Elden Ring Lore: MIQUELLA the HEALER- The Psychology of the OUTER GODS 

Hey man, let me know before you try to give me nightmares

The conclusion to this video was so powerful and moving. The editing and the music really built up the atmosphere, allowing for you to concretely, and I think accurately, determine what exactly this whole story is supposed to mean. That ending was not only the best I’ve seen in a lore video, but a RU-vid video: period.

That thumbnail certainly got my attention, then again, actually seeing Miquella's face is something we've never gotten, and the anticipation for the DLC is palpable.

Poor Godwyn. "That fish-like thing"

There's an outer god for almost every status effect in the game. Rot, bleed, frostbite, madness, death blight. I speculate there will be one final outer god of dreams in the dlc.

And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire. -Matthew 18: 9

Wow. I don't think anyone's made the connection between depression and the God of Rot before. You've built a very compelling case that this is exactly what this story element is met to represent. The Frenzy flame ending representing a person succumbing to psychosis is also perfectly fitting. The Gold needle piercing the eye was probably removed because it makes the connection too literal. I think if that element had been retained, the lore community would have caught on to what Miyazaki is trying to do much earlier. My only suggestion for future videos might be to cut down on the intro. I think your next video is obvious. We need a video breaking down each ending and what it means from your perspective. I think you touched on that with the Frenzied Flame ending, but I think the others deserve more discussion.

I'm half expecting Miquella to have at least one shut eye.

Your whole approach to the Lore is cutting edge. That chart showing Marika's individual parts explains so much! Also, some of your character builds look pretty sick :D

Perhaps there is nothing so simultaneously alien yet personal as mental anguish. That is essentially the most personal story we can tell while dressing it in any form we'd like to. Gods, demigods and outer gods within. I wonder if Miquella fails as we search for him. The world is eternally unkind and unmendable to us, thus the obligation to convalesce from within and shine out. No colossal giant can caress and comfort a tiny mouse, willingly or otherwise, but all mice can huddle against this same giant in warmth, or at least try - the world is not designed to inflict harm by nature, even if harm always follows. I wonder what Miquella found, healing or tragedy. Or perhaps a healing tragedy.

Miquella has the Haligtree (an area where the blasphemous, hated, and the unclean can stay. Much similar to an asylum or nursing home of sorts.), his needle (the lobotomy tool as mentioned in the video.), and a sick family. All the theories lately have been negative about Miquella so this is very welcome. He also seemed to be patient enough to teach the frog Albinaurics how to use the Discus of Light, and let the immobile Albinaurics cocoon in his Haligtree. This seems to be the most mentally stable Demigod/Emperyean in the game. Ranni is obviously not all there thanks to the Night of Black Knives, and Malenia is Malenia. Even with the Age of Stars ending you seem to just accept depression, embracing the cold and bitterness of the world. I have recently been in and out of the Therapist and I've learned that you can't let it grow stagnant (as seen with the Rot). Essentially the Age of Stars is just embracing Ranni's vision, which seems good but then after looking at it again and again, it seems to just mess up those of Lands Between who still believe in Marika. It's so drastic but Ranni won't hear it, it feels like it will fail fast. It doesn't solve the issues with the Crucible, Frenzy, Rot, etc. It's just a way of eliminating the Erdtree and Marika's reign. So maybe Ranni is a red herring, leaving Miquella to be the true good ending.

I appreciate this perspective, and think that this sort of lens does reveal a lot about this game (and bloodborne especially), but I feel like to interpret Elden Ring's world exclusively through the lens of psychology kind of centers it around humans exclusively instead of nature at large in a way I personally don't feel comfortable with.

“What happens when one faces trauma?” At that moment I realized that something just snapped, something inside of me.

As someone suffering from Depression, this touched me. Fascinating Theories!!!

the lore is so crazy i struggled finding a character that i could connect with based on my own ethics. So i gave up and made it more simple, I became Kratos

Your mix of music in the beginning was jaw dropping. Incredible intro for an incredible vid!

Ready to have my first playthrough ruined! Reminds me of when as a child i watched sixth sense with my dad who after the opening scene immediately theorised the guy was dead because no one was looking at him. He spent the next two hours apologising when it was soon obvious he was right. I have a feeling that just like then I will be repeatingly noticing the prediction fits the evidence!

