Marika and the Gloam-Eyed Queen: Gods and Lords Part II | Elden Ring Archaeology Ep. 20 

Maybe I keep saying this but I can't stress enough how apart you seem in the lore community, not just by presentation but the way a lot of these analyses are backed up by historical, philosophical and otherwise real concepts rather than the majority of the community that confines themselves within the realm of the game and the tools they're given there. I think it takes a great amount of knowledge and experience to be able to connect all these ideas BOTH in the fictional *and* real world in a neat, _complete_ package.

FromSoft games Lore is borderline a subject worthy of a degree.

For those who weren't keeping track, The Gloam-Eyed Queen was actually Velka, who was canonically Rey's parents before the Episode 9 rewrites happened.

38:56 "This succession plan was ultimately aborted." - a very blunt choice of words, given how Mogh stole Miquella

43 minutes that feels like 15. Incredible content.

I'm most curious about the divine tower episode, I've long theorized they had something to do with the mines we come across throughout the lands between, where at the end of each mine is an excavated golden meteorite, and we see the same meteorites on full display within the divine tower walls and pillars, moreover within one such mine- the sealed tunnel in Altus, we find the same exact pattern in the boss arena as the one depicted on the top of the divine towers, though instead of a pile of ash in the center of it we find yet another golden meteorite, which had me quite puzzled for awhile till I figured that perhaps the top of the divine towers used to be made out of these very meteorites, and that perhaps they very two fingers used this to channel with the greater will, though whatever power that was once there has long deteriorated, and the fingers too withered and died. Love the great work mate, can't wait till the next one frankly!

It's intriguing that Hoarah Loux in the opening cinematic is also crucified with a sword through his belly

In regards to Marika being in control of the rune of life, the opposite of the rune of death, makes total sense. Notice that marikas pose, resemembles a stake with a curve going upwards. That is the shape/symbol of the rune of life. On the opposite side, the shape/symbol of the rune of death also resembles a stake with a curve... BUT the curve is going DOWNWARDS. It is the opposite. Marikas pose on all her statues, and stakes, are literally her mimicking the shape of the rune of life. All the pieces are falling into place :)

Didn't think I'd be looking forward to Elden Ring lore but your videos are so high quality I can't wait to hear each one!

Quick note: In Daoism, the Taiji/tai chi ("grand pinacle/ultimate") is usually equated to yin and yang, not a precursor to them (since they are not separate forces and do not exist in each other's absence). Taiji is just a name for the moving dynamism that is yin and yang. The precursor to the Taiji is the Wuji (lit. "without pinnacle/ultimate") which is the "true" primordial state. Wuji is sometimes problematically translated as void or chaos, but seems to be more accurately a state "without distinction" (hence "without pinnacle"). Later Daoist thought incorporated 5-element theory and divinatory trigrams in to a kind of "flow" of creation: From Wuji emerges the taiji, from taiji emerges the wuxing ("5 elements" or more accurately the "5 phases"), from the wuxing (and/or taiji) emerges the bagua (the 8 trigrams/64 hexagrams), and from these emerge the "ten-thousand-things" (I.E., everything).

Everyone is always so eager to brand Marika as the true villain, actually, but I always liked the idea that she genuinely tried to create a utopian age of endless life and plenty, only to have it backfire into her face.

The thing at the beginning you said about Darius and Bardia, I remember our highschool history teacher talking about it once. He said that if Bardia was indeed fake, how come his wife and children didn't notice despite him ruling for so long.

This is an underrated channel

I think it was Radagon who speared Marika, not only does the spear disappear when Radagon appears but also it would make sense for him, the current Elden Lord and who is opposed to Marika ideologically (he tries to mend the Elden Ring while she shatters it) to prevent Marika from starting a new age where she esentially removes Radagon from the picture, maybe the part of Marika that became the Elden Beast's sword was Radagon, and why both the spear and Radagon are out of the picture. Not only that but considering that it was Radagon who sealed the entrance to the Erdtree, seeing his rune pattern on the door, I don't think Malekith was able to go inside the Erdtree either, and furthermore it would explain why Melina is outside the Erdtree in spirit form and is released by it's burning in the Frenzied Flame ending. Besides it would even link her closer to Marika and the purpose she gave her inside the Erdtree: to burn it and free Marika from it and Radagon. Still, this was an awesome video! It really gave a lot to think about and I might even do my own video explaining this amendment of sorts. Great stuff!

