the description of Dragon Hunter’s Katana really reminds me of what Marika did to her own imperfect children. the ancient dragons despised their lowborn to the point they endorsed the hunt and devouring of drakes’ hearts - the priestess says her dragon lord himself showed humans what must be done. Bale with his horned head bears resemblance to the omens Marika sealed in Leyndel catacombs, his kin deeply hated by their ancestors grow horns on their heads as well. I kinda wonder where does the Lamenter Mask fit into this story - another transformation that cannot be undone, another striking resemblance to the Dread. and yes 😭 I’d most likely be a wyrm too…
That’s so true and i did wonder about the Lamenter’s mask too! I love the way themes and other elements of the game co-mingle into others. It’s such a rich story! Thanks so much for watching 😁
i also love the observation of how the hunger for dragon heart is the curse...it's the conversation of addiction is the disease that the substance being abused causes!
Enjoying this theory. I figure that Bayle’s Curse and the magma wyrm transformation can only be sated by consuming his heart, as Florissax says, but the rub is that you will die rather than become a magma wyrm. Like the Ghostflame Dragons, Bayle’s rage continues beyond his demise.
I love the idea of Bayle being Placis son. I hope they decide to give us more dlc and we can follow this path and see the end of dragon communion. Hopefully restoring dragons in the lands between.
Something that doesn't get talked about at all seemingly is how Placidusax looks. No other dragon has more then 1 head let alone 4 or 5. He's like a Hydra with Wings lol.
A note about red lightning: color is very important in Elden Ring, and lightning is inherently gold natured. The Gravel Seal says this was the official reason for legalizing worship of the ancient dragons. So what of red lightning then? The Bolt of Granssax is golden, but turns red when you use the weapon art. In addition, the Crucible Knight armor and gilded greatshield refer to their color as gold tinged with red. If any lightning is not golden in Elden Ring, it would be the cold lightning of the dragonkin soldiers, as the Nox famously embraced silver and shunned gold.
I love the "color theory" used by Fromsoft in Elden Ring. It's something I try to consider in all of my theories since it's such an important aspect that follows a very particular pattern over and over again. The Ancient Dragon I find the most interesting is Lich Dragon Fortissax. His Red lightning remains in this 'pure' state, while the "Golden" lightning wielded by Godwyn becomes corrupted and discolored. This suggests that Gold alone is not stable and Red is it's strength. Which to me makes total sense since pure gold as a metal is very soft and malleable. Anyways ~ It's super fascinating! I considered making a color video a while back BUT HawkShaw already has a fantastic one. I'm not sure I'd be adding much more to the conversation. Sorry for rambling! lol
In ancient times, it was harder to remove contaminants from gold, and things like copper would often give it a reddish color. While the ancient dragons have gold as part of their bodies, their lightning seems to use this earlier, more crude attempt at harnessing the power of gold. Also, Placidusax has gold lightning around his arena in Phase 1, but he can't wield it.
I was actually referring to Hawkshaw's color theory. Under this theory, red embodies, among other things, life itself. This could explain why the deathblight lightning is only golden without red.
Bayle is seriously peculiar and I'm super happy to hear your thoughts on the dragons! I think you're right that Bayle is the child of Placiduseax and Greyoll given her Crucible features
On a non lore note: i wish we got red draconic eyes from eating Bayle's heart. i also chose a dragon communion character in my first playthrough and wish we got to bring it full circle after eating Bayle's heart and eat Placiduseax's as the final communion. (Btw the Vampire Lord should be his moniker bc his teeth are sunk into Bayle)
Placidusax is an amalgam being, just like Consort Radahn (Mohg and Radahn) and Godfrey (Hourah Loux and Serosh). A Lord must be created. The player, too, is an assemblage of powers as we absorb the power of those we defeat. We are a container, a Vessel, like Marika and the Jars and Maliketh. This might also explain why we can walk across lava without instantly dying. All Life has been tempered by Magma, which is also why Bayle and the Fire Giants and the Great Serpent are magmatic in power. This is also why Alexander bathes in the magma of Mt Gelmir to strengthen himself. Magma is flame and metal conjoined, such as in a Crucible. The Ancient Dragons may, in fact, be artificial beings that arose from meteor strikes like the Onyx and Alabaster lords. Vers 1.0 implies this with its flavor text on the Draconic stones, stating that such stones were made by meteorite impacts long ago. In fact, the Somber Draconic Smithing Stone states outright that it is "the scale of an ancient dragon lord". As fir GRR Martin, the dragons of ASOIF are artificial beings, also. They were created through magic by combining Wyverns (like ER's drakes) and Lava Wyrms (like the Great Serpent). Perhaps the Drakes came first (hence how Bayle could be the oldest) and they were combined with the Serpents within the Forge. This would explain why the Ancient Dragons have long, serpentine necks. We also see how malleable Serpents are since there are Man-Serpents in Gelmir. The skulls of Ancient Dragons are also wedge-shaped, like a viper. Drakes have skulls similar to classical draconic depictions, like canine or, in fact, Boc and some of the demihumans. Greyoll exists contemporaneously with Bayle. He cannot both be the "oldest" and be Greyoll's son. They are mutually exclusive.
