Elden Ring - The root of the problem 

Deeproot isn't quite as far down physically as it should be for everything to fit together perfectly, so technically the trunk seen below ground overlaps somewhat with the Erdtree's placement. Still, I think the intended implication is that it should be viewed as a continual line, and if so, the fact it bends so severely can't be a great sign for the Erdtree's health.

Imagine finding a parking spot after searching for half an hour, only for a 4.5km tree to fall on your car, and the insurance company calling it an "act of marika's tits" or some shit

In horticulture, when you take a plant and attach it to another so they grow as one, its referred to as grafting; when the original plant starts to dominate the new plant its called an "Omen"

The second stage in Ranni’s plan…the Black Knife Lumberjacks…

I’m still convinced of the theory that the bottom half of the tree was a separate tree entirely, and that the erdtree was “grafted” onto it much in the same way real world plants are sometimes grafted onto other plants to help them grow in foreign environments. This would explain why the “newer” section of the tree grows at an angle.

I can't wait how many questions won't be answered in the dlc

Grafted plants may have a visible bend or discontinuation where the graft was performed.

shits serious when Zullie pulls out the protractor

I subscribe to the idea that the Shadow-Tree is weighing down the Erdtree and just invisible to anyone outside of the veil. Kinda like the Amygdala, it was always there, you just couldn't see it.

I love how her statues make it obvious she is a puppet.

"Patch 1.11: - Fixed the Erdtree not being at 90° angle."

It’s actually tilting due to a very large, undiscovered beaver we haven’t seen yet :3

The erdtree is wilting and in order for it to possibly bloom it must be pruned. Burning off a plant that is effecting the bunch is a common practice in a garden.

"If it fell" dude, I'm not asking for an ER2, but that setting would be spectacular. The Lands Between after being catastrophically struck by the fall of a snapped Erdtree.

During my playthrough of the game I remember assuming that the roots in the Capitol were creating a path for you. Since without them you couldn't reach parts of the city and complete your task. Some of the roots are obviously new and damaging the surrounding structure. Like a fulfillment of prophecy and the Erdtrees foreknowledge of your arrival.

Imagine that big ass tree falling over

Humble suggestion for a future video: comparison between the bloodletting beast and the skull on the altar in the grand cathedral

also the fact that the erdtree we see is an illusion. the real tree is long gone minor erdtrees have bark of a solid brown, but the big erdtree is all transparent yellow, just like Golden Shade of Godfrey, another illusion from morgott's arena we can see a bit of real brown (slightly white) bark under the yellow illusion in the frenzyflame ending, the final cutscene, the illusion dissapear and you can see the erdtree is nothing more than a stump also i think there is things about another tranished already burning his maiden a long time ago. bernhal or something else, which would be why the tree is not here anymore it's burned, and the ashes are still in Leyndell

Poetic that the entire Erdtree looks like a single dandelion seed in the thumbnail. Very nice touch.

I heard a theory that points out how Godrick's grafting is a reference to a real-life horticultural technique of grafting a piece of one plant onto the root system of another to make a hybrid plant. This, along with the reference to the catacomb roots as "Great Tree roots" makes me think that this bend in the Erdtree is not just from it withering, but from the weakening of the connection point where the Erdtree had been grafted to the Great Tree's trunk. The Great Tree itself may be trying to shrug off the weakened Erdtree, much like how plant grafts can eventually fail as the host plant rejects the foreign graft.

With some dude that has an ability to quake the ground with every stomps and hand slams living at the heart of it, it is no wonder the Erdtree just gave up and started falling.

i'm now imagining tourist Tarnished taking photographs where it looks like they're holding up the leaning Erdtree

Bruh *HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THE 2ND TREE WRAPPING AROUND THE ERDTREE ARTWORK FOR THE DLC???* I thought it was another branch...

SUch subtle environmental storytelling setpieces that go a long way to flesh out the world yet their true implications only seen in a Zullie video through careful analysis. Brilliant as always!