I realised where you were going with who could have impaled her with the spear and why just before you got there and it really is the perfect gut punch to make Maliketh that bit more tragic. So terribly used/abused.

I would love to see a video where you do a full chronological timeline of all the events in the Lands Between from its creation and the arrival of the Elden Beast to Marika getting crucified and the Tarnished arriving. One thing I’m curious about is the exact timing of events that happened here. I can buy Maliketh being the one to impale Marika, but when does this happen, and when does Marika choose the succession plan for Miquella? Was it right before the Knight of the Black Knives? And if so does this mean that Marika foresaw what would eventually happen? Or was there a period of time after Godwin’s death that she started planning all this? And the Shattering war was just an excuse for Miquella and Malenia to eventually succeed her and become the new gods, at least until Mohg ruined the plan and the Shattering War ended in stalemate? And how would the Tarnished have come into play if this is true? Were they planned for at all, made to defeat the other Demigods and become the new Elden Lord of Miquella or Malenia? And was Radagon a part of this plan, or did he oppose it, hence why he resisted Marika shattering the Elden Ring? But didn’t he have a good relationship with Miquella based on the Rings of Light incantations, or did their relationship sour after Miquella abandoned fundamentalism for Unalloyed Gold?

I would suggest that you are neglecting Radagon in this. The spear disforms as he forms, the golden hair of Marika filled with the red hue of the spear as he forms.

This is the greatest A Song of Ice and Fire Game ive ever played.

the part about the divine tower is a bit confusing. if the torches have been put there by the erdtree society, in a chamber to hide the Godslayer's Greatsword, then I would expect a crucible knight to be there to defend the chamber. But there is a Godskin apostole instead. Also the fact that the chamber is in Radhan's divine tower instead of being connected to the Bestial Sanctum is odd if that was the case. it seems that Rennala's lineage plays a major role in the gloem eyed queen and goskins story arc (with both rykard and radhan).

In regard to the elden rings depiction on the roads, i believe they could be a remanent of farum azula's reign over the lands between. More of farum azula's architecture and patterns is found on those roads, and also in the elden throne. Something to keep in mind is that leyndell, or at least the place where the erdtree is found today, would have always been a divine in any age as that would also have been the location of the Crucible.

When talking about the Gloam Eyed Queen, I always find myself questioning the timeline of events. That she could be the god of the previous age makes a lot of sense; however, I'm not convinced that she was an empyrean. The game explicitly states that she was "said to be" an empyrean. Which is to say, she might not have been. Additionally, her Great Rune is antithetical to life. Therefore, it is likely that her Divine Womb is barren. Just because she swaddled the godskins doesn't mean that she birthed them. The Godskin Noble guarding the Serpents amnion (along with the serpentine features of the apostles) tell me that the GEQ resorted to the Repellent Birthing Ritual of the Serpent to create them. One last thing I noticed: the Godslayer Greatsword said that the Gloam Eyed Queen "controlled" the Godskin Apostles. That's a very strange choice of word, don't you think?

Idk if you've noticed, but on some of the walls of Farum Azula there's a relief in the wall depicting what looks like the royal court, consisting of a king, queen and a child held by the queen. We have precedent for ancient dragon's being able to take on human form, so to me it makes me think of a depiction of Placidusax's lineage, perhaps along with their fled god. Still, I'm unsure how it relates to the wolves/woman statue in Maliketh's arena, if it does at all. Have you also noticed this relief TA?

One thing I'm curious about: Miquella was evidently already born when the Night of the Black Knives happened, as he thought of him as a brother and worked to reverse his fate. But if Marika's progeny with Radagon were "backups" for the failure of the Golden Lineage, would that still line up?

Didn’t know the Tarnished Archeologist discovered time travel. You click on a video and you’re 30-40 minutes into the future in what felt like 10. You’re one of the best Elden Ring Lore RU-vidrs.

Always excited to see a TA notification. This video in particular starts to line up some very important events. Can't wait for the Towers video. Thank you!!

