Elden Ring - I may have some answers 

With all the skeletons, I think this safely counts as my Halloween video. While there unfortunately doesn't seem to be a smoking gun answering all the questions about these enigmatic giants, it does feel like a significant step forward to have something outside the Eternal Cities that seems reasonably connected to them. If they've gone from a completely inscrutable mystery to a mostly inscrutable mystery, I think it's a win.

Personally I was just worried one would get up and start attacking

I would like to personally thank Zullie for terrifying me with the HUGE skeleton peeking through Ranni's tower window.

I'm pretty sure the "Lord of Night" is ment to refer to the player character if you get the Ranni ending. In all it's references throughout the game, it's always presented as someone the nox are looking to find, not someone who already exists. The Lord of Night is the one who will usher in the new age of stars, which is exactly what you do in Ranni's ending.

On the GRRM connection, the Night King is an original creation by the TV show's makers with no direct counterpart in Martin's own story or lore. The name's close to Night's King who is Martin's creation, but that person is a historical figure and a more or less normal human, albeit extremely evil one.

These giant dead lords are one of the most fascinating things in the game for me.

you know it's a good creepy one when this music plays

If all of these really are related (Ranni, the Night King, the Nox, and Tibia Mariners), I'd love to see a DLC that really explores all these connections. The idea of a kingdom that defies the status quo that's ultimately banished deep underground seems to be a favorite of From Software's.

I interpreted "Night King" as just another way of saying their Elden Lord, since it comes directly after the mention of the Age of Stars. Ranni is decidedly female, and is the one to initiate the Age of Stars. Considering that the Elden Lord always seems to be second in power to whatever Empyrean is in charge, it made sense to me that it would be mentioned second. There's also that tidbit that they've tried making a Lord, to no avail, so it tracks that Ranni would tell them that they'd get one when she took the mantle.

Lol at the giant tibia mariner skeleton glaring at Ranni through her tower's window. Wonderful shot.

Something else interesting to note with them is the Ainsel River boss arena itself, which is likely the first place you encounter one of these skeletons. Surrounding the giant skeleton itself is a bunch of petrified bodies all worshiping it. These bodies all have two distinct features: strangely elongated bodies and limbs, and a complete lack of legs. This might imply a potential connection to the first generation Albanaurics, which makes sense given the Albanauric's own ties to the eternal cities. A little less likely, but it might also imply a connection between Phillia in particular and these skeletons. I say less likely because the giant skeletons themselves do not appear to be first generation Albanauric, lacking the elongated limbs associated with them. Still it's heavily implied that they are also artificial, and it's quite possible that they were viewed by the Albanaurics as potential saviors to their plight, a sort of proto-Phillia. There's another creature type they could be though. The claymen were the priest caste of an ancient dynasty. While they don't have missing legs, they do have similar elongated limbs and there's a possibility that the petrified statues are claymen, not Albanaurics. They're also very populous within the Ainsel river itself. With that said, I lean towards them resembling Albanaurics more.

What makes Elden Ring particularly interesting to me is how interconnected everything in the world is. Ranni & Fia’s quest are connected intrinsically, with progress in one being required to complete the other. But Ranni and Fia also tie back to Maliketh and the beast quests, which ties into the end of the game. Killing Radahn is also a part of Alexander’s quest, which ties into killing the Fire Giant and Farum Azula. Ranni’s quest is also tied to the Academy, where you will also find part of Yura’s quest. Yura’s quest ties into Mohg and getting the tear needed to resist one of his attacks, as well as the hunting of his disciples. This also ties in with Malenia and her quest, which ties in with Mellicent’s quest of reaching the Haligtree. And of course Ranni’s quest ties into the Lake of Rot, another connection to Malenia and the Scarlet Rot. The whole Bloody Finger quest also ties in with invasions, which is connected to Recusants and the Volcano Manor quest, tying in Rykard. Some of these connections are… looser than others, but I’m sure there are stronger connections between the quests present here. I also forgot, Mohg is also connected to the Frenzied Flame under Leyndell, which is also connected to Deeproot Depths, which is also connected to Siofra River underground and Norton. Everything in Elden Ring feels like it should be connected, and like dog pope said, everything should be able to be conjoined.

