, the true power of the black flame was lost.'' From her blade, the Godslayer's Greatsword : ''Sacred sword of the Gloam-Eyed Queen who controlled the Godskin Apostles before her defeat at the hands of Maliketh.'' From the Godskin Apostle Robe : ''Robe made by sewing together patches of smooth skin. Worn by the Godskin Apostles. The apostles, once said to serve Destined Death, are wielders of the god-slaying black flame. But after their defeat by Maliketh, the Black Blade, the source of their power was sealed away.'' There's some evidence that points to Melina being the amnesic Gloam-Eyed Queen, in the Lord of Frenzy ending, she appears with her sealed eyed opened and says to the player : ''Lord of Frenzied Flame... I will seek you, as far as you may travel... To deliver you what is yours. Destined Death.'' Plus, in the code of the game, she's named DaughterOfMarika. This theory also explains why the Gloam-Eyed Queen was an empyrean. It fits nicely, but it's not 100% confirmed.

27:20 - Miriel, the turtle pope, is also the ‘Lore-guy’ who tells you of the history of Liurnia. So yes, it is very fitting that Miriel is basically meant to be GRRM in physical form in Elden Ring😭 The Lands Between’s history and Major characters were created by GRRM, but Fromsoft made immense effort in rewarding those who are fans of Martin with little Easter eggs like these lol

It's interesting to note just how many cultures bury their dead under trees, plant a tree over a grave, or use them as memorials in some way. Regardless, the tree will "consume"/decompose the corpse over time. This same idea has been used by gardeners for ages on a much smaller scale when they plant a dead fish at the bottom of a hole before planting their crop. Animals have lots of blood, bone, amino-acids(Nitrogen) and other nutrients that plants can utilize. They're slow, but very efficient at recycling organic molecules.

The two finger/three finger split is based at least partially in the real life split of the Russian Orthodoxy, which was caused due to different conceptions of how to perform the sign of the cross (literally, whether to do it with two fingers or three). Take from that what you will.

Spot on re: Boltons and Godskins in my opinion. I've even heard theories that the Boltons were trying to "gain" the Warg power by wearing Stark skin. It's not clear if that is what the Godskins are precisely doing. The macabre and fear-instilling presentation of wearing god skin might be enough.

Thanks for the shout out! Your video is what inspired me to do the deep dive proving the extent to GRRM's involvement into Elden Ring. Erdtree Root burial within Catacombs is where you will find bodies within the root, but they can also be found in "Deathroot" affected areas. One thing of note is that in the overworld you can find grouping of stone coffins very evocative of the Winterfell Crypts and how the Starks are notably not buried in the barrows or in the ground like other Northerners Deathroot prevents souls from returning to the Erdtree, causing Those Who Live In Death (skeletons and zombies) to sprout up. You can see roots coming up from the ground with bodies intertwined. What is interesting is that beings of the Crucible (the 'primordial and chaotic' form of the Erdtree and early life) cannot be absorbed into Erdtree roots. Beings of horn, claws, feathers, talons, pretty much animalistic entities cannot have their souls absorbed into Erdtree roots, so it is only a 'human' thing to be added to the Weirwoodnet, I mean Erdtree Net. You should look into the death of Godwyn the Golden and his rebirth as the Prince of Death, that cause of Deathroot, because it looks a lot the birth of the "Night King" from the show (man tied to a tree getting stabbed with a black knife by long lived and seldom born tree women). The in game files actually refer to some of the skeleton enemies as 'Night King's Kin' kzfaq.info/get/bejne/j5iaaLGozL7Unnk.html We also only see humans and beastmen becoming 'zombies' and not 'lesser' animals This is all to say that there seems to be a specific interest or need for humans, or human like entities, to be absorbed by roots. I can't remember but are there any COTF in the Weirwoods or is it just human Greenseers? I think that would be an interesting overlap that perhaps the COTF and their Elden Ring equivalent are attempting to turn humans into the fuel for their Trees/Fungi For the Godskins: "Nobles are the most ancient apostles who are said to have assimilated inhuman physiology. Not unlike the crucible, the Erdtree in its primordial form." "A vestige of the crucible of primordial life. Born partially of devolution, it was considered a signifier of the divine in ancient times, but is now increasingly disdained as an impurity as civilization has advanced." The Winged Misbegotten Ash reads: "A spirit with the aspect of wings which takes flight to loose arrows from its bow. The misbegotten are held to be a punishment for making contact with the Crucible, and from birth they are treated as slaves, or worse." I know we're talking about ASOIAF here but these make me think of the Ecological Warfare Corps from the Thousand Worlds. Not that Elden Ring or ASOIAF are part of the Thousand Worlds, but that is just the feeling I get.

The word "erd(e)" in German means, "Earth"/"soil" and is used in words like "Erdebeerie", which literally translates to "Earth Berry", or a "Straw Berry" as we say in English b/c they're grown on a bed of "straw" on the ground/earth/erde. Calling these "Earth"/"Soil" Trees" makes sense. Granted, all trees are in the Earth/soil anyway, but the "pun" works both ways.

The Green seer/Weirwoods relationship reminds me of a character in Elden Ring: Godwyn The Prince of Death. His soul was slain and his body remains in a state called Living in Death (zombies), though he seems catatonic. They buried him at the roots of the Erdtree. His body infects the roots of the Erdtree and in places associated with death or burial you can find Death Root (corrupted roots) they will have eyes on them and they spread the condition of Living in Death.

