Shadow of The Erdtree Lore Preview | Elden Ring Lore 

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So let me get this right The lands between hate the tarnished because we lost grace because of Marika. The shadow people hate us because Marika chose us to enforce golden grace. We can't catch a break with our pr

I'm glad my transcriptions could be a part of this one! Lots of jolly lore co-op in this video. One tiny note about the Empyrean Grandam - I actually get the vibe that she isn't an empyrean, rather she's a guide or mentor TO empyreans. Of course I could be wrong, but if "grandam" is archaic language for "grandmother" then Grandam isn't her name - it's more of a title Fun fact - I tried to kill her to get more lore (as you do) and failed, because I started writing down her battle dialogue but she sent homing missiles at me while I was fumbling with my laptop and controller. I ultimately failed to get any dialogue or successfully kill her lol

In anglo-saxon, an Sc is an Sh sound. Scadu = Shadow Scild = Shield Sceal = Shall It's really cool that the naming conventions for the trees have this germanic language history between them: Erd = Home; Halig = Holy; and now Scadu = Shadow.

i was not ready for the fact that the lion dancer fight starts out with someone referring to marika as "that bítch"

Rellana’s sword description sounds like she is in love with Messmer, but the love is unrequited. It’d be funny if the both carian sisters got their hearts broken by a redhead.

This is why I love Fromsoftware, and especially you guys. With only 3 hours of gameplay we already have just under an hour of lore

“Ensis” just so happens to be the name of a star. It’s really lost to Orions Belt. Ensis is actually a “triple star” as it has 3 separate star components. One sits a bit farther away and the other two are relatively super close and constantly rotate around each other. The one farther away is relatively dim. The 2 closer ones that rotate eachother are known as “Bright Component A” and “Dim Component B”. I think that might bring some light to the relationship between Rannis Dark Moon, Renallas Full/Bright Moon, and the newly revealed Twin Moon of Rellana.

Makes me sad for morgott as he might have been seen as a real Demi god in this land

I simply love how most elden ring content creators work so closely, welcome each others communities, and when opinions differ quite often, they don't throw their opinions and beliefs down, just consider them as possiblities and keep on having healthy discussions!

That tower being called the "center of the lands between" is very interesting. Maybe the shadow lands were originally in that empty area in the middle of the lands between?

12:31 that seems to confirm the theory that Lands of Shadow used to be in the place the giant crater is now, it's literally "the very center of the lands between"

Messmer's army detaching themselves from their actions lines up with an enemy in the basegame with an identical role--the Omenkiller. Omenkiller Rollo's description details that he took a physick that locked away his emotions so he could do his job and it's possible other Omenkillers did the same. For both the Omenkillers and Messmer's army, many of them think what they're doing is necessary but deep down they know that what they're doing is evil.

An hour of new lore content? Yes please

While I'm most invested in learning more about the Crucible Civilization, I'm also a massive Carian fangirl, and the fact that they were--apparently--contemporaneous with each other is wild. I'd lowkey always assumed the Carians came long after the Erdtree was established. Also, I love how the Lion Dancer's eyes are the same colour as the Spirit Caller Snails' and Roderika's. Makes me wonder if the person Hewg knew was from the Shadow Lands. Thanks for the video, friend. Brilliant work as always.

I have been hearing whispers of a Ghostflame Dragon. A dragon aligned with the Death Rite Birds is intriguing.

The thing that's crazy is that crucible enemies you fight are extremely difficult, but they are also the side that lost to Messmers army. Imagine how hard Messmers castle will be. Edit: I just realized that the body in Mohgs Palace could be St Trina. And whatever we see in game will be her spirit rather than physical body.

Ive never been so early to a SmoughTwon video which is why I regret to say that I cant watch it (yet).

Mesmer has freakishly long arms, his finger tips are down by his knees. It's such an odd, but deliberate design choice. I wonder why.

the fact that castle ensis has a person literally named Moonirithyl makes me wonder if there will be more parallels between Rellana and Sullyvahn than just the swords...