Those giant skeletons are super weird. I remember seeing them in the loading screens and was expecting a normal sized skeleton in a normal sized throne. Imagine my surprise when I encountered this 50ft tall skeleton instead...

The surprise of expecting the giant, lifeless husk to get up and start attacking you, but instead getting something entirely different yet equally terrifying is something I always like with videogame bosses. You expect something to be a Monk Maz Koshia, but it ends up being a Duke's Dear Freja.

It's also important to note that the Black Knife Assassins were implied to have ties to Queen Marika, implying that either they were playing a long con, serving the queen and waiting for the moment they'd betray her for the sake of their Night King... or Queen Marika herself was playing the longest con of all, waiting for the moment she would betray the Golden Order. Either way, it hints at an ages-long conspiracy.

I mean, Godwyn being Night King himself makes sense, his size is equal to that of the throned skeletons. Also his connections to Ranni, Nox and Tibia Mariner are obvious. The story is so enticing, I really can't wait to see where the DLC will take us. I honestly don't care if it's related to Miquella or Rykard or whatever, it's going to be a blast one way or another, as long as it expands the universe. Knowing Miyazaki, he either overdeliver, or underdeliver. Hope it's not the latter.

The connections drawn in this video are absolutely fascinating and pretty damn compelling. I remember originally thinking they were bosses themselves; they turned out to be a lot more mysterious than I had anticipated

Never change your choice of music for these Zullie, it just takes you elsewhere I love it

The skeletons on chairs also could be a reference to Charon, the ferryman of the river Styx who guides souls to the underworld, the Siofra and Ainsel rivers being under the world and originating from the Nameless Eternal City which houses the corpse of Godwin, who only died in soul and not body.

Finding that connection between the throne skeletons, the Tibia Mariners and the large skeletons comparable in size to the ones on the thrones is a fantastic find. It adds so much more context to the Mariners. Perhaps an old spirit of those giant, long dead lords, able to summon the older, larger manifestations of themselves as an attack.

It's also worth noting that the Golem's Halberd states that it's made of black stone (notably the main color of the stone architecture in the Eternal Cities and Walking Mausoleums), and that it was crafted by a civilization now gone to ruin. There are some good links in there as well. All across The Lands Between, there are ruins of massive bridges and archways that are crumbling. The ones in Caelid where Radahn wanders are black and also those same color stones appear directly below in the area where the Sending Gate from the north drops you to reach where Mohg & Miquella are. We find Golems on and around the Divine Bridge, below these archways in the Mountaintop of the Giants, but also the ones in Caelid are the only ones that utilize magic weaponry with the archers guarding the path to the Great Jar, and the one at the cliffs in Radahn's area having a magic Halberd and unique attack. This brings to the fact that Radahn was guardian Sellia - the only location with a Chair Crypt above ground. On top of this Battlemage Hugues came from Sellia and the Haima Sorcerer at the Road of Iniquity Side Path is notably FAR taller than a regular human. The final link helps give more context to Ranni's role as not only was her brother Radahn guardian Sellia, but the sorcery Carian Retaliation is actually a Sellian Sorcery if you look at the sigil used when casting the spell. This makes sense as Sellians were Sorcerers trained to assassinate their own kind, which is what Caria had to prepare for with the Raya Lucarian Academy turning against them. Whether than lineage extends to why Rennala and the Albinauric Mother in the north are larger than human, and if they're linked to the Giants' own history and lineage isn't clear, but there are plenty more contextual implications about that being the society that fell to ruin - especially with the large number of broken automatons and puppets by Liurnia Highway North linking beings like the Golems and Imps to that same type of artificial life connected to Glintstone-powered beings rather than organic ones.

I thought that the "Lord of Night" was connected to Ranni's ending, and we sort of assumed that role in it along with Ranni. However, now that I think about it, the ending for Fia is called the "Age of Duskborn," which implies some connection to the night. That, combined with Ranni's obvious connection to the Rune of Death, makes this an even more interesting mystery.