The GOAT has returned. Looking forward to this one!

Finally 😍 someone who hasn't just assumed that the gloam eyed queen IS Marika or Melina 👏 excellent video

Your best work so far, keep it up! I'm glad to have been along for the ride from the start, you have brought such an inspiring new perspective to Lore Hunting

I almost hollowed waiting for this one. Thank you, TA!

Woo-Woo! Finally, I keep checking back here the past month thinking you must have uploaded by now and it's finally here!

The Godskin duo in Farum Azula could actually be there to kill Maliketh I feel, Bernahl only drops the blasphemous claw after the fight (in which he is a summon) so they could be associated with Ranni's plan to use Rykard as backup if things go astray and the godskins are somewhat associated with the two of them. they could also be partially motivated by revenge? but thats probably a less easy to substantiate claim. with Farum being in a weird spot in terms of the flow of time (it always being day, Placidusax's corpse imbedded in the wall despite him being beyond time, etc.) it feels difficult to place their actions in Farum on the timeline accurately.

Yes! The best Elden Ring lore channel is back!

Well this certainly puts things in perspective. Some remnant questions I am left with i) At what point in the timeline was Farum Azula yeeted into the sky, because would it be correct to say that the city itself was a greater part of the landmass that we arrive at from Farum Greatbridge. ii) The succession plan must have been in place before the Night of Black Knives, and the aforementioned event triggering the The Shattering. I wonder to what degree did Ranni feature in those succession plans given that she is an Empyrean and was given Blaidd as a shadow. Moreover if Marika’s preferred succession was Miquella then what fate was Ranni trying so hard to escape? iii) Post Night of Black Knives, it would make sense that Marika sees the same events play out as they did when she took over, so seeing the cycle she beelines for the abandonment of the succession plans, has Maliketh pierce her. Guess Gideon wasnt lying when he said that Marika now just wants everyone to struggle. The parallel between Marika and Ranni’s methods are a bit striking. Ranni’s vision of the world is also one of struggle but with different conditions. Ranni also has her Godfrey (The Tarnished of no reknown) and her shadow. And in a manner we do betray that shadow, like Marika betrays Maliketh. Is it a stretch to say that Ranni has some reincarnation of Marika the same way Melina might embody some reincarnation of the gloam eyed queen? iv) This one likely has least evidence. But did Marika always intend to kill the Elden Beast/Greater Will given the purpose she gave Hewg. The Roundtable Hold we visit does seem to be a pocket dimension created in some part via Melina. He does quite explicitly state that he made a promise to Marika. I would imagine this succession plan was likely in place to oppose the Greater Will. Which would make some thematic sense since Marika is from a people who were originally opposed to the Greater Will. Would it be then a stretch to say that Ranni in opposing the Greater Will ends up acting inadvertently alligned with Greater Will’s goals. I use the term loosely because it might be that Marika/Melina/Ranni may think of the Two Fingers or even the Elden Beast as the summation of the Greater Will’s goals. But they are envoys and vassals respectively. v) I wonder to what degree getting rid of the Greater Will was Marika’s end game from the very start of her campaign. She seems to be quite similar thematically to Lady Eboshi from Princess Mononoke, well at least until the point when she abadons the succession plan. Hell the fact that the Elden Beast looks so similar to the Nightwalker, makes me think even more of that. These points do make me think about the prior attempted burning of the Erdtree. But overall this does evolve the narrative considerably. Wonderful video really. Your videos make me pause and often re evaluate whole chunks of the game’s lore that was not even covered in the video.

I don't agree with every theory you put forward, but it is always a good day whenever Tarished Arch. releases a video.

I wonder if the reason for Marika get stabbed with the Death Spear was to contain Radagon, to prevent him from doing anything after she was finished shattering the Elden Ring. It would be basically a checkmate: Radagon cast a seal on the Erdtree to prevent people from entering, but he cannot do anything with the Ring unless someone steps inside the Erdtree to remove the spear.

I'd been checking the channel every day for the past two weeks. Glad to see another video. : )

Your videos are so incredible. Keep up the good work.

