The Elden Ring Character that SHOULDN'T EXIST | LORE 

Miyazaki wanted to make sentient feet, but his collegues didn't let him, so he chose the next best thing.

It feels like the conflict between the outer gods is just property dispute over a magical terrarium

I genuinely believe when Martin wrote the lore for the fingers, he didn't think Fromsoft would take him literally. I believe they were written as humanoids, and the weird ass giant hands we got are because Fromsoft is very dreamlike and less grounded than Martin is

Interesting points about the fingers written "language". Anyone notice that the filigree circlet around Rannis hat appears to resemble the same finger text on the roundtable weapons

It's interesting that most great runes take the shape of a ring, and if runes are similar to souls, then the fingers look like they could wear these great runes/souls like rings. There is an expression to have someone wrapped around your finger, which means more or less to have control over them. LotR vibes =)

Something that sticks with me is that the hand enemies are weak to fire. There could be a connection to that and the fact that the dead fingers look like wood. If they are almost like fleshy wood or mushrooms, connected to the roots of the Erdtree, wouldn't it also have an extra layer of significance when we burn the Erdtree? And if so, I wonder if there's something deeper to those hand enemies and the finger hammer we can get. Maybe they're related in some way?

One thing that I don't see mentioned very often. Just because the games tells us that the Fingers are connected to the Greater Will and yadah yadah, doesn't mean it's true. It can be the interpretation that the people of the Lands Between make of them, etc. Just because we have a piece of Lore given by the game doesn't mean that's the actual truth. Remember that in DS1 we are told that Artorias defeated the Abbyss and then on the DLC we see that he actually sucumbed to it, and it's our character the one that does it. So, just because the game says there is a Greater Will, adn that the fingers are connected to it and all that, maybe it's just the explanation the people in the Lands Between give to this beings that are beyond their comprehension.

I agree that the fingers are fungi, like the dead man's fingers. This is another Lovecraftian thing, in the mythos there are eldritch space fungi, so having a space fungi as a herald to an Outer God makes sense. Besides, there is a lot of fungi imagery through Miyazaki's games, and Elden Ring is very much Medieval Bloodborne.

I really like your "Two Fingers are mushrooms"-theory and i noticed something while watching your video that adds up with that theory. On top of the divine towers where the Fingers are found, there is a patch of earth in which they are placed in. The whole tower is made of solid stone but it seems that the Fingers need to be connected to the earth to be able to exist, just like mushrooms and that is why they specifically added this patch of earth at the top.

For those curious. The finger crawlers and the Finger Club are pieces of Rhycard severed, regrown and animated by some magic. Im pretty sure they are given the life energy he absorbed from his consumed victims

There are mushrooms growing near and around Ranni's two fingers. Maybe they were always growing around them or maybe they only started growing when they died? None of the other fingers are in an environment with the conditions for some kinds of mushrooms to grow. The 3 fingers and the living 2 fingers are enclosed in structures. Cut off from having any "roots" connecting to the Erdtree, like Ranni's fingers. All the petrified wood looking dead fingers we find have seemingly been "uprooted" and placed on top of a tower with no cover of darkness or connecting soil. It's like they were placed there to die. Where at least the living 2 fingers and the 3 fingers are in dark or dim areas which can be suitable for healthy mushrooms. But still cutoff from any soil/roots connection. So Ranni's 2 fingers being the most powerful, being the ones with the most activity, may be because they are actually connected to soil, in a dim area, and can reach the ErdTree and potentially have a stronger connection with the Greater Will. So they are the most powerful. But then why are the living 2 fingers put inside the roundtable hold? The living 2 fingers are the ones that seem the least powerful and make questionable actions (or inactions) that don't necessarily seem to line up with the Greater Will. Maybe they just have a weaker connection to the ErdTree? Bit tinfoil hatty but I think the finger readers placed them there, powerless, as a show. The finger readers can say whatever they want to lead or mislead the Tarnished, and the living two fingers are powerless to do anything about it. When we take on the frenzied flame, other NPC's don't seem to be aware, other than Melina. The living 2 fingers inability to do anything would make it make sense why they don't say anything about us taking on the Frenzied Flame. Surely the 2 fingers can tell that we have, but they can't speak, they are a powerless prisoner. The finger readers are just oblivious to it. I think the finger readers are servants of the Golden Order and NOT the greater will. Maybe they once were, but no longer. So they've imprisoned the 2 living fingers. All the other fingers have been killed by being placed on top of towers, possibly by their personal demi-gods even. But the finger readers don't know where Ranni's 2 fingers are. If they were actually in communication with the Greater Will like Ranni's fingers, they would know where they are, and likely would have uprooted them as well and placed them on a tower to die so they would not interfere.

i realized after more than a year and a half watching your videos how much editing and research work you do and that's really a lot of effort. hands down i genuinely don't think there's a better youtuber than you to watch for elden ring lore contents, it's like gaming news or a documentary when your videos come out

I love that so many video creators are tackling lore topics! Great video

Holy shit YT autoplay is on point today, brought me here less than 30 seconds after it went live lol.

