Mysteries in the Shadow of the Erdtree Trailer 

The real ones remember version one of this video

The opening line about shriving clean the hearts of man is obviously about Miquella bro

I think Mesmer is what the smoldering butterfly represents. 3rd child of Radagon and Marika 🤞

The opening line is actually in reference to the item the bewitching branch which is a relic of Miguella. He is referred to as the most powerful of the demigods and has the power make everyone love him. The line is in reference to him who is also known as Saint Trina. The purple / blue flower seen throughout the trailer where the character is laying on the ground is Saint Trina's Lily another item in reference to the demigod that is known to induce sleep and anywhere you see the color purple or pinkish is probably related to some form of sleep Magic the red Sword Dancer could be a reference to the very Sword Dancer that taught a certain rot goddess her moveset. It's also seemingly implied that will be dealing a lot with the concept of The Crucible which was only lightly touched in the main game in regards to The Crucible Knights and the tree they used to follow as they had a heavy tie to both man beasts as seen in the trailer and Omens

I wonder if Mesmer isn't an inverted character of Miquella, like Radagon was to Marika. They are of the same bloodline, and if Miquella sacrificed himself to create the Hellig tree, Mesmer could be all that's left. I wondered if he might not be related to Rykard, because of the whole snake thing, but that wouldn't follow the R naming convention.

The last voice we here is also similar to a young boy's voice and hence can be miquella himself which would make a lot of sense some more speculation When messmer says mother i think he IS referring to Marika as we become HER consort and become elden lord

I have this thought that the land of Shadow is kinda like where powerful beings go when they die, particularly demigods. Mesmer is a fallen demigod, the third child of Marika and Radagon who was the first to turn to blasphemy and was banished here. This place is where Marika first stepped because it’s where death was officially sealed and she became a god, in turn sealing this place away. Now when any demigods die, their consciousness goes here and it’s a constant battleground because Marika told her children to fight for dominance. Miquella went here when he embedded himself in the tree, looking to free Godwyn, hence the presence of death in the region. I imagine we’ll be taking on Mesmer because he’s holding Godwyn somehow (maybe, last part is kinda of a stretch)

"May we meet again" Sounds awfully like Ranni

7:12 Could this be a Death Companion? Pregnant with this man's reincarnation?

I really like the art direction they went with for the expansion! A very twisted & somewhat darker looking world even more so then the base game & I’m loving it!

I sorta assumed that the Shadow lands would be kind of like Termina from Legend of Zelda. With some things being close and similar, but also different

I like how you used all the creepy Zelda music in the back ground

I actually believe that the first line spoken in the trailer talking about someone shriving men clean with love and it being terrifying is not referencing Messmer but really referencing Miquella and I am calling it that we'll fight him or a corrupted version of him at the end of the DLC. But who really knows it IS FromSoft we're talking about here. 😂

I think the female voice is the gloam eyed queen. She has the same voice as Melina and doesn’t die as she shows up in the frenzy flame ending promising destined death to the tarnished

Let's goooo!! I'm so excited, this DLC looks massive and so cool

I believe the lion looking creature is meant to be a reference to Chinese lion dance as well, with separate (or grafted) people controlling its front and back halves

The shrive clean part is talking about Miquella not Mesmer

also, the weird alter behind the roderika look-alike seems to have either a strange tree petruding out of it or two fingers.

12:18 I think due to the fog gate in the background that this could be a new boss and in the background we can see this new distorted tree and when observing the moment where the tarnished throws the explosive pot we can see a similar sort of castle under or around the new tree so maybe he could be a guardian for this tree or to Mesmer himself

The Giant fire being is based off the wicker man large stick and tree men used in religious festivals to burn down like the Burning Man events. Not only is this a reference to Pagen/witchcraft ideals but to Manga Berserk as one of the last chapters produced after dark souls has them with frail hands. This marks the last latest material based of Berserk that arc was the last before Kentaro Miura passsing. I like to think he designed such a enemy to see what Fromsoftware would do with it. Lastly the lady at the end could be Renna the snow witch which is why its similar to Ranni and Melina as the puppet body is based off Renna.