I love that both George and Miyazaki both reuse concepts in their works.

GRR Martin is a fan of Robert Frost's poetry, or so it seems from the fact that A Song of Ice and Fire is premised on Frost's poem, "Fire And Ice" which posits how the world may end. Part of me has suspected for a long time that Elden Ring is not unlike Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" wherein Frost speaks of how Nature's first green is gold and that it does not last. There are lots of poetic and Shakespearean allusions in Elden Ring that Martin must have intended consciously. For instance, Godfrey being an old man grafted to Serosh is a literal interpretation of WB Yeats' poem Sailing to Byzantium where Yeats says, "fastened to a dying animal". In the same poem it speaks of Dualism and the need to make a substitute body "such as Grecian goldsmiths make of hammered gold", the latter of which reminds me of Malenia speaking of her dream of a body of dull gold, her blood rotten. Another Yeats poem, The Two Trees, is twisted and perverted by Martin in Elden Ring. Originally a poem about Love and growing old together, the Shadow of the Erdtree is like the looking glass reflection where demons dwell and bitterness and the spite of aging are brought to the fore. The Misbeggoten are like Caliban in Shakespeare's The Tempest, a chimeric creature enslaved by an invader to his native island, and the Miranda flowers seem to be named after Miranda in the same play. Edit: needed to add that Yeats' poem Sailing To Byzantium mentions not only a golden body, but a golden bough. He was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, as was William Sharp, the latter being a poet of whom Miyazaki is an avowed fan. The interesting thing about Sharp is his poetess alter ego, Fiona Macleod, whom he claimed was something like a dream fairy that visited him when he wrote poetry. Sharp's biography is fascinating and parallels Miquella in his male/female duality.

The anatomical structure of roots, limbs, blood, vessels and neurons all follow the same basic growth and "branching" patterns based on the the Golden Ratio(phi). Both trees and plants also have "circulatory systems" and used sexual reproduction(based on species). We even refer to a person's thorax/abdomen as their "trunk", just like a tree.

"Only Death can pay for Life."

Some trees in forests can use so-called "Quorum Sensing" wherein the various symbiotic fungi and bacteria can used chemical messengers to "talk" to each other and move around mobile nutrients, avoid disease, or send up new growth. The concept of an "Axis Mundi", "Tree of Life"/"Arbor Vitae", "Yggdrasil", etc....is found in countless cultures the world over. I'm sure the concept of "Ents" has "Living, conscious Tree-People" influenced him, as well.

Blood Meal and Bone Meal are both great IRL fertilizers and also tie into the "Red& White" motif that is so often associated with these "trees". "Be he live, or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread!" #BoneFlour

I don't think that Marika gains her powers from being crucified. It's more of a restriction of her freedom to act, and a punishment. According to the Tarnished Archeologist, the source of Marika's divinity is the Elden Ring put in her body. And the Elden Ring represents the concept of Order in the Lands Between linked to the parasitic tree.

Fun Fact: Fungi are actually closer to animals than plants on the evolutionary "Tree of Life", and people still say they are going to go "hunt mushrooms", as if they were game, rather than "picking" them like other fruits and veg. Also, they're basically Hobbit Crack.

I want to thank you for your contributions to the Elden Ring Lore community. I am not a fan of Martin himself, but I do think he's a terrific writer, and I was waiting on someone to do a video or series showcasing how similar the ideas of both A Song of Ice and Fire and Elden Ring's Lore are. Thanks again.

I’ve always liked this theory because fungus helps to decompose and regenerate dead things, and the lands between us having an issue with death and dying

Great Video! I don't know if you have ever read "man of greywater watch" or "song for Lya" by grrm but the theme of parasitic fungi and hiveminds are heavy on both. Also "Greywater" and "Lya" are not causal references

Idk if you've seen my comment on the other video, but Vaatividya (biggest soulsborne lore master) has mentioned in one of his videos that the Erdtree and minor Erdtrees actually feed on "the blood of their children" who are those that are buried under the Erdtree at its base and "return to the Erdtree"

I've never been more excited for a video ever! My mind was totally blown! When you started connecting things like the Godskins to the Boltons *chefs kiss* keep it up these videos are great!

you need to watch the great tree episode of tarnished archeologist. also his 2 or 3 finger schism episode (this is just a really great history lesson as well)

Look up Men of Greywater Station by GRRM. In that books a species of sentient fungus controls every living thing on its planet. It manages to trick overpowered invaders (complete with lazer cannons) and into killing one another by manipulating their dreams Sounds familiar?

Not sure if you have ever read Martin's Wildcards series but one of the most powerful heroes in the series was a Telekinetic called, "The great and powerful Turtle." He was very intelligent/educated on top of being a telekinetic god-like being. So he was able to cover a VW beetle with armor and cameras and would just use his tk abilities to fly around while riding inside of the armored car. I remember him dragging a huge tsunami to throw at a foe as one of his biggest attacks.

Under a minuet here, insanity. Keep it up mate!

So good. The knowledge, I crave it.