I really wish we could actually use that chaos head in game

I am so glad I found your videos. It honestly makes the hours (200+ so far) I have invested feel like hours spent in the mirror looking for myself. Much love!

Video quality going up! Great video man I love it!

This dude!!! I just recently found you! You’re the only one I’ve found who views the elden ring lore like I do! This is a fucking banger though dude!! I hope more catch on to you! You’re saying exactly what I’m thinking but saying it a lot better than I can in a comment 😂 and the video and everything is golden!! Praise my guy!!!

This was incredible, I'm looking forward to future videos!

Kosm... Do you hear our prayers? "No, we shall not abandon the dream." grant us eyes, grant us eyes. Plant eyes on our brains, to cleanse our beastly idiocy." "The grand lake of mud, hidden now, from sight." Please, could you donate a fingerprint grape to me? Without one I don't know, I feel like I might go mad. Yes, that's it, let me have it! *slurping noises* Ahh... ahh! I can hear it, yes! The sound that guides me. Oh, thank you, thank you so much. You have saved me. Ahh! Aahh! I see a shape. My guide, I see your voice, clearly, as it bends and bleeds. My own, revelation... just for me... *giggling* Thank... thank you... I have touched them. The words of the Three Fingers. As your maiden, allow me to divine them. "All that there is came from the One Great. Then came fractures, "The sky and the cosmos are one.” Thank you. For everything... Really, I used to be nothing... *giggling*

This was really well done. I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds in the expansion and what new questions will come with it. Great work!

Insanely good video as always man.

Guess thats the Magnus Opus we have here, Great Video man

Hey man, great video as always. But I have to ask: do you make the illustrations that you use in your videos? Idont remember seeing credits for these.

This is such an amazing analysis. I am a huge fan of you RU-vidr, and your writing skills, and your artistic creativity. Very well thought man

Video starts at 1:54

such amazing insights! I've been reading 'man and his symbols' by C. Jung and what you posit makes total sense! It feels like you've cracked the code - well done.

The opening music was creepy for ER.. JS. Subscribed for the intro and the lore ♥️ great video

I always wonder, for creators and scholars of the lore and themes of these games, is there a fear of future context poking holes in your concepts and theories? Like if the shadow of the erdttree came out and somehow entirely wreaked havoc on your understanding and correlations, how would you feel? Is there an anxiety there? Or would you welcome the challenge of having to reinterpret what you know? Or are you certain it will fit in just fine? Really digging these videos. The dark souls trilogy analysed in the context of depression and all that is one of my favorite ways of viewing them. This feels like a growth of that into something way more complex

In another level. Ty for this journey!😉

speechless.

I've been thinking about the Greater Will in the context of your videos. I find thinking of it as the will of society to fit quite well. At the start of the DLC story trailer we witness the birth and separation of the shadow and the ego. This coincides with what has been speculated to be the landing of the Elden beast, which was "sent by the Greater Will". I can go more in depth, but it does seem to line up quite well with what you've already laid out.

I’m just not meant to work today with all these lore videos popping up like outer gods 😂 This video and series is fucking 🔥 GG

Deaths Poker is a fire poker, its in the name and description of the item. Its not supposed to resemble "ancient abortion tools" especially random hooks you cropped out of larger kits. Your forcing it to fit your theory on that point.

Seeing how every status effect is connected to a character that is conflicted with an outer god(Malenia/Rot)… what if St.Trina is the outer god of sleep & was the outer god influencing Miquella?; Maybe the trailer saying miquella removed his own fate while showing St.Trina falling is representing miquella removing St.Trina’s influence after he used the needle? Maybe the reason why the land of shadows is marika’s dreams is because St.Trina is now influencing Marika or Godwyn after being removed by miquella & is the reason why miquella is going into this dreamland, to save them from the same outergod that once influenced him? St.Trina isn’t miquellas other half but simply the outer god of sleep that miquella fell victim to? This could be more evidence for the Miquella is Melina theory due to her eye missing via removing St.Trina via the needle, this is why we haven’t seen miquella’s face?? I think I have something here, tell me what you think.

