A lot of this, especially the past the speculation part near the halfway point, seems to be incorrect. Not just because of new information we got from the DLC (Bayle leaving Placidusax with grievous wounds), but just doesn't match other information we find throughout the game. Case in point, the Fingerslayer Blade - it's likely not made from a dragon, but from a humanoid being, as it shares many visual similarities to the Sacred Relic Sword, which is just Radagon's body transformed into a tool. Given that it is a dagger and not a greatsword, we can imagine that the Fingerslayer Blade was made from a smaller humanoid, likely someone that looks like the Hawk soldiers or someone of similar stature.

Is there anything in the wall mural where the queen’s greatsword is found? Like hidden or obscured images in the stone?

Oh, also Hawkshaw hard an interesting video on Messmer's "secret" alliance. Apparently the combination of two coats of arms will often show one half of the shield with one coat and the other half with the 2nd coat. The combination of the two is called (get this) an impalement in heraldry. So it seems that Messmer title of impaler is a double entandre. He also mentioned that you see the braid sigil by itself at the very top of the Shadow keep, up by the bats.

Yo, since you're zooming in on textures I had a texture puzzle that might be relevant to what you're talking about here. Check out the underside of the preceptor's helm, notice that the stars are very stylized and almost look like masses of tentacles of snakes. Then the God-skin apostle's helm, and just the helm by itself, has this long flap of skin hanging off of the back and at the bottom potion of the skin is a similar writhing-mass design. I suppose the writhing mass could be a mass of fingers or Metyr or snake ball or something like the Fell God visage that's on the fire golem.

Since Marika is big on biblical imagery, the Hebrew word for “serpent” is seraph, and it can also be translated as “burning.”

the texture on the godskin peeler also kinda looks like Venus in "The Birth of Venus" painting, with both the posture and the way the cloth is wrapped around her edit: also incredible video my guy!! had chills when you brought in Messmer and Melina as the snake and fire aspects of GEQ, i've always kinda assumed they were more related to eachother (like how Malenia and Miquella are a set), and the neat tie-in of them both being kept secret and how they are two "halves" of GEQ really made it click for me!

Totally agree on the Golden Seeds; I did mean the ones that grew the minor Erdtrees. As for the actual Erdtree there’s an argument as to whether the tree we see is real or not (I don’t remember who but one of the NPCs does hint at not being able to see it and then there’s there’s an item description that talks about the tree becoming just an object of faith rather than giving any blessings anymore. On the length of time, we arrive a few centuries after the Shattering and there’s thousands of years of the reign of Marika in which no one’s really died properly for the vast majority of it since removing death from the equation. Although given the amount of genocides she ordered I think I’d be prepared to bet that the first burning would have taken place around the time of the Long Walk of the Tarnished and the elevation of Radagon to Elden Lord. Maybe the burning is why he was elevated; we create new Erdtrees in most of the endings after we burn the tree ourselves.

I fully subscribe to the idea that Ranni is an aspect/scion/horcrux of Marika - breaking out of the vessel form. It’s a conclusion I came to myself in a different way. To me, it feels so obvious in hindsight when you just think about the presentation of Marika and Ranni in the game. With Marika seemingly ‘missing’ - as spoken by Ranni in the prerelease material herself. Knowing the level of machiavellianism that is implied that Marika went through - and the level of direct exposition we get from Ranni both in the game and in the prerelease - it’s nearly impossible for me to decouple the sound of Ranni’s voice from Marika. It’s Marika, she was there from the start, and she even hitches a ride with you and is one of the few who are able to give you some exposition on the nature of Elden Ring’s reality. Very excited to see the continuation of the ‘Grandmothers’ arc!

I think my question about the GEQ is how common was all this knowledge? I imagine Marika sealed away destined death long before any of her children were able to get involved in the fighting or even born. We as the player, become privy to a lot of knowledge as we play the game. People didn't even know that Marika was the one who shattered the Elden Ring. So I question how far spread was the GEQ's influence. Did Maliketh strike her down before she was able to spread her doctrine? I just question why Rykard would know these intimate details to make the iron virgins in her image. Did Marika spread the story of the GEQ's downfall? Did Miyazaki make this character to make us all spiral trying to guess who she was and her place in the over arching story?? 😂

0:20 That is much more labial than snake to me.

