The Color Theory of Elden Ring | Elden Ring Lore 

We loved making this, both for the dive into Elden Ring, and for the thoughts it gave us on our nature. What colours do you relate to most?

THIS is what I want in analysis. Concrete “lore” is one thing but subjective artistic themes are just another world. This absolutely bangs

Just realized, the Glintstone bedrock beneath Raya Lucaria has been tainted by scarlet rot; much like the Crystallians in the Haligtree. This has cause its hue to turn a dark mix of blue and purple; purple, the color of gravity. The color that sinks.

To quote Robert Frost: "Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay."

"Anyone, even if you feel your colors are Tarnished, can transcend to Gold." These words will stay with me, near to my heart.

Jesus Christ. Other lore hunters may piece together the stories we see fragments of, but you show the subtle ones, the ones that the rest of us don't see. Truly amazing work.

This community is beautiful. Vaati still does his lore stuff, but he’s focused more on becoming the best game footage director out there. The deep dive lore weaving torch has been passed to Hawkshaw.

I’m 45 minutes in and this is the most well written, researched, explained, and thought out videos on Elden ring I have ever seen. Deserves at least a milli views Beautiful work

I replayed ds3 for the first time in a few years. I was shocked at how stark and bleak the colors and visuals are compared to the hyper saturated lands between. This is such a great commentary on why

I can only admire From's sofisticated and intertwined storytelling design. Also, the eyes and interest one must have to think, grasp, articulate and SHARE in video format, all its nuanced meaning. Not in the "explanation" sense, but spoken and visually presented meaning. Trully amazing, this is special.

I am absolutely speechless at the amount of thought, time and effort put into this video. It is absolutely glorious and inspiring. I've never thought that ER would contain such subtlety. No complement would do this video justice, so I'll just say one word - awesome.

Miyazaki is a huge Magic: the Gathering fan, so it is little surprise that color having immense emotional and symbolic meaning appears here. Interestingly, multicolored cards in Magic have golden backgrounds--practically the same meaning you came to about gold in this video. Furthermore, the more muddled hybrid mama cards who's cost can be paid in any mix of colors, rather than set proportions of each color, are devoid of gold entirely.

Staggering depth of analysis, visuals and thoughtful editing. If only humans could perceive more colours so the video could've been longer. Though if it never stopped we wouldn't have that touching ending. Bloody well done.

at 1:08:00 just thought about the red lantern mentioned by Helphen's Steeple, and the red glow emitted by the Tibia Mariner when he calls forth the dead. Red is vitality, vigor, warmth and life. The dead must surely crave the warm flame of life.

I cannot believe this. This is a milestone of lore theory and philosophy. Simply outstanding.

Damn it's been a year and I still remember how beautiful Elden Ring was, not just through pure graphics, but through the art design. Now with all the attention to color, it feels like a work of art, as if the whole world was painted.

This is genuinely one of the best videos I've ever watched, your analysis is great and the production is amazing. Thank you

So i'm a big fan of Martin’s work, and just for some context: He often mentions eye color. There is a God worshipped in Braavos whose priests only wear white and black, and their god is a many faced god, and all the gods are, they believe, their god in different guises. George R R Martin also said in an interview: "Fire is love, fire is passion, fire is sexual ardor and all of these things”… This video really made me respect how much Martin did for the foundation of the world in Elden. He’s obsessed with color. The seven gods of his books..seven colors.. Martin also said he’s been inspired by Robert Frost's poem, which i think speaks for itself: Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. Thankyou for this video!

This video is phenomenal. Really gets the cogs turning. Godfrey/ Hourah Loux is such a complicated and interesting character, aside from being an awesome boss as well. Always a joy seeing the background details and From's subtlety in framing or defining his story, a story which is represented in his soundtrack as well. Earned a sub and lifelong fan

On the note of the black and white, during character creation/modification we are given base templates of Draconian for black and for which "...among whom life is typically *short* ." as well as Numens and Nightfolk for white and silver which typically are few in number/potency but have a reference to long time frames and have ties to the Eternal Cities.

