True Identity of the Gloam Eyed Queen | Elden Ring Lore 

IMPORTANT NOTE: I was trying to remember the image of a woman holding her hair and standing on a shell as I thought it looked very similar BUT I COULD NOT FIND IT.. Because I was searching for Aphrodite :') That is because it was, as the BRILLIANT jfalk6500 pointed out in the comments, VENUS! The "Roman goddess whose functions encompass love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory" :D AND MY GOODNESS the image is so similar. ============================================================================================= I do believe this may be the first time this image has been discovered, and most assuredly is the closest thing available to a depiction of the Gloam Eyed Queen! Thankyou for taking the time to watch my video, I hope it was worth your while! There are some real big projects coming! PS Apologies if the music is at all clashing with the sound. I uploaded and got copyright struck which is kind of weird because it was Tchaikovsky lmao

"All I can see, is a boob" Ah yes. A man of culture I see. Carry on sir.

The problem with Gloam eyed Queen being Messmer's Mother, is how did she had a son with Radagon? because Radagon's motiff in Messmer's OST, Red Hair, etc makes it OBVIOUS that Radagon was his Father.

The more we look into the lore, the more the entire history of the Lands Between turns out to be an extended family spat.

The woman on the Peeler bears similarity to the woman found throughout Farum Azula, though the Farum Azula woman also bears an explicit crown. A byzantine style crown that matches to the giant woman statues found within Rauh. All three of these depictions are the Gloameyed Queen. The former Queen (god) who bore the Elden Ring, whose Elden Lord was Placidusax. (This is also reinforced by the Godskin duo being found in the Dragon Temple of Farum Azula and that there's verdigris on/in the walls of Farum Azula... Not to mention the identical architecture to Enir Elim.)

Maybe, instead of being siblings, the Geq was once part of Marika, just like st. trina was part of miquella. basically after she ascended as god, marika was the gloam eyed queen and the gods she killed were the hornsent gods. once she decided to remove death from the elden ring and found her golden order, she discarded this other side of her, the Gloam eyed queen, and battled her, removing her rune and founding the golden order, marrying godfrey, etc.

I had a theory that Marika was the GEQ before she achieved Godhood, but with SoTE I’m now of the belief that Melina actually was the GEQ before she became “burned and bodiless”; she’s the one Malekith defeated. She was an empyrean, made a play for power, burned the Great Tree (causing the first blanket of ash over Leyndell and giving rise to the Golden Seeds), got smacked down for it and then “reborn” by Marika much later when she was crucified.

I always found it odd that the Godskin Swaddling Cloth of all things is a talisman that restores hp after dealing damage, the exact opposite of the Black Flame which continuously drains hp after the first hit

Awwwwwww babes thank you for the spotlight!!! 🥲❤️ Love all of these texture highlights, you are giving the designers their due acknowledgement

You weren't kidding. Excellent finds in this video and you've really done some phenomenal texture work. My theory that Marika used Radagon to commit the betrayal/seduction of the GEQ now holds more disturbing, classical GRRM weight than it did before. I think the Dominula connection is really interesting, as the festive grease tells us the festival is so old that even the Golden Order tacitly allows its continued practice. Is this because they share motifs with shaman village, or because this was a practice the GEQ had created and Marika felt guilt over her past betrayal and decided to overlook it? I feel like the final connection is strengthening the links between the Nox and GEQ which your prior grandmother's video already set roots for. Hyped!!!

