Elden Ring Lore - The History of Bayle The Dread 

Igon's CUUUUUURSE YOOOOU BAAAAAAAAAYLEEE will live down in history as one of the most memorable and outstanding VA performances in a video game.

If you think about it, Bayle indirectly started the entire game. If he hadn't fought Placidussax both he (and possibly his God) would probably still be in power with the strength to easily quell Marika's early armies if the Hornsent civilization could even begin at all under their reign.

A boss who introduced the biggest hype man himself!

It's wild how Bayle is quite literally Satan for dragons, one of the harder fights of the dlc, literally has two of Placidusaxx's heads embedded in his body, and yet has been so overshadowed by some screaming guy he broke the legs off of probably as daily routine, not realizing that man was Igon, from a long lineage of Ahabs, and an absolute madman who wouldn't let something as pathetic as "literally being crippled for life" get in his way of piercing Bayle's jagged hide with harpoons

“One day the fire within will consume the very body and soul of its devourer” The heart can have me, when it earns me

Find someone who has as much faith in you as igon has in the tarnished.

I find it funny how the Introduction of Bayle characterizes Placidusax as well He gets mauled but instead of sending out his flock to annihilate Bayle for this affront, he devises a scheme to ensure his offspring pays the price for his trangsgressions to me this indicates that Placidusax, despite being called Still Rock can get quite upset and vengeful, but likes to take a backseat nd watch things roll into motion, it makes sense, he is a lord after all, but man when you consider the implications his plan was vicious.

CURSE YOU BAYLE!!!! On a serious note, Bayle being responsible for Placidusax injuries is absolutely amazing. One of the best bosses in the game with an awesome design in my opinion.

Fromsoft be like you'll never EVER find out the truth behind Melina and the gloam eyed queen but hey you found out who the baby daddy of the drakes is LOL.

The DLC was exactly what the dragon lore in this game needed.

All jokes aside, the fact that they made a character based off of Captain Ahab is kinda cool. Hell, this questline itself has some pretty heavy Moby Dick vibes.

Bro... It's like a permanent tradition were every time Bayle the Dread comes up Igon will come busting in screaming out of vengeance and pride.

Man, Bayle got so busy with Greyoll that she could no longer stand. 😭

Is it possible Bayle ate the hearts of ancient dragons? He uses Magma like the Wyrms and summons the body parts of other dragons, being the wings he creates. He also uses lightning unlike every other drake.

5:20 = "so they might outnumber the ancient dragons before another attempt at taking Farum Azula for themselves." Could this be happening during the game? There are innumerable lesser drakes swarming around crumbling Farum Azula, vastly outnumbering the ancient dragons of the city. Perhaps this is the middle of a draconic siege with the handful of ancient dragons (explaining why one is grievously injured), knights and beastmen (& presumably Maliketh) keeping the drakes at bay.

Jokes on Bayle, I am the lord of frenzy.

Legend has it anytime any of us talks about Bayle the Dread, if you listen closely enough, you can hear *CURSE YOU BAYLE!* somewhere in the distance... Also, Bayle might have taken two of Placidusax's heads but he got messed up in return, and like all of these kinds of stories, despite the fact Bayle is falling apart and badly ravaged he still puts up a hell of a fight.

Remember one of the characters creation presets is the dark skinned, white haired Draconians who lived amongst dragons probably as Drake knights and warriors

Honestly I also believe that the description of Bayle's incantations imply that you will inevitably become Bayle reincarnate or at least some form of host for Bayle's fury. And I believe it has inspirations from Monster Hunter. Specifically from Fatalis and the older descriptions of Fatalis's armor which imply that eventually the armor will consume the wearer and Fatalis will be reborn. One could also say that when one can never truly put out the flames of hatred with violence as doing so will always leave smoldering embers waiting to reignite once more.

Bayle's heart might burn away my flesh and turn me to cinders? Sure... well, I'll just become Lord of Frenzied Flame. Who's burning who now?