7:47 is possibly a prison built by Mesmer? The lava would obviously be consistent with the fire imagery related to Mesmer and also the player model walking up the pillar is the prisoner starting class. Possibly somewhere that those deemed unworthy by Mesmer are sent? I have not kept myself educated with the Elden Ring lore to know if there is a backstory already discovered with the prisoner class, but this is my theory for now.

It is very likely the person that speaks with you about not being far behind is Miquella himself.

The golden structure that has impaled the old man from the painting resembles the golden structure inside the Elden Beast.

The knight standing with that crescent helmet looking at Miquellas rune has that cape on that is the one talking.The design on the robe perfectly matches the lower half we are shown

I’m so ready for this DLC

love how FAST you are! i was so ready to talk about this dlc! :) everything you have said makes sense to me so far, i do not think, however, that the voice at the end is melina. it is deeper and has a different accent - at least to my ear. but maybe i'm wrong! so curious to see what the story will be. i am also curious if we will ever get to see the cucoon miquella move... like maybe that's a secret secret boss, so you get to fight this deformed and demonic form of miquella at the end of the dlc

My theory: Messmer is the third (fourth, counting Melina) and firstborn child of Marika. As the third child of Marika and Radagon he is the correlating child to the smouldering butterfly. Messmer was inherently evil from birth and the true adversary to the Golden Order (akin to the biblical figure of Satan). Soon after his birth, Marika came to discover his desire to destroy the Erdtree and Golden Order. For this reason, he had to be banished to the Shadowlands. Furious over his exile, he plunged the Shadowlands into a war and set them ablaze. _A land purged in an unsung battle. Set ablaze by Messmer’s flame_ Miquella, born after Messmer, one day came to find out about the existence of his brother. Marika, burdened by guilt and shame, was unable to tell him the truth about his brother's malicious nature and banishment. Miquella still learned (part of) the truth, being informed about it by Mohg. This was when Mohg took Miquella with him to Mohgwyn's palace, promising him to bring him to the Shadowlands and letting him visit his lost brother. Mohg did not teach him about the evil nature of Messmer. With the help of Mohg, he teleported his body to the Shadowlands. This was done by putting his childlike form into the cocoon. He went on his journey to find Messmer. Upon meeting him, he finally had to learn the reason for his mothers secrecy. Messmer revealed his demonic nature to his younger brother who, from then on, was captured and held prisoner by him. This is the reason why Miquella has been unable to return from his journey, stuck inside of the cocoon in Mohgwyn Palace. _It was to this land that Miquella departed_ _Divesting himself of his flesh, his strength, his lineage_ _Of all things Golden_ So upon visiting the Shadowlands, Miquella got rid of his body and his godliness to some degree. Could he be the "one so bereft of light", who Messmers refers to in his dialogue? _And now Miquella awaits the return of his promised Lord_ The promised Lord are we, in form of the Tarnished, opening the portal at Mohgwyn's Palace once more, to visit the Shadowlands and free Miquella. Messmer's motivation to keep Miquella prisoner consists in his envy and bitterness towards him, since Marika granted her Lordship to Miquella instead of Messmer. Miquella is the one "so bereft of light". _Mother, wouldst thou truly Lordship sanction, in one so bereft of light?_ _Divesting himself of his flesh, his strength, his lineage_ _Of all things Golden_ But Messmer has ulterior motives: He also holds Miquella captive to instrumentalize the cocoon and Miquella in his stuck and helpless state, using it to trick the Tarnished into opening the portal to the Shadowlands, thinking he will be able to find Miquella, when all he does is giving Messmer the chance to enter the Lands Between and wreak havoc. This manipulative and deceiving nature is what gave Messmer his name: A clear reference to Franz Mesmer, the german physician that developed the first forms of hynposis. His ultimate goal is the destruction of the Erdtree. However, Messmer is revealed to be but a puppet. He, like Mohg, is controlled by the Formless Mother. This gives his dialogue line from the trailer a double entendre: _Mother, wouldst thou truly Lordship sanction, in one so bereft of light?_ Not only does he refer to his literal mother Marika and his brother Miquella as the one so bereft of light. He also phrases this as a rhetorical question, adressing his symbolic mother and lord, the Formless mother, with him being the one so bereft of light, that was granted his powers by her. Like Mohg, the Formless Mother was the one to teach him the use of the Bloodflame.

