I forget who pointed it out to me, but Melina's closed eye seems to have a crow's talon's enclosed around it. possibly a deathrite seal to keep her gloam eye closed.
The crow talon imagery has to do with death rite birds and their mysterious Death God. There is a cut content item that looks identical to her eye mark, and it belonged to people who worship death rite birds. Melina is not the only "child of marika" with a sealed left eye. Rannis doll has its right eye closed, but her truer spirit form has its left eye closed. Messmer has his left eye closed. My speculation? The sealed left eye seems to mark anyone who wields the power of Death. Maybe they all get gloam eyes for using Death?
8:49 Actually, the sun is there in the main game, it's just hard to notice because it's usually behind clouds, hidden by light bloom, or behind the branches of the Erdtree. It's easiest to see during sunrise or sunset, from western Liurnia or eastern Caelid, or maybe also on one side or the other of the Weeping Peninsula. Here's a good clip I had of the sun setting behind the academy: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-72GirG4yMVk.html
Nothing slaps harder than a new Honored Madman vid bro; love the simple analysis and lighthearted speculation, not coming into actual conclusions like everyone else thinking they know everything I'm very excited for this DLC man, especially since Miyazaki and the team themselves admitted to a lot of empty space and boring open world; this has always been my major gripe with ER. If they refine the open world aspect of this game with this DLC, I think we can rethink if open world is actually the next level of evolution of this genre Thanks for the vid G
Messmer is of the same race as the godskins, and he hold a black and red flame that could be the same flame as the godskins but before it was stripped from the destined death power. Melina eye having the same thing as messmer can be a clue to confirming the "Melina is the gloam eyed queen" theory. That would explain why the godskins follow the player around, to rescue their goddess, and that they where probably sent there by messmer.
The whole eye thing is one of my favourite conceptual themes in the game. As such, seeing what they do (if anything) with Melina is one of the main things I'll be seeking out in the DLC.*
Anyone else also excited to see what new "chill" areas we will get in DLC? yes, bosses and lore are epic but I figure this channel would be the place to ask about something else. Maybe a beautiful space to use the rest gesture in, maybe a harrowing, epic fantasy location to use in photomode, or even a place that draws your eye for just a momemt? Just enough for you to run over and peer down at it closely. Very important aspect of a game that is more subtle
I very much believe that messmer is likely the one that encourage the consumption of dragon hearts in the land between, since there’s a dragon armor set that looks similar to his armor and he also has dragon eyes.🐱
About the chinese lion dancer boss, during the footage where the lightning storm is summoned they're being hit by lightning and there's a roar, but they aren't throwing anything, that never happens. Also damn that thing's anomalous, and it has Farum Azula vibes as well. That roar incantantion might or might not confirm that old network test theory of draconic bears, the bear has a horn and almost all feathery overworld dragons have horns as well, just in a different spot.
So one idea I had that kinda fits a lot of pieces together is that Messmer is a bastard child between Marika and Radagon, when Marika was still married to Godwin (possibly before?). It would explain why Radagon was chosen to to be second elden lord and left Rennala, why Messmer could be an unwanted child of Marika, how the timing as to why snakes could be seen as traitors during the time of Godwin and in the colosseum battles, why Radagon put a stop to the battles, and how the potential impaled giants were possibly impaled by Messmer. It also fits well with the missing throne spot in Morgott’s boss battle is right after Godwyn’s.
I think those new Knights in the black armor and gold trim are the knights of Marika. They have the exact same color scheme as marika and maliketh, and what other army would have access to fire giant heads and the flame of ruin (used in the wickerman)
Im guessing Messmer is sort of Elden Rings version of Hades. Lord of the Shadow Realm, a realm where all those who lose grace and former opposition of the Erdtree are destroyed in Messmers flame. Marika sought to defeat Death and become Eternal Miquella seeks to find Godwynn a true death. Seems like a land connected to death in some manner all around since miquella sought it out And Messmers whole drip being nothing but Blasphemous regalia and him using thorn/blood/death flame magic seems Palpatine Esque Which makes me think Messmer might have been like davy jones where he had a task he was committed to but along the way fell to corruption and evil
The losing side of the war thing might be referring to a situation similar to the war between leyndell and caria. Marika may have learned how to use non-violence to win a war here, and that may be her in the portrait next to the old guy who could be/was the lord of these lands. This could also be why miquella traveled here, to learn about HOW his mother conquered these lands without violence and perhaps learn more about blood/fire (or bloodflame) to cure malenia.
I just noticed that the Wicker man has a bunch of briars or barbed wire wrapping around it's arms and legs.The only other character with barbed wire is Elemer of the Briar. The barbed wire was supposed to mark him as guilty and having been sentenced to death. So maybe his crimes were in the shadow land and he was sentenced to be thrown into the Wicker man.
