Elden Ring Lore - Who Is Messmer The Impaler? Shadow of the Erdtree Speculation 

My initial thought was that Messmer was a forgotten son of Marika and Radagon. He is seen as a heretic due to the fact he has snakes which resemble a blasphemous act and that he wields thorns in his flames. I think he's some sort of forgotten demigod that was erased from history bc he was an embarrassment to them. Just like the nameless king from ds3. We know how from soft likes to make call backs to other games

I love that Messmer has almost every "sin" in the lands between in his design and powers: dragon communion eyes, blasphemous snakes, bloody flames, cursed red hair. Maybe he somehow is taking in all of these sins... or Fromsoft wanted us guessing on what his deal is though. Love his design in any case, and Pat's art of him!

He is Miquella best friend, it was his idea to build the treehouse up north. Now he is searching for his long missing childhood friend.

Something I haven’t seen many people talk about and I find very interesting is the bear roar incantation they showed us. It’s resemblance to dragon roar incantations makes me wonder if those old theories about Rune Bears actually being dragons have some truth to them.

Messmer’s spear (and the spears he summons) kinda look like what’s sticking out of dead giants on the mountaintops

Miyazaki confirmed the lion thing is a costumed dancer. He also confirmed the fact that the Land of shadows is where Marika became a god.

I think Messmer is the opposite of Godwyn. If Godwyn is the perfect demigod-prince loved by everyone then Messmer was such a crazy and destructive guy that Marika locked him up in an entirely different land to keep him the f away from everyone.

Outside the Impalers Catacombs in the weeping peninsula, there's a spirit outside saying "O Marika. Queen Eternal. He is your unwanted child." This to me seems like concrete evidence that his mother is Marika. They had it planned from the beginning. FS are goated.

Like how Radahn glorified Godfrey and his father, Rykard might’ve found inspiration from Messmer

In medieval times having twin boys was actually seen as a detriment because it caused major issues for the line of succession. I believe we have a "Man in the Iron Mask" situation with Messmer. He was Godwyns twin but not wanting the line of succession disputed, he was disinherited and banished. His red hair was likely the factor that caused Godwyn to be the more desirable heir. Mesmer was erased from all forms of record keeping to prevent rebel factions of being drawn to him much like the Nameless King. Perhaps being disinherited led him to resent the golden order and fall to blasphemous acts like dragon communion, snake worship or fire worship. This also adds to his comment about why Marika chooses us (presumably) to be lord and not him, he should be next in line after Godwyns death but still remains banished fueling even more resentment. Wild theory based on no evidence time! What if Messmer is the villain responsible for the chaos and blasphemy in the lands between? What if he is the one who consorted with Ranni to kill Godwyn? People have long theorized that Marika assisted Ranni in her plot and provided her with the Black Knife Assassins. This however never answered why Marika would do that in any convincing way. But what if it was Messmer? What if Messmer consorted with Ranni to have Godwyn killed so that Messmer could take his place as the favoured son and heir only for Marika to once again shun him and destroy the ring in favour of a tarnished becoming lord. Maybe she even shattered the ring to prevent Messmer from controlling it. She split the ring amongst the demigods like Radahn and Malenia to prevent Messmer from remaking it. Thats why she has been impaled, Messmer tried to usurp the Elden Ring so Marika shattered it, he then impaled her in the womb so she couldnt have more kids (ie: she cant produce another heir leaving him her only uncursed son) To me this makes a lot of sense, if Messmer is Marikas son then it stands to reason that he may ties or influence with her homeland (presumably the Shadow lands) which may be where the Black Knife Assassins come from. This also makes sense as the Assassins were said to have their faces concealed by shadow, perhaps a reference to the shadow lands and how it has been concealed? The Black Knife Assassin outside Marikas bed chamber was placed by Messmer to stop us from becoming lord. The Assassins in the catacombs seemingly protecting the death root could also be planted by Messmer to ensure deathblight continues to corrupt the lands between as some form of revenge by Messmer. He is tarnishing his brothers legacy out of spite and envy. His line questioning our lordship could be further evidence of his spiteful and vengeful nature. Messmer is the true villain, he secretly orchestrated everything. He had our finger maiden killed to prevent the tarnished from becoming stronger and becoming lord. He told Mohg where to find Miquella to prevent Miquella from becoming god. He told Rykard where to find the Great Serpent as to instigate a war. He is the ultimate anarchist, who has been sowing the seeds of chaos and discord from the very beginning.