This is an old write-up now, with some recent updates from the DLC. Marika is the Gloam/Dusk-Eyed Queen. - Red and black spike of death impales Marika and keeps her in place when we find her at the end. Only Maliketh wields this power, and only he could even defeat a God like Marika. But he's so loyal to her, why would he? - Maliketh "defeated" the Gloam/Dusk-Eyed Queen. We know Shadowbound hounds have to attack their former master if The Fingers feel like the Empyrean is acting against them. We play through this reality with Ranni's quest, and both she and Iji know Blaidd will go mad as she enacts her vision. How do they know this happens? They saw/heard of it happening to Maliketh and Marika already. - Only Marika would be able to guide Ranni to the location of the Rune of Death and how to use it for it to be stolen in the first place to forge the Black Knives. Remember, "Marika... is this what it is to sin?" "Why gull me..." Marika, after all, had only one use for Maliketh in the end, after the other work was done... a vessel to seal away Destined Death. And even then, she betrayed him. - The Beast Eye is a purple, scratched up eye. It's Marika's eye from being defeated and imprisoned by her Shadowbound. No other Queen or Empyrean is "defeated" but not slain, as the text implies there except Marika. And who but her purpose-made hound could even stop her, a God? The one entity empowered enough by the Ring/Fingers to be able to do so should the need arise. - Dominula Village is much like the Hinterlands and the Shaman Village. We find a skinning ritual and a Godskin Apostle there in Dominula. We learn that the "festival" is old and tacitly accepted by the Golden Order. The aesthetic of these villages is much the same, and they're intimately tied to Marika herself. - Gideon gives us a boon in the form of a secret rite known only to him, Black Flame Protection. He is alleged to have peered into the will of Queen Marika, and shuddered at the end that should not be. - The Scadutree is of a dual nature. So is Queen Marika. When Gold arose, so too was Shadow born. Gold and Shadow exist as necessary contrasts to each other, yet in a God, in Marika, this duality exists in coalesce, or it did once. - No other characters are named as Queen or Empyrean that aren't already accounted for/ruled out to be the GEQ, and by that I mean Melina, she was given purpose by her mother at the foot of the Erdtree and that means she is a daughter of Marika, not old enough to be the GEQ but possesses traits of both Marika and Radagon. Eye color and hair color are passed down traits we see in game. Well, sure enough, Melina shows us a purple/gloamy eye in one ending. Inherited trait from her mother, the Queen in Black. Marika's eyes are never shown to us, to judge their color. - Duskborn ending sees Godwyn rise to ascendancy and sees Death restored, with him as the Prince of Death itself. These titles aren't meaningless. Duskborn? The "Prince" of Death? Well, who would the Queen be? If Godwyn is Duskborn, and if he is a Prince, his mother would, of course, be associated with "Dusk" and be a Queen. And we know his mother is Queen Marika. - Fia is hooded with a black cloak and comes from some other land. She also helps create Godwyn's Duskborn ending and is Death-aligned. We see Marika wearing black hooded garb in a statue where she also is holding the twins Miquella and Malenia. Her tattered clothing as we find her at the end is also black. She is also associated with the Nox/Numen race and the Black Knife Assassins that come from there as well. - Statues of Marika in her crucified pose all show her with a flowing black cloth that wraps behind her in almost the exact same shape as the Godslayer Greatsword, which was the weapon or ritual sword of the GEQ/DEQ. You have to pivot the camera a bit to get a good view, but the shape is very similar. Coiled and then open, with one flap slightly longer than the other, same tip design on the Godslayer Greatsword. It's possible that she was propped up by the Hornsent culture and then part of the betrayal was killing other Gods in their pantheon, but what's maybe more possible is as Centered Tarnished pointed out, that Marika culled some other of her "unwanted" children after learning the truth of the broken Fingers and flawed foundations of her Order. - Godwyn is referred to as the "Prince of Gold" in an item description. If a Prince of Death could have been a Prince of Gold, why couldn't his mother hold this potential as well, even necessarily so? We see from the Death Knights that Gold and Death can somehow synergize even still... Gold and Shadow, born at the same time, same as it ever was. - Hewg prays to Queen Marika about his given task to craft a Godslaying weapon. Very interesting and specific task. Marika wants a God slain. He mentions "the sheer terror of Her..." regarding Marika. Godskins certainly take an interest in killing a God. Who was their leader? A "defeated" Queen who was once an Empyrean. Marika. - Raging Wolf Vargram is a would-be Shadow. Wolf imagery is on his armor. He wields the Godslayer Greatsword. The weapon art is "The Queen's Black Flame", of course. A statue of Marika exists in Farum Azula showing her with three wolves. - Marika learned the secrets of the Golden Order and realized her children would "amount only to sacrifices" as she instructed them. She knew the Erdtree was a soul parasite, and by sealing Death away, she weakened the Erdtree over time. She also had Godwyn buried at the roots of it, knowing that he would grow and overtake them, choking the Erdtree further. As he was, Godwyn was an "unwanted" child since he embodied the Golden Order, and she was a prisoner to it. He would end up much like Miquella would, a caged divinity of some kind. She was likely opposed to the Erdtree and Greater Will/Fingers for a long time, weaving plots in secret until the Shattering. She realized, only too late, that ultimate power has a way of becoming a curse when the truth of the nature of it all is finally revealed. Just as Marika shined so brightly with her Golden Order, another aspect of her was as deep as the abyss and as dark as any shadow.

