there's this one thing about erdtee burial and people being reborn that you've overlooked: Rennala's Great Rune. because of that rune being part of the elden ring, people could be reborn.
another subject that's a sort of elephant in the room is the Erd Beast. I'd love to see a synopsis like this regarding that elusive conductor behind the scenes. Personally, I believe he is Radagon, manifested within Marika in order to prevent her betrayal from succeeding. But it was there, far back, behind Placidusax' rule.
I have solved the game. Have a tiny spoiler. The Erdtree IS Miquella's Needle. (At least on our end). The game CAN be solved by watching the opening cutscene and looking at the Elden Ring logo.
@@laipsax When do you place the arrival of the EB? I think this placement has been ignored by most people and it matters a whole damn lot to the way we shape the timeline and what the Lands Between looked like.
@@kimlee6643 I think the elden beast was the creature that destroyed Faram Azula and Nokstella. Astel seems an unlikely candidate to me, as there's multiple Astels. It's a lifeform, not a title. Secondly, Marika is very likely from Nokstella, as are her black knife assassins. Given the Nokstellans plot to kill sets of Two Fingers, it seems fair to say there were also factions loyal to the Greater Will. All these events nicely line up. Farum Azula is complicit in the fostering of crucible ideology and the Nokstellans are planning to break free from the Greater Will, so the elden beast is sent down like an Astel to shatter both kingdoms and raise Marika to Godhood. It's also very possible the Greater Will landed in or near the crucible, and as such formed a bond with the primordial crucible that evolved into the Erdtree.
So I was thinking what do tarnished like Roger see when they look at the tree? I think he say's he can't see grace anymore so Im just wondering if the tree looks different to tarnished like him.
Also, when the Elden Ring was smashed, it badly wounded the Elden Beast as well! When you fight it, at times, you can see a massive gash across it's belly, it's a major weak-spot, if you're lucky enough to hit it, deals quite a bit of damage. Another thing about the fight it'self, you can plainly tell it's wounded, the way it moves at times, etc.! It STILL gives you one of the biggest fights in the entire game!
Those are the roots of the young Erdtree IMO. The BEASTmen worship a previous version of the Erdtree, even preCrucible, and you can see this the symbol of the EldenRing they worship there, with the tendrils/roots, and the EldenLord of this primal root tree is EldenBeast, who did not die, but stepped down for the next EldenLord of the next stage of the Erdtree
The golden tendrils circling the supposed dead branches of the original Erdtree are Radagon's vines. The Radagon Icon talisman shows vines as part of him so that's one piece of evidence. Another is the golden part of the Erdtree we see. That is Radagon as well because when you consider how it is a different color when we do the endings of Despair or the Duskborn because we are Lord of _____. And since the game occurs during Radagon's reign as Elden Lord, it makes sense to consider that hue to be made by Radagon's projections of his ambitions as Elden Lord: to perpetrate the Golden Order as its leal hound. Lastly, and this is speculation on my part, I believe those golden tendrils on the original tree branches is Radagon trying to overtake Marika. After all, Melina tells us that Marika said "O Radagon, leal hound of the Golden Order. Thou'rt yet to become me. Thou'rt yet to become a god. Let us be shattered, both. Mine other self." It could be implied that Radagon is trying to quite literally become Marika. In other words, his golden vines are trying to take over Marika's Erdtree. Definitely not a parallel to the Shadow of the Erdtree image. Thoughts? edited to add: this could very well be what Radagon was thanking Miquella for in his gratitude to Miquella in his Rings of Light incantation. Radagon learned how he might be able to take over the Erdtree by manipulating the language of the Two Fingers, Light, which is why his vines and thorns are barring entry and it could lend into the idea that Miquella knows this as well and it could be tied in the expansion image as well. After all, Rings of Light can easily be used as a sealing technique. Another theory thrown into the winds!