I know you touched upon the relation of Gold with (madness inducing) Yellow a little. The colour yellow has long been associated with mania, sickliness, and the choleric temperament. But, interestingly enough, it is also the colour of safety, reliability, and industry. Especially when paired with black, from the industrious bee-hive to the warning signs and construction. This is a personal observation, but for a while now, I've felt that safety and madness are inseparably linked. In modern societies, we have come to abhor danger. We have come to say "stay safe" in almost the same way that older peoples would instinctively say "God bless". I feel like an overindulgence in safety results in an increased tendency to mania. When one lives entirely seperate from danger, their mental state is ill-equiped to handle disorder when it arises. Or, alternatively, one might become increasingly manic, in a desperate need to experience chaos.

This was an absolutely amazing, well researched, well theorized video and you deserve so many accolades. The editing alone must have been hell.

Hawkshaw and The Tarnished Archeologist have been my 2 favorite Elden Ring content creators... The editing and music selection in the transition to Blue was art.

You absolute SOB you've done it again. This video answered nearly every mystery I've been thinking about since playing the game. "A most vivid coloration". Such a strange line. Trina being miquella in the dream world, and what that says about why he's been sleeping and what that could mean for his transformation. The way a certain city is practically painted in grey. Not to mention sarrosh. I'm not someone who has any care for color associations other than how they relate to energy/temperature. I was stuck thinking inside the box. What a box it proved to be. Thank you for the video. The info here combined with the tarnished archeologist's discoveries paints a most vivid picture of the story.

i love the surface level lore, as in the actual story of the game and events in the world, but actually diving deep into the emotional implications of everything is amazing. it isnt very important to the overall world, but just studying how different colours can represent more than just a faction or status is so interesting

This is so criminally underrated. This deserves millions of views with how much effort is put into this. Also with how eye-opening this color theory is. I'm otherwise speechless from trying to put into words how much I love this.

Seeing the red in the robes in the Rennala fight dim to the moon in the second phase fits so perfectly. You move away from her children, a scene/fight with lots a reds and her kids being her creations to her fully relying on the power of her intellect and in you are enveloped in a world of blue. Very cool

The color is literally my favorite element of Elden Ring. Every frame is an old Fantasy Novel book cover.

That last minute... I think that's the theme of Elden Ring. Our own definitions of "order"

Now I’m questioning the fabric of my existence

Just when you think Hawkshaw can't get any better, he uploads the best work he has ever done. Man, after I discovered your channel and watched DS1 videos I can't watch any other lore hunters (except Zullie and few others). They feel like a cheap clickbait. This video not only was a super-deep take on Elden Ring, but also on life itself. I don't know what else I can write here, I'm amazed, inspired, and almost speechless. Thank you.

Fromsoft lore videos have ascended into the realms of poetry and philosophy. Truly golden.

Elden Ring IMHO made the most sense through the metaphors and imagery of alchemy as I learned from some other lore channels. That said, I think the icing on the cake, is this colour theory approach. Alchemy + colour theory truly gets to the heart of Elden Ring, and nobody can tell me otherwise! haha This was amazing! Great job!

Just found your channel. Man this was so eye opening. Right when you mentioned "tarnished" definition and how almost every item has a color in the description, so many dots started to connect in my head. Also the part on Godfrey and Sorosh is just really all the evidence you need. It's so subtle but so blatant at the same time. I feel dumb not realizing it myself because it's absolutely everywhere now that I think about. Like Rannis quest takes you through the 4 most blue sections of the game. Luinaria, Carian manor, Nokron, and the tower you flip upside-down. Good stuff man 👍

I don't know why but hearing "creativity" described as chaos not only blows my mind but makes so much sense. Thank you for enlightening~ This whole video is enlightening not just for elden ring lore but for lore building in general! Very well done!!

3 minutes in and I already know this a special Hawkshaw video, can’t wait to finish and have my third eye opened

Man. That Outer Wilds music at the end really captures that exact feeling. An amazing video, through and through.

Babe wake up, new color lore dropped.

Good lord, what did we do to deserve you dropping this magnificent morsel in our laps to enjoy? I cannot wait to sit back and chill to this, what a treat!

this... this is what i was waiting for, every other youtuber just scratch the surface, but you, you go deeper, even more far away of what a normal person will hope, and how i love these videos of yours. Keep with the good work

Playing the goron theme during the discussion about madness was very strange and unhinged. Well done

Hands down the best Elden Ring theming video out there. It connects everything together, and yet, it has little to do with the gameplay or lore. Its about the fractures of light that make up the world and what they symbolize. Very well done. 👏

What can I say mate? Just the top tier of content 🤌

Goldmask would be proud. The true journey was the colors we made along the way.