You always love to see one of the best souls teams posting more amazing content

Boy was I hyped for this video, and you did not disappoint!

I love this video, it was beautifully directed and so interesting! TA thank you for producing these.

If "Demigod" is simply a political title (indicating proximity to the Royal family) then that implies that "Queen" is much the same. Doesn't this imply that the Gloam-Eyed Queen could simply have declared herself "Queen", without ever taking control of the Elden Ring? Isn't this why Marika is both "Queen" and "God": the two titles are not the same. So perhaps the GE Queen was a Queen but not a god. She declared herself "Queen" and was powerful enough that people had to take the title seriously. Just like in real life, sort of.

Man you never disappoint, I am excited for the next one. Divine towers is probably gonna be something quite illuminating.

I’ve been kind of wondering when I’d see another video from y’all and here I finally see this had been out for a seven days already. Better late than never though! Finished watching it now,that was great. I can’t wait for more.

Fantastic video and theories again as always! Love the vids

I'd love to hear more about "Godfrey's elden ring," the more-symmetric one, about how it was different and why it changed. I may be misunderstanding but I don't think you're right about the "via egnatia," as you call it, ending at that memorial. It runs from Stormveil castle, past the memorial, into and through Caelid. It is worn to near nothing between the castle and the memorial, only really being evidenced by the Saintsbridge. Within Caelid itself, the tiles are also extremely (and suddenly, geographically speaking) worn, but if you look closely, you can still see "Godfrey's elden ring" on some of the Caelid road tiles, especially on the edge tiles rather than the center ones. So I would not say Godfrey's road ends, in a literal sense, at that memorial; it passes through in both directions. But maybe I've misunderstood your meaning.

Fantastic work, TA.

This is SOOOO good!! Always on point, Tarnished Archaelogist!

Given the aesthetic links between the ancient Giants, Farum Azula and the Uhl Dynasty - all regions either buried beneath the earth or suspended eternally above it - it feels a bit unlikely that the Gloam Eyed Queen was a contemporary of Placidusax. Further, the idea of an extant dynasty of Farum Azula feels contrary to the fragmentary notion of the Crucible.

I've been eagerly awaiting this upload. You are one of my favorite content creators, and the effort you put into these videos shows. Keep up the awesome work!

woooooo yeah

Outstanding as always. Thank you for your hard work

This one was so good! I can't get over the lore! Thank you.

Imagine uncovering something written in an ancient language and then realizing whoever made it provided TWO translations for you.

Quickly became one of my favorites. Even when I don't agree with a conclusion, I'm loving the journey

I lost count of how many times I have replayed this video. Amazing work as always.

As always amazing work. Cannot wait for more 😍

Yes! You have no idea how many times I looked at the channel in the off chance I'd missed a video.

So ready for this

Been rewatching all your videos while starting my first NG+. Only gets better with time 😊 I love your new logo too! Nice work. Can’t wait for the DLC content ❤

i don't think this is it. i think it's more like the gloam eyed queen appeared at the end of the age of plenty as the rightfull sucessor chosen by the greater will. and at the time the rune of death was still in the ring and the cycle of life and death happened through the erdtree but marika didn't want her age to end much like gwyn. and so defeated the gloam eyed queen and sealed the rune of death maybe this is when the erdtree was first burned thus starting the age of erdtree worship