The two fingers act as antennas, communing with the greater will and even radiating its influence. It’s why the nox and Iji made literal tinfoil hats to “ward off the influence of the greater will” When the two fingers says it needs to commune with the greater will, it stands stick straight and goes dormant. The finger reader says this could take a thousand years. Which makes since as I’m sure the greater will is far far away in space.

Sick theory about the Dead Man's Fingers mushrooms! And also drawing the analogy of hermetic alchemy, really cool stuff. Didn't even think of it that way yet. Elden Ring is truly a piece of art. Also thanks for the awesome vid, looking forward to more!

Fingers are how players interact with the game world.

It is interesting how the like tuning pose for the fingers is similar to Dragonlord Placidsax waiting gestures before you awake him

Personally, it feels like the Fingers were an idea that didn't pan out for the story but the devs couldn't just remove them. So, they made them as mysterious as they could without having to elaborate further. They probably had a greater, more explained role back when the Crucible was going to be a big part of the story.

Thx for making my day, man. I LOVE your lore videos!

Something I've always found noteworthy about our Two Fingers is their head confessor's names is Crepus, which is a shortening of crepuscular, of or relating to dawn/dusk. This to me suggests the Fingers in the roundtable may have been the ones who chose the Gloam-Eyed Queen as an Empyrean, as they're both associated with the transitional state between day and night. Ranni's Two Fingers are more explicitly linked to night time, and I assume Marika was also once chosen as an Empyrean by a hypothetical pair of Fingers representing "the day". I think just like day turning into night and back again, the Two Fingers' collective job is to shape and influence the transition from one age into another, by picking Empyreans to duke it out and also guiding the tarnished to end any kind of stalemate. Doesn't explain why they're fingers, though.

Hopefully we get more info in the DLC (we wont)

Thank you for your efforts and honor, you and a couple others I look to for Elden Ring lore and entertainment 🙏

i assume the two fingers appeared during the primordial age of the crucible since they share a lot of physical similarities with creatures from that time. The hair on the misbegotten, Placidusax, and the fingers all look the same

This is an excellent video, man. I really like the trees and mushrooms theory you’re presenting because it makes logical sense 👀

Two and Three Fingers are one of the most mysterous character to me. While I'm not buying the five fingers makes a hand theory, I believe that they (2 and 3) used to work together or probably were from the some origin. Greater Will and Frenzied Flame are very like twins to me, but they are mirrored.

The mushroom theory makes a ton of sense given how much of a motif it is. Something so obvious I feel like people kind of overlook it is that the game is about the Elden Ring and that fingers are what wear rings, so it makes perfect sense for fingers to be a huge part of this game.

A really interesting take. Some of the comments I would make seem to already be covered so I would like to make a Lore Tangent. I've been looking at the Elden Ring image in Malekith's arena lately. I know many folks have leaned on this being an image of an Elden Ring with more runes in it and I use to share this belief. But I have sense changed my mind and possibly realized what the relief is showing. It isn't showing an Elden Ring with a bunch of extra rune parts. It is an symbol that is meant to be considerd in the same way as the Erdtree Seal or more closely to the iconography for Crucible spells or when you use Morgott's Shackle. The Elden Ring is at the center but it is inside something just like in those symbols/icons. The Helix that can be spotted at the bottom is not a missing part of the ring, the helix represents the wind of the "True Storm", swirling into a tornado that reaches up into the sky. The things we have considered roots, are Lightning. Before you gut react, remember Placidusax was once Elden Lord and the Dragon's faith magic is lightning. Lightning that was deemed to not contradict the Golden Order, this is why. The tornado at the heart of Farum Azula is all that is left of the True Storm. When we rewind time to face Placidusax not only does Farum rebuild itself but the storm grows in size. In Placidusax's arena, when he is alive storms rage in the distance, we are in the past. Because we can't see anything else around us but open sky this likely means at this point in time Farum Azula was higher than even the Mountain Top of the Giants, at least Placidusax's "throne" was. So that distant lightning could be reaching as far as Limgrave far all we can tell. Another interesting thing to point out is that Placidusax was Elden Lord in his time, and like the other 2 we know of he had a "God" (Marika equivalent). If the relationship between Lord and God are consistent that means his God dwelled with him in Farum Azula, in the SKY. This means the Elden Ring would have been hosted in the Sky. So the statues depicted under the relief of the Elden Ring in Malekith's arena is depicting the Elden Ring reigning on high above men (the girl statue) and beasts (wolves). The most interesting implication of this also requires us to realize the game is called Elden Ring, and not Erdtree. So in all likelihood, if there is an Elden Ring 2, with a Darksouls style time jump, we can probably expect something other than a Giant Tree. It will be in whatever thing the people of that time deem sacred, could be a sacred pond for example.