Hawkshaw came when we needed him the most, thanks for the lore man.

I knew we'd have to wait a while for something like this, but I'm glad it eventually came.

A new 2-hour Hawkshaw Video? Thank you God.

Great analysis on ER’s color theory! Very evident from the beginning of the game but no one’s gone as in depth and eloquent as you have. Being a Tarnished, one who has lost luster, is the furthest away from the rich vividness of gold. Awesome video!

The excitement is palpable. I'm so stoked for this

babe not now, new hawkshaw video dropped

this channel was already one of my favorites due to the detailed and deep dive into the lore of DS1 and it's characters and i was happy to see you making a video this long on ER and despite the high expectations for it this has surpassed it so much, it is without a doubt the most insightful and profound take on the world of ER with an amazing message to it, one of the best vids i ever watched tbh and i am so glad to have experienced it 🙏

The gorons theme song fits so well into dominula I will always put the two together now.

What's the bet for a DLC accouncement this month?

Hey, I just wanted to say that this video is one of the best ones I've seen this year throughout the whole RU-vid, and I've watched it in one go. It was a pleasure.

Hawlshaw.. You guys are something else. I imagine this video has Miyazaki nodding silently, with a wry smile :)

I kid you not this is one of the greatest videos I've ever and will ever experience. I deeply thank you Hawkshaw for this incredibly complex yet unfathomably resonant message of our essence. That is unity itself.

Ever since Quelaag's video "Red and Blue" some months ago (which isn't watchable anymore, unfortunately) I haven't been able to unsee all the different colours in the game. Very stoked to see someone tackle it in detail! great video!

how do you still manage too blow my mind with every video you make. Your are by far the greatest souls lore youtuber ever, keep up the great work.

I don't comment on RU-vid videos much but this is one of the best videos I've ever seen. Put this on for background noise and ended up watching every minute of it and now I'm reloading Elden Ring for another playthrough. 100/10

No joke, this is my favourite Elden Ring lore video and theory. I love colour theory

Six minutes in and my mind is all ready exploding.

Absolutely incredible...!! 🤯🤯🤯 This could even be my fav video of 2022... 💙🙏❤️

I've gone through this about 5 times already and I find it amazing how wonderfully driven authors are capable of distilling real life into entertaining fantasy worlds. The best keep us engaged in such a way we strive to dive in deeper into our understanding of this mirrored fantasy, simply because it drives an innate need within ourselves to understand our own reality. The distilled version is enticing and knowledgeable but only a drop in the true bucket of life. Also, it's amazing how an enlightening piece of content like this is able to make the rounds and reach me within 2 months of publishing. This is a new age of exploration of thought.

All I can say is this is absolutely brilliant. Just brilliant.

You guys actually went nuts for this, pulling apart the themes related to colour, good.

Nothing better than getting surprised by a new hawkshaw

This is the best Elden Ring video. It's beautiful and intriguing.

Praise's be Gold Mask, he who trancend's the world for us all!

The king has returned

Commenting for the algorithm. I have always appreciated your intelligent and insightful videos. I will always appreciate the way you helped shine a light on demon culture in DS1. Your approach to ER does not disappoint. I hope this video gets a lot of views. Best of luck in your future projects.

Funnily, the first time I played Elden Ring, my first thought when walking into Limgrave was "OMG this is so colourful and vibrant compared to other soulsborne games..."

It’s been confirmed that the Fromsoft Team/MIAZAKI himself have been directly inspired by Magic the gathering, the cornerstone of which is color. Very interesting analysis.

Thank you for your thorough and genius videos. Your videos on DS1 changed the way I and many others think of the lore in that game, and this gives similar revelations for Elden Ring

You have drawn my attention to something which, shockingly, I have never heard discussed in any lore video. When you spoke of the importance of the moon, and the contrast between the sun and moon, I realized just how little the sun is mentioned in game. A search on the wiki reveals the Sun Realm Shield which states: "Much like the wear on the shield, the realm of the sun has long faded away." There are those who worship the "eclipsed sun, drained of color" but not the living, red sun. Perhaps an affirmation of the rejection of red, perhaps something more interesting yet to be explored.