One thing I noticed in regards to your proposed idea of Westerosi feudalism being backed up by magic as for the world to not progress further (as described in the last video) is how closely it parallels several themes present in the Dune novels, a property GRRM famously takes inspiration from. What you propose really does seem like a direct parallel to God Emperor Leto II's Golden Path, a stagnant artificial peace enforced upon all of humanity so that it does not progress further; a status quo created by a god-like being that utilizes the setting's equivalent of magic. Really makes the theory sound even stronger in my opinion.

In Men of Greywater Station, which was also written by GRRM, there’s a parasitic fungus species that has invasively taken over a plenet’s ecosystem as well, it’s super hostile towards other members of its own species, whom it sees as competition for the same resource. Kinda reminds me of the revilement of the three fingers by the two fingers

An idea to explore in a future video: what is the relationship between weirwood trees and ravens? If ALL ravens contain the "souls" of COTF, they are everywhere in Westeros and can see all, so Bran doesn't need weirwood eyes to see - or are they necessary to see the past/future? And how about crows? They aren't tamed to send messages by maesters, but are they related at all? There are millions of them, far more than ravens. I've been a 'mycelium fan' since reading Merlin Sheldrake and have adhered to the idea that the weirwood roots are like a (very thick) mycelium network in which weirwood roots have created tunnel systems under the entire length and breadth of Westeros - and possibly parts of Essos too.

"Tree Turtles" aren't a thing IRL, but they should be. Sort of like walking coconuts. Just look up from time to time. They don't have the greatest sense of balance. "Heads up!"

I’m so glad you’re covering this it’s one I’ve been waiting for

Pretty interesting take once again - while I find myself more leaning towards the possibility of Magic & Prophecy in ASOIAF mostly beeing Scam and Manipulation via Psychic Abilities that most prominent Preston Jacobs proposes, you seemed certainly on point in the terms of themes, with your last video about this topic - I think it would be rather weird if an old hippie ends his series beeing a criqitiue of romantic fantasy feudalism with it remaning unchanged. The Fungus Theory is pretty good as well, especially since it is more scientific leaning, which fits well with GRRMs comments on why he designed the Dragons in ASOIAF as Wyverns. My further question to you would be though, what do you make of the Flame of Frenzy? What about the Godskins - is there some hope for Bolt-On Fans? Also further toughs - the two / three fingers thing has some alchemical connections like a lot of stuff in Elden Ring.

Barely finished your previous ER video, now here is another. Thanks.

The fingers were once one hand. It’s like how orthodox Roman Catholics used 2 fingers to make the cross, the Russians used 3 and that was considered blasphemy.

Not sure if I've seen the tarnished archaeologist but they have some videos that talk about the mushroom theories and the meteors on top of the rune towers

17:32 I left a similar comment on your last video but yes, there are a lot of people in the Souls lore community who are insanely obstinate and obtuse when you make connections across games and to outside literature that you are CLEARLY meant to make. Obviously the connections are never confirmed wholly because the entire point is discovery, and you can’t have discovery if the creator comes outright and just confirms connections. So the a portion of the souls community will treat lore finding like it’s a highly dangerous and irresponsible experiment that should be avoided at all costs. It’s drives me INSANE because Miyazaki clearly wants us to explore the connections between his games even though they will of course never be outright connected. Yet the “path” is clearly meant to be tread to help us reflect and find answers, even if it ultimately does not lead us to where we think it might.

In Elden ring you follow the guidance of grace witch is a method that Marika uses to guide the player character through the game to the creation of a new era, this could be like how bran the builder might be guiding the current bran as the three eyed crow, tarnished archeologist just came out with a video about this

this mushroom theory makes me wonder: was Godwyn originally much different in GRRMs base lore that he gave to From? Maybe he outlined this "the erdtree is a mushroom" thing and From liked it a lot and decided to merge it into Godwynn as well because he seems to be the most obvious example of a parasitic growrth taking over a tree, but very little else about him suggests "mushrooms" other than the growth. Hes very clearly linked to the deep sea through his fish scales, cthulu like appearance, and the black water that flows from his eyes when hes killed. What if Godwyn was originally supposed to be killed and thrown in the ocean instead of into the roots of the Erdtree? It would explain a lot about why he is the way he is. From may have wanted to further illustrate the mushroom dead tree dynamic using him, but kept other elements about him closer to the lore GRRM gave them. I suspect he was meant to be a Euron parallel at some point. Maybe he was meant to rise from the sea changed like many characters in GRRMs stories do. Hell i always thought the coast of the weeping peninsula was a weirdly scenic and ominous area and all it was used for was a tiny merchant shack and some zombies. What if he was originally going to rise from the waves and be fought out there. He could even be the reason for all the wrecked ships.

Something I thought you might find interesting is: Some of the Erdtree's roots can be "infected" by the plague of Godwyn, Prince of Death, and turned into Deathroot. The Beast Eye (which btw oddly bears a gloam-like hue similar to Melina's sealed eye) that Maliketh/Beast Clergyman gives you will quivers everytime Deathroot is near. The areas which heavily affected by Deathroot are usually swarmed with skeletons and sometimes Tibia Mariners, who can rise Those Who Live In Death from their slumber. This for me implies that the corpses are getting blocked by Deathroots instead of having their souls sucked in by the Erdtree. And from the Mending rune of Death Prince description: "Formed of the two hallowbrand half-wheels combined, it will embed the principle of life within Death into Order." This could mean Deathroot functions very similar to the Erdtree's roots: it creates life. In a sense Deathroot is just another fungus, creating walking corpses instead of man.