I'd amend this to say that the God of Placidusax was actually the Twinbird, god of the Death Rite birds, who is depicted and described like a phoenix, unifying the concepts of Life and Death and as providing an eventual (if unfulfilled) cycle of Rebirth through the Death Rite Birds. There are also reliefs in Farum Azula that I interpret to depict the motif of a two headed bird, which lends plausibility to this interpretation. I think it should also be noted that a number of the primordial deities of Elden Ring take the form of animals: the God Devouring Serpent, the Scorpion God of Rot, the Twin Bird, Placidusax himself, and even the Elden Beast could be placed into this category of Primordial animalistic deities. This could be the earliest attested generation of divine forces in Elden Ring. I believe the Twinbird fled when the Greattree was felled (through some event unattested thus far, although I would perhaps correlate the event with the arrival of the Giants in the lands between, after all, how could anyone know the power of the flame of ruin to destroy the sacred tree if that power had not been demonstrated at least once in the past but I digress). I believe that the union of Placidusax and the Twin Bird to also be the reason why ancient dragons have both Draconic and Avian features, and why dragons of later periods lack avian features at all. I also believe the stormhawks, avians, to be connected to the Ancient Dragons through the association of the Twinbird. This explains their presence at Farum Azula as well as their loyalty to the storm of which Placidusax is Lord. At the fleeing of the Twinbird, the forces of Life and Death were cleaved from the unity they had in the body of the Twinbird into the Great runes of two Empyreans - Marika and the Gloam-eyed Queen. Furthermore, I would place the life and reign of the Gloam Eyed Queen during the era of the Crucible of Life after the felling of the Greattree of the Twinbird. This ancient "shattering" would mirror the time of the current state of affairs in Elden Ring with many competing demigods and more importantly Empyreans, which we know the Gloam Eyed Queen was. I believe the Godhunt of her forces was to eliminate the other demigods and Empyreans, so that she could ascend to godhood, however Maliketh of course would curb these ambitions with his blade as he would with many other demigods in competition with Marika. I would also like to push back against the conclusion that the Godskin apostles and nobles have draconic features because they do not actually share features with the dragons in game but rather share features with the Serpents. This is because I believe that the Gloam-eyed Queen consorted with the God Devouring Serpent, after all what do you do at the end of a hunt if not devour your quarry? I think what supports this assertion are the presences of a Godskin noble and black flame monk at the volcano manor as well as the similarities between the apostles and the man serpents (particularly that stretching they do with their abdomens). Furthermore, I would go so far as to say that we are actually given the true name of the Gloam-eyed Queen (or perhaps one of her female relatives) through an item acquired at the Volcano Manor - She is Daedicar, mother of countless "grotesque children" through her blasphemous union with the God Devouring Serpent. I do admit though that this connection must be made through context clues and reading comprehension, but that's exactly what this channel specializes in, is it not?

Amazing job, top quality stuff !

I love this channel so much. I know I've said it before, probably a few times, but the revelations this channel has brought to us about this game are just so astounding. Thank you, as always, for bringing us clarity in such a deep fog of ambiguity. You always seem to connect the ideas my mind is chewing on but never seems to bring together properly.

Very good video! Everytime the talk of the rune of death comes up, and the consequences of taking it out of the complete Elden Ring(both literally in terms of effect and the political consequence)/why Marika did it, I can't help but think about the rest of the runes that were removed from the Elden Ring. Like the one that Radagon gave to Rennala. You don't just "casually" pluck a great rune from the Elden Ring. Which rune was that? What effect did it have on the nature of Lands Between? If Destined Death had the effect of natural death no longer being a part of the Lands Between, what did that rune do? And what did it do politically? Marika would never sanction such an action if she couldn't gain politically from it. And honestly, to me, gambling a whole elden ring on "it will traumatize Rennala and leave her docile" isn't good enough. And then we have all the runes the demigods took during the shattering as well, as well as the runes that were left with Marika's corpse in the Erdtree. I also have some thoughts about the thorns in Stormveil Castle, but that's completely unrelated to this very educational video about rulers come and pass. Thanks for great content as always! :D

Maliketh piercing Marika seems like a stretch. He has a line where he says: "Forgive me, Marika... The Golden Order... cannot be restored." meaning that he was last tasked by Marika to restore the order. On top of that he is collecting deathroot to achieve this.

I think what I love abt these videos is that these actually kinda feel like old National Geo. Docs i would see on the History Channel. So good

I've been waiting for the next upload woopee!