I find it interesting how there are never two godskin nobles or apostles present in the same place and how the FA boss name is called "duo" as duo means there are only two which suggests the godskins we fight are the same lean and fat guy, perhaps the only surviving ones. And this is interesting because the godskins are godslayers like the true purpose of the Tarnished and they also respawn like the Tarnished. Also, the windmill village is inhabited by only women like the shaman village was, they have Marika's hairstyle with one missing braid, Marika's elden rune decorated with flowers all over Dominula, they're skinners like the godskins and their weapons are made of bones which net more runes from landing attacks like the festive grease exclusive to the DLC is with an icon that is reminiscent of the shaman village. And there is also iris of grace and occultation. The godskins clearly have grace as their eyes are golden and Marika controlled this blessing. But if she had occultation irises at some point then maybe she was known as the Gloam-Eyed Queen.

I like how you say we were left with next to nothing about her as the black flames dissipate. Whether intentional or not I loved it!!

So, possibly, Marika was not tempted to take from the tree of knowledge by the serpent, she WAS the serpent of temptation.

I cannot be the only one who still thinks the abductor virgins are modeled after Tannith. She's already confirmed to claim one snake baby as her own. She and Rykard don't have any children together. If he's the patriarch of the manor and she's the matriarch then she fits the role of a surrogate mother. The abductor virgins are supposed to bring people to the manor, which is what Tannith is also trying to do. The Volcano manor is full of death and torture and assassins, there's plenty of reason for acquiring new members to be bittersweet thus the virgins crying. That or I believe they are a reference to the literal thing that they are supposed to do. Bring people to the place where they will be fed to snakes. I mean they look like an artistic representation of a woman carrying a baby that is being chased and grabbed by snakes when they chase you. At least to me they do. However I also highly suspect from past FromSoft titles that the virgins were completed before whatever associated story was scrapped. If the virgin was one of the earlier assets designed it's very possible the team either thought there were conflicts with other quests or cut the associated characters before dialogue was recorded. They could have even had a whole alternative story that they nixed but liked the design of the virgins so they found them a spot in the game. Making them cause too many plot holes in theory crafting, because they're an artifact of an entirely different story.

Messmer is Mericas adopted son, which is why she so easily abandoned him. The Gloam Eyed Queen is his real mother.

Marika's Rune is called the Rune of Life in 1.00. In alignment with her ideological dispensation it makes sense for her to b a twin or sibling to the Rune of Death's Gloam Eyed Queen. Kinda like Mohg and Morgott, Malenia/Miquella, possibly Radahn/Rykard( pure speculation here)

Theory: Marika was the Gloam eyed Queen. Upon becoming a god she went dark and vengeful. Maliketh separated Marika and Destined Death "killing" the GEQ

Right on! I’ve long thought that black flame sigil was meant to resemble a uterus. This is the first time I see a content creator share that connection. A couple of other musings here: - White can be symbolic of death in Eastern cultures (in contrast to black in the west). The Godskins prominently feature both, from their attire to their flame. - White is also symbolic of innocence. - Ying-Yang is not a reach for a potential symbolic allusion since the troubles escalate once Death is removed and an egregious imbalance established. - Black might represent something like a void, or, the absence of Life. - The Godskin Noble’s attire is not unlike the more commonly seen fertility fetishes of many cultures.

I’m pretty confident that Eiglay is the GEQ. The obsession with the gods and the snake motif can’t be ignored. Though I’m not sure if she’s a part of Markia, a sibling, or just happens to be another shaman empyrean. I also believe Messmer is her child, stolen away by Markia. Messmer not only looks like a godskin, but he has the snake motif and flames which can utterly destroy you, both body and soul. Edit: There’s also a chance she might have been the god before Marika, though this is speculation based on the dlc trailer.

DUDE I LOVE ELDEN RINGS LORE SO MUCH

3:51 looks more like her left hand is clutching the end of the cloth, wrapping it around her back and over her right elbow to then drape down.

What i think people ignore too much when making theories involving parentage is that people are born out of trees and flowers with attributes that had been put back into the tree, like how DNA isn't making a blend of two people, but a combination with different segments of dna from two people's ancestors. It's akin to some ideas of reincarnation where certain attributes are reincarnated, but not the full embodiment of the reincarnated. Demigods having "parents" is just who raises them and what they're told. Marika takes the children of ALL and then puts them in the places/castes she wants to serve her planned order. I think that's why the snake mother was a blasphemer. Procreation went against the Erdtree. This is talked about in Remembrances, shown in artwork/architecture, and demonstrated through Malenia's buds.