Noticed a few parallels between the Erdtree(s) and the Weirwood trees in GRRM's Song of Ice and Fire, both of which seem to literally store memories and are watered in blood
Yeah, instead of delving into FromSoft tropes, we should be looking at Martin’s themes and philosophies. Elden Ring is about power being ‘worthy’ if and only if it fosters order. Order and stability are the same thing, and if a king can create order through enforcement of their law, they are seen by his subjects as ruling through divine right, succession is based in law. Marika and the Golden Order used their power to redefine reality to fit their changing ideological order. They alienated Tarnished, Omen, etc while accepting Demi-humans, sealing Death, etc. The Golden lineage was undying and incestuous; hereditarily stagnant. Their rot festers - literally and in the Shinto sense.
@@samplexampleFrom tropes still matter. I think the reason Miyazaki chose Martin specifically is because he identified many of the same ideas in his work that Miyazaki puts in his own work. They are both big history buffs, are able to shift between and/or combine SciFi and fantasy worlds with equal mastery as they recognize the basic tenets that are key to the best examples of both genres, and they are both very cynical in their opinion of humanity, yet are both ultimately kinda optimistic. Well, at least George is I think. They didn't have a previous relationship, and in fact it seemed like at first Miyazaki and George were not going to mesh well, with the language barrier and so on, but over the course of their several meetings and conversations, they were able to genuinely bond over their shared interests and ideas. Elden Ring, as far as I can tell, is truly a labour of love from both men, who, along with the From team of course, share an equal part in creating this world. George wrote a high fantasy history that is told through the lens of a character drama focused on a single family's long rise to power, and Miyazaki stepped in to tell the tale of their much more rapid downfall. And of course, sprinkled throughout are hints of a much larger story, cosmic in scale, which I hope is fully explored in the DLC. The idea that this fantasy game is actually a sci-fi has been set up so wonderfully that it would be a shame to not follow through on the execution.
I think that The Erdtrees were already being destroyed by Death Root when the Tarnished arrived. I think that the Erdtree shed its Golden Seeds as a last ditch effort to allow a Tarnished the chance to mend the Elden Ring, and allow Radagon to take over. But since Godwyn's body is in Deeproot Depths, that's why we see in the DLC pic, the root strangling, another Erdtree, to make sure Radagon doesn't come into power. Now it's Miquellas chance to make things "right".
Huh, I never noticed the actual physical branches! I just thought the physical part was a stump. Very cool. Helps explain the supposed strangled tree in the dlc image.
The Erdtree current form is a phantom, literally an object of faith. People even ask if you can see it, not everyone can. The stump and roots beneath is what's left of the crucible, the Erdtree graphed on top originally but burnt down many times.
The Erdtree is shown to be solid bark during the Ashen Capital part of the game, and the branches in particular are easy to confirm as wood. Additionally, the Erdtree has large swathes of brown bark along the trunk and branches in the Age of Fracture ending. People ask if it's seen in more of a rhetorical sense, and it's never implied that holy incantations are stealthy against a "nonbeliever" of sorts.
I believe that the period where the Erdtree could give blessings in the form of dew was when it was physical, the short period after Marika and Godfrey got into power. An unknown entity burned this Erdtree, shown by the ash in the capital before the Tarnished burns the erdtree
Not sure if anyone else has noticed. But the pearl on the "Scepter of the All-Knowing" has reflective/mirror physics. It reflects at rather odd angles, but I was able to get only 2 pics I put up on tiktok, if anyone can get more or better pics using free cam mods on pc feel free too, cause mine was on xbox and they were not easy to take.
Hey Zio, great vid as always. About the golden vines you see growing in the Erdtree canopy; you can see them in game from the Mountaintops of the Giants, atop the giant skull by the Church of Repose. So perhaps they should be considered for observable lore!