Similar to Mick Foley and Cactus Jack, you'll never see Messmer, St. Trina, and Miquella in the same room.

Oh damn, the artist really knocked it out of the park for this video

I get the feeling that Messmer is to Miquella what Radagon is to Marika. A red haired Rebus, where all the power of heresy an Empyrean isn't supposed to be wielding can be held on by a clone of its personality.

Mesmer is patches when he grows his hair out and the snake represents his behavior towards the player.😂

Duelist set : "The snake is viewed as a traitor to the Erdtree, and the audience delighted in seeing these bronze effigies beaten and battered." Perhaps this adds weight to the theory that messmer was banished or was given a task by marika. This grand reveal is gonna be amazing

For Messmer, that hair, those draconic eyes, and that helmet look very inspired by Grunbeld from Berserk. Considering all the other Berserk references, I pretty much guarantee it. The name The Impaler also immediately reminded me of Vlad the Impaler, aka the inspiration behind Dracula.

Near the impaler catacombs in the weeping peninsula there is a spirit that says “O Marika, Queen Marika. He is your unwanted child.” Queen Marika has an orange spike *impaled* in her when we enter the Erdtree and Messmer’s imaginary seems to be all blasphemous and anti Golden Order (Thorns, snakes, fire etc.) So I think Messmer tried to kill his own mom was striped of gold and was legible to enter The Land of Shadows

I love the idea of the shadow tree actually being upside down roots so the shadow lands could possibly be literally flipped, exciting

He is the forgotten Empyrean of old, that wielded destine death, that Marika seal away. Before the flame erupted you can see the blackness that associated with death. Go watch Maliketh's end fight scene and then Messmer's flame and it's a one to one parallel. The snake iconography is also present in the godskin apostles. I haven't seen anyone say this.

Something about the yellow spine in the old man’s body and head that he’s pulling on looks so reminiscent of the Elden Ring the way it appears inside of Rad/Mar, but missing the rings. The long arms of it flex down as he pulls it up which also seems odd. Elden Ring trick weapon maybe?

I propose Messmer was Melina's twin. Evidence: flames and similar faces

The shadow lands being a literally inverted world actually works well if we assume the carian looking character we see sitting on a throne is indeed the same character from the inverted tower artifact.

I always thought when miquella divested himself it was a separation similar to what Ranni ended up doing. That his physical body and blood was left behind in order to be nutrients to the haligtree, but was cut short by mohg. Now his empty body is just there when the player will use it as the way to access the shadow lands.

you can see hands holding up the head of the dog boy in nearly every shot. one on the chin, and one on the left side of the face.

Messmer kind of feels like a fanmade character(not in a bad way) As in someone using everything that is against the Erdtree. Like I'd expect 1 or 2 aspects for a character to devote their life to causes against the Erdtree, but for him, it's like just everything into one person.

the thing about the cocoon is that we can see Miquella's form in the roots of the haligtree while Melania sleeps against it

Mesmer as a word has more of connection with miquela's abilities of causing infatuation and inducing sleep. Maybe its an additional aspect of miquella? He has the allure of a god no? Alluring is synonymous with mesmerizing.

My theory is the Land of Shadow could somehow be connected to the spirit world mentioned in the item description of Helphen’s Steeple, and the giant shadowy Erdtree is indeed the Helphen itself

The way you described the land as removed, reminded me if Marika removing the rune of death from the Elden ring. Perhaps by doing that she also removed access to this land of (seemingly) death?