BLESS YOU STG!!!!!! I HEREBY VOW, YOUR VIDEO WILL BLOW UP THIS DAY BEHOLD TRUE ELDEN RING FANS, AND I ARTEVAR

There's a lot of people who hype up Bayle as someone who is stronger than Placidusax, but in reality they were pretty evenly matched. Bayle only has one leg left, and Placidusax lost two heads. (Though people will point the the difficulty of their fight,s but ya know. Scaling, builds, skill, etc.) Also love that Igon and Bayle are like, Moby Dick? That's really awesome.

BEHOLD! A TRUE DRAKE WARRIOR!

I truly feel like this is the best dlc boss and the most cinematic fight in the entire game, he has such a metal phase transition, one of the best ost’s in the game, not to mention the man the myth the legend, the best npc in the game Igon, Bayle is tied with my personal favourite placidusax for best boss in the game ironically

CURSE YOU BAYLE!

Dragons are the enemies I have died more times then radahn. Because of that I learned how they move and attacked and become a really good dragon fighter. Then bayle showed up. My God he was insane.

I was so saddened we couldn't summon Florissax in her Ancient Dragon form. Way more cooler than the Lizard/Argonian look the Dragon's Humanoid form has.

Not sure how hot of a take this is, but I think Bayle is the best dragon fight From has ever made. Even better than Midir.

I love how this video's thumbnail is atypically humorous, because you couldn't not do it.

Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps we shouldn’t feast on the heart of Bayle. Perhaps-oops I seem to have consumed it.

So neat idea possibly for the last mentions from Bayles powers - since they possibly based animations on MH for the great katanas and def for the dragon one model design wise.. its neat to know that in the MH series there is a legend for one of the darker dragons Fatalis that their armor will 'consume' and be reborn from a hunter that fells it in a sense if they wear it.

it's interesting that Bayle shares the same, often overlooked, title as "Dread" Fortissax. could it be that the Ancient Dragons of the Boulderstone (the -sax suffix, aside from Placidusax) sided with Bayle and his ambitions? if that were the case then it was likely Bayle desired to rule humans with an iron fist rather than Placidusax's unphased approach to them because of the Ancient Dragon War of Leyndell. Fortisax may have even taken the title of Dread when Bayle was chased off to the Jagged peak with Senessax at his side, leaving Dread Fortissax, his sister Lansseax, & their champion Gransax to assault the capital only to be defeated and shown mercy

Unfortunately for Bayle my tarnished is a bit crowded on the inside. And even if suppressed by Miquella's needle. My flame of frenzy hungers still.

CUUUURRRSE YOOOUUUUU BAAAAAAYYLE!!! Seriously though, Bayle may be the tougher boss in-game, but Placi really did more damage than he took in their fight. Placi lost 2 heads and the tip of his tail, and took some slashes across his body. Bayle lost the use of both wings and lost one of his legs, along with also having many slashes on his body like Placi. Placidusax's many heads seem to be more redundancy than anything more important, but the lost heads could have helped with controling lightning, explaining his power back then.

I just want to know why an ancient dragon is chilling up there with drakes

BLESSED YOU STG! and CURSE YOU BAYLE!

I would like you to do a video on the dragons again, cause I think Greyll and her kin were not followers of Bayle. Yes they were banished and shunned from the ancient dragons but her dragons distinctly dont have Bayles lightning. We can see 2 drakes fighting eachother, one without lightning like normal and with lighting unlike any other drake. We also fight an ancient dragon with Bayles lightning, i believe hinting that the dragons split into manh different groups. You had the ancient dragons of Placidusax, ancient dragons of the golden order, modern dragons residing in the lands between(i assume either doing their own thing or trying to redeem themselves for the ancient dragons), then Bayles followers that go against the order

The Bayle taking over the body of it's consumer reminded me of Fatalis from monster hunter series

I find it quite curious, as I love to research names, one of the many google researches gave me the result of 'Bayle' meaning 'beautiful'. I found it somewhat amusing that the traitor to the Dragonlord was called the beautiful in a way, in a similar way as Lucifer was depicted to be beautiful. But seriously, I thought I was seeing things when I saw those two heads on its neck, like they looked so familiar (I went into the DLC without any spoilers and heard from Bayle only from the Dragonlady and the legend himself), so seeing this...MONSTER put up such a ferocious fight and literally fighting on its last leg...he matches, nay, exceeds Midir's aggression, because good lord that guy is relentless. As for you, STG, once again, a marvelous video, a lovely way to end my long week of work and enjoy the rest of my weekend. The calm voice is always so soothing to listen to.