I think this guy cracked Elden rings story

after having played through the dlc, i think the eternal cities were getting ready to rebel against marika, or she was afraid they would if their projects ever actually amounted to something. or maybe she had tasked her kin with these projects when she came to power, and didn't want anyone to know, so she banished them underground in the same way she sealed away the shadow realm, so the people of the lands between wouldn't know about their top-secret research, including the finger slayer blade, which would have freed her from the greater will. my question is: where are (is? lol) marika's 2 fingers? and what about miquella's?

Perhaps the abductor virgins are called that because Marcia had no children of her own, when stealing Messmer from the Gloam eyed queen

Amazing Fromsoftware made a game that requires data mining and free roam camera for the story. Is this a postmodern game? Anywho, another amazing find. Reminds me of the statues in the subterranean shunning grounds. I think the Tombsward catacombs has the same statue

What i think people ignore too much when making theories involving parentage is that people are born out of trees and flowers with attributes that had been put back into the tree, like how DNA isn't making a blend of two people, but a combination with different segments of dna from two people's ancestors. It's akin to some ideas of reincarnation where certain attributes are reincarnated, but not the full embodiment of the reincarnated. Demigods having "parents" is just who raises them and what they're told. Marika takes the children of ALL and then puts them in the places/castes she wants to serve her planned order. I think that's why the snake mother was a blasphemer. Procreation went against the Erdtree. This is talked about in Remembrances, shown in artwork/architecture, and demonstrated through Malenia's buds.

I don't know if anyone else has looked into this, but there is some very interesting hanging ornamentation on the Godskin Apostle headpiece. They look like eggs nestled in tentacles.

I think the gloam eyed queen is metyr gloam is mostly purple there was another video on this exact topic I can’t quite remember but if anyone has seen that video will know what I’m talking about

Gloam eyed queen is Marika before being put into the jar after getting defeated by Maliketh

It really amuses me how intricate the lore to this game is, like how much time was put into this game’s lore Commenting just to appreciate ALL the effort put into this game, every texture, every mechanic, every animation, every piece of lore, this game truly deserved GOTY 🙏🏽🙏🏽

And now we know that numens are probably shamans

I had always thought Marika abducted the gloam eyed Queens children, I even thought maybe Godwin was Godfrey and the gloam eyed queens child, but that ones a reach tho lol

I think the type of dragon Goldwyn is a Makara. In Asian cultures, dragons are composite creatures that aren’t exclusively reptilian. A makara is a water-based dragon with a fish body, head of a crocodile, and feet and trunk of an elephant. A qilin is another dragon with fish scales, deer antlers, an ox body, and horse hooves. All Asian dragons usually have some association with water whether it be bodies of water, rain, or floods. This also makes them associated with vitality, fertility, and life since society is built around water, crops need rain, and water cleanses - sound familiar? I think Goldwyn is a broken makara with the powers of resurrection through water tainted by his influence. *I thought I sent the comment but I didn’t see it later! Good thing it saved in my clipboard 😅

I truly feel very connected to every video you've made. I keep getting the impression that you are one of the only ones diving into the hardest questions elden ring poses and that takes some courage. You never go around the point and i appreciate that! Ever since you've made the miquella related videos i thought you were very unique in your view and literally drove over the miquella hate train. You actually did him some justice by accurately defending some of his virtues as a character. Great work, i can't wait for the next video!!

Right on! I’ve long thought that black flame sigil was meant to resemble a uterus. This is the first time I see a content creator share that connection. A few other musings here: - White can be symbolic of death in Eastern cultures (in contrast to black in the west). The Godskins prominently feature both, from their attire to their flame. - White is also symbolic of innocence. - Ying-Yang is not a reach for a potential symbolic allusion since the troubles escalate once Death is removed and an egregious imbalance established. - Black might represent something like a void, or, the absence of Life. - The Godskin Noble’s attire is not unlike the more commonly seen fertility fetishes of many cultures.

Could the gloam eyed queen be related to the night and flame people who seem to have built structures like the forge alongside giants?

4:08 okay, what if Marika IS the Gloam Eyed Queen, and Maliketh as her Shadow "defeated" her to make her obey the Greater Will. She was killing the Demi Gods of the old order.

Damn, another banger of a video. Good job!