I believe the 2:27 "vines" aren't meant to be separate from the tree. In "Mend the Elden Ring" endings, the interior bark of the Erdtree itself begins to glow gold, implying the gold is natural to it. Furthermore, the golden Erdtree Seeds grow into brown minor Erdtrees with gold leaves. The Minor Erdtree Church has young Erdtrees beginning to glow, with a faint orange tint akin to the Crucible incantations and the Icon Shield, to boot. Additionally, the Warming Stones note that "the Erdtree was once as warm as the gentle sun, and would gradually heal all who bathed in its rays." This indicates that the Erdtree naturally produced golden light in its history, rather than that coming later, and the light was beneficial rather than parasitic. As for why the roots don't glow, they might have no reason to, being underground, or that's a sign of minor damage from the Death Blight. Regarding the burning Erdtree at 4:39, the Erdtree is not actually red -- in addition to the fire, the energy of the Rune of Death is cascading across the tree, and some parts of the bark are in an embering state, where burning wood can resemble hot coals. After Maliketh's defeat, several branches of the Erdtree are visibly brown rather than red, with great views of this from the Elden Throne area. Sections of the Erdtree's trunk during the "Ashen Capital" state are visibly brown as well, and in the Age of Fracture ending, when the Elden Ring is mended with no additional rune, the Erdtree is brown with a golden glow once the fire subsides. As for why an outer layer of the tree is gold, some trees have different colored bark on different layers, such as the white poplar, sycamore, and rainbow eucalyptus. It's also noteworthy that this brown layer of the tree is what needs to be burned to access the Elden Ring, and every character refers to it as the Erdtree, as opposed to it being treated as a separate tree. For the DLC teaser image at 6:03, the Erdtree's gold isn't depicted as some kind of outer shell, but rather a sap being literally squeezed out of the Erdtree itself. This seems to imply that the gold is innately part of the Erdtree, and losing the gold damages the tree in general. Also, regarding Tarnished Archaeologist's theory about the gold, it's implied that the guidance of Grace, the golden paths leading away from each Grace point, are what become lost to some Tarnished. If the Grace itself couldn't be seen, then it'd be bizarre for no country or force opposed to the Erdtree to claim that the tree is just normal bark. Something else implying the Grace and holy energy are naturally visible is that holy incantations aren't treated like they could have a stealth effect a la Sellia's night sorceries. For the possible Crucible statues, I don't think the Erdtree is "winning" against the other sprouts, as they're all still depicted as part of the same tree, and thus are just "limbs" of the same being. Also, the Erdtree sigils seem to feature three distinct directions that end with a sort of geometric canopy, perhaps implying that the Erdtree is still the sum of each fledgling branch rather than a single one winning out. The damaged trees at the Deeproot Depths could be from Astel, Naturalborn of the Void devastating the Eternal City there, along with the subsequent Death Blight plague. Finally, regarding Erdtree burial and its purpose, several characters state or imply that the Erdtree can reincarnate or otherwise revive people. The best evidence of this seems to be the Great Rune of the Unborn, which literally can revive or otherwise rebirth people, even in its fractured state. The rune is smaller than the rest of the Great Runes, perhaps implying that less of it was removed from the Elden Ring than every other rune, further explaining Rennala's difficulties with it that result in only the Tarnished, wielding the rune and a Larval Tear, being able to safely change. With the Great Rune of the Unborn fully intact, and within the Elden Ring, perhaps it regulates reviving people, along with helping new life in general. Thanks for this nice look at the Erdtree and its workings!
I remember last year before the game came out I thought the Erd Tree was gonna be a level, like we would have to traverse all the way up it and we could get a view of the whole map from certain cracks in the tree, and at the top we would fight Malenia, I was wrong but would’ve been cool!
There's so many complicated ways that the lore can come out of Elden Ring. I once read a discussion that the current Erdtree *is* the old Erdtree, but the Greater Will grew it over the old one through the parasite that is the Elden Beast. It grants blessings in exchange for faith, and that faith has some kind of power or it has a use for the Outer Gods, maybe they simply feed on it. It's not that far off from what real world, large, organized religions have done over time, sans the Outer Gods and feeding of course. ...of course? If looked at as the same tree, a lot of the talisman and item descriptions overlap and make sense. They're not talking about the sap of *this* Erdtee, they're talking about the sap of the old Erdtree; this one doesn't give off sap, it doesn't grant power, it doesn't take in the spirits of the dead, it's not a crucible. Organizations of sufficient power don't give away things for free. Installed as the figurehead I feel it may have been Marika's discovery of this lie that led to the shattering, and why she's impaled and crucified inside the tree (not with gold, but with red), the Greater Will was *pissed*. It's trying to hold on to the Lands Between and what's left of the tree. Maybe this has been talked about all before, I've been out of the loop for a while and only recently started NG+.