Absolutely loving these videos! Keep up the great work!

i’ve waited all week for this

I thought I would mention that the "5,000 years ago" quote is maybe a little misunderstood. There's a video by someone called Queelag that covers the entire timeline of Elden Ring and how it spans several different dynasties and cultures, roughly accommodating for 5,000 years worth of human history in their real-life analogues (Elden Ring being set approximately in its own Renaissance era). So yes, Martin did write the lore from 5,000 years ago, but thats taking account the EARLIEST point of its timeline. The Shattering is far too uneventful to span thousands of years. I just thought you should know, since it reinforces your point.

Love this theory. I think it is interesting that the weirwoods or something using them draws blood to them. The group of wildlings that flee the battle at the wall only to despair and go to the grove where they run into other wildlings that thought the same thing. That they were going to die and wanted to be close to the gods. If any other nights watchmen would have lead recruites to swear vows to the weirwoods they would have started off blood sacrifing to the weirwoods butching the sleeping wildlings then swearing there vows. I also thought it interesting that if you don't count the already dead people there . We have Old Crone , A Mother ,a Wilding Speer maiden, A Thenn aka Smith or warrior stand in Smith I think fits best since they are the only wildlings known to forge weapons, a Hornfoot man with frostbite feet which makes me think of the roaming priest Brienne travels with who has black gnarled feet so could be warrior or Smith stand in . The Theen and horn foot could fit either of those two rolls but the rest have clear ties to the other corresponding aspect of the seven. And of course the Stranger wun wun the giant , I've always scratched my head wondering what's the point to sacrifing these God aspects to the trees unless it's just showing that the 7 a Death religion is associated with weirwood worship. Interestingly as well is from far off before they get there the sun setting gives the illusion of the tree on fire in the distance when they finally get there at night we have 7 aspects of God sleeping drawn there to die close to the gods. And a group of people that would normally have ended in conflict if not for leathers speaking the old tounge

Your channel reminded me how sad ASOIAF not getting finished makes me.

Love the content, I think you're on point more than many theorists have been before you. I'm assuming a lot of this stuff to be true. Have you considered doing a series on the Lord of Light and how the "fire" compliments the "ice" theories you have?

This theory keeps spreading like a fungus

Absolutely enthralled by these ASOIAF and Elden Ring connection videos

Thank you for talking about this stuff, Michael.

Some other pieces of evidence for the 2 fingers and 3 fingers originally being a single hand with 5 fingers: the beastmen of farum azula revered a hand with 5 fingers as a symbol of the intelligence given to them by the greater will. The dragonlord of farum azula originally had 5 heads, but 3 of them were cut off at some point in the past, when players first encounter the dragonlord hes seen in the same pose that the 2 fingers take when communing with the greater will. According to hyetta, the greater will and the flame of frenzy were once a single entity called the one absolute. It follows that their vassals would have also been unified in the past. Edit: It's also funny to know that characters like Diallos and Boggart, who many players assume were GRRMs main contribution to Elden Ring most likely had nothing to do with him

Mycelium(what is the main body of most fungi we think of) can actually make pulses of electricity in a similar way to neurons, but they do so on a much slower scale(think minutes instead of milliseconds for a foot of distance to travel). Weirwoods resemble parasitic plants to me though. Many parasitic plants have a red color to them as they lose the ability to photosynthesize and in place of that they will leech nutrients from fungi or other plants. Snow plants and rafflesia(they make the giant, red flowers that smell like rotten corpses) are a good example of a red parasitic plant. The only issue though is that parasitic plants often only appear above ground to flower and fruit. The way parasitic plants feed off of other plants or fungi also is via their roots, so you could make the assumption that the roots attached to people is to feed off of their life energy instead of flesh or whatever else -- a more magical parasitism than a reality based one. Parasitic plants usually penetrate the roots of other plants, so that'd fit in with them all being connected. If the weirwoods are also all connected then it makes more sense for them to be plant based as mushrooms are actually very prone to decaying and are short-lived and there are plants that naturally propagate more trees from their roots and will make giant networks that are wholly them. Quaking aspens are one such type of tree and one of the largest organisms that is thought to exist currently is a quaking aspen.

Sorry if this was mentioned already. But many of the ghosts in Elden Ring have mushrooms surrounding them. There are a lot of random NPCs scattered around the world in the form of ghosts. They don't acknowledge the player. And they don't move. They're typically depicted facing the direction of interesting locations, stationary in mournful poses. When you interact with them, they talk, seemingly to no one, lamenting one thing or another. I never noticed this before you video, but these specific kind of ghosts appear to have ghostly mushrooms sprouting around them. Perhaps the shot shrooms are what allow the ghosts to linger. I don't know. Just thought it was interesting. Maybe a connection to the tree somehow.