I'm at purple and I'm already blown away, this is incredible

That ending really hit home for me, thank you for that.

What a beautiful and unifying narrative, this video is so clear and poignant. Thank you Hawkshaw!

I can't wait to play elden ring to rewatch this contents and understand better the obsure lore of this tipe if games.

There are so many lore channels, big and small doing such amazing work. This is perhaps the best macro-level theory I've heard.

Interesting! I never really thought of colors themselves being a big player in the lore but I think you're onto something here. I don't necessarily believe that Color itself is everything, but I do believe that color is important and deliberate with what it's associated with. Here's some speculation I want to add: I interpreted Blackflame as a sealed version from the one wielded by Black Knives and Maliketh, since they're directly utilizing shards of Destined Death. So Destined Death's true color is Dark Red that fades to Black within. The Gloam Eyed Queen once wielded Destined Death in her Godslayer Greatsword, which is now a hollow scabbard, and the Godskins would harness their Blackflame from this very sword. The Blackflame Godskins now harness is colorless, for the Rune of Death is no longer in their possession, instead locked away in the timeless realm of Farum Azula. The Blackflame losing it's Red in favor of White may allude to their power being "trapped in time" represented by White (eternity) and Black (the End). I already held this belief but the color aspect is new to me, so thank you. But I never considered that Ghostflame is also sealed in some way, perhaps cut off from its fuel... souls. Souls that are being intercepted by the Erdtree and denying true Death. The undead in the Lands Between are explicitly what's left behind of soulless corpses. Godwyn being the Prince of Death is a good example, as he's truly dead. His soul was destroyed yet he still... lives in death... as a literal husk of his former self. For his body was not killed along with his soul. True death in Elden Ring is two things: The death of the soul and the body. Which fits very nicely with the theme of duality that's seen everywhere. We're given a direct parallel to Godwyn with the other person who was assassinated on the same night, which is of course Ranni, whom killed her own body but her soul lived on because she chose Godwyn's soul to complete the death "wheel" of the centipede which had two halves, likely representing the body and soul. That was a small tangent from color but here's a question: If Ghostflame's true color is purple then does that mean St. Trina's torch is secretly true Ghostflame. And that the true aspects of Ghostflame are Sleep and not Frost? Considering Miquella/St. Trina's significance, Miquella was obsessed with creating a true Utopia for all, while St. Trina may have been exploring the ideal death. Through St. Trina's dreaming she may have discovered that the best option was the original option, a true and honest death. Her association with sleep, specifically Miquella's alter ego as he dreams, feels deliberate. Especially if the purple associated with sleep is the same as the one associated with Ghostflame. Does Elden Ring consider sleep to be a state between life and death? To bring back my theory on true death, sadly Miquella is all but dead in body, rotting in Mohg's chamber, but perhaps St. Trina lives on in the dream. Maybe his story isn't so bleak and perhaps we'll meet St. Trina in the future, hopefully as an ally. Here's a crackpot theory: What if the Mountaintops of the Giants are only frozen over because of the Erdtree's interference with the true afterflife? The Mountains are a spiritual place, surrounded by phantasms of trees and animals and supposedly has a connection to the Helphen, an important symbol to the true dead. If Ghostflame has lost it's soporific traits and been reduced to dormant ice, then some things associated with ice/ghostflame become more interesting as they weren't always this way. What if the Mountains aren't supposed to be frozen over? What if the Giants were tending Ghostflame specifically? The lore for the Fallen Hawks in Nokron states that they accidentally discovered Ghostflame once they started to burn each other's corpses for torch fuel. What if Giants used their flames to tend to swaths of dead and were technically gatekeepers to the afterlife? It seemed odd to me that Giants would live in such harsh conditions with no architecture of their own to speak of, but I think before the Mountains froze over it might have been a fantastical realm of violet spirits and buildings, all hanging in the balance of this delicate system. Not quite physically there, but you could still touch it, like it's between life and death. This could explain the giant corpses in the Eternal Cities, as giants were important religious figures to many. While they lived they may have been leaders that conducted funerals with Giant's Flame. This also helps explain why Marika wanted the Giants dead so badly. It wasn't just the fire she feared, but the afterlife they tended to. It's direct competition with her Golden Order. By killing all of the Giants and snuffing the Flame of Ruin, she cut off the world from the true afterlife. Miquella, seeking an order better than the Golden Order, may have discovered the original way of the world while he dreamt. It's possible that the Haligtree stands where the Helphen would in the afterlife (assuming it's a tree), similar to the Erdtree standing where the Great Tree was (The Great Tree is implied to predate the Erdtree). If the Helphen was truly present in the material world, it definitely would've been burned down during the war with the Giants. And as St. Trina, Miquella may have discovered the old ways of death and embraced it for what it was. Perhaps this revelation would have been the final step for Miqella's era of Unalloyed Gold. A world of truly living, as it should be, as it once was. But before he could awake, Mohg effectively killed him. When it comes to DLC, my money is on exploring the dreams of St. Trina and possibly truly exploring the Land of the Dead, probably in it's true Purple state. I got carried away typing this but it's thanks to this amazing video! Color really helps to tie things together and helps theory crafting quite a lot.