I’ve always thought that the Erdtree was actually just a giant big tree, and only certain people see it as a glowing tree. Corhyn’s dialog when you first meet him supports this as well. I think this is a metaphor for there being an objective truth, but people project their own bias on to it (the Greater Will).
Elden Ring’s lore is endlessly fascinating; it’s so multifaceted that it can’t be comprehended in its entirety all at once. Every answer brings another question, it’s like a cosmological thought-loop captured in digital form lmao Lord have mercy
Relating to the vine/veiny aesthetic hidden from us but visible with free cam, there's an image in the first artbook that features the Elden Beast and its realm, with the now classic many branch-less trees, but unlike in the game, the ones in the concept art have veiny gold on them, rather than the thorough opaque gold we know. I thought that was curious. I think the Erdtree is perhaps the most iconic central aesthetic/lore element in any game. I really can't think of a more spectacular, captivating, yet utterly mysterious object.
Nice and through analysis! here is my opinion on weirdness of erdtree! besides The content shown in the video, white trees of nox,snowy fields, and Elphael, could be an explanation of "the great tree." English-speaking communities have criticized it as a mistranslation, but it is still a hot topic in the Asian community. To summarize, Erdtree(golden tree) and Primordial tree(older trees) can be distinguished, and the term "great tree" is a collective term for these world trees. From what I have gathered, it seems that ancient trees can be distinguished to [white trees] and [red trees]. In the Deep Loot area, you can observe roots with white or red leaves, and in Pharum Azula, you can see small trees that have been "crossed" by these two trees. The theme of red and white trees is also evident in Miquella's Haligtree. Haligtree is predominantly red due to Scarlet Rot, but Miquella's golden needle and great shields show the appearance of white trees, and there are also mixed appearances like the Sacramental Bud. In conclusion, in my hypothesis, the primordial Erdtree is a tree crossed version of the two ancient trees. Now, then how the golden tree was born? It's a very complex hypothesis, but I perceive that the Greater Will, the subject of the golden tree, is divided into pure(unalloyed) gold and imposter(alloyed) gold. It contains massive imaginings distinguising the sun(the god of ancient dragons) and the Greater Will, similar to hypotheses regarding Oedon and the Moon presence in Bloodborne. Anyway, in my hypothesis, the current golden tree is being controlled by the imposter Greater Will, and Miquella was the first to fully understand this secret. The events he and Marika undertook to break free from its interference were the Night of the Black Knives and shattering of the Elden ring
I think its enia that literally says like " the eardtree is the representation of the elden ring, and the elden ring is its roots". So basically the eardtree is the physical representation of the elden ring which is basically a group of laws that decide the order of the lands between. So if the elden ring is shattered the tree will spread seeds and appear broken like its dying. Ehich is exactly what happens.
I’ve taken the “transparency” of the erdtree as the “remembrance” of the tree before it. In the same way that the “memory” of Godfrey battles you as you arrive at the base of the erdtree to protect it, that same golden memory is what we see overlayed on the dead tree. I think this also applies to the roundhold keep. Our nexus resides in the memory of the erdtree.
It is likely that the practice of carving Remembrances into the Erdtree was inspired by the old Finnish tradition of the cross tree/pruning tree. "When a person passed away a large piece of bark was removed, and person’s date of birth and date of death were carved into the tree. These trees worked like gravestones; they also reminded deceased people that they belonged to the world of the dead, not to the world of the living." Coincidentally, there is another old practice from Finland called "rune singing", where the meaning of "rune" is something approximate to "chapter of a story".
Maybe someone is projecting the gold visage, similar to how we fight a Golden Godfrey ghost prior to facing Morgott. It's a remembrance of how it was before.
"The fallen leaves tell a story..." To me this line meant that the fact that they have fallen is significant. There are no seasons in the land between from what we see; only biomes. The Erdtree exists in a forever spring, granting bounty and life. However, this age appears to have passed, as sap and other blessings have stopped flowing. Now even the leaves have begun falling, leading to the autumn of the Erdtree's life. It is dying in the stagnancy of the age.