"There is this theory of the Moebius. A twist in the fabric of space where time becomes a loop... Where time becomes a loop... Where time becomes a loop" -Worf sampled on the track, "Time becomes," by Orbital
18:15 THANK YOU. Why has nobody else mentioned that this guy is reminiscent of the Watchdogs and Imps? I have kept thinking this during this whole coverage.
I don’t think it was made clear, would that be 10 main bosses? But he did say “over 10” so I guess he’s just being vague on purpose as usual. I hope we get a fight with Godwyn somehow, that story still feels unresolved.
6:20 I somehow hadn't made the connection, but the Elden beast also has a Humanity sprite look too with its lil head.😂 Oh and thanks for reminding me how fking epic the puppetry stuff is in this game. I won't pretend to understand exactly what they're going for with that, but it's so cool and dark fantasy on a conceptual level. I love idea of dark, twisted beings using magic commonly associated with holiness or god. Some rotting fiend throwing once-sacred lightning at you, its like something that was once pure has rotted and lost itself
I've been avoiding other people's videos on the dlc since I think they're going full Always Sunny Pepe Silvia territory. I like your level headed takes so I had to watch. People assume that the portrait in Volcano manor you pointed out is inquisitor Ghiza in his alternative outfit. Nice touches with your parade lion aspects. The omen armor I haven't paid attention to. Where did you get that shot of the omen without aggroing?
So, you've become one of my favorite lore channels. I just wanna say- it's impressive that anyone can get toked up and play a Souls game. The last time I tried I couldn't figure out why my horse kept killing me and then I realized it was a Night's Cavalry.
that weird skeletal giant, on the horse at around 6:10 - you can actually see that its sitting on the horse, legs tugged upwards left and right like its clamping to the horse body
By the way, the idea of Miquella using love to force people to do heinous things is kind of a GRRM theme. To a lesser extent, it's embodied by Renly, who was useless and not good at anything really, but he got like one third of the Seven kingdoms to support his non-existent claim to the throne by just being charming. Obviously the smartest of his advisors said that he was going to fail, like Randyll Tarly and Olenna Tyrell. But many young and eager knights joined him. This was literally how he thought of Brienne: all the lords wanted something from Renly, but Brienne just wanted to die for him, i.e. be a kingsguard. And he shamelessly exploited her desire. If Renly wasn't lawfully executed for rebellion and treason, then his survival would have lead to some sort of Miquella situation. The other example is the Kimdissi from the Thousand worlds universe. They are most thoroughly covered in Dying of the Light. They are a people of pacifism on the surface. But they will sell weapons to anyone and will plot to get their enemies to fight eachother. One of their most famous sayings is "Remeber, your enemy also has an enemy." Meaning: you don't have to fight if you can get someone else also hates your enemy to do it. They aren't destroyed because if you'd try to attack them, they could bribe your enemies to fight you. Also it's useful to have a friend who can sell you the most horrific weapons when you need them.
Chinese lion Incense burning in that throwing knife shot Kung fu monk Multiple shots of fields of flowers and grass… aka reeds Samurais and dancers Miyazaki naming katanas as the first new weapon And now that you pointed out that old dudes brooch matching the watchdog, which is heavily inspired by the meneki neko, beckoning cat. I’m more and more convinced that this older culture is eastern culture, and we’re headed to the land of reeds.
I really think the shadowlands are Eochaid, or at least its located within them. If you look at the altered briar armor, its got golden lions on it, similar to the lion dancer in the trailer.
After brushing up on Celtic mythology, I'm convinced that Messmer is akin to Lugh and Miquella is akin to Bres the beautiful. Lugh's weapon was a firey spear and he was sometimes shown with a two headed snake wrapped around him. He was also known to wield fire. Bres was also called Eochu Bres or, :the beautiful horseman." Sometimes just called Eochaid. He was the beautiful son of of the one-eyed Balor and was the lord of the Formorians. He was made kind when Nuada was disqualified due to the loss of his hand. Bres was known to be a bad king who made their equivalent of Zeus dig ditches. Lugh was also know as, "Lugh of the Long Arm." Lugh was also half god and half giant and killed the Dagah, the, "Good God," who controlled life and death and was the father of druids. He also lead the fight vs the Formorians and killed the one-eyed lord of the Formorians, Balor, who was also his father. There is a little overlap and things don't match perfectly but there are some incredible similarities.