"Gold without order" could be what miquella is trying to create with unalloyed gold, abundance for all, and he is retreading marikas footsteps to do so

I subscribe to Quelaag's theory that the hornsent (omen) are the original Sun worshipers. It explains Dung Eater's sun medallion and the "crown" of horns around the wickerman's face (looks like a depiction of the sun). Considering the Fire Giants seem roped into this conflict it's possible the Fell God is the Sun God (MAYBE) and that the hornsent worshiped the same god. Also Margit is the FELL Omen. The word Fell, like Omen, may be a pejorative title given to the Sun God as not to invoke its forbidden name. Also Miquella wanted to start an Eclipse but couldn't and it's possible that the reason is tied to the Shadowlands where the Sun was originally revered. To have an eclipse you need the Sun, which is notably small in Elden Ring, supressed by the Golden Order and its role possibly usurped by the Erdtree. Lore of the Sun in Elden Ring is suspiciously sparse and was the number 1 thing I wanted to see in the DLC so I'm really hoping these connections are true.

The theroy ive been cooking is that messmer is Marika's " Athena". One born from being separate from the parent in a physical way ( zeus with his splitting headache). Due to that he could technically be not only the 1st of the demigods but the 1st of the union children ( miquella and Melania).

"to our home, Bathed in Rays of Gold" 🤔

Maybe the 'One Great' is the planet itself. Other celestial bodies like the Full Moon or Dark Moon are these single entities or beings. Maybe the Elden Beast landed on the planet as a meteor and caused the births to happen, which is why the Elden Beast/Elden Ring can alter the nature of life, death, and rebirth. The Greater Will caused 'divisions and births' as Hyetta would have it. Perhaps the Elden Beast landed on water, which is why it has whale motifs when it dives into the water. It would be like the meteor that caused dinosaur extinction but in this case it caused life instead. This could lend credence to the Frenzied Flame wanting things back how it used it to be: life not existing and births halting. This is also why the Nox want to be free from the Greater Will, they want to become or create lives outside the Elden Ring source, lives that are deemed "unnatural" because they didn't come from the Elden Beast soul cycle.

I'm convinced that Messmer betrayed the Erdtree(I.e fled from the Erdtree) because he learned of what his Marika did to create the Erdtree. Imagine fighting and leading a brutal war for a ideology or a religion only to learn that thing is built on a lie. Messmer likely had a crisis of faith which led him and a lot of the Black knights to turn against the Erdtree. As for the fire knight dialogue, I think that can be explained as that person being a sprit trapped in Belarut and not knowing what had become of his lord. Also considering some Rellana item's descriptions, mainly about him not being able to find solace, I think that's evidence to support this theory as well. In addition I think that Lordship sanction line could be interpreted as "The Marika I knew wouldn't ever do this." In regards that Messmer knew Marika as a Golden Order fundamentalist and didn't think she actually allow a Tarnished to be lord. Not necessarily that he hates those stripped of the grace of gold now as in when we play the DLC.

I just did a rerun and came across the Omen Armor from the Dung Eater. It actually also has this sun symbol on it's chest but no text reference to the Shadowtree. I wonder how and if he was involved into this since we saw the Dung Eater hanging in the basegame intro. The item description also says: "Malformed armor resembling an Omen with its horns cut off. Worn by the Dung Eater. The heavy, sun-shaped medallion represents both the guidance he once saw, and the ring to which it will one day lead."

Elden ring content creators working with eachother is why this community is the best one out there

Two thoughts 1. Can it not be that Mesmer conducted a war upon the Shadow Realm by mandate of Marika, but his way of conducting the war was unforgivable in the eyes of his mother? His gruesome cleansing was in no way what Marika had envisioned. And so, Mesmer was called back to the Erd Tree to answer for his crimes, and as he returned and realized that he would be prosecuted - not hailed as a conquering and loved son - he fled back to the realm he had so heinously subjugated. 2. The Twin Moon’s headgear says she gave chase after Mesmer. Instead of her joining in his crusade, couldn’t it be more likely that she followed Mesmer to bring him back in custody?

This was the preview video I was looking forward to the most and it did not disappoint! Man, there are so many fascinating morsels of lore I cannot wait to explore. One thing that immediately stood out to me was the Empyrean Grandam’s dialogue about a “higher sphere.” It definitely sounds like an allusion to the celestial spheres model of astronomy that was popular in the ancient and medieval worlds, with the Empyrean as the highest level of heaven. There is already so much cosmic lore in the game, so having the Empyreans in Elden Ring being related to the heavens would fit in extremely well!

Ugh this is all too tempting to watch! Can’t wait to binge this on release, thanks in advance Smough 🙏🏻

If "minor erdtree" suppose to be only known by Marika, that begs the question why Melina know and seemingly only she know other than Marika

The horned beast from up high isn’t likely a god possessing it, but rather they believe whatever the beast symbolizes is from up high, like the cosmos, or the heavens.