The absolute pit in my stomach counter-balanced by a massive sense of hope right now!! CT, you beast!

Great video!

I discovered this channel recently and I love your videos. They helped me make sense of this game and it's message. I hope your channel grows, you deserve a much bigger audience.

1. Does the greater will represent Consciousness? 2. What does the Fell god of the fire giants represent?

Oh yeah, Its all coming together.

Holy Miquella, nothing could prepare me for this analogy and introspection and I couldn't just stop watching. Time well spent, loved every second of it

CT, this is a masterpiece, mate. You had me in tears. If I could standing ovation, I’d have done. Thank you for your approach and for the peripheral healing it helps to facilitate and actuation in processes of. Your shoutout to Jack was cute and funny but it was also tremendously powerful. Thank you, from his friends and community!💜✨ P.S. Oh, and! IT’S a 10/10 from me(h)!!!!!😄💜✨😊

Is that a snakes head Marika is stealing gold from in the Shadow of the Erdtree trailer? Looks like it’s being pulled out of its eye and later to create the golden order when she holds it up

The notion that all the demigods are aspects of Marika is really compelling and does explain a lot of things. Maybe when Marika has children she's literally shedding aspects of herself, leaving only the pure "ideal" she has for herself of what she should be. Like she sheds a bit of her soul into her offspring and since she's the true vessel of the elden ring, they in turn are ideal vessels for a specific rune of the elden ring. This explains Radagon actually, maybe she did a mitosis and Radagon is her first "offspring". Thats how he could always have been part of her but still recombine with her later and have a will of his own. He's some original aspect of herself she shed. First she split herself by herself, then she tried splitting herself by having children, then she tried splitting herself by having children with herself. That's some crazy business.

that opening was l- that opening was li-- good opening 👍

You got it right. I am just not sure if you were expecting Radahn for the individuation. And it seems there will be a continuation maybe Elden Ring 2 or even another DLC.

You should do a video about how Elden Ring is a metaphor for the life of Terrance Howard! It would be about as accurate as any of your other videos!

The demigods could also be connected to the seven deadly sins, in the "internal self" metaphor. Miquella- Sloth. He's asleep, and his alternate self is a saint of sleep. Melania- Pride. She is Melania. Blade of Miquella. And she has never known defeat. Radahn: Wrath. His mind has been devoured and only rage remains. Rykard: Gluttony. He would devour all. Even the very gods. Godrick the Golden- Envy. He steals the strength of others because he lacks his own. Im torn between Mohg and Rani as lust and greed. Theyre both ambitious and crave power at all cost.

Sick intro 👌🏼

13:45 the captions made me chuckle.

I love all of the effort put into this video, but I don’t think the authors thought that far into these themes when making the story

I wonder if those characters with one sealed eye are actually versions of their twin that succumbed to one of the outer gods and then got "healed" with the needle in the eye, leaving them a blind eye and with a loss of memory. That would explain melina for example. she only appears at the frenzied flame ending and does not remember much of herself during the game, as if she had to undergo a lobotomy with miquella's needle to recover from madness. Millicent is also another character that uses the needle and does not really know who she is anymore. She must be a version of malenia healed from the scarlet rot. great video man, lot of stuff to think about.

We found a rising star in the loresphere

this is 🔥 👏

1:42 Bro... that's how long it took for me to be in.

3 am for me I feel like I just took a psychology class and now I'm depressed damn you RU-vid. Great video tho

