ELDEN RING | 8 Awesome NEW Secrets and Discoveries 

You can find pest Larvae in Caelid, they’re in one of the Ruined shrines with a bunch of unearthed coffins. It almost implies that the larvae are born from corpses, which would make sense, because Ionia is basically a giant battlefield.

I love the non-hostile dog! I always tried to move quietly around them to never upset them!

I feel like the Godskin Duo needed more mechanics that made them feel like a proper team and not just two bosses shoved in a room together. Hilarious that they had such a mechanic afterall but it bugged out instead.

Personally I think the shadow of the erdtree refers to the people who aren’t accepted or shunned its beliefs so they are cast into a realm of dark or unknown purgatory. Miquella shunning the golden order in search of a power to save malenia from the rot may have scorned the erdtree and golden order in a way that once his body perished it cast him into said purgatory where he searches for a way out or to reach the lands between.

Shadow also refers to characters like Maliketh as all Empyreans have to have a shadow in order to rule. Marika had Maliketh, Ranni had Blaidd. Maybe we become a shadow for Miquella!

I think the godskin waking up his friends from sleep is a very important discovery. it reinforces the theory that the devouring serpent Eiglay is actually the Lord of Chaos: Apep. Apep was a serpent who waited for Ra in a western mountain, (Mt. Gelmir?) to devour him. The godskins are immune to madness but very weak to sleep. In the game sleep and madness are at the two opposite sides of the same coin (see st. trina relieving nomadic merchants affected by madness with sleep). I always thought godskins being so weak to sleep was a bug and they were going to patch it, but now that we see the godskins actually having a way to counter the sleep status effect, it means that they actually are meant to be weak to it. And this is also similar to the man-serpent enemies in volcano manor, also immune to madness that are also weak to sleep. At the same time the godskins have snake features and protect the temple of Eiglay. it is also very strange that there is a troll with noble garments who's main attack is the franzied flame right in front of volcano manor. that also draws a sinister picture at who the godskins' gloam eyed queen might be....

The double helix is a really classic thing, it's a concept much more older than DNA. The duality of things is really old and it's a constant topic in humanity, so it makes sense to have so many examples of duality, duality doesn't mean two things separate, it means two parts of something.

We could name the dog Turtle, a reference to all the Dog messages left next to turtles at the games release

That bug that they can’t wake each other up is the best bug ever accidentally made

The giant skeletons are the remains of the True giants, from ancient history. It is likely they who crafted the giants forge, as we can tell it's actually a Mobile forge, with the chain now serving as a bridge actually being part of how it was once carried.

The double unbroken Helix I think is a representation of the laws of Causality and regression in action. Its's an unbreaking continuous helix, an eternal cycle, life and rebirth (no death), causality (the two lines separate from a point) and regression ( the two lines return to a similar point or state), gravitational push and attraction, and it seems to be a primordial symbol since it is present in the Elden Star incantation too. However on the Godlsayer sword, the Helix is broken, symbolising the "shattering" of these laws, or the end of the greater will authority on life altogether, so true death.

The double helix reinforces my theory of an ongoing theme of duality within the game, starting with Marika/Radagon, Miquella/Malenia, Ranni/Renna(or Melina). Mohg/Margit.. etc.

Very cool video, thank you man! Under the shadow of the Erdtree means those who do not receive the light of the Erdtree, aka the tarnished, the omen, the misbegotten, those who live in death, etc.

The double helix seems to repeatedly appear on things related to fire, black flame, the crucible, holy objects, and items relating to powerful entities. This must mean that the double helix could be a sign of extreme power or divinity in the lands between.

The significance of the double helix probably has something to do with this game's focus on lineage and potentially genetics. The crucible being a primordial soup of sorts, the golden lineage being associated with godhood and the way genetic mutations can occur like with the Omen twins, Malenia and Miquella. Just a thought.