All together now igon enjoyers CURSE YOU BAYLE!!!!

Omg it all makes sense now. The god that placidussax went into waiting for was the greater will. The dlc says that the fingers lost communication along time ago, and placidussax has been waiting a long time. He really was the first elden lord

I'm still puzzled by the dialogue from the spirit where you find Bayle's talisman, also is part of the abyssal woods map, put together seems to suggest that Bayle has at least a passing relationship with Frenzy or chaos

I saw the piece of balye's fight in the dlc trailer, and when I got to the jagged peak I knew that was where the fight was and got so hyped.

I wonder if the Tarnished did overindulge in Comunnion? I think I learned all of the Dragon Incantations, but I still have some hearts left so technically the Tarnished does stop consuming. That said you do have The DREADed warning when you consume Bayle. Also, the Drake Knight set should've had some special effect considering it springs from a story like this.

I believe that drakes were equivalent to Omen/misbegotten, or just anything outside of their version of grace. Drakes are like weird mutant dragons to the ancient dragons

It's interesting that so many drakes have fire abilities "similar" to those of Bayles but non have his lightning or anything similar

Beating Bayle is one of my proudest moments in any FromSoft game I've played. I almost gave up so many times, knowing that it would be smarter to come back later (for context, this was only the third dlc boss I'd fought). But every time I respawned, I couldn't resist going back in for another try. He's probably my favorite fight in Elden Ring as a whole, with Mesmer just behind him.

It's hard to say. There certainly are similarities, such as both Bayle and the drakes having only 4 limbs, the forward pair being converted into wings, unlike the ancient dragons, that seam to have 6 or more. But there are also differences as well, such as skull structure and body mass distribution. Was Bayle the first? Or were these drakes already there and he was just most prominent of them? Alas, we'll most likely never truly know.

I love that He is missing his leg. Showing both dragons left the fight with serious injuries

It's also interesting that some ancient dragons decided to side with Bayle, this Is evidenced by the presence of Senessax and the Red lightning jar which tells us that the Red lightnings where wielded by the rebels as well. The priestess Florissax, Just like lansseax, assumed human form and obtained a heart, so maybe the First Drake knights were dragons as well? Perhaps they can "shapeshift" sacrificing their immortality and body?

I love how every video that includes Bayle/Igon HAS to have the legendary voice acting. It’s a crime if it’s not included 😂 I could listen to it all day

The weapon lodged in the giant drake’s head has a corroded green color underneath the rocks built up on it. I think Plasidusax’s god is the same god that created verdigris. Specifically the goddess we see statues of in the ruins of Rauh, since we find the verdigris discus in front of one of her shrines.

The dragon lore the dlc introduced was so cool, I wish there was even more. Bayle's ancient rivalry with Placidusax gives me Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah vibes. And of course the quest gave us Igon, the coldest, most badass NPC, my favorite next to Sir Ansbach.

Igon is my favorite npc in the DLC so I had to summon him and also I dealt the death blow to Bayle using Placidussax's Ruin. Now both their revenge against Bayle is now complete.

I need information on that dead drake at the Grand Altar. I like to imagine that it was Gransax who took it down.

I think it is worth mentioning in a Bayle lore video that Bayle is inspired by or a reference to Balerion the Black Dread from the GoT/ASoIaF universe. Balerion was the largest Targaryen dragon, ridden by Aegon the Conqueror. The similarities are superficial so do not actually come into play for his story/lore. But between the similar name, identical epithet, being one of the biggest dragons in-universe, being the same color, and being directly associated with George R. R. Martin, it seems like a very clear nod.

The Red calorblooms have the base of Arteria Leafs and seem to be the full flegded Form of these plant which sustane themselves and are born of great heroes with their blood still flowing through the thick veins of the leaves.