Oh, I’ve been trying to put stuff together in a Twitter thread since day one. I think that overall ER and ASOIAF have connections. The connection to the Erdtree, the Weirwoods, the Weirdwood Net stuff, also some of GRRM’s sci-fi work such as And Seven Times Never Kill a Man and A Song for Lya is THE STRONGEST. Also love the connections of dragon lore. The devolution of ER’s dragons are pretty much a reverse of fireworms/dragons breading with humans created the Valyrians. THERE’S A DRAGON THAT TURNS INTO A HUMAN TOO Small stuff such wolfs being protectors of Empyrians the same way Starks and direwolves; Miquella being a small child who embedded himself to a tree much like Bran and possibly being the greatest and most powerful magic being in universe; Miquella also has a alterego that goes into people’s dreams much like Bloodraven sends dreams to people; Arya/Melania training with a water dancer, Arya fucking training blind, Melania being blind; Jon murdered by knifes just like Godwyn, Godwyn’s most important achievement being to reach a truce with dragons and making them his friends just like Jon and the wildings end up forming an alliance; Godwyn the Golden/Jon’s the son of The Silver Prince. IT GOES ON ETERNALLY.

Jep i am a believer since Zions Mushroom Vid! Makes just so much sense and IS very cool imo

I'm playing through for my second time and am loving these videos. Great job honestly, can't wait for you and the lightbringer to have a sit down.

Preston Jacobs did a whole series about GRRM's old books and how he uses these themes over and over. Hive minds, trees, nature gods, controlling people and animals with possession, etc etc

SmoughTowns the ENTIRE lore of elden ring series is a fresh compile of everything important to elden ring if youre looking to read up on it. VERY long though. your last comparison video was excellent! i wouldve never considered myself a game of throne fan but know im considering reading the books! i feel like were just stratching the surface of whats going on here and like you said in the last video youre like the only video that up for these types of comparisons. im curious, with the dlc finally coming out in june what parallels will be revealed between the 2 properties as we know grrm was involved with that too.

About the turtle thing: There isn't just a turtle pope. The whole world is littered with turtles. Turtles here, turtles there, turtles everywhere. Turtle pope is the only one that speaks though. But now that you mention the connection with George, I think it's interesting that the turtle pope gossips about the nobles. Who married who and for what reason, and yadda, yadda. Look up the dialogue for yourself. I think that's a very George aspect, to be so concerned about telling the history of the rulers. Anyway, the common turtle enemies are fairly normal sized, and they don't attack the player. They just graze, bask, and lumber around slowly, until the player murders them. It's interesting that in a game where everyone is trying to kill you, even the wildlife, the turtles are complete pacifists. I think that's another George quality. There's this one "boss room", that's not truly a boss room. You would expect to find a difficult enemy there, but instead you get a whole room full of turtles. Then, beyond the turtles is a chest with an equippable talisman that boosts stamina recovery. The talisman itself in the shape of a turtle. I always found that ironic. That the slowest creature provides the player the ability to perform more actions more frequently. Crafting the meat from the turtle also gives the player a stamina boosting consumable item. So it's no coincidence that the turtle is associated with stamina in the game. When you said the thing about George's turtles dying quickly, it made me rethink the context of the turtle giving the player greater stamina. Perhaps it's not so deep as that. But it's something to consider. The description on the green turtle talisman notes that turtles are symbolic of inexhaustible power.

I think that the Erdtree was once a real, living tree, but at some point in the past it was destroyed (Most likely burnt down) and its remains were used to power the Illusory golden tree we see now. That would mean that the current Erdtree is definitely parasitic in nature, but the older original version was not.

I wonder who figured out the that children of the forest were listening in back in the day when the Ravens used to be able to talk messages rather than just be post-birds between castles.

Bloodraven has weirwood growing through his body, so they seem to grow which meens they are not dead. I think that if the Weirwoods were overtaken by fungi we would get a lot of descriptions in the main series that hint at that. We they are always refered to with phrases that are associated with trees. They talk about their rustling leafs, their wood which is strong enaugh that it is used as a building material that never rotts (which is very unlike dead wood that is overtaken by fungi). Also there is the Shade of the evening tree in Essos, a tree with black wood and blue leafs. Is that one also overtaken by fungi, maby a different kind? I think fungi have a much smaller role in there as you speculate here.

A small note: When Bran went into the past to witness the sacrifice in front of the weirwood tree, I don't believe that the tree could taste the blood: it probably doesn't have the necessary taste-buds for it. My own theory is that blood is a medium that can be used to link souls (it's one of the properties of souls in Westeros that is different from earth). In this theory, the reason that Bran could taste blood while the man had his throat cut is because the blood spilling from the man's throat formed a bridge which connected Bran's soul with the soul of the dying man: the taste of blood Bran experienced was from his connection with a man that was literally choking to death from his own blood. The fact that souls can be channeled from a dying creature to another object through Blood make it one of the three fundamental tools that form the basis of magic in Westeros. The other two are Ice and Fire.

Continuing from my other comment guess what, the marikas grace guidance is given while inside a crypt with a stone statue of marika is visible

0:11 Yes yes! I don’t know where I first heard this but it always made sense. 2:30 The two headed dragon has evidence of more heads and given the pose the player first finds him in, some speculate the dragon once served a similar purpose. 2:59 Dragons have three heads, while wargs have two! 10:07 I don’t know if it’s just me being the description of how their eyes followed the torch made me think back to Drogo. What if this is what Miri implied and actually gave Drogo what is immortality within the confines of GRRM’s magic system. Wirelessly connected Drogo to the weirwood.net… to be burned… 13:08 The Winterfell crypts could be the passage to get to those rivers, I still think Winterfell is somehow a weirwood itself or one growing within its walls. I mean how else does the water flow? 15:08 Looking at them they look more like fungi than trees anyways. 26:09 But that’s a tortoise. 26:44 that’s fun to know. 31:42 love the vid thank you.