The Night King in GRRM's books is very different from the antagonist in the show; he's a historical human figure, an old Night's Watch Captain who seems to have taken an Other (white walker) as his bride and possibly made sacrifices to them. As for the giant skeletons, I have taken to thinking of them as an attempt at creating an artificial god, which the Nox were known to be trying to do (with the mimic tears).

Gotta say, I'm always impressed at the lengths you go to find answers or theorize these kinds of things, and also at the fact that you still find new things to talk about with the game no longer being fresh on everyone's minds. Another banger.

ASoIF nerd here, just want to point out some extra trivia on the potential Game of Thrones reference front - The 'Night King' is an HBO show exclusive character not written by George, but "よるの" in Elden Ring can also be translated as Night's as in Night's King, with the possessive, which *is* a figure from George's books, specifically a mythological pseudo historical figure who took a mysterious ice witch to wife.

I'm currently co-oping Elden Ring with a friend (for whom it's his 1st FS game, 10\10 experience, would recommend). Needless to say that for him game seems massively overwhelming and there is not much attention span left for the lore. BUT. One time he just blatantly asked me about exclusevely lore background was "Who are those giant skeletons?". I agree, this image is so powerful.

Bloody excellent work. Those skeletons have been a continuous source of confusion for me.

I just want to say that this song was a perfect match. One day I must to listen to all King's Field OSTs because who knows how many gems are there.

I always thought these were like the mothers of the albinaurics, seeing as phillia* is also gigantic and all the weird stone corpses or statues or whatever they are as possibly being failed albinarics seeing as they are different sizes and seem malleable, similar to the albinaurics. *edit - not latenna

I don't know why but the giant skeleton peeking through Ranni's window was really funny to me. Is it just being a creep, does it need to borrow some milk, or is it just checking in to know how Ranni is feeling?

God, I love this song. This and Passage for a Monk, two absolute greats in VGM history that the King's Field Franchise gave us

It's also important to note how connected the questlines of the death faction and of ranni are

These guys certainly are a very weird and confusing entity in Elden Ring. I'd never thought of the tibia marina connection before at all, but they do have similar kind of clothing and the giant skeleton summons do look a lot like them as well. One thing I have wondered though, is whether the giants of the eternal cities are related to the giants in Caelid. We know that the city of Sellia in Caelid seems to be made by the Nox or their descendants, since the Sellain architecture and and spells are mostly based on the Nox. We can also fight a couple of Nox themselves, and in that arena there is also one of the giant thrones, but without a body on top of it. However, there ARE giant bodies scattered all throughout Caelid that are also pretty much unexplained in the lore. These giants are absolutely huge, some with skulls almost the size of cliff faces, but I believe they actually vary in size greatly, just the like corpses of the fire giants. Interestingly, they don't seem to be the same as the fire giants due to their proportions; the fire giants have quite small heads for the size of the bodies, however the skeletons in Caelid (and the ones summoned by the mariners) seem to have pretty human proportions between the skeleton torso and the skull - much like the ones on the thrones. That suggests these giants may be a separate race altogether, much like the trolls seem to be separate to the fire giants. Perhaps a few journeyed underground with the Nox for some reason, or perhaps they came from the underground originally, who knows. But either way I do think these big skeletons in Nokron and Nokstella are related to the giant figures we see the remains of in Caelid; at least, they fit the bill better than anything else in the game.

Your music choices are always flawless, Zullie.

I love how you uncover the secrets of this game, its like you’re uncovering some ancient archaeology that hasn’t been figured out yet

loved the music choice and staging of characters in this

There is one question that still remains: who are those seemingly burned bodies in the Dragonkin Soldier of Nokstella arena, and what happened to them?

You know it's gonna be a banger of a video when you hear Dark Reality

I don't really comment on RU-vid clips all that much but I think this needs to be said. Your interpretation, ability to piece together lore, the simplicity, yet intricate way you create your videos is fascinating to watch Zullie. I really need to dive into more of your videos because everything about it is just top notch. I could watch lore all day long. But your videos are in a league of their own. Seriously.. as much as I've played Elden Ring and pay attention to the lore, I would have never made this connection between the Mariners, Godwyn, Ranni, and the Nox. Sublime work.

The music choice makes these videos 1000x better than they already are!