I am curious if Bayle would have had any plans to converse or interact with others in the lands of shadow similarly to how the dragon cults incantations of leyndell were taught. Would he attempt to utilize other armies maybe? Just a few odd and disjointed thoughts on the matter I’ve had. Nice video either way, love your guyses content.

Have you wondered why some banished knights use a weaker form of dragon communion incantation? My head canon is that they worked together to slay a dragon and each ate a part of the heart, not an entire heart.

Bayle is this world's Fatalis if your belief about how eating his heart will allow him to live again, like the armor made from Fatalis is said to turn it's wearer into a Fatalis over time.

Placidisax looks like the two fingers in round table hold once the greater will abandons them ... just like the greater will left placidisax stagnant and waiting for the signal from the greater will to return ... The heads like the two fingers are extended up in the air like a pair of antenna...

It's funny how there's almost a weekly theme to the Elden lore youtube community. I feel like this week it's Bayle, last week was Midra, week before Miquella, week before hornsent/shaman, week before Messmer. Super broadly speaking of course but it seems like when one new topic gets a big treatment at least 3 or 4 other channels do the same. Probably coincidence and partially algorithm based, not saying its necessarily intentional.

9:09, That reeks of the tales. The tales of the black dragon who now resides in Castle Schrade

The voiceactor did such an amazing job he stole heart not only from Bayle, but also hearts of the whole community

Here's one thing that I was wondering. In the Jagged Peaks, you fight some drakes, but also an ancient dragon. I have to wonder, was this ancient dragon sent there to possibly fight Bayle - OR did it defect over to his cause? I can't think of any other reason it would be there, but would love to know what others think. Love your videos by the way. Been watching them for a long time and this is one of my favourite channels.

This was so good and now beating him with matrial arts I feel even more badass lol, great vid!

This piece of lore isa tribute to Moby Dick and captain Ahab. It literally has the same energy FROM HELLS HEART, I STAB AT THEE!

Honesty the only thing I dislike about Bayle is that his model doesn’t have any imbedded harpoons in it. My man Igon deserves the added beef

In my opinion the dragon god isn’t the greater will but some other outer god that foresaw the greater will coming and fled most likely it wasn’t powerful enough to challenge the greater will that enslaves other gods

Approaching igon and hearing him scream about his legs kinda sent me into laughter.

I like your theory about bayles heart i made a reddit post about my theory of it it may be possible for him to come back but if the tarnished can resist him the tarnished may become a dragon

I really enjoy you using the St Trina theme, its a beautiful theme and perfect ambiance for story telling imo I Think it provides a more suitable ambiance. Then the character selection music does

Tbh this might just be me but I really like the implication that Bayle is actually a horrifically tragic character. From the flavour text in the Dragon Communion grease, it can be inferred that the hatred of the Drakes existed even before Bayle’s assassination attempt on Placidusax; this makes sense because if the Greater Will (or the dragons’ equivalent of the Greater Will) really just up and left then physiological changes could be the first sign that something was horribly wrong to the Ancient Dragons, looking down on the ‘devolved’ Drakes like how modern Omen and Misbegotten are seen in Marika’s time. Bayle, the father to the drakes and carrying some of these physiological differences himself, would’ve likely been left to stew in his own hatred for the treatment of him and his kin for something that had no control over, eventually boiling over into a last-ditch attempt to make all dragons equal by overthrowing Placidusax and becoming a new lord. For trying to make him and his family equal to the rest of his own race, Bayle and the Drakes only received so much unjust hate that an entire sub-culture manifested, dedicated to the purging of the Drakes and finally Bayle himself. I dunno, it keeps with theme of cultural prejudices found in the modern era of the game, showing that the general social landscape of the Lands Between hasn’t radically shifted as much as one would expect from era-to-era.

If he returns from the tarnished it’s very similar to the resurrection of Fatalis in Monster Hunter

The thing I find most interesting is how strong these dragons are, both Placi and Bayle are rotting and way beyond their prime yet are still hard fights. Meanwhile you fight demigods and other creatures that are close to their primes. Obviously game difficulty vs lore strength are two different things but it’s interesting to see that the only enemies that are super past their primes are these two dragons.