Messmer gives me nameless king vibes I suspect he was disowned by Marika like how Gwyn did to his firstborn when he allied with the dragons. Though with the moniker of “the impaler” like vlad the impaler….well let hope he doesn’t go on long walks.

The thought of Messmer being the one in the cocoon this whole time… that’d be pretty cool honestly

Theres a fire in my loins, the trouser snake has wings!

Calling it now: messmer is possible the child of rykard and tanith. Mainly because of the snake either wrapped around him or coming out of him like a weird conjoined twin. The misbegotten beast creature might be a result of grafting, Mainly because of those human like limbs don't match with the animal head.

the fog coming from the lion looks more like fia's mist than death blight

just noticed the butterfly magic takes place at the base of a small, winding tree. almost seems as if someone is defending a newly planted tree…

The face of the old man in the portrait looks somewhat like Morgott’s face on his shriveled body after defeating him in Leyndell.

I'll just leave a few interesting notes here too as an add-on: Messmer's title I "The Impaler", and his abilities seem to resemble both the red spear piercing Marika, as well as the thorn sorceries impaling the giant corpses in the Mountaintops. The second one would be particularly interesting, as him taking part in that war against the giants gives us a slightly better idea of which time period he was a part of. Serpents are also represented in the armor of Duelists, who are inspired by roman gladiators. This is particularly interesting when you consider how Messmer himself seems to wear very roman inspired garb. The trailer also included a Chinese lion and an NPC wearing what looked like a Greek hero's armor, so they seem to be following a theme of ancient civilizations for the DLC's visual style. The Land of Shadows being similar in size or bigger than Limgrave reminds me of the crater in the center of the map. If this was a land that was separated from the Lands Between, that could explain the crater.

I think in addition to the DLC exploring more of Miquella’s story (and possibly Godwin’s) it’s going to focus a lot on the origin of the great Serpent that Rykard fed himself to. There are many references in the base game to the serpent being the ancient archenemy of the erdtree, from item descriptions and design details related to the gladiators/arenas, but details are extremely sparse. Messmer clearly has lots of snake iconography and is even dressed similarly to an arena gladiator. His weapon is also a glaive/swordspear similar to the Serpent Hunter which could be significant. Seems like From cut out nearly everything related to the origin of the great serpent to save it for DLC. It would also make sense considering that Rykard/Volcano Manor had a rather disappointing ending. I have a feeling that there will be a big reveal about Godwin too, there’s too much deathblight stuff in the trailer for him to not be involved somehow.

I was completely off the Evil Miquella hype train, but the trailer actually made me consider it for the first time. I have a feeling this emphasis on "Kind Miquella" in the trailer, shown glowing with divine light at the end of the trailer might be a red herring, and that Messmer is the Fallen/Luciferian/Unseelie Fay/Vampiric (the Impaler clearly parallels Vlad the Impaler a.k.a. Dracula) version to the traditional Angelic, Seelie-Fay version of Miquella. And the name Messmer practically means "hypnotism or a compelling attraction and fascination", which makes me think of the Bewitching Branch description. Also the description that we are following in the footsteps of Miquella makes me think he is not here for interactions with the player, and the description of Miquella who "Divested himself of his flesh, his strength, his lineage. Of all things Golden. And now Miquella awaits the return of his promised Lord." could be read that he stripped himself of everything that made him Miquella, and waits now for the Tarnished as a boss And two things can be true at the same time and not be mutually exclusive, the two versions of Miquella could coexist, be an alter ego, or perhaps a corrupted version that exists as a separate entity, while the spiritual good Miquella might still be a helper.