Totally agree on the Golden Seeds; I did mean the ones that grew the minor Erdtrees. As for the actual Erdtree there’s an argument as to whether the tree we see is real or not (I don’t remember who but one of the NPCs does hint at not being able to see it and then there’s there’s an item description that talks about the tree becoming just an object of faith rather than giving any blessings anymore. On the length of time, we arrive a few centuries after the Shattering and there’s thousands of years of the reign of Marika in which no one’s really died properly for the vast majority of it since removing death from the equation. Although given the amount of genocides she ordered I think I’d be prepared to bet that the first burning would have taken place around the time of the Long Walk of the Tarnished and the elevation of Radagon to Elden Lord. Maybe the burning is why he was elevated; we create new Erdtrees in most of the endings after we burn the tree ourselves.

if marika and the GEQ were sisters the whole "betrayal" in the trailer would make alot of sense edit: Just thought of this, but Marika seduces the hornsent to teach her the ritual of godhood and then betrays her (possible) sister for the golden threads

Ok, hear me out. What if the thing/snake that marika pulls the golden strings out of is in fact a freshly shed Eiglay/God-devouring serpent (thats why the skin is to soft and white, though no signs of scales). Regardless of whether this is true, Eiglay was probably allied with GEQ at that time (Eiglay shed skin in Bonny Village and therefore was probably present before Marika became a god) If Eiglay died at that time, it would explain why Rykard has to hatch the God-devouring serpent first before he lets it eat him. (see Intro Cutscene, where Eiglay is way smaller than the shed skin in Bonny Village) And it would also explain why Rykard seemingly knows so much about the GEQ and Marika (even though he was born way later) and why he designed the "Abductor Virgins" the way he did. "A serpent never dies."

Hell yes I knew the Briar Armor would come up eventually it has everything.

Great video again my man, totally subscribed. I'd watch Zayf the Scholars vid on dominula village, I think it will further the connection you are making. He points out how the braids on the dancers in the village are the same as Marikas and how half have erdtree gold cape and half have the godskin blue cape. The village is also flowery and all female, referencing shaman village perhaps. Some other things to note: God slaying greatsword textures look a lot like Enir-Ilem. Pillars of hornsent are similar to volcano manor but the ones below Eigle are spiraling in the opposite direction. We see snakes with wings in volcano manor and it kinda seems like Eigle is stretched to resemble wings. DD being "Plucked" may be from the wings or something. Some central pillars at Enir-Ilem although not spiralling look a lot like snake scales. The gate of divinity in the trailer looks just like Rykards blasphemy. The portrait in volcano manor where we fight Giza wheel npc has the same symbol on his mask as what are on the jar shaman blob people. Tanith has a mask denoting a dancer that dance with "no seduction", and depicts a queen of a distant land. Totally referencing the DLC story trailer. Also the masks seem to link to hornsent and dancers seem to link towards hornsent and shadowlands. We see masks on the zamor, and their color palette is Enir-Ilem esque. They have feathers on their armor, they summon storms, they fought against the giants/against the fell god which seems to frighten or mock the hornsent. And they are very dancey in their moveset, way different than any other curved greatsword. Maybe hornsent and GEQ helped fight the fire giants with marika which is why it is seen as such a betrayal. "It is said queen marika slayed the fell god" but it was probably GEQ with her sword and then radagon dumped her non-butt (snakes dont have butts). Lose connections: black flame tornado has a storm name, and hornsent deal with storms although fire seems to be amiss with them. Maybe that is the fire portion of storm that has been lost thanks to Marikas betrayel. It is theorized that Radagon seduced GEQ, had the babies and betrayed her. On the Brick Hammer it says a champion started a rebellion against the giants. We see misbegotten outside 2 of the forges in the shadowlands. We know misbegotten are connected to Radagon. Might place him in the shadow land forges? One is near moorth ruins, right above bonny village. Just seeing possible links, nothing too crazy here.

There are multiple items that specifically state Marika to be Messmer's mother so I really don't think it's GEQ's kid.

Feel like a lot more lore details would be revealed if more creators would take more detailed looks at weapons and armor. There's a lot of detail there to be explored

Exquisitely brilliant, darling. Absolutely unique and fucking hard earned. Thank you for the generous shout outs. You’re incredible!