3:22 their names are not the same in japanese though, Miquella is ミケラ (Mikera) while Quella is ネラ (Nera), for some reason they completely changed his name in the english translation. Still, that's a very interesting coincidence

I think the double helix is meant to represent a duality, two separate things fused together into a greater whole, the Elden Beast & Elden Ring, Radagon & Marika, the greater will seems to really like putting things together to get most of best properties out of both. It’s a good thing the process isn’t quite perfect otherwise the Elden Ring wouldn’t have been a good enough weak point for Marika to fracture the Elden Beast’s outer barrier and leave it vulnerable enough for us to kill

You're killing it keep it up

As pointed out by Queelag in one of her videos (I forget which), there are two models for the Kindred of Rot in the game. One has a red spike in the back of the neck, and the other doesn't. One such Kindred of Rot that has the spike is Gowry. Her theory is that this is spike is akin to the Cordyceps infection from The Last of Us and Gowry is puppeteering the Kindred of Rot and what we kill isn't actually his body.

About the Erudition notes: as a musician with good ear for tuning, I can hear way more than 4 notes. In fact, it's probably an entirely random pitch within a limited range, so it's very unlikely to hear the exact same tone twice during an entire playthrough (each of the ones in the video were unique). Randomizing the pitch of a sound effect every time it is played is a very common trick in games, because it makes the experience less repetitive for the player

The pest larvae can also be found in the underground chambers of certain ruins. So one could propose the theory that they require something that's died or dying due to the rot itself.

Ziostorm: This is probably the last secrets video. Also Ziostorm: Well uhm, heres more.

The Helice pattern is also Miquella's braid pattern and appears on the summoning bell handle and Miquella's needle.

6:50 Yes, the pitches range from about D7-F#7 (~2300-2800hz), but there really is no meaning to it. Sound designers often apply realtime pitch randomization to sounds to add variation, so that they don't get too spammy or start to phase... here it's pointless because there's only one instance of the sound, but it's possible the designer just copied a sound container that already had this variation in. Or maybe just wanted to mess with us, who knows 😉 (Great vid as always!)

This was a great video to watch while eating my breakfast. Good catch with the whole Quella/Miquella thing. Regarding the double-helix... that's something we've been seeing since Dark Souls with the Caduceus. I wonder if the double helix might actually be a reference to that, given that we see the double helix/caduceus in at least one place in Elden Ring: on the robes of the Depraved Perfumer. You can see the hissing tongues of the snake on there.

10:53 that's not actually Yhorm, thats Giant Lord, who i think is actually taller

Hey, before one minute. Love the secret series!

I think the DNA Helix thing actually symbolizes Marika's braid. It does in a way resemble a knitting hair.

The Caelid Waypoint ruins, where the Meteoric Ore Blade is, have the larvae of Kindred as well. I presume that the Servants of Rot used the nearby tombs to imbue dead bodies with the rot. I don't think that the larvae are necessarily larvae though. It's entirely possible that the Kindred are just the Cleanrot Knights, and the smaller versions are tarnished or other beings since they don't wield weapons, as most dead in tombs wouldn't. The Sellia Crystal Tunnel also has Kindred overseeing it, whose boss is a Fallingstar Beast, with 2 Kindred outside revering a shrine where the Faithful's Canvas Talisman is in the complete opposite direction, unlike the worshippers of the beast and its kin outside Leyndell. The Canvas talismans, one of which you get from Gowry, depict red haired, masked people as the "faithful," potentially referring to the daughters of Gowry. Even furthering the guarding theory, they also stand outside revering another aspect of Rot, again facing away from the cosmic creature, just outside of the area that Astel resides in the Lake of Rot. The Meteorite Staff and Rock Sling spell are also found surrounded by Servants of Rot. I presume they are trying to stifle, and guard the areas where you may be influenced by gravity magic, the cosmos and any potential cosmic outer god, and anyone who is tangentially associated with Radahn furthering the association that the Kindred are still serving Malenia, and not just the outer god. Their name Kindred of Rot, referred to as Pests in the 3rd person by their Glaive and Gowry, also aligns them as just associates rather than someone who serves only Rot making them being rot infected Cleanrot Knights even more likely. Gowry calling them Pests makes them seem like nuisances that are getting in the way, or that they may not be entirely devoted to Rot and the will of the outer god, and are just using power of the Rot for their own personal reasons.