Also in the trailer we see a boomerang throwing horse humanoid thing and it really reminds me of the Nuckelavee, a cryptid from Scottish folklore

Snakes are described as "traitors", not "enemies" to the Erdtree. So that means Messmer was once an ally to the Erdtree but due to some reason he betrayed them(traitor) & was yeeted into the Shadow Realm lol

I saw a theory about how Messmer is the very being of blaspheme and how he is similar to gwyns first born son in that he might have committed an act or several acts so vile that he was cast out from the lands between and sent to the land of shadow. Some of these acts are that he may have been the one behind the making of the black knives and could have been the first person to steal destined death from maliketh. he could of also been the one to impale Marika/radagon which we see in the cutscene to fight radagon. He's really cool and I can't wait for more lore about him to drop and be discovered

From what I've pieced together from other people talking about Miyazaki's interviews, is that the Land of Shadow is somewhere where Marika first went after becoming a God, not whilst she was still an Empyrean. And this is before the Erdtree took root and creation of the Golden Order. Messmer is also one of Marika's children but prior to her taking Godfrey as her consort and making him the First Elden Lord. Now this is my theory with the overarching story of Elden Ring but with Messmer having the same "cursed" hair as Radagon, it's possible we might finally get some clue or context as to how or why "Radagon is Marika and Messmer possibly has a connection to that.

He has serpents (a blasphemous enemy to the Erdtree), thorns (used by sinners, enemies to the Erdtree), bloodflame (symbol of the formless mother (enemy to the Erdtree)), dragon communion eyes (dragons are enemies to the Erdtree) and red hair of the giants (enemy to the Erdtree). He even shares skin color with the godskins (enemies to the Erdtreekr. All he needs are Omen horns, Albinauric legs and Misbegotten's Boris Johnson haircut to cover all groups the Erdtree/Golden Order hates. The NPC saying ""O Marika. He is your unwanted child." outside of the Impaler's Catacomb supports his mother being Marika. It was puzzling why Godwyn (the only known dead child of Marika) would be unwanted and what it has to do with an "impaler" , so another child (Messmer) makes sense. Maybe he's Godwyn's twin? Or Miquella, Melania and Messmer are triplets? All I know is that it's badass for him to have been planned from the start.

Fantastic work, thank you as always! ❤️

I think Mesmer is a potential body for miquella that he was preparing for himself to be transferred to, due to miquella being incapable of doing much for the lands between in his current form, however it was cut short by mogh and the body was corrupted, it would makes sense that the body was in a cocoon, and the cocoon came from miquellas tree

Excited to read all of the new item descriptions is exactly the thought I had

My theory. Miquela is dreaming he is messmer. Because Mesmer knows the secret to cure the scarlet rot. . Which was miquela goal. Cure Melania of scarlet rot. . Messmer is a memory. And miquela is acting it out to aquire knowledge. But .. perhaps lost himself to mesmmers memory?

Mesmer was a previous elden lord or a candidate for becoming ones, the person we hear asking basically 'mother why would you accept someone like HIM as elden lord' is miquella asking marika why she would be willing to take mesmer as elden lord.

I think that we will see the crucible or that shadow erdtree is the crucible. The crucible was the start of the sprouting of the erdtree and Marika first steps was she surfaced was during the age of the crucible when the tree was still growing. Explains why the themes of the Crucible and primal beings are seen all over the place, and if it’s under the erdtree it’ll make sense that the roots (crucible) are heavily present and explain why it’s corrupted by Deathblight, I don’t know if we will ever solve the Godwyn problem or explore it more in the dlc, I just think it’s a reminder that Death blight is taking over and the only way to stop it is via one the endings.

‘O Marika, queen eternal, he is your unwanted child’ ‘Mother wouldst thou truly Lordship sanction on one so bereft of life’

the first thing messermer said, “mother” is he a servant/son of the formless mother, not a son of marika ? With the dragon knight set he’s got and the blood flame magic I think it’s a possibility we may see the blood star in the dlc

What if the Land of Shadow is where the Tarnished were sent after being stripped of their grace by Marika. Because she is so associated with the area and it is an area devoid of the light and “all things golden” it would make sense and setup some really interesting lore perspectives.