Blaidd (and Maliketh) are not mind controlled by Greater Will, but compelled by Fingers. And Fingers are demonstrated to be at loss what Greater Will ultimately wants. Fingers wanted to punish Marika, as her trespass "demanded heavy sentence" as they tell us through Enya. Fingers also possess means to grant their servant Destined Death effect. Therefore it is no great leap of deduction to say that Elden Beast imprisoned Marika and Fingers (who have shown to give their agents destined death as a weapon as with Baneful Shadow) then either compelled Maliketh or some other servant of theirs to spear Marika, to keep her in perpetual limbo. Even if she is bound by Elden Beast, she could still struggle against her bonds if not sedated by Death. However, because Marika and Radagon are one at this point, and Radagon worked to repair the Elden Ring tirelessly, Destined Death spear would need to vanish for Radagon to continue his repairwork and need to be reapplied. Therefore more neat explanation is that Destined Death spear is recent development caused by us. Because Destined Death rune is freed by us (we don´t absorb or own it like with other great runes) it seeks to return to the Elden Ring, and doing so spears Marika (who occupies place that normally would be reserved for death) and doing so renders her/Radagon/Elden Beast vulnerable to killing, since they are touched by death.

awesome! i been waiting too long for the next vid lol.. excellent vid thought im surprised u didnt explore the possible identity of the gloam eyed queen... it seems your opposed to the melina theory

I listen to these at work I was so happy to see a new one, great video

YES! IVE BEEN WAITING ON THIS

3 Minutes in, and my personal favorite historical power and figure have already come up as the core theory basis I’m a happy lad today

From what I understand, Marika usurped power from the GEQ. Her first succession plan was Godwyn and Ranni, but Ranni noped out, and in karmic justice, used Destined Death to pretty much wipe out Marika’s Golden Lineage, so a presumably panicked and frustrated Marika had to come up with another succession plan. In the truest form of “keeping it in the family”, she fused with Radagon to birth the triplets, one to succeed her (Miquella), one to protect the heir (Malenia), and one to burn down the Erdtree (Melina). This plan also failed due to the actions of remnants of the Golden Lineage that she deliberately shunned (Mohg and Morgott). Yet more karmic justice. So now, in desperation, Marika calls upon any random Tarnished to help her cause and continue her lineage. Or does she? Ofnir spoke of Marika’s sorrow after we tell him about the Haligtree, and that Miquella is the final piece of the puzzle. His armour states that he was scared of what he found, and in his dying words he said a Tarnished cannot be a Lord and a man cannot kill a god after saying Marika has high hopes for us. Could it be that Marika never deviated from her Miquella succession plan, and is using the Tarnished to seek Miquella for her? I think (hope) this would be answered in the DLC.

excellent as always!

Stopped everyone and watched this in its entirety. Amazing stuff

Wonderful to see the channel updating again! I’m broadly sympathetic to your reading here; as always I have a few nitpicks, but the basic conception of the GEQ as the shadow and counterpart of Marika is one I heartily endorse (the shadow of the Erdtree, one might say). My main nitpick is that, while I don’t think this is necessarily any better supported than yours - it’s another theory, in dialogue with it - I like the reading of the GEQ as another Empyrean contender contemporary to the young Marika. This parallels the current conditions of the Lands Between, with multiple contending Empyreans. In support of this, consider that the GEQ is never called a god in any supporting text; Maliketh could be the ‘death of the demigods’ as in the death they own and command, the Death (Psychopomp) that serves Marika. This is an odd reading but one I think aligns well with the common usage of Death as a noun in the Lands Between.

Ayy, anohter upload, excellent! You always give such high quality content, truly you deserve more viewership than you have currently

That was awesome! Thank you for an interesting ride!

This is such highly quality content

I feel so vindicated by this vid! I’ve always suspected that the GEQ was the former god of the previous age. It just seemed to make the most sense to me, but I was never quite able to explain why. Looking forward to the next episode!

I always thought it was clever that you would probably first read “godskin” as “god’s kin” only to realize the horror later of what they were wearing, “god skin”, but another level of cleverness is to also hint that they were probably also “god’s kin” aka demi-gods. Also, Maliketh’s moniker of “death of the demigods” fits for someone who pierced the womb of the god, preventing her from begetting new demigods.

Wonderful, as always.

Found my new favorite channel fall asleep to, learning new lore about my favorite games while learning about the lore of my own species

I'm amazed by your content. I've been a Souls fan since Demon Souls, a lore enthusiast since DS1 and have followed all the big youtubers since, you my man have in short time risen to the top of my list as favoritt all time youtube content creator. Just woah!

About the spear that pierced Marika, I now find it really weird how the Elden Beast's grab attack actually mirrored the way of Marika's crucifixion, but instead of the red spear, it uses golden spears to pierced us.