Great stuff as always man! Your take on the DS2 shields was very insightful, thanks for including it! I can't wait for DLC to drop and even more discoveries to be made 👍

The Quella connection is spurious. It gets even worse when you find out that Quella's name in Japanese is actually Nera. DS2 is full of weird localisation differences like that in names. Vendrick is actually named Vanclad, Aldia is named An Deel, Nahr Alma is named Doroma and Targray is named Garaindook (???).

Terrific - as always, Zio!

"the shadow of the Erdtree" to me means the future. Living in the shadow of something often means said thing's time has passed. For example "he always lived in the shadow of his father."

i’m addicted to your content buddy. thank you and keep it coming. much ❤

I just realized Miquella and St Trina could have a similar situation to Griffith and the Moonlight Boy. In terms of Alter Egos and possibly design. Where Miquela is the dominant ego and will slip into sleep for St Trina to take over briefly. Hoping the DLC covers more on it!

played almost every day since release and It was yesterday when i found out that Melina´s dagger is found heading back into the elevator from forbidden lands bf and jump off into the hidden corridor shortly after it starts moving up. Don´t think i have this seen being adressed in any capacity from the lore people so i assume it must be fairly unknown ? Double helix: i think it´s not a double helix but according to the mad perfumers armor it´s a "curse upon the erdtree" (something wrapping around the tree) something we´re most likely gonna see more of in the dlc i assume?

The double helix thing absolutely blew my mind. I never noticed but now it’s all I can see EVERYWHERE.

Holy shit that Godskin wakeup animation kinda blew my mind the most out of everything in this video, like damn, it's been a year and we're still finding whole mechanics that weren't even removed from the game

A crucible is a container that allows transformation. A crucible is also a test or challenge to foster transformation. The DNA helix is the Crucible. The melting pot of life in the Lands Between hence the aspects of the crucible utilized by the crucible knights or the mismatched features of the misbegotten.

I respect that you postulate an idea/theory about the Cleanrot knights, but also provide evidence against the theory to be thorough. Good stuff, my man.

As Griffin Shawler posted earlier, we should name the dog "turtle", in reference to the turtles being called "dog". Goddamn great idea imo.

Composer and sound designer here about the tones during the gesture. I’m thinking it’s less a case of the actual notes and more a case of pitch randomization. Wwise, FMOD, and other audio engines for games make it really easy to randomize the pitch of a cue to add some variation, and since all of the pitches seem to be around the same area, I’d wager that it’s a case of that personally.

I think the friendly dog is their on purpose as an easter egg to a real life dog that waited for his dead owner to come back. The dog waited in a busy area, not bothering anyone or being aggressive. This is a well known story in Japan.

The coil symbol is not a reference to DNA but to to the Caduceus (a rod with two coiled snakes), this being the symbol of the god Hermes and in turn of the later phylosophic system called Hermeticism which is in turn the origin and symbol of alchemy and medicine. There are great videos out there analysing the various conmections and inspirations elden ring got from alchemy, hermetism and gnosticism.

I don't know if this will help but I took my time listening to those whistles and here's what I think I can hear from them. Rennala / Last one on the clip - F Sharp 6 No Helmet - D6 Radahn / Olinivus - D Sharp 6 Ranni / Azur / Lusat - F6 Sellen / Pointed Hat (+Alt) / Twinsage - E6

Ive always looked at the double helix as an symbol of ying and yang, light and dark, chaos and order, marika and radaghon, life and death. like its there to symbolize the pattern of the world in the lands between.

Regarding the "Erudition Notes," while I can't exactly confirm it, audio middleware like Wwise allows you to easily take a sound, and create slightly pitch altered versions of that sound, so up a higher pitch. Down a lower pitch. Etc. To me, this seems like a sound designer had this whistle sound for the gesture, but didn't want it to be the exact same every time, so with a few clicks, they made some pitch variations, and made it so which one plays when the gesture is done is randomized, which is another easy thing middleware like Wwise can do.