Love your thoughts on Magma, really ties the Crucible in there nicely. Which is something that haunts my thoughts whenever I make a new video...lol I'd like to make a full "Artificial Beings" video eventually since it's something I've talked about in a few videos now. I do like the way Miyazaki toys with the question "What makes something alive?" Also, the idea of cross breeding dragons isn't far off from what I was thinking! Makes sense when you bring the modern Man-Serpents into the equation. And absolutely, I can see how those two things would contradict each other, BUT it wouldn't be the first time we were told something that turned out to be untrue. Thanks for watching! :D
@@AHumanJusticar yeah, there are lots of artificial beings in ER, and amalgams. The Dragonkin Soldiers, the Albinaurics, Jars, Gravebirds, Golems, Mimic Tears, Royal Revenants, Graven Masses, Gargoyles, etc. Vers 1.0 outright states that Albinaurics are "manmade" and speaks directly of Mimic Tears being artificial beings. Personally, I think the Twinbird god was likely similar to the Gravebirds and the Dragons; that is to say, a stone creature. The time before the Crucible was likely a literal Stone Age where Beastmen worshiped living stone idols. I do not think it is a coincidence that Gurranq's attack rend stone, or that Marika crumbles like stone. The beings in the Lands Between are all a mixture of biological material and metals. This is likely why the Albinaurics are so reviled: because they reflect the nature of the "true" Golden Order and how they were made. This is also likely why the Ancestral Followers avoid metals. The Golden Order literally uses gold to control its followers (with Grace). This is likely also how Miquella controls people with unalloyed gold, and how he wards the control of the Outer Gods. It is a consummate metaphor, and quite clever of GRRM.
There's a lot of interesting and compelling ideas here. The Ancient Dragons can't be just made of stone though since they can bleed, unlike the Guardian Golems, Imps and suchlike.
Perhaps bale was an ancient dragon originally and being an ancient dragon had control the red lightning however, after consuming the hearts of geroll’s spawn he became an ancient dragon equivalent of a magma wyrm which would explain his magma powers and his “unique” appearance. - unlikely but a neat thought:)
So no one is talking about those massive bull coffins near the Finger Ruins and I'm starting to think all of this happened because someone kicked the Fingers out of their lands. Seems like the dragons all got along until someone else's problems washed up on shore.
Watching this made me realize the godskins are gaurding a drake body, not an ancient dragon. Maybe drakes were made by a dragon mating with a serpent? And this is why humans become "magma: wyrms, connecting to magma sorcery in mt gelmir. Otherwise I am so confused as to why a drake head is even there. As a trophy? Then why are the godskins there? Maybe Bayle is a fusion, thus the twin heart thing, of an ancient dragon and a human (numen/shaman)? Which is why he is arcane scaling and has magma. Could make sense of the horns being curled if he was mixed with a jar shaman? Just winging it here, I have no clue.
It’s just the Drake’s head, there isn’t a body behind there. I think it could be there to signify the first Drake sacrifice in the new Dragon Communion but I’m not sure! It is interesting that the Godskin Duo happen to be there 🧐 Thanks for watching!
Godskins are there because of Malekith who wields destined death. As they are servants of Gloam eyed queen it's pretty obvious why they are there in the first place.
What if bayle is the result of The Crucible think about it every time a god arises The Crucible just will not go The Crucible and its influence keeps trying to take hold it took hold again in created bayle a dragon that has no gravel Stone scales not Immortal but is powerful and strong The Crucible once again was recreating dragons but this time without the immortality For placidgesax it's bayle For marika it's the omen