Great stuff!

literally the one channel on youtube that when I see a new video I drop everything and watch it.

Just holy shit dude. All the things I had major disparity in connecting and understanding he just drew together and condensed and simplified. made me want to see the next video so much more intensely.

Great video as always, but here are some thoughts. If the Gloam-Eyed Queen was the god before Marika then what is the explanation for the Godskins' godhunts? The swaddling cloth says 'soon they will grow to be the death of the gods.' What gods will they be the death of if not the Golden Lineage? The skin of their robes seems to match the pale white skin and golden eyes of Godrick. If her consort was Placidusax wouldn't that make her the actual first god, with no prior dynasty to hunt and destroy? It seems to me that the GEQ is much more likely to have been a challenger after Marika's reign was established rather than the one she supplanted, and the Godskins seem much more like an artificial army raised in secret than demigods of a previous age. Also, from the red color of gold among other things Destined Death should have still been part of the Elden ring during the Crucible Era. The aspects of the Crucible incantations seem to be draconic features, while the godskins only have serpentine features, I find it more likely that they are connected with Eiglay than with dragons. If Placidusax's god is anywhere in game my guess is all that is left of them is the Fingerslayer blade. Secondly, rather than Maliketh piercing her womb with destined death I see that spear as being the fragment of Death that was stolen from Maliketh during the Night of Black Knives, used by Ranni to imbue the black knives with death, then returned to the one who commissioned the theft, Marika herself, by her loyal Black Knives. It certainly looks like the physical fragment of a rune. And if Marika was really all in on the Haligtree age, perhaps that was the true motive for the Night of the Black Knives, to clear away the old lineage of inheritors and leave Miquella the only legitimate heir.

This stays amazing for the entire impressive length

wow next level plot twist!!!!!!!!!. Thank u for this series, u are doing great work!!

I am always SHOCKED to see how few views this channel gets. TA, the algorithm is doing you dirty! Fantastic work, as always. My favorite lore/world history channel!

Thanks for the perspective shift. This made me think. I've always viewed the Nox as descendants of Marika, as she's the main empryean of her generation thats revealed to us. But the gloam eyed queen couldve actually been their creator, as another empyrean, and sometimes referred to in other content as the Dusk eyes queen, which has to do with the full moon. Which couldve led to partially be the reason for their banishment and betrayal. They clearly know more about death and stars than most other peoples from the elden ring region, proof of which they had the fingerslayer blade. Just more to think about. Great content!

Thanks once again TA! I'm still puzzling over Farum's overall place in the timeline. I agree that the evidence suggests a confrontation with Godfrey, but plenty of evidence (including your first video on the topic) also indicates that it is truly ancient, so I'm looking forward to seeing where you go from here.

You are a master. I love this channel. I’m hoping that a certain other from soft video creator doesn’t steal your stuff. I subbed and hope this channel grows.

10/10 your lore vids are some of the best available. Your channel is CRIMINALLY underrated One thing i dont really get tho... since Marika had this pretty solid succession plan, why would she specifically instruct her other children to fight over the elden ring? And what would she even have needed the Tarnished for? I'm going on the assumption that Miquella was chosen as her successor because, being both male and female, there would be no need for an elden lord at all. Maybe it's the chronology of everything that im getting tripped up on

I find it interesting the role of the tarnished to "seed marika's womb" and to what level it is literal. The player character can be female and there are many other tarnished who are women after all. There is prescedent for changing one's sex through the mirror in the round table hold, but I don't know if it is more of a gameplay convenience or an actual artifact in the lands between. With mikella being a successor for marika maybe sex just doesn't play a part in the process? and it's all made by divine magic or something. I guess fertility and birthing in the lands between isn't necessarily a feminine thing, with dung eater and goldmask both "birthing" mending runes. Anyway, great video! Excited to see what you guys do next.

you deserve applause from these videos. no doubt everyone here would give it to you if we were all in a theater.

excited for this!!

I’m curious as to how many videos you guys have in the pipeline. You’ve said “in a future episode” in previous videos a lot without releasing videos addressing them. I’m excited of course and will never have enough patience to wait, but don’t go burning out on us!