I had to pause the video at 7:16 to say a couple of things (I really hope you get to read this and would be overjoyed if you could give me even a short answer): - First of all, I absolutely love your videos and most of the theories you've come up with and the evidence you've uncovered to support them are simply amazing, I think you are one of the best content creators when it comes to ER lore and I do believe you are correct about almost every thing you've said, I particularly loved your Godwyn video explaning his "fish tail" which according to you is actually his dragon tail. Thank you so much for your contributions, I believe you deserve to have literally 100x more suscribers and viewers. (The GEQ and Godwyn are my favorite parts of ER lore) - Secondly: I do think that Melina is almost guaranteed to be the daughter of the GEQ, this would make sense for several reasons: it would explain her gloam eye in the lord of frenzy ending, and would also explain why Marika would use her as kindling to burn the Erdtree the first time (I'm still very unsure of when or why the Erdtree was first burned as Tarnished Archeologist has theorized from the ashes in Leyndell and the fact that the Erdtree as we see it ingame is clearly in spirit form). Regarding Messmer, I think you may also be correct and that he may be the result of a union between Radagon and the GEQ, it would explain his red hair and his connection with snakes. As for Melina, I'm not sure who her father would be, but for some reason I don't believe it's Radagon, then again I may me mistaken. Perhaps I should review Tarnished Archeologists videos to find out when and why the Erdtree was first burned (perhaps during the shattering?) but I would really love to hear your theory on the first burning of the Erdtree, perhaps it happened when the Scadutree was formed? I hope you find the time to read and give some insight about this matter! 😅 In any case, I want to thank you again for putting out such great content, I do believe you deserve to have at least as many suscribers and views as Vaati if not more, you've become one of my favorite content creators on this platform and I have watched all your videos, in fact, I watch them at night to help me fall asleep and they are one of the best cures I've found for my insomnia since I've quit using weed for that purpose. I hope you keep making videos for a long time! And if you ever run out of content for Elden Ring lore, I'm sure you might have a lot to offer regarding other fromsoft games, I especially would love to see what you might uncover about Bloodborne lore, and if that ever happens, I must recommend that you check out Charred Thermos' videos about the parallels between Bloodborne and the history of autopsies and modern science. Keep up the good work my parasocial friend, Much love from France💗

The woman on the Peeler looks like the dark statue in the church where your dead fingermaiden is at the Precipice of Anticipation. Same hooded appearance and flowing cloth at her front as well.

It also reminds me of the new catacombs sorcerers, seemingly buried with an infant form hanging from their breast

the texture on the godskin peeler also kinda looks like Venus in "The Birth of Venus" painting, with both the posture and the way the cloth is wrapped around her edit: also incredible video my guy!! had chills when you brought in Messmer and Melina as the snake and fire aspects of GEQ, i've always kinda assumed they were more related to eachother (like how Malenia and Miquella are a set), and the neat tie-in of them both being kept secret and how they are two "halves" of GEQ really made it click for me!

I don't know if anyone else has looked into this, but there is some very interesting hanging ornamentation on the Godskin Apostle headpiece. They look like eggs nestled in tentacles.

Snake + Fire = Dragon Dragons are the symbol of divinity, and Marika the mortal stole divinity from her Pale Snake in a coil = Moon Fire = Sun Radagon is the sun, and Rennala the moon; their convergence in the Eclipse is subdued in perpetuity by Miquella and Radahn. Though Radagon abandoned Rennala to become Elden Lord, she is still converged with him. His sun is the egg, and they are Mother and Child.

Hiding that image under more geometry was super rude of Miya and his team lol. Great catch!

Since Marika is big on biblical imagery, the Hebrew word for “serpent” is seraph, and it can also be translated as “burning.”

Smoughtown recently uploaded a short where he talks about a recent translation that says the godslayer seal depicts a palm manipulating the black flame.

I’ve always thought the giants forge looked like a giant lords vessel.

Oh, also Hawkshaw hard an interesting video on Messmer's "secret" alliance. Apparently the combination of two coats of arms will often show one half of the shield with one coat and the other half with the 2nd coat. The combination of the two is called (get this) an impalement in heraldry. So it seems that Messmer title of impaler is a double entandre. He also mentioned that you see the braid sigil by itself at the very top of the Shadow keep, up by the bats.

It really amuses me how intricate the lore to this game is, like how much time was put into this game’s lore Commenting just to appreciate ALL the effort put into this game, every texture, every mechanic, every animation, every piece of lore, this game truly deserved GOTY 🙏🏽🙏🏽

Geq is literally just marika fused into the devouring serpent, the serpent's skin is in front of bonney village, indicating marika assimilated into a snake to escape being stuffed in a jar, the serpent has grown since then, I'd go as far as saying this form of marika is the fled consort of placidusax as soon as malekith burned her

Marika absorbed the GEQ into herself after Maliketh defeated her.

You're killing it, I'm so invested.

Maliketh defeated the Gloam-Eyed Queen. The Godslayer Greatsword description says as much.