I feel like some gods grafted some trees to other trees and/or cut down some trees to graft their own. Maybe the Shadowlands are Shadowy because marika took the erdtree somehow, got to the lands between, burned down the great tree and grafted the erdtree onto its stump, leaving the shadowlands without light in the process
You know how GRR Martin likes to hint at bastards by giving shared traits? And how all Marika and Radagon children have some form of curse? Well Mogh and Morgott have M names not G names like Godfrey other kids.
The red snakes remind me more of the red rotten duelist Armor with the snakes on the helmet and the snakes wrapped around the arms and feet just my opinion maybe he has something to do with that as well
I mean its just snake imagery, theyre all meant to personify "traitor to the erdtree", so the gladiators where it because the crowds delighted in seeing the snakes all smashed up. But i did think it was kinda a trip how the rotten duelest has like hella snakes on his helm compared to the regular ones
Yea it seemed very clear Tanith's ending was cut way short. It jarred me since it was the first time a From quest felt actually incomplete. (Im sure other's feel previous game quests have been incomplete also etc) but having such a promenent character end like that, was kinda strange coming from From. It would be a very sad missed opportunity to not follow up with her, especially how often the idea of gaining superhuman abilities via consuming the flesh of others is presented to us in game. And she was *eating one of the mightiest, most evil fiends in the entire game* last we see her. She also might greatly resent us for...reasons. The potential here is so amazing
While re watching Vaati's Miquella video; he points out statues and says they're Miquella, Malenia, and Godwin but to me it makes much more sense to be Mesmer now, likewise with the castle Sol thing. I haven't actually played myself so if there is something I said that doesn't add up please let me know, I just don't remember anything that would indicate a good relationship among the demi god step children
Wonder if it’s dreams all the way down? Base level reality is just another level of the dream? Whoever holds the dream can influence like the greater will? Guess elder scrolls might be influencing me here…
And onial was the general of mesmir. His banners red. His armor has dragon wings and omen horns and it looks like thorns on his chest plate. Excited to see more of your theories
Miyazaki said in the fumitsu interview that the culture that the Dance Beast comes from (assumedly crucible-worship Ala paganism) predates Marika's ascension to godhood. this stuff is all pre-Godwyn.
Wait, crazy thought... What if the Black Knights are the Knights of Maliketh during this timeline... it have been subtly hinted at by the descriptions of Malikeths set... They say "Beast helm" or "Beast gauntlets" etc... And yeah this kind of applies to a lot of named items, but could it be that these belonged to beasts other than Maliketh, or maybe it was something worn by human and beastmen alike. Which, even crazier, what if the beasts themselves also had much higher renown back in the day, in this old culture... What if Maliketh himself is from the land of shadow... They are called shadow bound beasts... Damn where am I, how did I get here
@@TheHonoredMadman my brain is scrabbling to come up with other reasons it's using lightning, save they're all like "it's supposed to represent Godwyn" or something
Lol, your B@ng rips remind me of the Album Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys. Never been dumped 'cause I'm the most mackinest Never been jumped 'cause I'm known the most packinest Yeah we've got beef chief We're knocking out teeth chief And if you don't believe us you should question your belief Keith I'm like Sam the butcher bringing Alice the meat Like Fred Flintstone driving around with bald feet
I know I am probably coming out of nowhere with this, and sorry for taking some of the attention away from the video, they're always great. Yet I find these games have a lot in common with the lesser known Drakengard/Nier series. From the way the scarlet rot spreads with blooming flowers to the way that the drake/early dragons resemble some of the designs of dragons in Drakengard. Now in this dlc we see a giant boar knight with armor covering both the rider and mount which has me thinking that maybe we were suppose to be Nier all along.
OK. Hear me out…. Marika represents the golden order and erdtree… right? So do you think the word “SHADOW” has anything to do with Blaidd and Maleketh especially being right behind to erdtree! Just a thought!🤨
Guess this just goes to show how artistic design affects people differently because for me the Lion Dancer absolutely stole the show while the Wickerman siege weapon, while cool, didn't resonate with me as much as it did you.
I would say that not everything in the trailer was a boss. The worm thing is probably a normal enemy. The hippo thing too may potentially be a normal enemy. The horse guy could be a boss but also may be similar to those undead horsemen in liurnia that are just normal enemies. If all the trailers enemies were only bosses, im abit disappointed, because a few give off a feeling of normal enemy, I want the bosses to really be special. Horseman dude, Hippo thing, wickerman thing, just dont give me the same feeling as many of elden rings base bosses. [Ancestor spirit, Maliketh, Plascidusax, Godfrey, Radagon, Elden Beast, Rennala, Morgott, Mogh, Malenia, Rykard, Godrick.] All of them were so insane and really stood out. But abunch of those trailer enemies dont feel as intense, which is a let down for me if that ends up being the case.