I can't remember what culture it's from, but there's some antiquity-era belief where each leaf that falls from the world tree represents the soul of one who passed or something like that. I forget the details I'll have to try and find it again, but I remember immediately thinking of that exact quote. Might be a coincidence, but given how heavily ER draws from the beliefs and architecture of antiquity through until the end of the Eastern Roman Empire in the middle ages,
That's never confirmed in-game. It's likely they began to be cultivated by the Golden Order before the Shattering because the Minor Erdtree Church houses the GO Seal and Marika's echo about the founding of the Order - this is by far the church with the strongest emphasis on the Golden Order and it's dedicated to Minor Erdtrees.
Ehm, altough I don't exactly remember where, I'm quite sure that there are multiple descriptions (I think im Miracles) where the origin of the Erdtree is clarified. The tree existed as a natural giant tree during the Crucible Era and it was a symbol of life itself, chaotic and plentiful, before the Golden Order and the Elden Beast arrived. When the Elden Beast arrived as an envoy of the Golden Order, it buried itself inside the Erdtree and it started taking over it as a parasite (that is why there is a gold layer atop the wood). Thanks to this the influence of the Golden Order and it's blessing began to spread, and people and beast started being born more "perfect", for lack of a better word, and no longer an amalgam of multiple aspects of animals as depicted in the talismans and Miracles of the Crucible Knights. That is how the Crucible became something taboo, which had to be forgotten and the only true way was that of the Goldem Order. I believe this is due the fact that the Outer God of the Golden Order, as every other Outer God, needs to influence creatures and for those creatures to believe in them and to venerate them. That is the same reason why the Golden Order is so against Those Who Live in Death, as they go against what the Golden Order has established and that may reduce its influence. The Elden Beast took over the symbol of life of the Lands Between and made it it's own symbol to spread the influence of the Golden Order, and Marika had no issue helping it as long as she and those dear to her lived a good and eternal life. But when her firstborn was killed it meant that the Golden Order couldn't always keep its promise, and in anger and grief I believe, she shattered the Elden Ring. But the Gilden Order needed it's adalid, it's champion, so the Elden Beast imprisoned her while the Golden Order tried to find a substitute for her so that it could keep expanding its influence, and tha's where the Tarnished appears. That is why my favorite ending is Rani's, as she realized this, and decided to creare a future where the people could live without the influence of Outer Gods who decide who and how to live, as the Black Moon is an Outer God that does not influence those who believe in it as its beliefs are practically "each to their own" xD. I don't know, to me it just seemed pretty clear that the Erdtree existed from before, and the Golden Order sent the Elden Beast as a parasite to take over it and spread it's influence. That is why the Golden Order is so against other Gods and religions, as they would reduce it's own grip on the people it needs to grow stronger.
Thinking on it now, I wonder if "the people born at the foot of the Erdtree" isn't supposed to refer to the living pots. Whatever their original purpose, it's clear that the ritual pots used to store bodies for the Minor Erdtrees at some point developed independent sentience, minds, and even their own cultures separate from their use as a component of erdtree burial; perhaps, back when this event was new, the living pots were embraced as holy beings, or perhaps as old heroes granted new life by the erdtree.