4:08 okay, what if Marika IS the Gloam Eyed Queen, and Maliketh as her Shadow "defeated" her to make her obey the Greater Will. She was killing the Demi Gods of the old order.

This suddenly got me thinking that Marika was the GEQ and secretly led a resistance against the Hornsent who were torturing her people. She became guided by the Mother of Fingers (hence the symbol) yet at some point learned of a path to godhood (possibly from the snake) and betrayed her followers, ditched the moniker, and became known as Marika the eternal; hiding the power she once welded in her daughter Melina. Speaking of Melina, I wonder if, earlier, she possibly commanded the Black Knife Assassins in support of her mother; considering the all female Numen connection and Melina's weapon choice. One thing about the DLC is that it leaves a large gap between the Shaman lore and Queen Marika the Eternal and is vague about how she pulled it off, so I'm kinda grasping at straws to fill in a blank.

I believe the cinematic we see at the gate of divinity is her skinning/betraying the Hornsent GEQ then skinning herself of this dark aspect. All representative of Marika’s frequent splitting of light (sacred relic sword) and dark (Godslayer Greatsword) by sealing death! Look at the tree where you get Marika’s braid, the stone sheath sword, Godslayer gs, and sacred relic sword. She spilt her dark aspect (gloam eyed queen/abyssal serpent) at the gate of divinity. Splitting the dark tree branch from the light tree or great tree. Then the light erdtree branched between causality and regression

I think this guy cracked Elden rings story

Gloam eyed queen is Marika before being put into the jar after getting defeated by Maliketh

Can't wait for 2052 when they'll release the story book of the game giving the full story and lore. 56 years old me will be super happy.

Could the connection between Flame and Snakes be further enchanced by the temptation on the Black Flame Monks? Just seems more than just a coincidence with this theory. Amazing video as well! loved the discovery!

So idk how in depth the model for the snakes we see were thought out, specifically the tail tips. Something that might not seem important but is potentially VERY important, female snakes have a short and stubby tail tip after their cloaca. Eiglay could very well be the GEQ.

Guys i think that more than a snake, that looks more like nanaya dress. If you think about it there is no statement of how midra’s son died, so i think marika used it for some kind of ritual.

0:20 That is much more labial than snake to me.

the flightless bird... ok that makes sense now. interesting.

Melina is the GEQ's daughter that Marika stole, hence the 'virgin abductor' but here's the twist. Melina is Marika and GEQ's child. Marika, the Gloam Eyed Queen and Radagon are a zyzygy of the Ego, the Id and a woman's Animus. I'm almost nailing the final points in this theory but everything in the game points to it. The TwinBirds and it's resemblance to the Caduceus and it's staff as a god itself are are a big key in this, they without a doubt represent Marika and GEQ. the church of Eiglay has tons of depictions of serpents with wings and talons facing eachother. Eiglay's skin is literally hung like a winged bird in it. Watch this be the next DLC, fromsoft is not done yet. They're way too quiet and are still uploading regular Elden Ring content around weapons and armors.

6:43 Could it be that both Messmer and Melina are the children of the Gloam-eyed Queen and *Radagon*? That would explain why they both have red (or strawberry blonde, in Melina's case) hair and also would provide a convenient explanation for who their father is (assuming that the GEQ can't give birth to demigods by herself).

I think this puts a few pieces into place as to why Marika fearfully Plucked & sealed Messmer's eyes( and him away), she saw the base serpent and recognized from her past with the Gloam Eyed Queen, if pale snakes are associated with the GEQ then I don't think it's an unreasonable connection at all; and maybe the secret seduction and betrayal was marikas (through Radagon) of the GEQ sicking Malekith on her at the gate of ascension for the holy thread or whatever.

Yo, since you're zooming in on textures I had a texture puzzle that might be relevant to what you're talking about here. Check out the underside of the preceptor's helm, notice that the stars are very stylized and almost look like masses of tentacles of snakes. Then the God-skin apostle's helm, and just the helm by itself, has this long flap of skin hanging off of the back and at the bottom potion of the skin is a similar writhing-mass design. I suppose the writhing mass could be a mass of fingers or Metyr or snake ball or something like the Fell God visage that's on the fire golem.

The most irritating thing about Elden Ring is how much of its lore requires some sort of digital archeology. They really cheat us out of the story and it just leaves me feeling unsettled and frustrated. I just want to know the story, and no I don’t want to guess or assume or speculate or make it up myself. There should be enough info to have a reasonable understanding. That’s not the same as spoon feeding story as I know some would suggest. This story is incomplete and has no resolution. That is not good story telling.