The suggestion that the Turtle Pope is a GRRM stand-in is interesting, I had never heard the story about the pet turtles. Certainly puts Sandkings in a new light. I had kind of a half-formed notion that a character called Jerren was the GRRM stand-in. He may be the Miyazaki stand-in, now that I think of it, since he uses the Flamberge, which is Miyazaki's chosen weapon. As you enter Caelid from the west you can encounter Gael Tunnel and Fort Gael (as well as, perhaps confusingly, Gaol Cave; gaol simply being the archaic spelling of jail), all of which will remind players experienced with the older FromSoft games of the character Gael from Dark Souls 3, who became the final, ultimate boss of the Dark Souls series with one of its most memorable musical themes. Gael retrieves the "pigment" of the Dark Soul of humanity which allows for the creation of a new world during the death throes of the old via a magical painting. And in Elden Ring during the loading screens one of the images you are shown is of a seated character in motley armor (putting one in mind of Don Quixote or Florian/Jonquil) with a hood almost identical to that of Gael in Dark Souls 3! (The hood even has the bizarre and unique property of weighing nothing while still conferring defense; if you don't believe me try modifying the Eccentric Hood yourself. It doesn't change the weight, but its defenses do decrease.) Eventually, you will almost certainly meet this character, Jerren, as he hosts a very interesting tourney, for which he "sets the scene" with an evocative description of Radahn's affliction. He also says he will see us at the next tourney, which may or may not occur in Shadow of the Erdtree. I hope he does reappear because I'm not sure I really get what his whole deal was.

while the fingers correlate only in count, i should point out they have very different sizes. so its unlikely they are from the same “hand.” also, check out miquella and his haligtree. he literally uses himself as substrate, with the haligtree feasting on his blood to grow, and halting upon his removal.

Also the Godskins are really interesting, because they are servants of a God of Death who probably rivaled Marika. To me they are a combination of Boltons and Faceless Man. They use the face of their enemies in their clothes. But on the flip side Marika is the Starks and undeath. Which I’m not sure what it means. So I’m a way is a parallel of Starks/Marika and Boltons/Gloam Eyed Queen fighting for the North/Elden Ring. To Elden Ring it means Miquella is gonna end up ruling the Lands Between or at least the Land of Shadows by the end of the DLC.

I think that maybe this mycelium fell from the moon among meteorites and wherever it landed, it adapted to the life source of the area. Ice beyond the wall, blood in westeros, fire in essos, shadow in asshai

Marika actually doesn't get her "godhood" from being crucified on the erdtree. She is the "vessel" for the elden beast/elden ring, as in literally they are contained within her magically and so she is the embodiment of the Greater Will's power on the world. Her descendants are called demigods, but we don't actually see things from them that are not possible for non demigods, its just that after the elden ring was shattered each of them claimed different pieces of it, which do grant special powers as the elden ring is essentially the embodiment of the laws of existence imposed upon the world by the greater will. So, I'm not sure her children fully fit the idea of the parallel. And the empyreans don't fully either as I think you are mixing up the empyreans(which aren't limited to Marika's children, Marika is actually one herself for example) with the demigods(all the children of Marika or Radagon, since they are both the same being), as while yes the Empyreans all have an innate power and capacity for the outer gods, they don't only stem from Marika's children. I do think you're onto something here though, I'm just not sure the empyrean=starks part fits fully cleanly. The demigods could fit better, but like I said we don't really know for sure that there is anything special about them beyond it being in name. Also, while its a part that is still very speculated upon in Elden Ring lore, I'd recommend looking into the Primordial Crucible, it was the source of life that predated the Erdtree and the greater will and I think might have some potential connections to asoiaf lore.

Agree with most things im more an expert on Elden Ring but i just wanted to add for the wierwoods-if you think of thr trees with their blood sap and faces, going into them is simply another warging activity. It seems to me that having warg abilities that lets you go into the tree, not vice-a-verce. The abilities themselves seem pretty apparently genetic

I still believe that in a song of ice and fire, The trees will be the key to defeating the White Walkers!! Trees have a huge part to play in the books!!

I recently thought it was funny that Malenia had a teacher in the Blind Swordsman with a flowing sword, who sealed away the scorpion god of rot underground. His basic character is essentially Syrio Forel, the dancing master for Arya, and legendary bad*** I will offer one idea that is usually counter to others opinions. The Shattering wasn't truly that long ago in the grand scheme of things. Thops the bluntstone was personally alive to witness its unfolding, and he looks and acts like it's barely been years at most. As was Jerren, who personally knew Radahn. Many claim the rune of death caused this unnatural lifespan, but there's no evidence that the Rune of Death does anything but prevent the death of immortal beings like the demigods. The wandering nobles are a product of a different sort of immortality, possibly the grace of gold itself (see gold tinged excrement). I think 'Gold' is the power of "Life itself", counter to Death, and extends 'life' in those blessed, among other things

Regarding the Erd Tree being a parasite or other corrupting force on the Great Tree, it is a pretty contested point among Elden Ring lore scholars. There are only two brief references to “The Great Tree,” and both are arguably poor translations from the original Japanese. I’m a Great Tree believer personally, but it’s worth keeping in mind that it’s a pretty controversial interpretation.

there are some very large rivers in Elden Ring, with a substantial amount of lore to them as well.