Lokey has an interesting theory that Marika disrupting the original cycle of life and death (as well as the succession of Elden Ring hosts) by removing the Rune of Death and consolidating power is what caused the “age of plenty” during Godfrey’s era to end. It's totally in line with both what the game presents and Miyazaki's favorite theme about the hubris of rulers leading to decline for everyone

Miquella was building Erdtreehouse, but it turned out to be too heavy.

It’s likely possible the reason the Erdtree is starting to tilt, Is due to the roots now connecting itself with the dead Erdtree that’s been tainted by those who live in death.🐱

If deathroot is based on strangler fig plant, it could very well be the constricting "shadow" of the Erdtree, slowly contributing to its withering and eventual death. Rune of Death is called "a forbidden shadow, plucked from the Order" after all. Godwyn's corpse seems to be the seedbed for the deathroot and notably sprouts alternative black trunk reaching upwards towards Erdtree.

Marika seems to be the queen of gaslighting; capable of hiding entire alternate personalities, states of the world, holy trees, and entire lands, behind a veil of trickery. Honestly; what makes her so interesting is that her plans to get a Tarnished to end all this are SO vague, that we still don't know if it was well intentioned or not, given how creepy the outer gods are.

"Root" of the problem... Well worded.

I've a little knowledge about forestry and one of a few things I thought about the Erdtree is one can possibly view the minor erdtrees like root suckers. Some trees, when ill or damaged, will send up things that look like saplings but aren't actually new individuals (most commonly seen in beech, which unfortunately in the NE US is currently suffering from an invasive fungus) - the result is almost a zombie tree, continuing to live through its offshoots but won't ever really recover or fruit as fully again, My other thought was about the Erdtree itself--the bottom branches are very barren. This is somewhat natural and normal in healthy trees as it grows new branches above that shade out the ones below, but when it becomes especially abundant, the dead lower limbs can be signs of damage or disease. They can also be dangerous bc they can fall on people/things. Overall, very interesting. The Erdtree is one of my fav focal points in the game, bc it starts off as a guide and becomes more threatening/ominous the closer you actually get to it as it looms overhead.

Something that comes to mind when I think about the Erdtree's placement is how it is located right at the cliff that faces the inner sea of the Lands Between. If we think about how Farum Azula was once supposed to be in the middle of the map (maybe somewhere south of Leyndell) and later got torn away, maybe this could have affected the Erdtree's placement per se, leaving it in the middle of a big crack but still (barely) attached to the main continent to the north, where Leyndell lies. What I want to point out is that one part of this big crack could be the cliffside to the south of Leyndell. I don't know enough about the lore to say whether this relationship could make any sense, but it is something that comes to mind when observing the environment. I'm sorry if I didn't express myself well, I'm not a native English speaker.

The erdtree having offspring in the form of minor erdtrees, erdtree saplings (the places where golden seeds are found) and its golden seeds could mean that the erdtree itself may be a part of it's own cycle of life and death. Fated to die one day as it is a physical plant and let one of its offspring take its place. Just like how Marika has her Empyrean children. Just like her children, some have died, some have become corrupted, and some have been more favored. The 2nd generation of erdtree's also seem to be starting to fill some of it's parents shoes. As most of the time they are either surrounded by dead bodies or causing the environment to flourish or both. Seemingly reminiscent of erdtree burial. Also I just like the idea of nurturing one of my excess golden seeds into my own little demigod plant.

I like the idea that the erdtree in the lands between is more like an illusion, or a VEIL, and the tree we see in the shadowlands is how the erdtree actually appears.

If we consider that the Erdtree was once already burned, it could explain the damage and leaning of the tree. There are some depictions in the game of the Erdtree on fire long before our story starts.

I think it’s important to note that the door into the Erdtree is not tilted, even with the Erdtree leaning, which would mean that the Erdtree hasn’t shifted since it was built, presumably early into Marika’s age

the channel tarnished archeologist has a theory that the erdtree was actually something grafted not the stump of an older tree. So if we assume that's the case, it leaning might imply the grafting was done poorly.

Praise The Tree!