Why do we start at the chapel of anticipation. And our maiden is dead.

I like where this is going, but I still think there's still a bit more of something to this. This mainly has to do with how the Forge of the Giants has a thing for turning watchers into worshippers. Something I wondered is if the design of the serpents on it could be relation to the early map designs of the game like how we'd see sea monster depictions on it without seeing these monsters in game. But I've wondered that could be in someway part of Melina's becoming in fate.

If the glome eyed queen in some sense is a snake, then maybe the snake corpse in Marika home village is her remains, if she is her sister then I doubt Marika would just like for her sister corpse to rot away at the gate of divinity, maybe on her last journey home she took her dead sister with her, and layed her to rest where Marika and her played as kids (something of that sort)

nah man the radagon is the other identity of the gloam eyed queen but when she failed to become a god like marika she decided to merge with marika as radagon and then the gloam eyed queen got reborn as melina, idk i made that up but who knows

Dude, how come I never saw this woman at the godskin peeler?! I'm such a GEQ enthusiast! Amazing connections! The one with Metyr messes with my brain though, never thought about it.

Of all the other scarlet brainrot theories from people refusing to research to headcanon, I ve seen recently, this one was carefully crafted and expressed and honestly refreshing to watch. Tuned to maybe see more?

I don't know that anyone mentioned but the two mortal blade's flame in Sekiro is the same color as the black flame and destined death.

Marika IS the Gloam Eyed Queen. Probably most evidence behind it imo

Least expected a PoE mention in an Elden Ring vid since the DLC I've had a hunch some of the devs may have played PoE, think it was some ability/spell that immediately reminded me of a PoE mechanic (I don't remember what exactly atm, but the feeling was there)

I had always thought Marika abducted the gloam eyed Queens children, I even thought maybe Godwin was Godfrey and the gloam eyed queens child, but that ones a reach tho lol

Finally someone brave enough to say it (about the briar set :) ) Btw it looks like there are 3 faces happy, mad, natural.. The fact that there are no Godskins in shadowlands, there is Mesmer in shadowlands suggests that either Melina is GEQ and was born after banishing the shadowlands or that the real mother of Mesmer is GEQ being the reason he is spared by the Godskins.

very cool!! the geq symbol also looks a lot like the aztec symbol for the moon, also related to coatlique, death, and birth. Not a lot of people interested in the mesoamerica refrences in elden but they're there!

GEQ + Fire giant/fell god = messmer + Melina 🤔🫣

Whats sticks to me still is the line Melina tells you "i was born at the foot lf the erdtree" Does she mean the entrance? Where you have Radagons thorn wall? Or further down, underground...? And ive subscribed to the idea melina and Ranni are not exclusive in their objective. You dont see ranni how she looked before she burned/divested her body, but you see her red hair slightly when you visit the tower. The phrase of "burned and bodiless" could apply to both where ranni has her puppet body, and melina to me is a faded version of rannis living body but she is the projection of it. I say projection, because when you recieve the summon bell and torrent whistle, when you stop/finish talking to them they both fade off with blue/summon particles IN THE DIRECTION OF HER TOWER. so yeah, thats where im at with it.

I think my question about the GEQ is how common was all this knowledge? I imagine Marika sealed away destined death long before any of her children were able to get involved in the fighting or even born. We as the player, become privy to a lot of knowledge as we play the game. People didn't even know that Marika was the one who shattered the Elden Ring. So I question how far spread was the GEQ's influence. Did Maliketh strike her down before she was able to spread her doctrine? I just question why Rykard would know these intimate details to make the iron virgins in her image. Did Marika spread the story of the GEQ's downfall? Did Miyazaki make this character to make us all spiral trying to guess who she was and her place in the over arching story?? 😂

Not sure what the connection might be but the black flame sigil looks like the finger ruins from above

Damn, another banger of a video. Good job!