Hey Bandit, just wanna say that your Elden Ring videos are one of my favorites, I often go back to them. I discoverd this game thanks to you as well as the other soulsborne games and a whole bunchs of theorist and passionate fans in the community So I'm hype for your futur analyses on the dlc once it releases x) Keep up the good work bandit ! [So I didn't hallucinate when I saw a notif for this video yesterday, uh ]

possible the realm is in the past? that new castle kinda looks like farum azula and theres dragons flying around. also the voice actor for miquella has been cast and thats who the narrator is. only reason i think its in the past is cause of that red spear that goes thry marikas body when we first see her in the boss room. messmer "the impaler" hes got the red spear that kinda looks like it too

the person in the room with the cages on the throne looks like the person on the inverted statue in the base game

Muh character just sitting, waiting for me to download this and spend summer dying over and over to these new bosses

I think the hearts of men thing. Is referring to Mikel.

Loved the Shadow Temple music. Was awesome

Dude what if that lion-omen looking monster is the thing that the omens see on their nighmares (also the one on the omenkillers masks)

It is definitely not mohg miquella is awaiting. It is us definitely because miquella rejected mohg very clearly in mohgwyn palace.

The drapes veil theory i think is fitting as it mirrors the golden lights protruding from the Erdtree in similar fashion. I think they're the same veil/drape of light/shadow

I believe there will be some kind of extended story related cutscene involving the parting of water (sea to the south) to reveal the "Shadow" realm location. If you notice the first scene where the tarnished first enter area on top of Torrent, you notice wet ground that Torrent runs on. Also, many camera angles appear to give the feeling of looking "upwards" at Erdtree. The many island type land structures also appear to be shaped as if underwater previous and surroundings seem like lands are just in a bowl type area.

The bridge in Lyndel went to this place,The highway is been broken off.There have several roads completely missing going to obviously to these lands.

if you look up a picture of Rykard, even a part of the giant snake, he does not have slit eyes. Mesmer must have done some dragon communion

That Giant fire golem thing kinda looks like the wicker men from berserk so they might have made another reference

@bandit since we explored “the lands between” in the base game, and are traveling to “the lands of shadow”, I can’t help but wonder if there will be a “land of light” also… 🧐

You can actually see the Halig tree from a distance, I obviously cqn't send a screenshot, but at the north end kf the windmill village, by a cliff, you can see the Halig tree as well as the consecrated snowfield

The “pure and radiant” line in the intro is in reference to Miquella, not Messmer.

My favourite theory for the last narrator is Marika as they sound a bit deeper that Melina

Mesmer calling someone mother could also refer to the formless mother as well, not to say he isn't related to radagon at the very least as shown with his red hair but weh have 3 known enities refered to as mother, Merika, Renalla and the Formless Mother. Considering where the DLC is speculated to start I wouldn't be surpised if the Formless Mother takes a more prominent role in the DLC

16:45 Holy Moly, Miquella himself!

Yessir thank you Bandit!

I feel like the opening line is referring to miquella, since it's stated everyone loved him even to unnatural levels. Perhaps miquella is actually abusing his power in this shadow realm and mesmer is actually against it, being a seemingly abandoned/forgotten/banished child of Marika 'mother, wouldst thou truly lordship sanction, to one so bereft of light?' He's definitely talking to Marika, seemingly about the tarnished, destined to become elden lord, but he could also be talking about miquella, perhaps Marika left him as lord of the land of shadows after her departure to the lands between?