We have another term that points at the strange adultery language from the trailer. Strumpet isnt a random word, its a traditional term for a woman with many sexual partners, akin to easy.

I tried to make the map of the Shadow Lands from the Trailer footage, just posted a video on it - do you think it holds up, having taken part in the Preview? Any thoughts would help a great deal!

Now, this is the preview video I have been most anticipating. Let's go!

I can't take it anymore, I have to watch this.

messmer’s grease???? pause

"the kindness of gold without order" sounds pretty much identical to "unalloyed gold" to me.

I don’t think Mesmer is confused,i think he’s being sarcastic.Great watch thx for the vid✨

Not sure if anyone else saw the video from a smaller creator who likes to talk about Japanese fan theories that aren't discussed from the western loretubers. This one was about if our tarnished is actually a discarded demigod and using the original Japanese item descriptions alongside some audio clues at the start (which sounds like the mausoleum sounds but with extra effects put on them) really made this convincing. I'm not saying it's right or wrong just damn interesting hearing how the Japanese text can be translated multiple ways and how drastically it can change your interpretation.

I love how yall use each other for the lore it’s like everyone who does lore is a team to give there side of it. Yall are doing a great job ‼️

Another interesting detail that potentially ties the horn scent to storm veil and Godfrey is: when you look closely at the pommel of the horn scent NPC's sword you can see what looks like a storm hawk, suggesting that maybe they were important for their culture. Great video, can't wait for the DLC.

In Old English, "SC" is pronounced like modern English "SH". So pronouncing it as "Shadowtree" is correct and probably the intended pronunciation. I think they just wanted to give the impression that the tree is very old.

Just had a thought: maybe Marika was single-natutred before her betrayal, and Radagon was born/made as a result. This could be what drove Messmer to abandon the Erdtree, a la Goldmask being confounded and disturbed by the appearance of Radagon's name.

I wonder if “the kindness of gold without order” is hinting at some character evolution for Marika. I’ve noticed that a lot of people treat her as a static personality when at the very least, she progressed over time from being zealous and steadfast in her crusade to establish the Age of the Erdtree to becoming so disillusioned with it she shattered the Elden Ring and commissioned a weapon capable of killing a god, either herself or the Elden Beast within her. I’ve always gotten the feeling that Marika is someone who started out as an idealist seeking to create a utopia- she seems to say as much when she speaks of ushering in an era “glistening with life”. She clearly had a vision of a world under her rule where there was no death, only endless abundance. She likely felt that this end justified just about any mean, and clearly a lot of people agreed with her. It’s also worth noting that Marika’s Golden Order was not, at least in the beginning, all that picky about who could be a part of it. The Crucible Knights were its most elite fighting force, dragons and sorcery were all folded in quite happily. In this way, I see a parallel to Miquella accepting those outcast by the Golden Orders into his own burgeoning Haligtree order. Miquella, we’ve now learned, is known as Miquella the Kind, and I wonder if there was a time when Marika was known as kind too, when the main focus of her reign was life and abundance, not order and conformity. Like her son, those Marika blessed may even have been those considered “lowly and meek” under the previous order. After all, from what we’ve so far gathered, the Age of the Crucible was marked by fierce competition and might-makes-right philosophy. People seem predisposed to paint Marika as the bad guy, but the gameplay trailer flat-out warns us that the people of the Land of Shadow weren’t saints, they “just happened to be on the losing side of a war”. Marika may have felt entirely justified in overthrowing the ruling order and replacing it with her idealized vision. It would be very unlike FromSoft for the truth to be black and white. Thinking of things from this perspective also makes me wonder about the “seduction” said to have given birth to Gold and Shadow. Everyone seems to have pretty much jumped to the conclusion that Marika was the seducer, but I wonder if this line doesn’t have a different, or even double, meaning. I wonder if Marika wasn’t the one seduced, by the promise of what her Empyrean status could mean, the opportunity to create the perfect world order if she would just reach out and take it. I wonder if the Greater Will/Two Fingers weren’t in some way responsible for this seduction, given it would have been the Two Fingers who bestowed this status upon her in the first place. After all, given the chance to become a god, to rewrite the very rules of reality to what you wanted them to be, to create a perfect world, I wonder how many of us wouldn’t do exactly what Marika did, whatever the extent of that turns out to be. Overall, a lot of people seem to view Marika as simplistic, even Machiavellian, but I don’t. I think she’s incredibly complex and may even be benevolent in her motivations, at least initially, wanting to create a world with no death and endless abundance, perhaps in contrast to the previous world where competition was fierce, perhaps due to limited resources. Obviously this doesn’t make her perfect, or even in the right in the actions she takes. Instead, I see her as an idealist, with the wisdom, the allure, and the will to make her vision a reality. Of course, these ideals would collide with the brutal reality of what would be necessary to actually achieve this end, but she likely saw it as worth it, and eventually she achieved her goal, removing Death from the very Order of the world and ushering in an Age of Plenty. However, the Age of Plenty proved fleeting, the Greater Will, through the Two Fingers, sanctioned the Gloam-Eyed Queen as an Empyrean to overthrow her, and eventually Godwyn was slain and condemned to Live in Death. Marika lost faith in the Greater Will, in the Golden Order she created, and perhaps even in herself, since her “godly protection” wasn’t enough to save her Golden Son. As a result, she was “driven to the brink” and shattered the Elden Ring.