I like the idea of deathroot acting as a parasitic plant that grows up and around another tree, choking the life out of it

Completely unrelated but geez the Erdtree is such an iconic image. Just thinking about that when watching this vid. No matter where you are in the Lands Between, the image of the Erdtree is burned into our brains. It’s beautiful. My favourite perspective is from Caelid, as I love the deep contrast between Red and Gold. Night-time Liurnia is also good, having the bright golden Erdtree shine among the cosmos

Let me cook for a bit here:: So we know that Godwyn, as incarnation of the Living Death, exists in a "Dream Realm" separated from the "material" or physical world. The influence of his existence is metaphysically transferred to many points across the realm, particularly the foundatioun of Godrick's Castle where we find a pseudo-copy of him. In Shadow of the Erdtree we are invited into a Shadowy Realm split from the rest of the Lands Between, with Miquella present there as well. Not in body, only in spirit. We also know he wishes to free his brother from his cursed existence, wanting him to die a "true death". To that end people already speculated about his "alter ego" St. Trina being possibly linked to this endeavour, as sleep is how dreams are accessed. Not to mention the old adage that "Sleep is the brother of Death". Where does the DLC come in? Well look at 2:10 and see the "growth" choking the Erdtree...and look where it emerges from. While this area is "elsewhere" in the Lands Between or "used" to be there, if we just look at these two large tree structures they do seem to relate to the "real" position of what they are: The Erdtree is standing crooked and bend, still where it once did...and aside from it, just a little displaced, something emerges from the ground and chokes the LIFE out of it. I am very certain that the growth we see here is the metaphysical manifestation of Godwyn's influence on the Erdtree with his deathroot, seeing how it actually looks more like thick root growing OUT of the ground instead. An "inverted tree" so to speak, fitting how Those Who Live In Death are anathematic to the Golden Order. There is also something else which I found very confusing and is still unanswered (unless I missed something on this): We never learned WHERE Godwyn died. The place was never specified, only that it happened at "night"...which is what brings me to a curious question: Could Godwyn have been assasinated...inside the realm under the veil? The coniferous trees from the trailer, where we see his assasination, looks somewhat like those we see in the trailer. Whatever the case, my bet is that Miquella divested himself of everything he was bestowed with to enter the Spirit World not just to find an alternative to the Greater Will but to find yet another way to pursue the release of his brother from this undead state.

2 reasons why i simply cannot follow the idea that the erdtree was once straight: the way inside the tree is an ancient stone doorway that is not crooked and if you stand at the right angle around the tree, it will look straight, straight enough for a good painting.

I also like the idea that the erdtree is based on a yew tree, which instead of having a single trunk has multiple overlapping roots in the middle phase of its lifespan.

The shadow of the Erdtree is made of dark matter and it's gravitational pull is bending the Erdtree!

Fromsoft, who just thought tilting the tree was more visually appealing: 😅 Jokes aside, From's depictions of the status quo on the verge of collapse are super cool, the way the powers that be desperately scramble to preserve their authority. The Dark Souls trilogy is about prolonging the Age of Fire, no matter how many "chosen" must be fed to the flames, and it ends showing the world buried in ash, nothing left for a new Age to inherit. I wouldn't be surprised if the second tree isn't trying to destroy the Erdtree, but instead prop it up. It certainly looks like Deathroot, perhaps even with his soul slain, Goldwyn still attempts to maintain the Golden Order, even if it's literally rotten inside.

Abnormal bending or curvature may be a sign of PD or Peyronie’s Disease

you know bro is serious when the protractor comes out

Tarnished archaeologist has a good vid about the erdtree being an illusion, which is why its glowing gold like godreys phantom

When ur faster then light u only get to live in the darkness

It's possible that the paintings of the Erdtree were just made from an angle where the tree is either leaning directly toward or away from the viewer, and the tree has always been bent.

