Elden Ring Lore - Miriel, And The History Of Turtles 

Update! Miriel's canonical gender has been confirmed as Male by the Lands Between Books of Knowledge

Can you imagine Miyazaki saying "Yes a turtle with a pope hat is the right design" lol

I believe the Tortoises you see in the land between are very young and grow old, one day gaining the ability to talk and so on. Because humans kill them for consumables, they can't grow to be wise.

I wish giant talking turtles were real. I would hang out with them and talk to them and hopefully we would be best friends.

Me, sees a lore video about the turtle pope himself: Very well. Let us both learn together.

for me, miriel alone makes the lands between worth protecting and fighting for

I'm surprised you didn't mention Miriel's dialogue in the event you could be so cold hearted as to attack him. Where he basically scolds you for acting so rash with emotions and that some people would not be as forgiving as he is. A Tarnished must handle their emotions maturely, lest these bonds be broken.

Miriel is one of the best dog characters I’ve seen in my life next to the incredible franklin the dog

One story I was told long ago was most turtles have 13 plates on their shell, representing the 13 full moons of the year.

"I like turtles" - Elden Lord formally known as 'Tarnished one'

STG: We're talking about dogs... no turtles, we're talking about turtles. Me: excuse me, good sir, but you had it right the first time.

Since I met turtle pope I stopped slaying turtles off the strength, I felt like towards the end of the game it would come back to haunt me.

Miriel is the true Elden lord.

It get's more interesting when you realise that chelona means tortoise. Perhaps there were more great turtles, like Miriel and one of those was a great sorcerer. Renown enough to be close to the Carian family and beeing entrusted with such an important spell (ranni's half moon) in its personal rise tower. Chelona might be indeed a tortoise just like the messegers of the great will Fingers , are literaly fingers.

you know, the line about "all things can be conjoined" *does* seem like the kind of thing someone would say if they remembered what the Crucible was like

The dog joke never gets old

finally REAL LORE

Personally I think the closest ending to the one miriel envisions is Ranni's age of stars, given it again encompasses a union between a carian queen and a lord of the erdtree. You can even use celestial dew as part of her questline, should you take up seluvis on his scheme to feed ranni his amber draught. It also notable that celestial dew and the church of vows are very likely relics of the eternal cities, who long for a Lord of Night and an Age of Stars, both of which Ranni's ending produce. So as far as endings that involve reconciliation, which seems to be the theme in miriel's dialogue, Ranni's Ending would likely the best candidate, as it conjoins the moon and erdtree again, and reconciles three different factions with each other.

Wise turtles are the ultimate form of intelligence and thus the Greater Will. So wise are they, that they practice non-aggression and remain neutral to any of the warring factions in the Lands Between. When you live long enough to see civilizations rise and fall, you see no value in tying yourself to their fates.

"turtle necks were used as sort of aphrodisiac" Steve jobs knew what he was doin

I love that you're tackling more obscure elements of the lore... maybe you could cover the expansive dialogue of the edge, so to speak lord Ensha; The All Hearing brute next.

If only Miriel could make a mending rune.

Considering Miriel says that there is no herecy and everything can be connected, it could be theorized that he is older than the Erdtree, considering before it's time "everything was one"

The "we are talking about dogs" was so perfectly delivered it had me chuckling like an idiot

I’m so glad you made the dog joke. Legend video already

I just assumed the turtles being around the rise towers was just the common association of turtles being wise and ancient like the common wizard stereotype. Fun listen as always.

We're talking of course about dogs. Made me laugh

a mending rune of vows would be interesting…sad a turtle lord ending wasn’t possible 😔

I don't think radagon really wanted to break Rennala's heart but due to the fact he and Marika are the same I think he was forced to by her because maybe she had some amount of control over him to do those things

I legit stopped watching a one hour long time-line thesis on Ellen ring to ofcourse watch something about the deepest lore

New ending : Age of dogs

If you've killed a singular turtle in your playthrough of Elden Ring you're horrible!!