I think the idea that Miquella's approach to healing (or "healing"?) mirrors lobotomy is a compelling perspective but then I wonder if he should really be seen as an actual healer vs. somebody who (desperately) tries to heal the people around him (or parts of Marika's self) but causes more harm than good. I don't mean this in a way that he is consciously being a bad person. He might mean well and have good intentions but his methods might not actually lead to healing and just superficially seem so. I know that so far the effects of his needles have not been shown to turn out negatively ingame so I don't want to claim that this is a "canon" (as far as anything can ever be canon in ER) intention. But due to the historical horror and medical dehumanization that is lobotomy I would be really bummed out if it is used as something genuinely positive here. This would be incredibly disrespectful and crude considering how terrible lobotomy is, and how it was very often used to cure "hysteria" in women who needed genuine help or who fell out of line by not wanting to perform social expectations. Women were the _vast_ majority of people who received lobotomies, and them not wanting to perform gender stereotypes of domesticity and subservience was sometimes treated as a sign of mental illness that could lead to lobotomy. So potentially presenting something that destroyed many women's humanity as cure engulfed in divine symbolism is in bad taste, and a historically revisionist writing choice that should be scrutinized. www.nature.com/articles/548523e www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5962395/ "...found that most patients lobotomized by doctors were women.4 At a time when _women were expected to be calm, cooperative and attentive to domestic affairs, definitions of mental illness were as culturally bound as their treatments. A surgery that rendered female patients docile and compliant, but well enough to return to and care for their homes, had many proponents before the drug chlorpromazine, the first “major” tranquilizer, became available in 1954._ Chlorpromazine’s success launched our modern psychopharmcologic era, anointing drugs as the treatment of choice in asylum and outpatient psychiatry. Tellingly, prescribing patterns reinforced earlier tropes. By 1968, the “minor” tranquilizer Valium (diazepam), _marketed as an antidote for socially dysfunctional women - the excessively ambitious, the visually unkempt, the unmarried and the menopausal misfits - was the best-selling drug in the world as well as one prescribed overwhelmingly to women.5_ The disproportionate use of lobotomies and tranquilizers by doctors as therapies for female patients exemplify how gender bias has shaped twentieth-century medicine.." "What the documentary omits is that _most lobotomized patients were women, although most institutionalized patients at the time were men._ This gaping disparity, noted by scholars, is made more troubling by the _general silence surrounding it today.3 Yet the disparity has been in plain view from the start. Five of the six patients in the case study by Freeman and Watts were women whose symptoms - apprehension, insomnia - seem incommensurate with their treatment, but whose status as women sanctioned it._ A patient _previously fearful of aging could now “grow old gracefully” and care for her home._ She complained of a lack of spontaneity, but her husband praised the changes her surgery had wrought, declaring her “more normal than she had ever been,” possibly the least credible measure of therapeutic success in the annals of history.2 By 1942, 75% of the lobotomies Freeman and Watts had performed were on women." This procedure just carries too much historical baggage to be used or "artistically reinterpreted" as a successful procedure to re-establishe balance, mental health and peace of mind in a traumatized woman. It would be be incredibly disappointing and come off as little more than a contrived attempt at an "artistic" choice for the sake of being provocative, instead of any true profoundness and meaningful understanding of mental health and trauma, esp. in women. If the symbolism of lobotomy is what they really are going for, I would respect it if it was not in fact meant to be positive and if Miquella's approach was actually supposed to be a harmful procedure. One that doesn't heal but destroys the psyche of those it has been administered to even further/on another level, in order for the narrative to serve as a social commentary on the horror of lobotomy.

So hype

What does the fell god of ruin represent?

The psychoanalysis is taken a bit too far at times, too abstract for all the specific details and historical/religious framework that is told directly in Elden Ring. But the idea that all characters are fractions of the whole being that is Marika does have a lot credence. Perhaps The One Great mythos told to us is about Marika and how she brings about creation (as we know it) via disparity.

Most of these cut-scenes I have never seen, because I am a righteous person.

bravo 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

How do you believe Godrick fits into this narrative, as far as his lore goes. He is narrating the 2019 trailer and appears to be grafting godwyns arm to himself, which explains why there is another Godwyn in Stormveil. I feel like grafting has something to do with the soul and matter ehich explains his role in the Night of Black Knives as he may have been the one to teach the Black Knives to graft and possibly use it for the ritual involved with Ranni and Godwyn. Which may also explain Godefroy as Godricks grafted soul. But in terms of mental illness im sure there is a hidden parallel here. He may represent Jealousy and the longing for the past and the desire for stability (He has the only stable kingdom other then Morgott) to the point of sacrificing your soul.

Remarkable!

I don't think Melina will be our maiden in the DLC. I think Miquella will be our new maiden.

What if Miquella is trying to become an outer god? 🤔

How many mushroom did U eat before doing this video?