The Erdtree is an Axis Mundi-- a world pillar/tree/ladder connecting heaven and earth. The pieces to it are as follows: -The Tree -The Golden Order -The Greater Will -Queen Marika -Second Elden Lord Radagon -The Elden Ring -The Elden Beast -Anything that is "grafted" to it has a divine root that hooks up to them like mindslaves of the Matrix, and their "flames" of ambition are spurned onward by the grace of gold (the golden light of the Erdtree). If you consider the thematic elements of Radagon, it is also home to The Sun, which in classical astrology is typically the helio-centre to many models, making it appropriate that it would also be the location of the "King" of the "Fire Giants" [stars] (also, the Sunless Realm, etc.) If you also were to view the Axis Mundi like the centerbore of a wheel, connected to the "wheel" made up of the World Serpent in many classical interpretations (Ouroboros, etc.) While in-game these symbols are at end, there is a contradiction at play with the Great Serpet and the Erdtree itself because Rykard-- a member of the Golden Lineage-- fed himself to the serpent, twisting it up. Simultaneously, the shattering broke what would commonly be considered the "cycle" (also, read the item description for Memory of Grace.) If you want to get really in-depth with the conspiracy about this heresy, consider Prince Ricard's characteristics throughout all the FromSoft games he's been mentioned in, and consider Rykard's Rapier as relating to the sword Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy fights with. The item description there reads something like "the Prince's story is typically told as a monomyth." Seeing as a monomyth and a cycle being simultaneously being true, it's hard to say if it's paradoxical to have a something as stagnant and unchanging in the style of story as something that is supposed to cycle persistently, maintaining fluidity. Yet, just as much as this rots it, a monomyth exist's in the Hero's Journey cycle (which the term "monomyth" is most often attributed to.) It begs the question: Is blasphemy the most orderly thing to commit by the natural conclusion of the Golden Order's laws on convergence? Is madness is a finality for anything that maintain's perfect order without blasphemy? The term for something that stands in complete and total opposition to the order of the world also shares a principle and name: Contra Mundi. Things that are part of the Golden Order: Radagon's Fundamentalism -this includes things like cosmic colonization of the Greater Will's golden light, the Laws of Regression, Causality, and the Immutable Shield, Proper Death (but not Destined Death), and Anything That Miquella Says (see Bewitching Branch) -Typical European medieval chivalric heteropatriarchal practices of marriage, heraldy, and blood quantum. -Marika's Own Words (via Melina) Things not permitted: -thorns, flames, free-thought, etc.
I spent so much time hyping myself up for whatever was in store for me when I finally reached the Erdtree that the truth was probably never going to be as interesting as I was hoping it would be. It's my own fault I guess, but I'm still weirdly disappointed with the endings. I was expecting so much more from finally meeting Marika herself and seeing the Elden Ring with my own eyes. And I was hoping for more of an impact on the world. Something like what happens in Dragon's Dogma after killing Grigori, when the sky gets dark, harder monsters appear, and a giant bottomless fissure opens up in the middle of the city.
I don't know why this is never mentioned anywhere. I can't be the only one whom has noticed that the skulls strewn about the overworld (under the tree) are dropped my the branches. I've seen them fall from the Erdtree twice.
if you want evidence of the golden bit of the erdtree being an illusion, look at the golden seeds. They're found under golden saplings, but how would a golden sapling sprout without it's seed germinating? It's an illusory sapling.
Regarding the cracks around the trunk, someone on the elden ring lore reddit speculated that it has the same markings as if the deathroot tree from the dlc poster was invisibly wrapped around it.
I like the idea of the Erdtree just being this thin layer of gold covering a rotten trunk. Reinforces the idea that everything is just being kept up for appearances. The Golden Order is just a cheap lie gilded over the sad truth of things.
The very interesting thing is when you travel to the dimension of the elden beast, which for me is another alien interacting with the world thru it’s fingers, you can infinite golden tress in the background. This beings control several worlds in the same way, thru trees and fingers
Has anyone looked for clues about the Erdtree in the Erdtree avatars? As avatars, they are embodiment of the Erdtree's power and nature. And to a one, there's nothing radiant or graceful or inspiring about them. They're twisted, broken open, damaged, rotted, gnarled and quite dead looking, with no leaves of green or gold on them. What could we draw about the tree their embodying from their nature?
Kindof. I have noticed that the stakes of Marika near at least some of the Erdtree Avatars have gold vines wrapped around them, and are more deteriorated) missing arms, head, etc.
Amazing how little information you can put into so many videos. I'll probably take some inspiration if i ever need to make a power point presentation ever again.
Big reach: Erd tree is the divine tree from legend of dragoon. Demi gods are wingly, elden beast is the divine dragons' soul corrupted by a powerful wingly woman, Merika. This explains the existence of elemental dragons. Put the dragoons in the damn dlc Fromsoft!
I love this explanation; reminds me of when you see Boc at the capitol and he asks eagerly if you’d seen the tree…as if he were unable even though he is easily within aight of it.
in another video you mentioned the unique armor set, the blue fabric with a rustic erdtree symbol that can't be found on anywhere else even though description says it's a popular depiction in the lands; that tree symbol is showing one tree but it's t-shaped with intertwined strings, which could be a stand-in for the helix tree, a very very old symbol showing the old full erdtree?!