It's interesting to think about when the urge to reproduce faded from the inhabitants of the Lands Between. It may be because the Erdtree has replaced this function. It may have something to do with the fact that The Great Rune of the Unborn is no longer part of the Elden Ring. Also, I think that Muriel's thoughts on heresy and convergence show that all of the different curses, powers etc. that we encounter are all actually aspects of the Elden Ring and the Greater Will. There's been a few lore hunters recently who have argued, quite compellingly, that the various Outer Gods are not equivalents or alternatives to the Greater Will but are more like a secondary pantheon. This little snippet from Muriel fits this perfectly.

GRRM is a big Turtles lover aswell I think that's why Fromsoftware included them not just for lore aswell

Wish he had a quest line couldve been very interesting and maybe potentially one of more wholesome ones sort of like boc can be if get his good ending

I personally believe that when Radagon swore love to Renalla, he was sincere. Much like Blaidd going insane, however, his own will ultimately held no sway. Radagon's secret is revealed by using a spell called Law of Regression, which states that all things eternally yearn to reconverge. Radagon may have wanted to become complete, to become more than simply the leal hound of the Golden Order, but he could not defy his own nature indefinitely.

Why do Tortoises drop Turtle meat? This is the question that keeps me up at night.

That mausoleum theory blew my fucking mind!

I love that you can make interesting contect even about turtles in Elden Ring

Dog ahead, therefore seek comfort.

Love the vids of Miriel and the Chosen Tarnished hanging out together.

I wish the game gave us the option of grabbing the Santa merchant and living with turtle pope, saying to hell with the Order

I think the turtles symbolize benevolent longevity, and once symbolized union and the long standing age of goldenness, and the Erdtree. The neck meat originally being an aphrodisiac also suggests this to promote the creation and sustaining of life itself. And after the shattering, turtles simply became another byproduct use for war. In short, every once beautiful or tragic meaning in the world, all became forgotten in the quest for power and the death of both innocents and guilty alike.

I never even thought to kill and eat the dogs in Elden Ring. Didn't even occur to me they could be fought.

I love that ranni canonically likes turtles

I _adore_ the picture of the Turtle Pope! GG, Pat Gee!

HONESTLY I WOULD HAVE LOVED A SECRET TURTLE ENDING OF HAPPYNESS

The goodest boy, such a great dog.

I don't think the stamina boost was for battle

"All things can be conjoined" sounds like we should burn away all that divides and distinguishes. MAY CHAOS TAKE THE WORLD!

Whenever I needed a break from the struggles of thw lands between, I would always come to this place and chill next to the great dog pope

Old-age Mutant Catholic Turtles Catholics in a sad hell, papal power!

Terrific as usual, STG. 🎉😊 Your insight about the possible origins of the Walking Mausoleums is brilliant and terrifying. 😱 I’m glad you’ve put all these Elden Ring lore videos into a playlist. While I love the lore content, you also have the perfect voice for drifting off to sleep. Don’t worry, though, I always rewind and then pick up where I left off. Nice work. Nice long playlist. Thanks! 🙏😊

this one is a lotttt of speculation, from the timeline stuff to the reincarnation, to the nature of Radagon, etc...and the Radagon stuff is the bit i think is particularly contentious...it's clear Radagon is somehow connected to the fire giants and/or the Fell God, given the fact that he's mentioned in the red braid description, and his red hair is pointed out so often...if he did originally split off of Marika, i'm guessing it was because of the Fell God cursing her when they fought - that's my theory - but i've also seen the theory that he's just a half-giant who sided with the Golden Order, or something similar

WOOO YEAH BABY THATS WHAT IVE BEEN WAITING FOR

Lets gooooo! I love a good pupper vid!

Excellent art, Pat. Very glad you included the dog joke. People in the ER community got tired of it for a while, but I don’t see that joke ever dying. 😅 And excellent script, Zach. I dig the intro, as well. The purple STG logo with the Japanese above it. I’m not sure I ever really noticed it before. Good job, gents! Always making me want to play ER ❤

I feel the closest ending to what Miriel wanted was the Perfected Order ending. I have my own belief on the ending largely based on the fact that turtle pope and the law of regression agree that all things can be conjoined. My theory even adds that Goldmask believes this too since he is a scholar first, believer second.