I think something cool is if you look at Shadow of Erd tree announcement art you start to get an idea of how different the in-game vs in-lore scales of Elden Ring are. In that art you see the shadow of the erd tree to be what looks several miles away and completely dwarfing mountains. To me this indicates that these trees aren't just 3 miles high but potentially like 10-20 which is bonkers and something you could see from 100s of miles away. Also it shows off how instead of the lands between being 30 square miles, it's probably 100s or 1000s of square miles. Doesn't effect the game but it does let my imagination run wild.

maybe what we see in the lands between is the actual shadow of the erdtree, and the one in the land of shadow is the real one, perhaps why marika hid it

Seeing as the Land of Shadow is confirmed to exist in the same physical space as the Lands Between, just obscured from sight, it's reasonable to assume that whatever this second tree is, it's always been there, perhaps choking the life from the Erdtree, and it too has been obscured from sight in order to preserve the false perception of the Golden Order's/Erdtree's strength and maintain influence.

also important to think about the fact that the erdtree is mostly hollow, a sign of rot and near death old age

Wait, if there's something similar in size to the erdtree in the deeproot depths but it doesn't quite line up, then couldn't that just be whatever is growing to weigh down the erdtree in the DLC?

Considering the ancient looking door on the erd tree and the throne area being connected to it, I don't believe the erd tree has shifted during the golden order. It must have happend long before the capital, or even the stone doors were built.

your videos are magical!

Seeing the image of the weighed down Erdtree immediately reminded me of Strangler Figs. For those unaware, strangler figs are a kind of tree from tropical environments that grows from crevices in other trees. By sapping nutrients from a host tree, they grow roots downward and branches upward around the host tree, to the point where the host can die and leave a hollow, free standing strangler. While the effect of stranglers usually isn't this dramatic, it is possible. It also made me stop to wonder if the Erdtree itself might be a Strangler that killed off whatever tree came before. It would explain a lot of details, to me at least.

Huh, keen eyes. I didn't even realize it was a tree growing over and smothering another.

0:11 Idk if its because its a picture, but the erdtree at the time it was painted this piece was definetly more golden while now looks more pale

great content, thank you for the insight! if you keep this up, I'll soon hear baby cries in the distance

man, this kings field ost is perfect for the video

Zullie I’m curious to see your thoughts about other aspects of the Erdtree’s model. I saw in a Ziostorm video he looks up close at the branches and you can see golden vines wrapping around regular great tree vines. I would love your commentary!

Imagine the sound this tree will make when it falls... everyone will hear it

crazy how close we are to the DLC release! great vid

Zullie getting me hyped for that dlc

Wow very deep and interesting vid, i guess we will know more in the dlc. Nice job!

But when Gideon glimpsed into the will of Queen Marika, he shuddered in fear. At the end that should not be.

Hey! I’m pretty sure I was the first person to suggest the idea at 2:11 on the day the trailer released! I made an extremely similar image, down to the colors too lol. I wonder if this is another tree that Messmer or someone has planted that’s goal is to suck the life out of the Erdtree, squeeze the sap from it (as you can see sap dripping down towards the half moon shaped building in the image), or otherwise kill the Erdtree. Love this, great vid Zullie.

I'm willing to bet that the second tree in the dlc image is actually Godwyn's death blight influence, grasping up and strangling the tree

The mass of two whole cities being sunk below the earth near the roots of the Erdtree probably didn't do the thing's stability any favors. Then there's the cancer that is the outgrowth of Godwin the Golden's corpse undermining literally everything in the Lands Between. That one dead tree doesn't stand a chance.

interesting, after I started reading Berserk again, thinking about buying this game and for the amazing lore and charactere designs

Anyone notice how the Erdtree looks like its being "cast" or "projection", almost like the ghosts that walk around and guide you to the catacombs? Like a projection of Marika's Golden Order on top of which once was NOT considered blasphemous. But in Shadow of the Erdtree trailers, it looks REAL and an actual physical tree. I think the golden tree is a false projection on top of the real tree below in the Depths. And that's where Godwyn is...

The 'other growth' is actually quite a common thing in forests - the banyan tree and other trees like it are known as 'strangler figs' because that's exactly what they do. Their seeds sprout at the top of a tree to get sunlight, then send roots down along the trunk into the ground, and eventually as the strangler fig thickens, the host tree weakens and eventually dies.