One other thing I noticed is Messmer's title as Impaler. I think that title is in reference to the real-life Dracula, Vlad The Impaler. Messmer hunts down the graceless in the Land of Shadows. Maybe there is an actual threat to the Erdtree and the Golden Order there, and he is all that stands between it and the Lands Between. Just like what Vlad Tepes did when fighting the Ottoman Empire. Messmer's blasphemous visage being in contrast to his dedication to Marika would also resemble how Vlad tried his best to look like a devil to his enemies, torturing many and going down in history as a monster to some, despite being a hero for others.

I believe Messmer's bereft of light dialogue is directed to Miquella.

Everyone says blood flame but to me it looks more like blackflame with the red of true death

My son finally wants to play elden ring so I get to guide him through the game and dlc. Couldn’t be more excited y’all. ❤

Pats art for this episode is fuckin great. Had a great time chatting with you yesterday, great video! We agree on a lot of things; we’ll just have to see whether From throws us any curveballs!

Love your content dude , I was here when the first elden lore dropped and I'll be here till the end

I really love the theory that messmer is the one in the caccoon, bad ass idea, hope it's cannon

The old man looks kinda like that statue of a man surrounded by roots and my theory is his spine is the root of the Elden ring from the crucible days but that's just a theory...

Think you're right about it being Messmer's hand. At the end of the trailer you can hear Miquella saying touch the withered arm. Seems like he shouldn't be able to say that if it was him the egg or he should say touch "my" arm.

Messmer seems to me to be a Dragon Knight, his armor is very similar and he has the dragon eyes the player can also get.

I think Messmer is the one "Bereft of Light". He is the lord of the Shadow Tree.

the flames used by messmer seems to be bloodflame, but on the other hand it has that black and golden tinge to it indicating that it may be the flame of destined death and possibly connecting him to the gloam-eyed queen who used to have the power of destined death

Maybe this was the reason why Rahdahn was stopping the stars from falling as well. He was afraid for Messmer unearthing.

I'm hoping some kind of exploration of the dragon cults and the black flame. I'm a bit upset that there wasn't an ending for either.

Love the idea that the empyreans' shadows come from the land of shadows.

Don’t forget the meaning behind the names. How each child has the same starting letter of one of the parents. If this is a lost/disowned child of Marika that would explain the M. Likely, if he is a child of her and Radagon, could possibly be the first born between them. Gotta remember, the game never truly states how much time passes between events. And much like the Egyptians, the golden order erased anything that didn’t fit their vision.

I'm also waiting for the lore theory dive into why Ranni's Dark Moon is in the Land of Shadow...

Messmer is the main character in the DLC trailer, so he will be the first main boss in the DLC not the last

My absolutely favorite channel, amazing job guys, as always

I've noticed something, if you go to the volcano manor to tanith where she sits you see a painting of praetor rykard when he was a man, off you look at the sword he holds, it is the same hilt as the large knight with horn face mask, and the same as the clip of the old man's cape, my thought is that they are the same as rykards recusants

the lore in this game is legendary. just beautiful.

I believe he is Marika's monster, one she sent to rule over conquered land, cause suffering. Being "stripped of grace" likely means your tree being burnt, corrupted, but its still very much alive and suffering, erdtree burials are still happening, just its not peacefull but tormenting. That huge burning sun basket is a testament to this, its a body collector and method of torture after death.

Yes. Been waiting for this.

Messmer has gathered all the naughty together like he's trying to reform the One Great.

Golden haired beast could be some kind of attempt at man-made shadow bound beast.