Since the Albinauric have some relationship with the Nox, I think the mummy may be related to the giant Albinauric woman of which we encounter one in the Consecrated Snowfield's Apostate Derelict during Latenna's questline.

Awesome, this is one I've been waiting for. This is good stuff. Something I'd like to point out, it says the Nox wanted to "forge" a lord, which could have two meanings. It could mean create, like forging a sword. But it could also mean to make an illegitimate copy of, as in forging a signature. I wonder if that language was used on purpose to imply a connection between the Nox and Death, as if they found him underground when they were banished and wanted to use him somehow to get their revenge. Perhaps that's what got them banished in the first place, maybe the Fingerslayer is made from him, and these giants were the early explorers/leaders that led the charge for going against the fingers, hence their central locations to the cities.

"Uhh, Ranni? There's a..." "I know. Don't look at it. It'll probably go away if we just ignore it."

Love whenever you use this specific Kings Field song for videos

Thx alot man!!!

This is one of the things I love about Fromsoft games: people try to distinguish a disparity between game-lore and development stuff (like internal AI names) but a lot of the time, we have to dig deeper into the code to try to find out connections in the lore.

That King's Field track... beautiful and morbid nostalgia. "Are you searching for the darkness, too?"

I have been rewatching these videos for some reason and man they are awesome! You go into so much depth! It's really amazing! I hope you're enjoying your much deserved break, Zullie!

There's something I found that I think you'd be interested in looking into Zullie. When I fought Melania the other day I noticed in the cutscene that there's a giant head above where miquella was cradled. After the fight I got a better look and realized there was a full blown torso with arms up there, but cut off right at the base of the spine where the hips would have been. Then it donned on me that Miquella in Moghs Palace is infact sitting inside I giant hip bone. Now I seem to recall some item or spell in game mentioning that miquella was trying to use the Haligtree to grow himself a fully grown body to overcome his curse, but I didnt expect it to be a actual giant that he'd be piloting. Any chance you could look into this more? I dont quite have the skill you do for this sort of thing.

More boatman lore is always welcome, that fella is a gem

IDk why but the moment with the huge skeleton just peeking in through Ranni's window just sent me

I always wondered about those huge skeletons on the thrones there. I appreciate also how you give multiple explanations and multiple possibilities. Thank you always for these videos! Please keep them coming!

They are clearly gamers sitting in their gaming chairs waiting for the DLCs to come out.

Your videos are informative, relaxing and relatively easy to watch, i love it!

Love your videos! It's always so gratifying to see others who are as into the lore (or even more so) than I am.

Is there any explanation for the weird alien looking guys dotted around the eternal cities and the Dragonkin Soldier of Nokstella arena? The statue-like things in groups that appear to be screaming?

I always just assumed they were high lord wolnir’s distant cousin low thane rinlow 😂

Your videos are so amazing, and by god your constant use of the King's Field: Ancient City music led me to start a fresh playthrough of that game. Thank you

You're the best. Your videos are still as great as ever. Thanks for all the work you put into these 😁

it‘s always fascinating how there are no mentions in item descriptions about the giant skeletons yet Zullie finds somehow a way to link them to other things. really enjoying his/her work and effort 🙏🏼

That skeleton peeking into Ranni's window reminded me of a nightmare I had. It was very similar to the depicted situation; just a huge creature looking into my house. It doesn't do anything except follow me around and wait until I come out so he can eat me. Just the pressure of it staring down my every move still gives me cold sweat until today.

Hey Zullie, ive seen your posts since darksouls 2 and i really apriciate your work youve done over the jears. And i just wanted to say, thank you very much. It is such a joy to me to see a new video with obscure details and eerie music. Happy haloween.

I love your channel so much. you are single handedly inspiring my next playthrough.

Some of those giant spectral skeletons spawn in a large graveyard in the snowfields, and on the path towards Mohg's palace. Maybe more connections?

See, this is also funny, because the Albinaurics in the Lord of Blood’s palace summon giant skeletons when you get to the stairs leading to the next cave, so this is also led to believe that the Nox, the Mariners, the Albinaurics AND the Formless Mother are all tied in some way, even though this would make no sense.

2:44 Ranni falls out of her chair in sheer spook.