Melina is the GEQ's daughter that Marika stole, hence the 'virgin abductor' but here's the twist. Melina is Marika and GEQ's child. Marika, the Gloam Eyed Queen and Radagon are a zyzygy of the Ego, the Id and a woman's Animus. I'm almost nailing the final points in this theory but everything in the game points to it. The TwinBirds and it's resemblance to the Caduceus and it's staff as a god itself are are a big key in this, they without a doubt represent Marika and GEQ. the church of Eiglay has tons of depictions of serpents with wings and talons facing eachother. Eiglay's skin is literally hung like a winged bird in it. Watch this be the next DLC, fromsoft is not done yet. They're way too quiet and are still uploading regular Elden Ring content around weapons and armors.

Hell yes I knew the Briar Armor would come up eventually it has everything.

No connection between Miquella and Radahn in the base game? Reads Malenia's armour description: hmm, I think Miquella wants Radahn.

There are multiple items that specifically state Marika to be Messmer's mother so I really don't think it's GEQ's kid.

Why sister? Why not daughter?

I reckon the Omen's horns are more chaotic than they'd be naturally is a result of the Crucible being suppressed which in turn causes it to manifest more violently kind of like the Dark Soul in Dark Souls series.

I like where this is going, but I still think there's still a bit more of something to this. This mainly has to do with how the Forge of the Giants has a thing for turning watchers into worshippers. Something I wondered is if the design of the serpents on it could be relation to the early map designs of the game like how we'd see sea monster depictions on it without seeing these monsters in game. But I've wondered that could be in someway part of Melina's becoming in fate.

nah man the radagon is the other identity of the gloam eyed queen but when she failed to become a god like marika she decided to merge with marika as radagon and then the gloam eyed queen got reborn as melina, idk i made that up but who knows

Ok, came into this about to clown on you but I see your point. Idk if I’d say proof but strong evidence yes

There are actually connections. There's just no direct statements that outright says it The carians and haligtree are aligned. Morgott and the story sword monument in altus reveal the demi gods to be of a sovereign alliance allied against the erd tree However the monument implies this alliance had a falling out which could be why we get a sense of confusion regarding radahns consent

This theory was a joy to experience. You put into words what a lot of us intuitively felt through Elden Ring's narrative. The fact that the DLC didn't contradict this theory at all is a great indicator you're onto something here.

6:43 Could it be that both Messmer and Melina are the children of the Gloam-eyed Queen and *Radagon*? That would explain why they both have red (or strawberry blonde, in Melina's case) hair and also would provide a convenient explanation for who their father is (assuming that the GEQ can't give birth to demigods by herself).

I wonder if other Demigods are maybe more resistant to Miquella’s charm. I have been of the mind that Miquella’s bewitchment is a passive, always active aura type ability that he has no direct control over. He may not even be aware of the fact that he is completely stripping people of their free will. But as far as I can tell we are not certain that he has charmed a Demigod. It just feels like to me, if he is capable of charming ANYONE, why not charm all the demigods that remain and use them to get what you want? Why use us and others? Why couldn’t Miquella just force Radahn to do what he wanted from the get go? If Miquella is conscious of his ability to bewitch it would make even more sense for him to gather the most powerful beings as his agents to achieve his goal. Not some random Tarnished. Which is why I think that at minimum other demigods do have some kind of resistance to the charm’s effect. It’s hard to tell though. Fun to theorize about. My prevailing theory on Radahn and Miquella is that Radahn never wanted anything to do with Miquella’s plans and he was able to resist the charm’s effect so long as he stayed away from Miquella. I also have a side theory that maybe The Scarlet Rot and the influence of other Outer Gods are able to act as a firewall against Miquella. Which is why he didn’t just make Malenia his consort, which is why Radahn had to die and receive a new body free of the Scarlet Rot in order to become consort. Maybe being Mogh’s body made it impossible for Radahn to resist the charm. I don’t know. It is sure weird that Radahn never speaks though. Aside: It doesn’t seem like Mogh was charmed by Miquella. Unless the failure of the Haligtree and the kidnapping were somehow apart of Miquella’s plan. We know Mogh is under the influence of a different Outer God in The Formless Mother. But it also could be that Mogh was charmed for most of the time but as soon as Miquella entered the cocoon the charm’s effects dwindled? I think one of the most important things we have to think about with Miquella is whether or not he can consciously control his bewitching effect. If he can control it that changes a lot in my opinion and if he can’t it makes his character very tragic and kind of doomed from the start.