[edited because Auto-correct can really suck sometimes] I believe this will combine the Dark Souls 3 DLC: Ashes of Ariandel. and Bloodborne DLC: The Old Hunters. In that; (1) The World will be within a painting within a painting. I believe the Crucible is or is in the painting. (2) It will be a poorly remembered version of perhaps the entire map of the Lands in Between. Truncated, but still expansive. (3) I think Marika originated in the painting like Pontiff Sulyvahn and we may also be getting a similar Ariandel / Ariamis (as stated above). This means Marika left one painting and used the power of the Greater Will to lock them away by painting her own world over it. (4) A possible second theory; Marika painting is fading now that she or the Elden Beast is dead (?) and the worlds are merging (hence the DLC world being a shadow which means its behind or beneath) (5) I think the monsters (in the trailer) are all the avatars of the Outer Gods that destroyed her original world in the painting (esp. the proto-Omen who may be the Dragon God). Because Marika is inextricably linked to that painted world this allowed the trapped outer gods to find their way out of the painting through her children which then proliferated infecting the rest of the Lands in Between,. (6) I think Messmer is the source of Miquella and Malenia infection. He may be manifested through both of them (ie Marika is Radagon). (7) I think Messmer is now basically the combined avatar of the competing outer gods now that their champions have all been defeated (like Chaos Undivided from 40k)

Wouid make sense that he's everything we thought Melenia was. He's the third child of Marika and Radagon. Represented by the smoldering butterfly

Im glad I wasn't the only one who noticed the symbol on the old man looking like Trina.

He looks like he uses dragon communion with those eyes, as a dragon communion boi I love it.

Messmer is without a doubt a child of Marika. They share the naming tradition where children take same first letter thats so common amongst other lineages. Theres also the butterflies. Aeonian clearly represents melania, whilst the nascent is miquella, why then is there a 3rd smouldering butterfly. One thats a dark red firey colour. Messmer that is seen to weild fire and shares the naming convention may be a hidden 3rd sibling

Trust me bro... The Lothesome Dungeater will be back!

I just noticed the theme with jars in the trailer. We have someone using a jar as weapon and an area with huge hanging jars. As we know, they usually contain dead people. Now combine that with the voice talkink about "In this place blood must spill." and killing your fellows, or something. So the jars might play a role here, or maybe just symbolize the death of many people? But also as far as I know, the jars are supposed to bring the dead closer to the erdtree for reincarnation. So Miquella might use them for his plans. They might not end up being important, but who knows.

I'd say that the land of shadows is a kind of pocket dimension inside the cocoon, where messmer is imprisoned for whatever reason. And the hand is literally messmer slowly breaking out of his cell.

3:00 That’s one heck of a splinter.

Messmer is a child of Radagon and Marika, cast out to the land of shadow after helping Ranni kill Godwyn the Golden in the night of the black knives. I also feel like the lion headed beast that wields desthblight and lightning in some alterbate version of Morgott or has something to do with the dragons. The castle at the end of the trailer appears to be falling to pieces and drifting to the sky, making me think it is Farum Azula before the Shattering. I believe the woman in the portrait to be a Deathbed Companion, as the later version of the old man appears to be afflicted by Death Blight

I feel like the sword in the guys head that he is “impaled” with looks like the center piece of the elden ring that connects all the other rings or the center of the primordial “crucible” elden ring

I theorize Messmer is a child of the blood star BKA The Formless Mother. Due to Messmer possibly having Blood flame. I think She tricked Mohg to think that Miquella was in that cocoon. But In reality When Mogh kidnapped Miquella at some point she switched the bodies.

Messmer (according to a translation of an interview with Miazaki) is confirmed to be a demigod offspring of Marika. In the trailer, the voice-over sounds like Messmer is talking to Marika, referring to her as "mother".

when malenia says “she slept for so long, corpse after corpse left in my wake, as i awaited his return” maybe she was in the shadow lands, maybe even being messmer, awaiting the return of miquella (to the shadow lands)

Based on what little we have from the trailer and the interviews from Miyazaki, I think Messmer is Elden Ring's Nameless King. And considering all the Sinful Symbolism he has, I believe his cardinal sin was burning the physical erdtree which ended the age of plenty. That's why there is ash in Lyendel before our Fire Giant fight and why the Erdtree in the main game is a holy projection. As for the old man and woman in the picture, I believe those to be Marika's parents. The lore snippets and Miyazaki interviews say that the Shadow Lands are where Marika first step foot and became a goddess. So perhaps it was her familial homeland? It makes sense to me that Miquella would return to this homeland to see what truly makes a god but as he soon finds out, his mother's past was hidden for very dark reasons.