I don't know if this would be relevant information but the Artbooks Volumes 1 and 2 for Elden Ring was supposed to release July 15th. However, now it's being slated to release on September 5th. Maybe that is when the DLC will drop? It's a huge speculation but would be insane if it did.
Another mysterious thing about the erdtree is the stone platform inside of it where marika is crucified and the elden beast emerges. It makes me thing that the erdtree itself of some sort of elevator or portal to divine realm of some sort
Well, the Elden Beast does seem to fight us in a different realm of sorts. I couldn't even begin to guess what's going on in that whole encounter though, like how we get there, or where "there" even is. I desperately wish I knew exactly what it all means, but it's probably supposed to be beyond comprehension.
I really wish their would have been more areas that required us to climb or descend parts of the Erdtree like in the depthroots which is really kinda limited
I saw a great video by Tarnished Archeologist theorizing that the Erd Tree is an illusion of faith. It is only seen by those guided by Grace. For others, it just looks like a charred stump from being burned at the time of The Shattering.
The little mini erdtree thing growing from where you lost your runes just reminds me of a parasite feeding off the runes. The erdtree is clearly a parasitic entity on the world, and it feeds off the power of the world, and the power of the people within the world. Whenever you lose your runes, it's just another instance of that erdtree trying to feed off you by hovering over your runes like flies over a carcass.
imo the erdtree is a metaphor for the superstructure of the lands between. the superstructure is the amalgam of social structures required for the reproduction of society, for individuals to participate in economic activity, to accept wages and conditions offered, to have children and raise them, etc. it is the media, academia, government, the constitution, religious institutions, it is more or less the rules (and tools to enforce them) necessary for each individual to participate in the social order. it appears all powerful and eternal, much like we view the states we live in today, but just like the monarchies of europe, the contradictions of the economic system cannot be resolved within its own rules, and cause cracks to appear (the bark breaking or strikes, uprisings, revolutions)
Just look up YGGDRASIL and the well of Urd from Norse mythology. This will answer a lot of questions. Many things in Elden Ring are borrowed from Norse lore.
Have you ever combined Marika and radagons names they spell out to a concept of Maragoni if you look at the maragoni effect I think it may be linked to the idea of the erdtree.
here a take. maybe the erdtree has the same kid of memory bank powers as the cadou from resident evil 8. however. your double helix idea also makes sense.
This was one of the best lore videos in a while! I think the age of plenty ended when the Erd Tree was burned. The tree we see now is 100% faith with a burnt husk underneath. Maybe that’s why the tarnished were sent away, they could see the true burnt tree. I also think it might have been the gloam eyed queen who burned it. That may be why she was finally vanquished. This would all have happened very long ago, before radagon became lord.
When the Erdtree burns in the Ashen Capital part of the game, large swathes of brown bark are visible on the tree, and the branches in particular are easy to confirm as wood. The Erdtree seems to be a solid, brown tree with a gold glow in the Age of Fracture ending too. As such, the Erdtree is probably still intact and alive.
This might sound dumb but have you ever wondered what the broken glass shard even is and find it odd, It's worthless because if I remember nearly everything else has a rune conversion rate.
i am convinced Elden Ring is meant to be taken literal entirely. i think the lands between are a realm of literal myth, where thoughts and essence are one and the same. thats why seeing one thing or another converts you to a follower/being of that order; and why the pumpkins block out all light.