Happy endings don’t exist in soulborne games. Something will go wrong in Muquella’s journey, and we will be forced to fight him or we will discover who was to true villain all along.

From the previews, the dialogue with these new NPCs reminds me of the Canterbury Tales. So stoked for June 21. Thanks Smough!

Horns for the Horn God.

I'm so excited! June 21st cannot come fast enough.

I re-read an interesting lore item the other day, Miquella’s needle that we pull from Malenia if we choose to assist Millicent. Item description states the needle is still unfinished which is why it can only be used once and is limited to Placi’s arena. Perhaps Miquella’s goal is to perfect his needle, thus allowing all beings (and his sister especially) to be able to live with free will and resist the control of the outer gods?

Well to become a god obviously. That is probably what Miquella is doing there.

Love it that fromsoft story telling is so vague that instead it is up to the community to fill in the details. 😂 it made the story 10x better.

Miquella and Messmer end up being mirrors of one another. They're both children of Marika (and Radagon, potentially) who inspire incredible zealotry in their followers to the point that they abandon anything they followed before. However, while Messmer seeks to destroy those without grace and wants to go full in on Marika's judgements against them, Miquella has always been a figure who seeks the greater good of all, as seen in the Halligtree. Where Messmer's followers are radical destroyers, Miquella's are revolutionaries who want to bring people together. Also note that Miquella is blonde like Marika, while Messmer has red hair like Radagon. Marika broke the Elden Ring, Radagon tried to repair it. Miquella could represent Marika's sorrow and forgiveness, while Messmer represents Marika/Radagon's fiery wrath.

SMOUGH! Cant wait for your dlc vids!!

I'm early, just finished your previous video and now being able to click right into the lore video is a huge W. Thank you so much for your insight, Smoughtown

Been waiting for this since your preview

Looks like the Carian sisters had a thing for redheads.

Whooo more lore!! Still can’t decide what I wanna build around first. The light great sword looks so good. I’m really curious about the new incantations vs spells.

1. I click the video 2. I see MASSIVE SPOILERS in capital letters at 0.00s 3. I leave liking the video and to watch later list

Your timeline speculation was incredibly insightful. Really changes the perspective on what we have seen so far and leans into messmer being the third butterfly if he’s closer in time to miquella and malenia.

I wonder if the horned god possibly cursed marika and that’s why her two sons mogh and Morgott have omen horns.

Fun historical linguistics: in Old English, the "sc" digraph is pronounced like how "sh" is today-- it's just a different spelling convention. So, "scædu" is pronounced /'ʃæ.du/ or "SHA-doo." It's like the thing with gaol being an old spelling of jail and being pronounced nearly the same.

Im happy you followed up with this vid been keen for the lore dive since your last vid ❤

Thanks for all your hard work ❤ I always enjoy your theories and explanations. I'm looking forward to the lore community's videos as much as the actual DLC release!

Greetings and thanks for the insightful lore once again!

SO glad i can finally watch this lol. Excited for your next one!

If Marika really was the consort of the former god (maybe a horned one) and stole his "gold", Morgott and Mohg could be children of this union and not the sons of godfrey.

34:23 the sun looks like the same on on dung eaters chest

Great appetizer for what is to come, great breakdown as always!

So excited for this! Thanks for giving us this lore preview and speculation. Not sure if it makes the wait easier or twice as hard!

Just finished watching this, great stuff as always. I wasn't particularly interested in ER lore until I started watching your videos about it and now I'm actually looking forward to watching your lore analyses of SotE.

Once again, Smough bringing another banger video! Thanks for the upload, man!