The master of lore has returned

2 HR HAWKSHAW LORE VIDEO LETS GOOOO

Hawkshaw is the best FromSoft lore channel hands down

Wow... Just... Wow... There are so many ideas and thoughts dancing around inside my mind after watching this video, yet I cannot put the in order. All I'm going to say is that I'm mind-blown by this video. You guys have essentially deconstructed the nature of the whole world of Elden Ring. It's so consistent. I'm just amazed.

Ima watch this whole thing and have more to say but since im so excited you caught the color connection i am hoping this also includes the sources of lights, such as the light created by a flame, versus the sun or electricity. Then materials like crystals and even blood refract that light uniquely, the outer god of blood craves wounds and if light is needed to refract into it for that to evoke their power it cant really do that sitting in a blood bag of a body. I have been thinking of a tarnished as being categorized by us the player controlling them, and that is the physical manifestation of tarnish on metal, and i think we occupy a corpse in the chapel of anticipation, how the body got there isn't the point how and why we got that body is.

Thank you King, this is a certified banger

Team green! I always had a stamina build in ds1 and 2, so it feels great to hear such positive things about my favorite color.

Me: (Staring at a busy intersection stoplight turning yellow after watching this video.) Ahhh...Let Chaos take the world...

One of the best lore video out there for sure.

I find that Godfrey emitting steam constantly might be a reference to the totality of 'white'- Godfrey is the only creature/being in the Lands Between to be whole, more or less. ADDING things to him, weapons, armor, Serrosh...that depletes him, like additive colors. It makes him turn more grey than white, not whole in himself. It's like he splits himself amongst a few things to limit how all-destructive he is; there's a reflection of all the things in the world, present in him.

Intriguing! A world-building concept introduced at least as early as Demon's Souls with "colorless fog" and "colorless demon soul". Interpretation may vary some but I think you're onto something. Alchemy has also been in play with the colors and metals displayed but perhaps both are most significantly magnified in Elden Ring.

This video was incredible. God tier

im staying up for this

Christmas comes early!

Everyone who’s played this game needs to watch this video in its entirety, I’m blown away. Getting all misty eyed at the ending lmao. I always had a feeling Goldmask was a heroic figure, and that his ending was the best, morally. Thank you for your hard work.

Deserves more than 20,000 views. Absolutely incredible.

I love this kind of analysis. You did an amazing job of delving into it too. Very detailed and convincing.

The emperor of souls lore is back to blow are minds once again 🤯 6:25 cute

I love the subtle and abstract nature of this theory my man. Love listening while nodding to sleep!!

My oh my Hackshaw did it again. This channel inspired me to be lore hunter and I went into Elden Ring completely blind,spent 600 hours on two playthroughs and my lore notes ended up 75k words. And still, it doesn't come even close to this level. This changed my perspective of the world of Elden Ring greatly, especially the green yellow red connections. I actually delved deep into the yellow color myself but I did not think to look a little elder and see the red and yellow connection in rot and the rest of the points in this video. Truly, you guys are epic.