I really enjoy your videos, and you always make such excellent music choices!

So what about the giant skeletons that are half buried in Caelid? I always assumed the giant skeletons everywhere were just the remains of the Giants.

I was under the impression that the "Night King" is just the player doing Ranni's ending, because they always seem to be the sort of "middle man" in the endings. The Elden Lord is the consort to an Elden God (Marika), the Lord of Frenzied Flame is an intermediary to presumably an outer god of chaos, so it's possible that the Night King is basically something along those lines after Ranni ushers in the Age of Stars with you as her consort.

Thank you for introducing me to the haunting Kings Field OST tracks, really.

You continue to just bring more life to this universe Zullie, keep it up and thank you!

The lore behind them is that the developers wanted the game to be more spooky, so logically, they made some skeletons bigger.

While the Night King is a character only appearing in the Game of Thrones TV show that doesn't exist in GRRM's books, there may be a relation to a similarly character called the "*Night's* King". The Night's King was a Lord Commander of the Night's Watch (which was created to guard the realms of men against malicious icy beings called Others or White Walkers as they're known in the show) that fell in love with a mysterious "corpse queen", theorised by some to be an Other. The Night's King "gave his soul" to her and the two ruled in a far northern castle for some years comitting grave atrocities and sacrifices to the Others before being cast down. This did remind me briefly of Fia being known as a "Deathbed Companion" to Godwyn but I'm not very familiar with Elden Ring's lore to say if there's a massive connection here.

The Night King could also be you when you bring the Age of Stars.

Amazing screenshots as usual. I was also curious about those giants and the giant skeletal spirits but never made that connection. Great work as always.

I knew it. The Tibia Mariner, the best boss in the game, also has the best connections and implications with the game's story and lore.

Sad they’re not bosses

Zullie, just want you to know you’re videos bring me great joy and I happily await everything you bring to us

I love your use of king’s field OSTs :) it makes your videos more etherial

First time I saw the skeleton I freaked the fuck out, such a creepy concept

Loved the theories in this video, very well made.

Been waiting for something about this and those "solified corpses" on top of Nokstella rooftoops. Great job as Always Zullie!!!

Always wonder what these spooky bois were ever since I saw them in the loading screen

interestingly, i don’t THINK we get a title for our Lordship upon the Age of Stars ending, meaning the Night King or Lord of Night could absolutely be the player character in the event that they complete the Age of Stars ending, which heavily requires you to go through Nokron and Nokstella, meaning the Lord of Stars would journey to the forgotten cities, and then would come the Age of Stars.

I could feel it in my bones before I clicked on this video that Dark Reality was going to be used as the background music

Zullie you are the best, love all your videos, with each new you, our little witch, find something new and interesting for us in these mysteries worlds, low bow to u❤️🖤

Big Feet for papa miyazaki

Love your videos and especially your soundtrack taste. Happy Halloween!

Aww, Tibia Mariners have a pretty lace veil! Love them, they are just chilling with their skeleton friends and they have grreat music.

I REALLY would love to see if one of these out or nowhere standing up and the boss battle music starts hahaha

thank u for these beautiful videos zullie, i lvoe the style of text and scenery, its peaceful and enticing.

never get tired of this ost. interesting vid as always zullie

I love this song you chose for this video as well

Ty Zullie for bringing me a bit of "lore happiness" every time you upload

Thanks for the video on what is the most intriguing puzzle in Elden Ring for me

This is very interesting, I appreciate this video a lot, Zullie. The giant skeletons in the eternal cities were the thing in Elden Ring that captivated me the most. I was so unnerved by them but also extremely curious as to what tf they were.

Hey Zullie! Found your channel a few weeks ago and have been combing through your content ever since! I really love your videos, they’re always so immersive and fun and the music is great! It’s also really cool seeing these different theories and speculations, and you always do a good job of editing your videos and giving a great visual to accompany your points. Awesome work, and Happy Halloween!

The nox have always fascinated me both their gear and the lore and connections to certain events, I hope in the up coming dlc we could get further clues about this "night king" and possible encounters with Godwyn the Prince of Death?

another great video Zullie! music choice is always superb

Love the thought process!