0:54 matches the robe of the knight in the shot of the rune exactly.

1:16 I figured this to be a description of miquella. Possibly a reference to the bewitching branches, that can get enemies to fight for you, or it could be the possible bewitching incantation that seems to be shown. (It could also be a sleep incantation, but I doubt it because the colors are a bit off from the purple/lavender that sleep is associated with in Elden ring.)

I honestly hope the Shadow Realm is also a sort of mirror realm of the Lands Between

10:11 my guess is Mesmer is a son of the formless mother and is referring to "her" choosing to make mohg a lord.

I personally really like how bandit presents his theories. He’s really fun person to listen to.

I'm so excited for this!!!

The tree looks like a crucible knot

Messmer is a children of Mohg and Miquella. Blood dynasty 🤯🤯🤯

I'm so ready for this dlc bandit great video too my friend

Seeing elden ring, its story, its unrivaled atmosphere, dungeons and character designs, man i would love to see fromsoft help work on a zelda game it would be amazing.

I think he is one of Marika's forgotten children

Nice analysis. I want to play this game now

Is the egg that Mohglester is protecting the flesh that Miquella divested before departing for the Land of Shadow? The lion looking omen creature looks like it could be the woman that was standing next to the man in the portrait, hair and clothing look sorta similar. The mother that Mesmer is talking about could be the Formless Mother considering the fact that it looks like he's wielding bloodflame abilities like Mohg. The Land of Shadow is where Marika first step foot apparently so it seems like they could be a real place and not a dream realm. The Land of Shadow could be part of the "Badlands" that the Tarnished were banished to once the Grace left them or a surrounding territory of the Lands Between because the name literally implies that its between something.

These are my early (but actually late) theories: -Marika and the Gloam Eyed Queen (GEQ) are actually the same person, GEQ is another aspect of Marika, similar to Miquella and St Trina. (This would also explain Marika's seeming distrust/distaste towards her shadow, as she had him kill a version of herself.) -Melina is the daughter of Marika while she was the Gloam Eyed Queen. (Possibly a daughter of GEQ + Godfrey) -After Marika expunged the GEQ from herself, she would eventually replaced the missing personality with Radagon. -Radagon personality ended up overpowering Marika, so she set up the events of Elden Ring in order to free herself from Radagon and choose a new Lord. -Messmer is the corrupted 1/2 of the adult version of Miquella, with the other half being St Trina (I believe the St Trina aspect of Miquella will act in a similar way to Melina in the DLC)

I think the tree in the DLC is the REAL Erdtree. Concealed in the land of Shadow by Marika after it started to die, and the tree was separated from the lands between just like miquella, which is why we see the giant rune tree left over from the Erdtree dying. The Erdtree in game is just a giant illusiory tree that not everybody can see in the first place, and it takes the same form as the small trees on the ground when something with grace (ie a tarnished) dies.

13:32 those attack is reminiscing of the forest spirit head in Hayao Miyazakis Princess Mononoke

I dont think they are talking about Messmer "shriving the hearts of men". The full quote is "Pure and Radiant. He wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men. There is nothing more terrifying." Messmer is not one that could be described as "pure and radiant". It's very clear they are talking about Miquella. Lol Edit: iirc Miyazaki confirmed in a famitsu article that Messmer is indeed a "child of Marika".

those are bird cages like those at the Academy.

Midir boss area and the face of that skeleton horse rider looks like the abyss spells from dark souls

It sounds a lot more like nepehli loux then it does melenai in my opinion, and she did say she would always watch your back after you helped her out

I’m sure the lady in the portrait is the Deathbed Companion.

5:10 is the person facing cocoon,look at cloak design.