So the theory that Marika is literally the gloam eyed queen has been thrown around. and until this video I wasn't compelled. But that baby holding woman on the godskin peeler did it for me. So when its said that Malekith killed the Gloam eyed queen, what if that was just figurative? Or maybe even an outright lie? What if the Gloam eyed queen was Marika's old title when she eradicated the hornsent and their gods? Here's the crackpot theory: Marika was a shaman. She wanted vengeance against the hornsent. She did something freaky with a snake god, which could be considered 'the seduction' from the trailer. Hence all the snake tie ins with the godskin apostles. The snake god was the true wielder of destined death, and bestowed this power onto her. She used her god slaying power to slay the old gods of the hornsent, hence the title of godslayer. She had a kid with the snake god. Messmer. Which is why he has so much snake symbolism. When Marika was done killing the hornsent, she communed with the Greater Will using the gate of divinity. In this moment, she was given Malekith, a shadow of herself. This is the figurative 'killing' of the Gloam Eyed Queen, because the moment she accepted the Greater Will's blessing, she 'shed' the snake god's power. This could also be considered 'the betrayal.' When Malekith fought off whatever was left of the snake god, Marika took destined death and sealed it in Malekith. In the following age, the reason why snakes and snake iconography became so taboo is because of what Marika did to ascend to godhood. She seduced an ancient snake god, used its power to become a god, and subsequently annihilated that snake god from both physical and historical memory. She took its primary power and sealed it away, and the idea of snakes became taboo for the entirety of the golden order. This theory isn't watertight obviously. It assumes the snake god was the original wielder of destined death. Which could be true, given the primordial representation of snakes, but not confirmed in game. It also doesn't explain what Marika is pulling gold threads out of in the trailer, which I'm still stumped about. I could cope and say that is the snake, but its not super compelling. Lastly is this snake god existing at all, which by all means doesn't seem referenced solidly anywhere outside Messmer, and the volcano manor. If there was a snake god responsible for destined death, I think it would show a bit more prominently.

I notice the only place I see purple gems/stones is on Godskin armors and I think weapons too, but the only other place I’ve seen these purple gems is on Maliketh’s blade, same shade n everything 🤔

10 minutes went fly by like 2 minute video😭😭😭😭 WE WANT MORE

Gloam Eyed Queen reminds me a lot ov Al - Uzza. One ov the progeniting mothers to Djinn.

Don’t think she’s a sister, more like a long abandoned and erased daughter who got the same treatment as Mesmer due to her appearance being heresy under the erdtree

I know I'm not alone in the theory of Marika and the GEQ being one in the same, with the sister evidence all pointing equally to that theory. That Maliketh only really "defeated" her by being her shadow-bound beast, this deception quite possibly being Maliketh's "sin" as well as it giving ample room for her betrayal of not only Maliketh but also the Hornsent people. It does seem that the serpent was hated long before Messmer, with the allied Hornsent scoffing at him being a lowly snake. So my guess is it would be because the serpent god/GEQ kept killing the gods of the Hornsent. Eventually casting off her disguise at the gate of divinity once she had killed enough of them.

This is just Velka all over again. We're going nowhere fast.

has anyone checked to see if the gloam eyed queen is named in the P.Diddy case?

5:33 I've been saying this since the story trailer but the Strands that Marika pulls from the wound/womb looks like infants hair

my man this is why i subed u really pushing this communities understanding forward I was alwasys SICKEMED by ppl saying melina was the geq like damn shut those ppl up already

I think the gloam eyed queen is metyr gloam is mostly purple there was another video on this exact topic I can’t quite remember but if anyone has seen that video will know what I’m talking about

That empyrean grandam character specifically calls marika a strumpet. I dont think she really uses many other insults. I think that's very, very important. Marika is basically Hitler to the grandam and I think she even alludes to marika killing her grandson. She HATES Marika. If you picked one insult for Hitler, would you call him a bad artist? A man whore? A drug addict? No, youd use your one insult to talk about how fucking evil to the core he is. A "strumpet" doesnt do the hate justice. I think we're missing something. I think marika being a "strumpet" is tied to her betrayal at the gate of divinity. She was supposed to marry one person and she married someone else and it fucked up their whole world somehow. Bad enough that she chooses to focus on that over Messmer's genocide. Its interesting 🤷‍♂️

The snake flail found in the dlc connects the dots with fire 🔥 🎉

Wouldn't that also mean that Radagon and Gloam-eyed Queen had children?

Is there anything in the wall mural where the queen’s greatsword is found? Like hidden or obscured images in the stone?

Very tempting to consider but I'd say it's more the baby is Godwyn, only uncursed normal child that's apart of Marika's family as all of Marika's kids are cursed.

Could the gloam eyed queen be related to the night and flame people who seem to have built structures like the forge alongside giants?

Amazing Fromsoftware made a game that requires data mining and free roam camera for the story. Is this a postmodern game? Anywho, another amazing find. Reminds me of the statues in the subterranean shunning grounds. I think the Tombsward catacombs has the same statue

Marika was named an empyrean at some point, all others were presumed to be born empyrean?

Melina finally fits!!!! Always was an outlier from my point of view