Audio level is kinda low

Yeah, I can see this as the premise, for sure! I like where you are going here. If George RR Martin created the deep history and multiple "separate" characters which we are led to believe, then I can see Miyazaki flipping the script on ALL of us and using all these characters unified into, "The One Great", Marika. Let's face it I have looked at possibly 100 different videos breaking down all their character stories as presented in the vanilla game, and they (for the most part) don't align quite right. Alchemy, Archaeology and Psychology interested me the most. With new story trailer perhaps only one of these theories, can survive. We shall see SOON. Thanks for Sharing!

This has gotta be the biggest reach in the history of mankind

Elden ring lore to not sleep too ☠

One thing I'd like a lore answer to is a hanging element that's been in the Souls series all along. Why and how does the world (partially) reset itself when you die? How long is it taking us to "resurrect?" So long that everything else gets up first and wanders back to "its place?"

That's an interesting attempt to co-opt the narrative of the game, but why?

hell yeah baby lore! edit: two and a half minutes in and im already terrified, sorry mister miquella :o(

There is rarely anything possitive or idealistic about Lovecraftian Gods lmao

What about Ranni, the Dark Moon, and the Age of Stars? I think she represents Jungian psychology, especially his teachings of shadow work and “The Dark Night of the Soul” which 100% goes with Ranni’s theme. Whereas Miquella’s futile efforts only numb the pain and just prolong the inevitable. Ranni confronts and destroys everything holding her back. She is the real cure, and i still think she’s still going to have the “better” ending

So merrica has multiple personalities disorder?

I'm watching all your videos. I love the content I love the IDeaS I think a lot of people are right and I think you are right too I think the game is about a lot of different things but I think you've got a major point nailed down however can you please make like a 5 minute recap video that's like a dumb down version. Because there's just so much information in these 40 minute long videos. And it's all great, it's all cool. I love it but like I wanna watch a video. Where you just break down the Fundamental basics, in, like a dumb way like, how would you explain all of this to a 10 year old , treat me like a 10 year old treat your audience like a 10 year old. For a least one video, please.

11/10

As an elden snooze lore master everything in video is wrong

Wow!!! This makes me view elden ring as an almost new age Bible.... not like Jesus and stuff.... but how people could view their own mind and how it all works....

Damn son epic!

Bro I love your content, please don't use gpt lol

Your vids are insanely good, I hope you blow up soon, it's crazy how this quality feels like someone with 100k subs

guys could you please stop making shit up regarding Elden ring Lore? The closer we get to the DLC, the more absurd loretubers vids start popping up on my feeds. I work at FromSoft and this deeply concerns me.

I like what you’re saying but I don’t think we’re in marikas world anymore than our own lives are in someone else’s world. Sure others reflect ourselves but that’s all they all, reflections. It is our own world though. Marika being the order we implement upon ourselves & rejecting the old world or ideas we don’t think are appropriate. Also a small morsel for food for thought. If we’ve lost touch with our true selves why is it so hard to think back then before electricity & when people were more in tune, being as great & terrible as the bible says in a physical real manor? Fact is stranger than fiction. It’s very tough to believe with the now constantly in front of our faces but I think the passage of time might’ve been more extreme than people truly think

You need to bump up your vocal levels, they are way too low compared to everything else in your vid.

Ill keep saying it again and again until im proven wrong with the DLC: ALL THE OUTER GODS ARE JUST YHE DEMI GODS THAT MARIKA FUCKED OVER IN THE LAND OF SHADOWS

Incredible analysis Looking at the game from a cognitive perspective is really an interesting way of looking at it all

sucks to suck

Jesus - “I tell you the truth. You must change and become like little children. If you don’t do this, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Mathew 18:3

wtf is this editing

come on mannnnn i know this script is ai generated 😭😭

Mate u are talking about Miquella, like the femboy. why are u trying to scare us with this intro?

Wow, this is a game-changer. Outstanding work. I'd like to suggest a slightly different reading of the Deathbirds and their god. The Branchsword Talismans promise a "glorious end" to "those who *cling* so tenaciously to life"; perhaps the Deathbirds embody or propagate the fear of death, or fear of the unknown more generally. They only appear at night, in the dark, and always when you least expect it...

Cheggers