Trees doing what trees do doesn’t make trees fungus even in these fantasy settings.

Good video👍 In my opinion I think The endings will be the same

4:45 A small connection but the Weirwoods have the same coloring as the northern European variation Amanita muscaria

I think grrm's direct influence on elden ring as a whole is probably less significant than you argue. In that the reports say he only wrote a few page high level dossier. And then Miyazaki went and expanded that into the entirety of the game's lore and story and visuals. It wasn't a collaborative back and forth, or a lengthy process of writing a huge lore bible. Which doesn't actually conflict with any of what you are saying in this video. The high level abstract understanding of the erdtree, the outer gods, the ring itself, how that works and creates the world. Etc etc. Is all stuff that would be in a high level story treatment. Even many of the characters, their basic story was plotted out by GRRM, but at the same time, he is quoted as being surprised what they looked like when the game was released. But my point is that on the whole, Elden Ring is so much more than the high level stuff, and there are tons of minor characters who's lives are weaved in and out of the main plot, and so much storytelling is told through visuals alone, which by all accounts, GRRM wasn't involved in very much if ever at all. But it's also clear that his indirect influence, in shaping the genre, and Miyazaki's preferences is great. So exactly where that line is drawn is foggy

2:42 - the two fingers should be vassals of the greater will, while the erdtree is the representation of the golden order the golden order is the mainstream religion/philosophy/current set of laws of the world while the thing connecting them is the elden ring, which was sent to the lands between by the greater will and is the source of the erdtree atleast according to the ingame lore i know, im just now getting into theories. I guess this is a bit technical but imo there are some important distinctions to make there

I thought them more directly referring to Dodder Trees.

After watching this and the previous video I'm pretty Miyazaki wanted to work with GRRM because of how much they both love trees.

I think that there's a connection between the Wierwoods and albinos. Trees sense the world through their leaves, and Weirwoods are white trees with red eyes.

Turtle pope. Damn I can't stop laughing. I love it!

Dude, you need to play Elden Ring on stream

God skin nobels: "our twinswords are sharp"

I find the fungus connection with ER quite weak, frankly. It all stems from the fingers resembling a specific mushroom irl. This completely ignores all the hints pointing at another, more ancient cult that worshipped the whole 'divine hand'. One of the most ancient cathedrals in game is called 'Manus Celes', its architecture shows it was built well before the era of the Erdtree, its name is (a bit distorted) latin for 'divine hand'. My personal theory is the crucible was a 'bigger' and more 'varied' type of tree, maybe sprouting many different plant genotypes. At some point, some sort of 'pruning' happened, probably what reduced the crucible to a single Erdtree and divided the whole hand into two and three fingers. Probably the same event caused Placidusax to lose 3 of its 5 heads, alongside with the God he was Elden Lord for.

I'm 3 weeks late but I wanted to share a parallel between Daenerys and Miquella. I first saw this on the bird site (apparently your comment will be deleted if you mention its name) from the user @All_Lee24 and I'd link to it if KZfaq comments allowed links. Basically Miquella has a lot of similarities to Daenerys in that they are both fair and beautiful youth who are apart of royal/divine dynasties and want to break the wheel so to speak and uplift the downtrodden (Daenerys freeing slaves and Miquella helping the people the Golden Order persecuted). They have themes of rebirth (Miquella's cocoon and Dany's funeral pyre and dragon dream). They are both associated with magic dreams (dragon dreams for Dany and St. Trina for Miquella). There's fire and blood imagery for House Targaryen and the Formless Mother (an Outer God who Miquella is being offered to by Mohg). And speaking of Mohg, they both get assaulted. Probably the least important similarity but they do both have notable horses (Torrent for Miquella and Silver for Dany). Seeing these parallels made me think about how Dany is primed to go to Asshai (the city in the Land of Shadow) and Miquella has already traveled to the Land of Shadow within Elden Ring that we'll get to see in the Shadow of the Erdtree dic.

It’s about time someone raised the weird hostility that FromSoft Zealots have to GRRM. I had so many clashes with FromSoft Zealots that completely dismiss GRRM having any involvement. Even had them say “he just made the mythos” - the literally spine of the entire game down to its mechanics 😂🙃

I think the major reason why you are getting pushback about the inspiration GRRM might have had on the Elden Ring is that the works of Miyazaki have a long history of being HEAVILY inspired/influenced by the Japanese Manga Berserk, whose author Kentaro Miura was also a massive fan of western fantasy and included many elements of Norse mythology in Berserk like the world tree. Im only a fan of Berserk/Elden ring and after watching your videos I definitely think GRRM had more influence than I had initially realized, but I do think when using Elden as justification for speculation on SOIF you should take into account that Elden Ring uses multiple interpretations of the same source material as inspiration. There are likely many elements of Elden Ring and Dark Souls that have parallels to SOIF but weren't written by GRRM.