I agree that it's just the game model. I work on trees irl and grafting the entire trunk of a tree to a new root zone isn't really a thing it's usually done with cuttings from the limbs when both donor and host are relatively young and that angle becomes less abrubt over time as they grow together. You can tell how long it's been since a tree has been grafted due to this fact and if it was grafted then due to the abrubt angle it wouldn't have been that long ago relatively so the erdtree still would have been impossibly huge to move there. The explanation for the tree leaning is in it's location, i see this all the time, planted on a slope with a body of water on one side the roots are going to support the weight way better on the mountain side so it's going to lean the other way where the roots have to grow way deeper under the sea bed if at all

the deeproot stump is what's left of the second darker tree strangling the erdtree after marika chopped it down to suppress it's influence. The Erdtree leans because it used to be pulled almost entirely at a 45 degree angle by the shadow tree, but now that it's been chopped down it has slowly been getting straighter as eons pass, still not totally upright.

I love how much theorizing is happening before shadow of the Erdtree

If the Erdtree falls in Leyndell, and no one is around to hear it...

I asked in the Elden Ring subreddit a year ago why the Erdtree leans. The top votes comment was that it was moving, like plants do, towards the sunlight.... I was thoroughly upset by this answer lol. The Erdtree is humongous, it doesn't need to "lean towards the sunlight" because of how massive it is. I was under the impression from the beginning that it was falling or loosened by the deeproots depths' deathblight or something else like that, and until otherwise that's what I believe.

I was not expecting to see a protractor in this Elden Ring lore analysis...

The Leaning Erdtree Of Leyndell tour 100 runes a person 500 runes group tours with celestial dew blessed beverages 1,000 runes for tour, beverages and dunk the omen *All sales are final. Omens not allowed. Morgott this means you too. -Radagon

Fascinating! Truly fascinating!

Shadow of The Erdtree, I wonder if it works like the shadows of the Empyreans.

never stop, Zullie.

LEANING TOWER OF PIZA?!?! IS THAT YOU?!?!

i think the simpliest theory would be that it ran out of ground for the roots and slumped over cause its just to damn big

Can't wait for all the new juicy lore!!!

i like to imagine that it is like the Leaning tower of Pisa where the ground is spongy making it lean.

Man I'm stoked for the DLC.

My money is on, that the original erdtree is in the depths and the new one was crafted from that, but in shadows of the erdtree that original tree grows and wraps around the new growth forming the twisted image we see in the trailer

That black tree seems to be Godwyn's tree of death. It's blackened entirely and erupting directly below the erdtree.

I assumed that the trees need some sort of life-force to feed from, hence why the Haligtree is dying after Miquella was torn from it. In that case I suppose Marika/Radagan's broken body and/or the shattered Golden Order ring could be causing the tree to begin faltering.

There is a type of fungi that ants harvest that produces a ridiculously large mushroom if the colony dies, no longer being farmed for its bounty or being fed. Food for thought.

The central root "continuing" from the main body of the tree is called a taproot

Maybe the EVIL erdtree is there in real life strangling and breaking the tree but it’s veiled out of sight from the rest of the Lands Between just like the new DLC area

When I first saw the tree, I interpreted the askew angle being due to the curvature of the earth or something

I think the mutating body of Godwyn is rotting the base of the Erdtree as he evolves into this nightmare undead fish monster

In a very early interview. Miyazaki talks about the themes in his game regarding birth, growth, death, and rebirth. He directly related this theme to The Erdtree, talking about how it’s this unparalleled force of life that will one day die. I like that, instead of a Fromsoft game taking place AFTER the death of an age, in Elden Ring we’re just about to reach an end of an age - represented by the still-standing erdtree

I never noticed how the dlc image shows something wrapping around the erdtree, always had assumed it was just malformed

The Erdtree itself was once burnt and replaced 'with an object of faith', the ghostly erdtree we see today, but that faith is waning as gods leave the lands between and the average person has gone insane. The rotted stump is finally beginning to topple.