Elden Ring truly is "Soulsborne Lore All-Stars". I recently thought about the symbolism of "eyes" in this game. How Ranni and Malenia basically stopped using one of their eyes each. Or how the Frenzy people shoot pure madness out of their eyes. Could there be some kind of way for the Golden Order to influence people who are "using their eyes"? (But then again Corhyn wears a blindfold) Also Radagon being Marika brings up so many questions. Have they always been like this? Did she "absorb" him? I mean Radagon himself already had his own backstory before they married. Or was Marika leading some double-life all this time?
In the prior episode, there is some recollection of dialogue from Merika which states that Radagon "had yet to become" her. It seems relatively certain that them becoming a single being was a later development, occurring after he left Rennala.
I do agree that Radagon and Merika were one person all along because we get the dialogue from the turtle pope that a famous sculptor created a statue of Radagon which I think was before the shattering and contains his big secret. Being separate persons before the shattering and becoming on after would mean that the statue had been created after the shattering but we know from Enia that Merika was trapped in the Erdtree for shattering the Elden Ring. So the statue had to been created before the shattering and it containing Radagon's secret he and Merika had to be one person before.
I think the mark on the summoning pool statue is the round table. I think the markings look like swords in a circle. On the round table we got alot of swords :)
I remember way early on in the series I remarked that it seemed that in order to become Elden Lord you had to be Married to Merika. Does this mean that Merika is the Elden Ring? The Radagan/Merika duo does convoluted things. I also find myself concurring with your assertion the reason something is wrong with Melania and Miquella is because they came out of a type of incestuous union. At this point of the story you can really feel the GRRM Game of Thrones vibes. Like GoT, it's literally this large land caught up in Family Drama. Other than the god of the catacombs (the psychopomp), it does not feel like any other god exists.
There are other ways to become Elden Lord. It's related to Empyrians. The Elden Ring appears to be more a representation of Marika's Golden Order. The one thing that I find frustrating is that asside from the rune of death, the other shards of the Elden Ring have no clear definition (such as rune of blood, rune of convergence, rune of gravity, rune of rebirth, rune of decay, rune of Reign...). So it is hard to say how the shardbearers came by their shards and what effet their shards had on them (as theoretically the Elden Ring embodies the mechanics by wich the lands between operate)
In Siofra River, didn't we get a ton of stuff mentioned blocking out the Outer Gods? Obviously when we return there we for Noxstella we will go all out on Outer Gods
You might want to take a closer look at those seals/runes with the hex pattern. The hex patern on the statues/erdtree is quite different from the scarseal one. Also, who says morgott was ever the actual ruling king of leyndell? For all we know he is only now king because he took the place over after it sort of fell and has only been king of the city in the state we see it in. Or am I forgetting something? Thanks for trying to keep the lore talk to mostly only stuff weve seen in this playthrough so far!
About the fight against the crystalians. With version 1.04 they changed the AI for multi-boss fights. The boss you have the most aggro on will be attacking you and all other bosses will be less aggressive. So it's a fairer fight if you're doing the fights solo. You can also see that behaviour in the redmane castle boss fight where the crucible knight just stood at the side waiting for you to finish killing the first boss.
Crucible... crucifix... COINCIDENCE??? I kid I kid. I think its odd that Merika is essentially crucified in her depictions. I think most folks know that crucifixion is a HORRIFIC torture, as well as heavily associated with Jesus Christ. So is she holding out her arms in a welcoming embrace, or strapped to her crucible cross as punishment? I remember stumbling along the Radagan= Merika when I was innocently looking for more Turtle Pope content and stuttering to a halt. I look forward to getting this snarled knot explained! (Then again I digested the Catholic concept of the Trinity well enough, though thinking about it too hard causes my brain to melt)
Is it possible they were separate people with separate life’s but when Rad left Rennela, Marika absorbed him? Marriage could be considered as a joining of two people literally. I do agree that the cursed children are incest babies though… Marika seems like a woman who wanted a lot of options just in case ie Godfrey, Rad, Elder tree, the Order
Spoiler heavy comment: I think the reason Marika shatered the elden ring was the fact that she became disillusioned with her Golden order. More specifically, she could not prevent the death of her firstborn and heir Godwyn the golden. In a world where destined death was sealed away and under the control of Marika through Maliketh, to have the first demi-god to die a destined death be her first borne, with his spirit not returning to the Erdtree, to have no rememberance of her firstborn and no "Justice" from the Greater will or the Golden Order itself for the act was too much for one who held complete control over life and death. So she shattered the Elden Ring and Radagon tried to mend it. It is pretty clear that it was Radagon who sealled the entrence to the innards of the Erdtree. The Greater Will punished Marika, confining her to the Erdtree, that meant that Radagon probably figured he would