The crawling hands resemble Rykard's hands, and two places they're concentrated are around his current residence (Volcano Manor) and in the place that was likely his childhood home (Caria Manor). They're also out in full force on the Mountaintop of Giants, and given how Rykard burned down a minor Erdtree in the past, he might be seeking the forge to burn the main Erdtree.

honestly, the mushroom theory is the best so far

The thing is we don’t see any of the two fingers besides the round table hold until AFTER we’ve killed their rune bearers, they could be completely healthy beforehand and die when we kill their corresponding character. Ranni’s fingers being active supports this. Additionally, considering the location of the original round table hold and the three fingers I believe that they’re both parts of the roots of the Erdtree. I think frenzy is an aspect of the golden order, it is a part of the erdtree and as inseparable from it as the two fingers (hence why Melina gets so mad she’s trying to defy the golden order and the three fingers are a part of it). Perhaps the three fingers are roots of the tree that existed before and exist beside the new erdtree and the new two fingers. It’s like yin and Yang, order and chaos exist upon one hand and within the erdtree

You do such great work. We appreciate you.

Honestly, I thought the two fingers and three fingers perfectly fit into the game. I have no idea what you mean by "shouldn't exist". Heck, this video made them fit even more into the lore, not less. Still entertaining, and love the Mushroom Theory Also, the three finger's location is explained. It was summoned there by the great caravan after they were all buried alive. Shabriri told a lie about them worshipping the three fingers, and the golden order sealed them away down there in an act of utter cruelty. Such a fate was so horrible that the great caravan would wish for death. for freedom from their suffering. "A frenzied flame to melt away the curses, suffering and despair, and the order entire." So, the three fingers are there because that is where they were summoned. It wasn't corrupted, it always was a servant of the frenzied flame. And I don't get the whole "pay no mind to inheiritng the flame" argument, as the fingers might not be aware the tarnished has inheirited the flame in the first place. Just like they might not realise you're going to burn the Erdtree, even if it's against the Greater Will's wishes. (Edited for clarity and expanding on initial ideas)

A small thing I haven't heard mentioned is that Ranni's two fingers appear to be burrowing underground, when you find it's corpse you can observe the joints in the fingers are facing outwards, and are in a clasped position as if scraping at the wall. What was it digging down to? I guess we'll never know.

Few things: 1. Does Rani's hat have the cypher around it? The metal detail looks oddly like the coded sword or the two circular rings symbolizing the two fingers sigil 2. When Melina burns the erd tree the same music that begins during the elden beast boss fight begins playing. Could there be a connection between the two?

If Hyetta and the three fingers are to be believed, the greater will and the god of frenzy were once one, and if you add two and three together, you get five. It’s possible these fingers represent the divided hand of the one.

Did anyone notice the metallic looking band around Ranni’s hat? It looks sort of like the finger’s language/code mentioned earlier in the video.

The giants who were conquered in the war against the giants are found in the mountaintops. There are indeed colossal remains of some sort, but I'm not convinced they're giants. I think the fingers as a metaphor is a stronger theory. And the fingers as fungus theory is a good one too.

4:10 the marks on rannis hat looks like the finger language but all scrambled

The greater will has 2 fingers, the frenzied flame has 3 (one a thumb). I always thought that they might have been, at one point, one complete hand and I wondered if the DLC, if it takes place in the past, might have the tarnished interact with it.