Absolutely can’t wait to play this dlc, thanks smough for the great video as always

Serpentine nature, quite a huge hint to something and likely a partial cause to the fallout between Marika and messmer.

im finally off work and then a new smoughtown video greets me. perfect start to a relaxing evening🙏

Finally someone did a lore video after playing the dlc, thank you

"The only place where moon and fire were ever one"'? If Radagon is, somehow, a fire giant then this line could be a reference to him never truly loving Rennala. It could also imply that Rellana was in love with Mesmer, but this love was unrequited.

Hmm maybe the Horned god could have something to do with the ancestors spirit bosses

I have been holding off but I gotta watch now. Can't wait anymore. Thanks SmoughTown. This is gas content as always.

Your videos make this game so much more enjoyable, and it's amazing on its own. Please keep going. Love, fellow tarnished.

Mesmer’s story so far sounds a lot like the stories about Lucifer, I’m really into it.

But who is Messmer's dad? He has the red hair that might indicate Radagon, which makes the timeline interesting because it would either mean Marika had him after Radagon left Rennala, or Marika and Radagon had something going on *before* then at some point. Or he could have some other parent. Red hair is an indication of giant heritage. So there's other surely people out there with that connection. So where does Messmer's whole "serpentine nature" come from? The snake imagery throughout the lands between is fascinating. There was some sort of betrayal and thinking Messmer is part of why snakes are reviled makes sense. But what's the real history of Volcano Manor and the snake that devoured Rykard? Why does Messmer have snakes with wings on his body and what's the connection with the winged snake statues at Volcano Manor? Was the giant snake part of the old Crucible civilization religion/mythos? You mention it being a time when beasts held power, so was that snake one of those beasts? And what does it have to do with Messmer?

been waiting for this vid to drop to hear aome item descriptions

I just wanan say thank you dude your time is much appreciated I wouldn't even understand most souls lore without you so keep up the good work my dude

Man I'm so excited for all the new lore we're getting

So we are in a way retracing the traditional steps of our adventure regarding remembrance bosses. Godrick/Divine Beast Rennala/Rellana

Already a massive lore video ? This is why i love SmoughTown

I think that grafting is going to be a key concept here somewhere. It’s like crucible mimicry. Also I think Messmer is working on his own as far as the crusade goes. At least not in tandem with Marika, anyway. Also last crackpot theory but I think Ranni killed her body to be free from Miquella’s influence, or allure, and not an outer god’s.

This dude put a time stamp where the ad was? A scholar and a gentleman

The way the DLC describes the relationship between the Scadutree and the Erdtree, and how central the tree itself is to the expansion, I'm wondering if we'll end up seeing a shadow of the Elden Beast as well.

The association with death has basically always been there, plenty of Japanese item descriptions seem to discuss an underworld that people speculate is likely the land of shadow. My guess is that when Marika removed the rune of death, it more accurately displaced death from the Land Between. After all, we do still see plenty of characters that die in the Lands Between. If death is no longer part of this world, where do they go? I suspect the souls that are not reincorporated into the Erdtree end up in the Shadow Realm, hidden away from the Golden Order's perfect, eternal world.

gonna wait to watch this until i played the DLC myself but can't wait to start watching your lore stuff on the DLC. love your thought process in these and research.

Ahh, THIS is what ive been waiting for.

Praise the lore..... PRAISE *THE LOOOOOOOREEEEE*

The most interesting thing to me you mentioned is how Freya was in the battle of Aeonia and Miquilla cured her rot, so she decided to follow him. Which must mean that Miquilla was not in his cocoon at this point and Mohg stole Miquilla sometime much later in the timeline, contrary to the popular belief that Mohg stole Miquilla during the battle of Aeonia while Malenia was gone.

Though Im not gonna watch it right now, i appreciate effort you put in it, Smough. See ya after 21st

3 hours of gameplay already got us an hour of lore😂 we’re in for a good time

I feel like Miquella's going to end up a problem. I got to one of them that said 'here I abandon my heart' and another that said 'here I abandon my doubt and reticence' That's on the way to fanaticism.

I really like the idea that Marika had golden power before becoming a god. The kindness of gold without order could mean the gold was kind of like an independant outer god like the rot or blood, and when she became a god she took that power and combined it with the Greater Will's order, making her golden power the golden order. I also love the idea that in making gold rise and shadow fall, Marika basically stole the light from the land of Shadow. Then the Lands between are basically between the land of shadow and the sort of divine power that Marika used to make her golden power the Golden Order