My personal theory is that Messmer is the guardian of the Land of Shadows, his lines in the trailer suggest he does follow the Golden Order, and only has all the "anti-Golden Order" powers because he mastered them to conquer the Land of Shadows and helped Marika reach Godhood, and because he has those heretical powers didn't have a place in the Lands Between. He also doesn't seem to like Tarnished, and is probably hunting them all. I still think the final boss would be Miquella, and Messmer is simply the boss of the closing of "Act 2", like Morgott was in the game. The final shot in the trailer somehow reminds me of the cutscene where Melina burns the Erdtree, but here Miquella is cleansing the Shadow tree for some reason, probably to take it over.

From previous patterns, it seems that many connections or relationships come in pairs or even numbers in Elden Ring. For example, two fingers, Morgott/ Mogh, Miquella/Malenia, etc. My theory is he is some how the hidden twin of Goldwyn or one of the children of Renalla

Snake iconography could be related to the Godskins/Rykard/GEQ. Serpent Hunter Spear and Serpent God Curved Sword and Consorts Mask (Tannith) description. The Takers Cameo has two snakes on the right biting a floral symbol. That exact same floral symbol is on the shield in the Messmer fight. Also Messmer has the *exact* same red cloak that is hanging from the ceiling of the church of eglay. Just some cool ties to them both. Plus the room right before the teleporter to rykard (with the big snakehead enemy) has the *EXACT* same spiral pillars we see in the land of shadow. Unfortunately Miyazaki already said we won’t get any new endings. What a bummer.

Absolutely AMAZING. Also, can you do something on those graveyards with golden runes in them?

I like to think it’s a young Rykard with his tiny snake buddy causing mischief

I'm pretty sure there's gonna be something huge about Miquella. He is always depicted as extremely good, kind, all giving. And that's not common in FS games. They usually tend to have some shadows behind them, and the ones that are depicted the nicest are usually the worst, and vice versa. For Miquella, there's just one little thing that lead to this direction: The bewetching branch. It's made of Miquella Lilly and made of unnaloyed gold. And it says "The Empyrean Miquella is loved by many people. Indeed, he has learned very well how to compel such affection." What if Miquella was, in fact, a horrible being that just used his power to manipulate people? Also, he is trully erudite, and his nature his ambiguous: He created some golden order spells, but also sleep magic, he was said to be sometime a girl, sometime a boy. Miquella is also the guy just created a little erdtree by watering a lil' tree with his blood. He also can charm people, and most importantly, he can just repel Outer Gods themselves. The boy can cure frenzy flame with an unfinished needle. I mean, that's nut. Even Malenia tells that Miquella is the most fearsome of the shardbearers. The Malenia that open her fight with "I have never known defeat" and decided to 1v1 a giant able to stop the stars and nuke places by using his own body as a comet. She finds him fearsome. And why was Mogh so obsessed with him in particular? Why would giving him blood would facilitate his ascension to Godhood? How did nobody just noticed Miquella disapearing? I'm pretty sure he isn't that kind person he is depicted to be and has a bigger role in some major events of the lore. But well, we'll see that in 4 or 5 monthes!

1. Messmer the Impaler has obvious parallels to Vlad the Impaler 2. Dragon motif armor, blood stuff, pretty good parallel to Dracula there too 3. I think Messmer is Miquella (or part of him) like St. Trina is 4. the Land of Shadow is definitely the land of sleep - the tree mirrors the drapes in Marika's bedchamber 5. That eye motif is from the Eye Surcoat I think