I think the main reason why some Elden Ring fans go like: "I dont know if GRRM had a big part in this" is because the lore of Elden Ring feels very similiar to the lore of soulsborne games of the past. (Dark Souls 1, Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne). So if you dont know any GRRM stuff it's basically a similiar story but with a big tree and runes in it. Edit: Even now thinking about it ... Dark Souls 1 allready had a lot of archtree/great hollow lore. So I can see why people get skeptical. I still agree though, that he obviously did a huge part of world building. I kind of wonder if he came up with the "Marika is Radagon" plot twist in Elden Ring.

A few things to highlight. 1. It's widely rejected now that the Three Fingers and Two Fingers were part of any "hand". There are multitude of Two Fingers found throughout Elden Ring. There is only one Three Fingers. 2. From Software games take a lot from buddhism and shinto beliefs from Japan. So immortality in those games is usually presented as something negative, resulting in corruption and stagnation. The protagonists are kept alive due to unnatural circumstances and in a way the point of each game is to escape the cycle of death and rebirth. ASOIAF is a fully Western work by comparison, so the approach to immortality and afterlife is probably a lot different thematically. More neutral most probably. 3. Mushrooms, blood, corpses, anything related to death and decay is associated with spiritual corruption in Japanese culture. 4. Elden Ring takes a lot of concepts from alchemy when dealing with the magic system.

11:52 let’s not forget that crows are all liars….

18:21 I agree

I am a bit confused how a connection can be established that evinces basic aspects of plant life-cycles and then migrating from that into "it's a fungus". If, with some minor (ah) speculation, jars with the remains of champions/warriors are brought to the roots of Minor Erdtrees to be broken and with it fertilize the very ground, this is somehow evidence of fungal supremacy? Where does the fungal supremacy trump the botanical supremacy? There are, after all, parasitic plants aplenty. The whole point of Zio's theory is aesthetics though. It's where it starts and arrives at. Though I do understand a "two sides of the same coin" approach. It also doesn't bode well for these connections that Martin contributed his cosmology before Miyazaki formulated the "golden tree" lore. Now, that doesn't mean that the lore elements couldn't have been built with information flowing from the direction of that idea, but it does mean that Martin didn't write the "golden towering tree". All it takes is for this process to enter two or three phases of construction from a distinct piece of narrative, e.g. there's a vast underground network that shapes what happens on the surface, and it becomes impossible to say who intended what, particularly if the authors concerned think in similar terms (or one is influenced by the other, irrespective of collaboration). That said, the attrition towards Martin from the ER lore sects is real, but let's not pretend they don't have their own ammunition, even if they shoot it in the dark at anyone who even whispers a sound. I also have minor problems with some statements, such as Two Fingers making "movements". They write/speak in light cursive, literally. To the point their words can be weaponized, as we see in the Cipher Pata and the Coded Sword. The Two/Three Finger lore is extremely shaky though, as it drags in pretty obfuscated concepts such as the nature of the Greater Will and possibly an entity even superior to it, the One Great, depending on how it's interpreted. In fact, Hyetta's final speech itself might be the most poignant and arresting piece of text in the game. Now that, that is one of those things I am surprised Miyazaki could write, let alone Martin. Also, a quarter of this vid is "don't dismiss Martin, you doofus" rather than "look at this and try to dismiss Martin now, you doofus", which is where the spicy stuff is. I gotta watch the other vid though. And the turtle stuff is... peculiar. I distinctly recall phantom tortoises being mentioned in ASoIaF somewhere in Essos, carrying messages or something, but I did not understand if these were a kind of turtle, or actual phantasms. The cute part here, of course, is that ER literally has phantom tortoises, which "hide" knowledge of the stars in some fashion. They're always tortoises too, even the big one floating at the Moonlight Altar, and never any semi-aquatic or marine ones. The turtle pope is also the core, the center of this idea of marriage between Moon and Erdtree, that everything is related and can and should coexist. Perhaps Miyazaki was being very cheeky in representing the merge of his and Martin's ideas into what ER is - a melding of lore. "All things can be conjoined". Perhaps he knew the messy lore soup he cooked up. Maybe it's a joke back at Fromsoft HQ. Maybe they're in here right now, laughing... Damn it.

Perhaps the trees on the Isle of Faces aren't corrupted because the mycelium network cannot penetrate the ground around the island, due to some subterranean obstruction, magical or non-magical.

This may have some relevance, it may not, especially in regards to what a fungal god (or fungal supernetwork worshipped as the Old Gods) might want. In Warren Ellis' "Supergod," the industrialized nations of the world try to create "gods" somewhat based on religious figures and ahem superheroes. In typical Warren Ellis grimdark fashion it all goes to hell. SPOILERS BELOW The British project is a trio of deep-space astronauts that come back infected with an extraterrestrial fungus. The resulting "god," was a fusion of all three astronauts fused together with alien spores, a mycological computer running on a meat substrate. It communicated mostly by emitting spores. The other supergods wreck the planet and the moon (paging David Lightbringer lol), putting the planet into a death spiral either because of the human hubris ingrained in them, or perhaps under the influence of the fungus, prompting the narrator to remark more than once late in the story that... Mushrooms only grow on dead things.

Sacred order of the green hand = crucible knights?

Check out Paul Stamets. Deep mushroom science as well as hypothetical hippie stuff.

George would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you pesky kids!

There is a fungus amongus.