I think like the grafted sword is just a nod to George he loves turtles they actually have many thrones references in Elden ring the blood hound knights cape crest is similar to house Cleganes in Westeros they are subtle but a lot do Westeros references are here even the forbidden lands it’s kinda a nod to beyond the wall of the north …. I think it’s very cool the Easter eggs left in honor of Geroge

Using the Turtle talisman 👍🏾😇💯 Consuming Turtle neck meat maidenless behavior

I still want to summon my turtle master. Would be cool if he could do all the spells you give to him. I could also see him being a very passive tank though.

Miriel is best and wisest dog

My theory: Marika did the thing with rennala for ranni imo. A ghost calls godwyn the unwanted child so maybe Radagon had A duel purpose , creating an offspring that wasn't cursed and could be strong enough to change the lands between and completely remove the greater will. Radagon might have agreed and put up thorns to wait for idk Ranni, or he objected to the plan and put the thorns up, kinda works either way. It didn't make sense imo for a mother to not have a favorite child. So it got me Thinking. If marika really got tired of the greater will everything fits. She couldn't outright defy the golden order so thats why even the words from Melina of hers make Marika seem indifferent, could be completely wrong share your thoughts?

Imagine being so cold and cruel as to eat turtle neck meat in front of Miriel. Not saying id ever do such a thing, mind you.

I need to try and see what happens, when after you become elden lord, (maybe with a specific ending or something), but before new game plus, if you went back to the Church of Vows and tried to use the celestial dew, of anything would happen....

Thanks for this great video man! Miriel is the 🐐 of this game!

Turtles are my favorite animals since I was a child, Gorillas and other Primates fascinated me as well which inspired me to do the Unga Bunga build with the Demi human spirit aids.

I love the shelled doggos

Still sitting on stacks of turtle necks crying, refusing to use them

Now THIS is quality content!

My thing is that Marika, through Radagon, gave Rennala the Greater Rune of Rebirth. Given the other lore of Marika, wanting people to struggle and become stronger, I feel like Marika made Rennala an essential part of her plan that ends up surviving aslong as the frenzied flame isn’t chosen. It’s those aspects that have me on thinking the treatment of Rennala wasn’t exactly cold.

What the hell is a turtle?🤨🐱

Thank god turtles here are respected animals. I have a picture of the pope and me just sitting and resting under the night sky and put that as a background for my Xbox. Maybe I’ll take another one that better.

Miriel model make me think of Lonesome George a Galapagos turtle that went instinct, he was the last of is kind and live in a zoo most of is live and past at the age of 100 years old.

Shout out the spirit turtle climbing the tree he real asf for that🥶🔥

DOG, OH DOG PRAISE THE DOG!

Imagine, if fromsoft had just had the foresight to include turtle amongst the list of runes one can write how much dimmer the world would be today.

"dog" is one of my favourite er memes

I'm still up in the air about them being tortoises, they walk on land, but they don't seem to walk on their toes like tortoises, make me think more of box turtles.

What da dawg doin?

"The urge to reproduce has waned long ago" Throws Melina's birth claim thing into lies.

He my favorite dog in game. Very a cute and a great for petting

DOG 🐢

Behold, dog! Therefore lovable sort

Fun fact, the voice actor to Miriel is the same as the voice actor for Al-An in Subnautica Below Zero

wise mystical dog

I haven't slayed a turtle since I started the game and have kept that vow since meeting Miriel by accident by means of teleportation. He is a gentleman and a scholar.

DLC better give us the Turtle Pope ending

I really do love the lands between , elden ring is so awsome and I can not wait for the dlc

I never thought I would need further explanation beyond "turtle Pope" but here we are

Damn I never even notice the wolf tie in

Fun little obscure snippets. I've been wondering for a while about spirit caller snails, if you feel like taking a look.

I had never considered the Turtle lore... Breif, but fascinating.

yes

Nice Dog reference.

What ever religion Pope Dog is selling, I am 100% buying it.

Turtles are grrms favorite animal

Turtle L O R E

"In the lands between the urge to reproduce has waned long ago." Great, so Elden Ring's setting is every other Japanese dystopian sci fi lol

In my first playthrough I accidentally hit Blaidd when I was fighting the Rune Bear and made an enemy of him, but Miriel made it all better. Miriel is Bestboy forever!