Before: CURSE YOU BAAAAAAAAYLE After: HAHAHA MORE LIKE FAIL THE DEADFUL

Does anyone notice that above your top eye lids, your character has a burnt discoloration after you devour Bayle heart!?!

Great vid. On a side note my autism wonders what dinosaurs would have been in elden ring

There's something interesting to think about. There are ancient dragons on the peak. Some fighting the drakes. But one just resting before Bayle. Making me believe that it was a traitor to it's kind or believed in Bayle's vision perhaps.

Pretty poetic when you get down to the reference to Ahab, especially since it mentions rolling of all things. "Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee." The most metal way to say, "I hate it and i will kill it, even if i die."

Have fun fighting over my body with the frenzied flame Bayle😁

This area could be the final area and i would be fucking satisfied. The build up is fucking on point. And with a TRUE DRAKE WARRIOR makes it even better

What if the tarnished was the god of rot and ate his heart ? Would bayle be the new scarlet god ? Or what if you are the glintone heart first then would bayle have glintstone flame lighting ? Or what if we had frenzy flame would bayle be dragon lord of frenzy ? Or what if We were the lord of death ( death rune absorbed ) would bayle have death flame lighting ?

Now that makes it interesting how drakes circle Farum Azula

The greater mystery is who took the first head off of placidusax, as he is missing 3, and in the old lord talisman he is depicted with 4. Meaning at some point before he fought bayle, something took the first head off of him, and later bayle took 2 more.

I see bayle as a dad that just wanted the Best for his children considering the treatment drakes recieved from ancient dragons

Love the way this turned out!

My headcanon with Dragon Communion for the Tarnished overall, in spite of what the item descriptions say, is that becoming Elden Lord makes us too powerful to be consumed by Bayle or become a magma wyrm. After all, if we choose the Age of Stars ending, I doubt Ranni is dumb enough to bring us along if she sees we're dragon Communing builds and thinks we'll eventually explode or turn into Bayle on her while we're yeeting off in space. And imagine the Frenzied Flame ending. Melina wouldn't have to kill us. She'd just wait for Bayle to do it for her. I love the theme of great power coming with a great price, but it would not condone the gameplay, nor would it condone any of the endings of Elden Ring in general, it wouldn't make sense unless Elden Ring had its own Dragon Communion ending.

Bayle the Dread went to Bayle the Dead when I showed up looking for another dragon to hunt for some sport

the clutch at the end, lost all flasks and only had a little hp left but still won the boss fight

Can’t help but feel that bayle is a nod to balerion the black dread given GRRMs involvement in writing the lore of elden ring

We need a dragon-focused DLC in ER, either during the dragon war or in the times of "dragon-slaying" Godwyn's prime.

First it was Radahn, now I wanna know what Bayle was like in his prime

I dont even play elden ring yet i know all the lore about Igor. Thats wild.

9:00 reminds me of the armor made from the corpse of another dread dragon; Fatalis, humanity's natural predator, that bathed a civilization in a sea of fire, wiping the kingdom out in a single night, and who is worshipped as a god of death, and is the final boss of the first Monster Hunter game, as well as of Monster Hunter World's expansion. If you defeat Fatalis (undeniably a difficult feat, at least in his latest iteration) enough times to get enough parts, you can make an armor set from the pieces of his corpse, whose descriptions tell that it gives the wearer terrible nightmares, covers them in an ever-present sense of dread, and, according to legend, will one day take over the wearer's body, transforming them into a new Fatalis. The idea that even when slain and butchered, these dragons may yet live, waiting with rage to take their revenge from the pieces their Slayer takes with them, is apparently a compelling one.

Wow now that I’m here this is by far my fave area in the game

Bayle can try to consume my tarnished all he wants. The frenzied flame that's inside will keep him in check.