I forgot which weapon description it was but it said something to the effect of “man has grown weak compared to his ancestors” and I instantly thought of Godfrey and the fire giants if ancient man was stronger than what we are now currently in the game then the Giants must of been massive. I think those are the skulls of those ancient giants we see in the game

I love you guys for keeping this masterpiece still alive

The helix represents life and the erdtree and the great tree give that life, but the godslayer greatsword takes it away, hence the unraveling helix

wasn't expecting to be the absolute first view lmao

I like to call the friendly dog Hyde, because he's hiding. I also like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.

That dog attacked me when the Leonine Misbegotten roared. But there WAS one friendly dog in the other part of Leyndell. There were a couple of dogs, one big and one small. The small one didn't attack me. And I left him with meats and bones. Such a swell guy.

The similarities between the Cleanrot knights and the pests is so clear when you point it out that I can’t believe I didnt see it before

I think the friendly dog should be called, “turtle!”

i always thought the helix is just a visual representation of the rule of 2 entwined the game had. 2 trees, 2 idendeties or marika, 2 fingers (thats why 3 chaos), 2 omen brothers and so on.

Haven't played this game in months but I can't quit these videos

Glad you finally talked about the giant skulls. There must be a mystery behind those.

okay that dog enemy was something new and i didnt think you could show me something new omg

I have beat this game, however, everytime I see the videos I get excited. It's a beautiful land and great adventure. Can't wait to get into the DLC

On the helix: Not a solution/theory but I immediately recall Miriel's line: "All things can be conjoined"

To get more insight i really recommend Hawkshaw's video on mapping the Lands Between, thats how i got more of an idea on these giant skeletons

If you look carefully at the red splinter in Merika @12:00 it looks to have this same Helix.

great video, i think the cleanrot knights were the first of the insects and possibly in the haligtree they fond a way to reprodices. the Turtles name should be alvin which means friendly :)

Music/game audio guy here. I don’t think there’s a conspiracy with the erudition gesture tones. There’s also more than four or five tones. It’s a range. Elden Ring’s audio and sound design is implemented in the game using the software Wwise. There you can assign sound effects to events which are basically any action you wanna have a sound for. However for events that can re-occur in quick succession, it can become very synthetic sounding if the same sound plays over and over. So in Wwise you can randomize various parameters like the loudness, pitch, and even frequency content of sounds so that it’s not the exact same sound. You see this pitch randomization also occur when you’re buying and selling stuff and even the pitch of death sounds and rune acquisition gets randomized.

The twisting pattern all throughout the Lands Between is an indicator that a mark has been made on the land. A mark that compels you to make us whole.

I think,the cleanrot Knights might have a needle of Miquella inside of them,thats why they are not as affected by scarlet rot that much,while the kindred of rot did lose the needle or didnt have one in the first place.

Yay new video 📹 ✨️

The non hostile dog should be called Turtle.

In the shadow of is a common expression that means under the influence of. For example, the people of Gaul lived under the shadow of Rome even before the conquest. So it likely means relating to all influenced by the Golden Order.

I love the Miquella=DS2 God of dreams connection. Ds2 had so many cool story ideas that weren't used.

11:11 To quote Miriel, "All things can be conjoined", perhaps this is just a motif of that philosophy? One of the major themes of Elden Ring is duality, like Radagon and Marika, the split Hallowbrand, the Twin Hunters D, and so on. And if the Godslayers stand against the Erdtree, and this conjoined philosophy, it would make sense that they would have a weapon that reflects unraveling

The main use of shadows in the game are the shadows of the empyreans. Fromsoft tends to reuse language very specifically in their games, so I don't know what the title would be in Japanese but my guess is that it's thematically the same. In both cases they're protectors (Empyrean shadows, baleful shadows of the fingers) so I think it's the hidden protector of the erdtree, or something like that.

I have probably played this game about 10 times and just the other day I noticed you can summon Melina for the Morgott fight. She does a crazy Tree healing spell and acts like a Black Knife.