I thought the making you're calling vines kind of looked like the paths eaten by wood beetles, under the bark. When the bark falls away you see the paths and the paths look like those looping swirls.
i think the story of the erd tree is told right ouside it, on the mural that serves as a gate..first there was a crucible, then the elden ring, after the actual erd tree,from there there is another small tree like figure and right after what apears to be a burnt or dead tree, there is also a sword like rod that goes through all of them as if pointing in a direction, which then begs the question is this all a cycle?? also the hilt of what apears to be a sword is garding the elden ring and not the erd tree, all iterations of the tree are a part of the blade so was it more of a weapon ? towards the vary top there is a bunch of what looks like energy, so is the tree now burnt just releasing everything it fed on, and what happens to all of it ....story of the erd tree is that of kings and castles, just instead of king there is the greater will and with it all the power strugles thatt any kindom would face, and like any kindom they try to protect their status and power, influence etc, so then why is the elden ring or crucible so sought after, is there another or others?if there are more outer gods do they have something similar? why are the lands between so isolated, i think its people were to violent because of the crucible\elden ring a power to unpredictable and best left alone, im starting to really think its a weapon, to deterr all those from outside who might invade, the burning might serve to release all these souls first consumed and now burnt to serve as a sorta corrupted spirit gas,after all this from the actual husc and roots the crucible could continue and the cycle repeats..the elden beast i think is just an avatar nothing more nothing a less a method to stop the tarnished from stopping the cycle.
What I would really love to know is who came up with the Erd Tree lore. GRRM or Miyazaki? Would also love to know what GRRM wrote and what did Miyazaki change?
Don't you think that picture from the shadow of the erdtree DLC is from the past, and that gold going through the tree is the young erdtree itself choking the Crucible?
I think its interesting to view the erd tree through the paradigm of the sacred trees found in the bible. In eden, there are two: the tree of knowledge and the tree of eternal life. The tree of knowledge and the crucible of elden ring are similar in one important respect. The crucible is the tree of primordial life. Now think about what the phrase 'tree of life' means when used in a biological context. It's a term for a sort of genealogical map detailing the evolution of life from simple to complex organisms. The end point of this process is intelligent life. The human being. That human's in elden ring evolved from a more bestial prototype is evident from the omen curse and other material. The erd tree is obviously a tree of eternal life. The question in elden ring is whether the tree of primordial life and the tree of eternal life were two separate trees or if the former was transformed into the latter by (possibly) the elden beast. There are two trees on the elden lord throne after all, and the DLC image also shows two trees. The biblical paradigm is relevant because it's based on much older Sumerian myths and given the abundance of Sumerian detail in the remains of the ancient dynasty, who most likely planted these trees, its probably an area worth investigating.
Everything in Elden Ring is nuanced, layered, meta, and combined/amalgamated just like our existence. Elden Ring is a mirror of our world where our information, power, and influence affect The Lands Between and vice versa. Male Gods rule our existence, Females rule theirs. Females (The Egg/Crucible) existed first in ours, Males (The Chicken/Dragon) was first in theirs. Everything is mirrored except one thing which stays the same in both universes. That thing is currency in the form of gold which is created by the Kos/Cosmos(God) crashing into Earth and The Lands Between creating an extinction event that births new life from the old, dead, and extinct. That life evolves, develops intelligence, discovers gold and thinks it comes from a humanoid Gods fingers wearing gold rings and plunging it's hands into Earth/TLB to create life and leave shavings of it's gold rings behind. Gold is Gods gift to these existences so the balance between intelligence and physical prowess doesn't tilt too far one way or the other. Everything needs balance.
What if our job is to bring out the remembrance of Miquella from the Erdtree and a result, the erdtree is corrupted when we take it our or something like that
I remove trees for a living. And I can tell you that what we see in game is the roots. In game pictures of the Erdtree show us the top n bottom and it's separated by a ring. Everyone is born at the base of the tree, at least the ones who live in the land between. The shadow of the Erdtree show a tree with sap, it's also lacking sun, because someone as put a Vail over it. The land of shadow is in fact a land of shadow because of this and we will be infact under the Erdtree not the roots.
the Erdtree is an alien lifeform grafted on the The Great Tree, and its not an actual tree, but just a hallucination induced by the alien parasite, The Grace. Thats why some characters ask you if you can see it. Also thats why it behaves so strange when viewed from a far. How do I know that the Grace is an alien? Well, people mention it falling as a golden star, so yeah, meteors. Thats why Radahn held the stars, so no other competing alien lifeform can invade. How do I know? Yet again, we can clearly see how much the Order (aka the Grace) hates every other order, The Rot, The Blood Mother, The Moon, the Glinstone etc.