only be able to get out if he fixed what his wife broke. And yes, I am assuming Marika and Radagon are different entities that switch between one and the other (I will not try to figure how Malenia and Miquella came about. Something to do with the Crussible, and Alchemy, and Marika and Radagon working together) So while Marika is held confined, Radagon can move around inside the Erdtree, he wants to keep his status as the current Elden Lord, he wants out, so he trues to mend the Elden Ring. Godwyn is basically Baldr from Norse Mythology. And Baldur was imortal brcause his mother made a pact with all elements of Nature so that no harm would come to her son, except for a small plant (Mistletoe). And still Baldr met death to the dismay of his mother. I feel Ranni killed Godwyn specifically (and not, say... Miquella or Malenia) was so, once she became an Empyrian, her succession to Queen would be all but assured, as Morgoth and Mough weren't Empyrians (something to do with the crucible, I guess), Radahn just wanted to ride his horse and Rykard was plotting to go through the non-Empyrian route. Another thing that still confuses me is how the shards were taken by the demi-gods, more specifically: how the hell did Renalla's egg get a shard of the Elden Ring? Or much like the rune of death, was the shard taken away from the Ring itself before the shattering? It is stated that tge shardbearers came by their shards after the shattering. But were they chosen by the shards or were the shards taken by them? Man... I like this game
Regarding same person or not for Radagon and Marika I think that they were split into two separate people...While in game we may see the two as the same and never separate, I think that it the death of Godwyn/ stolen death rune was the reason for Marika to go crazy and shatter the Elden Ring, then at that point Radagon must have been separate from Marika as he left Rennala to go back to the Erd Tree as a reaction to the shattering. At least that was my interpretation. If you want to look at all the seals/rune shapes I think Quelaag and Zullie the Witch made a whole list of it so it's really useful.
Most dialog and item descriptions on the radagon and marika situation that I recall only just mention radagon, or marika, and never both of them together. There are exceptions when referring to their marriage, but other than that not really anything else I can remember. It could be like a "have you seen radagon and marika in the same room" situation. My theory is that marika will turn into radagon whenever she needs to, and will turn back to marika whenever she needs to aswell, doing this back and forth to create the illusion that they both exist at the same time. This whole thing is really confusing and I don't have much proof other than just what I think, and thinking it's funny.
Sorry! I should have been more specific about those 'cracks/markings' I was referring to. I think the ones I'm referring to are most commonly found in dungeons, on stakes where Marika is crucified. Where that sword/crucifix is embedded into the earth is where the cracks sort of appear? So to check, you've got to find a stake that looks crucified, although looking into it, I think you're more on the mark with Radagon's Seal. Still, there are some similarities you might find oddly interesting. *Edit* I'm an idiot, they're martyr effigies, not stakes of marika. my apologies.
I do think that Maria and Radagon were a Single being at one point, but, after Marika's attempt at shattering the Ring, they Split into two. I always wondered why Rennala Was so obsessed with being reborn. Maybe she noticed that Radagon always felt the urge to be "whole" and after "losing" him, she thought thé only way for him to do so and be truly hers was to be reborn as a whole being? That could also be one of Marika's "curses". Could he also be a puppet? Like the one Selivus has? Ranni has the same cracks he does.
The whole Radagon/Marika thing is so weird to me. Like did she split herself in two? Made Radagon to go conquer the Carians? And then before rejoining him into her had Malenia and Millquea?
In the opening cutscene we see Marika smashing the Elden Ring then, at the next swing of the hammer, Radagon, trying to repair it. I wonder if the two don’t actually exist at the same time. There’s so much going on it’ll take a long time to reach an answer and even then, I doubt we’ll ever really know for sure.
My one thought on Radagon and Marika is that the idea for it might've been influenced by Christian theology regarding Jesus and God where they are considered one in nature and essence but different in personhood. I'm wondering if the crucifix being chosen for Marika lends more weight to the idea that the influence is coming from there.
I think torrents former master was the raging wolf the first tarnished to join the round table im just thinking that because of his connection with wolves
This video is kinda why I was concerned about you not discussing spoilers until later: you seemed to be grasping to remember all the things you said you'd "talk about later"
Doesn’t the opening scene mention that the shattering comes from Marika after Godwin’s murder? That’s to say that shattering is what leads to the wars, but isn’t necessarily the same thing.
Yup, what is interesting is that the dialogue in yesterday's episode explicitly references the Shattering as going to occur in close proximity to (or perhaps as a direct result of) Merika and Radagon being combined.
Isn't "Scion" a title for female aristocrats in specific? It was told that the assassins were all women, and both the grafted scions look like women to me, so that makes sense.
I just looked it up, and apparently scion usually refers to males (but can be female). It typically means the descendent of a wealthy/influential family.