Since we know Bayle took 2 of Placidusax's heads for a fact, I wonder if someone else took the other missing head, since the Old Lord's Talisman depicts what seems to be Placidusax with only 4 heads even though he had 5, confirmed by both the 3 stumps on his body and the in game files refering to them as left, center and right head. 10:25 Maybe the first head was cut by Godfrey

I think Bale can use ancient dragon spells because he is one not because he stole that power. I have a hard time believing that he could prove an equal match for Palcidusax if he didnt have special powers before their fight. It seems to me that Bayle is likely a deformed ancient dragon, it appears he has some stone like protrusions on his body. Also, we run into a chicken v egg situation. Did Bayle come before drakes or vice versa? It seems like he is portrayed as the progenitor of drake lineage, which implies he was the first and therefore his parentage must be that of Ancient Dragons. The conclusion being that Bayle was a cursed child of ancient dragons, born deformed and imperfect much like Morggot or Mohg, and was likely treated like an outcast in a similar way, we can assume as much as well since his name lack the "sax" suffix. This would imply that Bayle was seen as inferior from birth and not worthy of carrying the legacy of Ancient Dragons. This could actually paint Bayle in a heroic light. Remember all we hear about Bayle is from the perspective of his enemies. I would doubt that Florrisax would be truthful and honest about Bayle's past and treatment under the Ancient Dragon kingdom. We do find a spirit that is actually praising Bayle, asking him to descend from the Peak to destroy the lofty and arrogant. This spirit seems to talk about Bayle as if he is a rebel fighting against tyrants. Everything "evil" or "dreadful" we learn about Bayle comes from the perspective of Ancient Dragons and Drake Warriors. Even his name, we never hear Bayle call himself the dread, only his enemies. From what I can gather, it seems to me that Placidusax's rule was one of oppression. I believe that during Placidusax's rule, humans were likely treated as a slave caste, we know the bestial forms were seen as prestigious even divine, which implies that those who didnt posses beast traits were looked down upon. We often read and hear about "feeble flesh" and "weak humans" when those allied to Ancient Dragons tell of humans. This explains why demi humans, misbegotten and beast folk of various types are treated so poorly in the lands between. They were likely the ruling caste, the oppressors of their age and once the tables flipped, when a human became god with her human lord, the formerly lower caste humans usurped power and took vengeance on their former masters, sadly repeating an endless cycle of oppressed and oppressors. Bayle may be just a casualty of a cruel age where he and his offspring were forced to fight and serve, but never allowed to rule or be treated as equal. An age where he challenged those who looked down upon him and fought to a stalemate. This may paint dragon communion as an evil act of manipulation, Placidusax offering power to his slaves to slay the Drakes for him. The Ancient Dragon Man is no dragon, he is not seen as equal to dragons, Florrisax is mentioned to have traded her draconic power for "feeble flesh", which tells me her current form is seen as less than that of an Ancient Dragon and therefore so too would be the Ancient Dragon mans form. Placidusax offers power to Drake Warriors, knowing full well what fate awaits those who partake too often or for too long. He is an oppressor dangling a carrot that can never truly be attained, luring humans to fight and die for him and his people. There was no reward for Igon, no prize to be attained. The only prize being a heart that will guarantee your demise should you consume it. Bayle challenged Placidusax, and out of spite, Placidusax ordered all of Bayle's children, his kin, to be slaughtered and consumed. Imagine challenging a guy you had beef with, then he goes after your family as a result. That is the action of a bitter, spiteful and vengeful being. If Placidusax is the type to resort to such petty tactics, then he likely wasnt a very good lord and Bayle likely had good reason to fight him. Bayle may be a tragic hero, one who fought the oppressor of his time but was unable to achieve victory. As a result he was subjected to propaganda portraying him as evil, branded a traitor, called 'The Dread" and hunted for ages to come by countless humans he had never wronged or harmed in any way all so they could achieve a portion of power promised to them by their oppressor, a power that would eventually be their undoing. Bayle, a poor soul forever seen as a villain, as some dreadful being that needs to be slayed. When in reality he might have just been a decent guy fighting for his oppressed kin. Wounded, beaten and battered he keeps to himself atop the Jagged Peak forever fighting against enemies he had never wronged, foes who seek to kill him not to end some reign of tyranny, but greedy, proud and envious warriors who only desire power. Bayle never confronts us, he never impedes our progress, he doesnt bring harm upon us or anyone we know, yet we march up the Jagged Peak and slay him for no reason other than attaining a power we honestly dont need, and we call him "The Dread", oh the irony.

Bayle is now my favorite dragon