I think everyone isn’t thinking about the fact the Mesmer mentioning his mother could be referring to the blood mother not marika. After all he has the body shape what was miquela being transformed in the egg

I have a very weird theory that I’m just throwing out there: the man pulling a spike out of his head might be the soul of godwyn. We know he has a strong tie to deathbed companions, he is the source of deathroot, which might have something to do with the golden root the man pulls out of his head (we know that the things that are golden are decayed, so maybe the things that are decayed become golden), and his soul has been withering away in torment /somewhere/ so it’s not implausible

I would love to see a new prediction video just before the DLC drop, with update theories from the community. Just to better compare what we got right and wrong about the DLC.

It's interesting how the grafted beast enemy seems to have two set of teeth, one jagged beast like and another more human like. Great video Correction: not a grafted beast. Just an interesting cosplay

I think it is miquella the guy at start talking about. Because miquella in lore uses love to shrive clean of hearts of men. Give them home and helps in their fight by bewitching them. It is miquella through and through. And coincidentally very similar to Griffith in berserk which makes sense because miquella has this bewitching beauty to him just like Griffith.

That man is the key to everything

just finished, great video, cant wait for this udpdate bro i am so exc ited

The first armor reminds me of the Arch drake set from ds2. In fact, a good amount of the trailer reminds me of Drangleic. Also, the lady in the painting is holding her stomach which usually means she is pregnant.

The siblings all come in three. Morgott and Mohg is missing a third. Messmer seems to have snake growths and could also be warped in appearance like the sibling twins. But his affliction could have been accepted at first

There was a comment on another breakdown video of the DLC that I personally feel best explains the lion creature, and it's that its meant to be a mockery of the Golden Lineage. The long blonde hair representing Godwyn the Golden, the Omen horns representing Morgott and Mohg, and the lion head representing Godfrey. Also, am I the only one who thinks the area with the undead horse enemy/boss looks similar to the place you fight Darkeater Midir in Dark Souls 3?

12:11 obviously I don't know at all, but to me that kidna looked like PvP, I mean the background would fit a PvP arena and both characters seem like they could be players.

I don't think the other ideas are bad, but isn't it much more likely that the lion head boss is related to Godfrey, the blonde-haired man with a lion spirit? It's almost as if all of Godfrey's symbols-himself, his spirit, his legacy of grafting, his passing of the omen disease-all got merged into one massive curse

Wait bandit is an elden ring guy LETS GOOOOO

I haven't seen someone mention the great rune we see in the DLC, it is almost identical to Malenia's great rune and following that logic, Morgot and Mogh great rune are the same with only the color that changes as they follow different paths. It suits very well as Miquella great rune

That's salt water ice on that frozen car

Let Bandit's New Era officially begin!

Will the dlc continue off my NG+ account or do I need to re run everything or when the dlc comes out can I finish the run I’m on with 1 boss left then run through the dlc as if it was always there. I’m okay if I need to start a new run but tbh but I’d rather not spend 20 game hours looking for loot I can’t use till fire giant 😂

Also, the fight in the white flowers reminds me of the fight with Ishin in sekrio

5:15 that sword has to be a nod to the Nameless King’s sword

This looks bigger than all the additional areas from TOTK that were stacked on BOTW. It appears to be a contender for the biggest dlc ever.

I think Melina IS Messmer. Both left eyes closed. Both represented by the smoldering butterfly, both children of Marika.

The voice at the start is clearly talking about Miquella.

The old man may be goldmask

I think the voice beckoning us to follow is Miquella’s child form. It sounds a bit more boyish than Melina’s higher pitched voice.

The zombie ripping out his spine is gonna be the new melania

Is "kind" reference to Miquella or is it reference to what "kind" of things he's doing there?

The Erdtree in the dlc isn't the Haligtree. It's the Shadow Erdtree, aka, the shadow of the Erdtree. If it was the Haligtree, we wouldn't be going to a new land.

Yes, please. I need a new perspective on this. I really would like to see what more of the internet thinks, especially with the themes we see going forward with the Crucible Culture and sleep stuff. I personally think that Messmer has to do with Sin, since he has thorny growths around his flame, which makes more sense when we see the flame monks and thier thorns.

Great vid, Mr. Bandit

Oh god I don't want to die to something called a bonerang