A lot of cool info!

Dogfrey, the first good doggo

That friendly Turtle is so nice.

Very smart of the Godskins to wake each other up. Really wish it worked in the base game.

Amazing to see more ds2 stuff in er, love that

The Miquella lore gave me goosebumps.

The Depraved Perfumer set talks about the Helix symbol around the erdtree being a curse upon the tree itself.

Erdtree Grace makes living things bigger as part of the healing, strengthening and renewing effect it has. The giants skulls are probably part of an ancient civilization that got so full of erdtree grace for so long that they became huge. (This civilization must pre-date the Erdtree, but the Greater Will and the Elden Beast both predate the Erdtree).

The fact that Godfrey managed to exterminate these giants tho, it’s next level attack of Titan. Imagine he would solo the frickin rumble himself !

The Giants of the lands between used to be that size during the time before Marika's war with the Giants. If you look at the crucible containing the flame that burns the Erdtree you can see chains dangling from it. It's likely that the original giants carried that crucible across the lands between and perhaps even from else where. Tarished Archaeologist has some great videos about this kind of thing and I really recommend checking out some of his series.

I’ve always wondered about the massive skeletons, as in who are they? What happened to them? As nothing in the game comes close to them except maybe a few dragons

In case nobody else mentioned this. Zullie the Witch did a video with cleanrot knights, they have wings hidden in the texture of the tassels hanging from their waist.

The double helix is actualy more likly to be a dipiction of the caduceus. Elden ring is full of ocult and alchemical references. The best example is Marika/Radagon. Its literaly a Rebis.

Just so all can see, there are more Kindred of Rot larvae in the Caelum Ruins crypt, not just in the Haligtree, which seems to indicate that the kindred of Rot life cycle grow from out of the dead.

It’s starting to feel like Dark Souls 2 was the foundation for what would become Elden Ring both in gameplay and conceptually. It just feels like Elden Ring really resonates with it’s older sibling

Killing Gowry, you discover a Kindred of Rot dead body in his place. So definitelly your theory about transformation makes more sense now

I'm not kidding, I've beat the game twice and today I just found a dungeon I've never seen before.

While watching the section about scarlet rot, it came to my mind that maybe haligtree was supposed to suck out the rot that infested malenia, when the process became incomplete due to Mohg kidnapping Miquella, it became a place where larvae were created as some kind of inverted process of what Erdtree does with it's births.

Damn this video gave me the chills :D

You said the tree doesn’t cast a shadow, but doesn’t it specifically do that? I feel like if you stand still in game the shadow creeps over you. I may be tripping but the impression I got was that it was the tree looking at you when it could.

I attribute the double helix as being symbolic of the fingers and the denizens of the lands between ascending to the cosmos together. This is why the finger slayer blade undoes this helix, because it stands in defiance of the fingers. It severs it from finishing.

According to my husband, a professional musician in like three performing bands right now, the four notes associated with the Erudition gesture are D, D#, E, and F. It's four consecutive notes of a basic scale, not associated with any chord progression or traditional melodic sequence. Maybe I'll commission him to write an assonant metal song. Great find! Also in regards to the double helix, I think underneath it's crypticism, it's actually pretty simple. From my point of view the game actually does a lot to spell it out for us: solve et coagula. Causality and regression, push and pull, separation and coagulation. Divergence and convergence, and all that implies 👀...

The spiral I think is just keeping in line with Miyazaki's heavy inspiration from Berserk

I'm just picturing that a secret door gets found for like an Umbrella Laboratory and that the lands between is some kind of Jurassic park, or like a miniature in a larger world or something trippy like that

the godskin discovery is quite interesting. i'm pretty sure they left it the way it is on purpose. great video, thank you!

"SHADOW" of the erdtree refers to the theme of Jungian Archetypes and the shadow self present in the game. You even literally fight shadows. And MIquella, the subject (we assume) of Shadow of the Erdtree (and his shadow self st. trina) is himself an archetype described by young: Puer Aeternus