Great Video! Like your Divine Tower Fingers Theroy, interesting. Love hearing different thoughts on The Fingers. I always thought the Divine Tower Fingers were Burned. By what? I don't know. But their skin looked like ash and you can see the Bones, and that all the ash that falls off them is building up underneath The Fingers. They just look brutal.

The two fingers in the roundtable hold do have a death animation

I like this. I was just having a conversation with a friend too about lore and was saying out of everything in the game the one thing that didn't seem to sit right with me are the fingers. We don't have any origins of em.

Ziostorm, have you seen that the silver ornements on the hat of Ranni is shaped the same way how the font of the coded sword is? I just realized that while watching this video. Pretty cool again by the way.

The thing that puzzled me the most was not the fingers ( don't remember who made it but I love the fingers as in players fingers) but the statue alfter Maliketh and I have a feeling that the DLC will help us with it, but till that I will stay with the theory that it is Marika and the 3 wolves are meant to be Miquella Malenia and Melina (3 wolves and the 3 butterfly types that connect to them). Would also connect to Ranni and her giving us the wolves from torrents former master (Miquella) and on the topic of Torrent I would bet that it was Miquella's shadow and Miquella either turned it into a ghost to sever the connection to the greater will or that Torrent simply died and Miquella kept the spirit.

Not sure if you noticed this, but Ranni's witch hat actually has the two fingers' alphabet wrapped around it

I always assumed the Two Fingers atop each divine tower were there for each Demigod/Shardbearer to visit and commune with the Greater Will...and they've since died and dried up after The Shattering.

I had a sneaking suspicion this was going to turn into a mushroom theory video and I was not disappointed.

so i forget who suggested this but early on i remember someone suggesting they were the players hands, through which they affect the game. two fingers being the index and middle with which you use your abilities. the thumb index and pinky which move you about and grasp the controller

Rannis lil metal crown thing the surrounds her hat looks kinda like the cipher pata language or “finger language” script thingy

The two fingers are sending memes to the Erdtree you couldn’t even fathom

Considering the alchemy imagery already present in ER, it is very fitting if not suspect that there are 2 weapons whose blades are made up of holy words. You could call them a literal "Sword of Logos".

Is there any link between the 2 fingers and the divine towers?

Your theory makes perfect sense if we assume the mycelium Network analog is more spiritual than physical.

We got the fingers Hopefully we get the but whole in the Dlc

The mycelium network idea makes sense, especially considering the fate of the Haligtreee. It was removed if the network to prevent interacting with the Greater Will and was sustained purely by Miquella. Once Mohg removed him, the Haligtree would have started dying. What even more interesting is that this connects further with the ideas of Convergence, Regression, and Causality from the Golden Order. If the Greater Will is a kind of myconid being, that would connect it to the Rot God corrupting Malenia. Fungi are a huge part of corrupted areas. In the All-Seeing set it states that Gideon saw Marika's truth, something terrifying that shouldn't exist. We also know that Marika broke the Elden Ring, likely because of this deeper, horrifying knowledge. It could be that many of the Outer Gods are simply aspects of a single being. Just had a thought given that flame and ice are prevalent themes here and the Crucible of Life is a thing. This could reference Scandinavian folklore about Muspelheim and Nifelheim, the lands of fire and ice. The Crucible of Life sat between the two poles. And interestingly, we have fire giants here rather than the ice giants of legend.

Tarnished archeologist is the one who propagated the mycelium theory, and I feel thhey deserve an acknowledgement.

the "Two Fingers" represent players' hands, and their "language of light" is binary (low/high voltage electrical signals) that is "translated" by Finger Readers (code compilers). I'm probably reaching with the language of light/compiler stuff but I def think the Two Fingers are supposed to be a parallel to our thumbs manipulating our character via the controller. I think the idea was to guide players to the realization that their role as controller-holder kind of makes us another Outer God influencing the Lands Between indirectly. the blog With A Terrible Fate did a super interesting essay describing the idea in a lot more detail (which is what originally led me to see the Two Fingers this way) called "How Elden Ring Turns Its Player into an Outer God"

They serve each empyrean, which have all given birth, all female, except for Miquella, but it can be argued his possible other half, St. Trina, his Radagon, was to birth his new form in the Haligtree, as seen above Malenia's arena. Mohg probably ripped Miquella's cocoon from the Haligtree/Trina womb. But anyways, the Two Fingers serve these females specifically to guide them on the way to create new lineages and demigods. They are most strangely seen on the pendant, I don't remember which one, as having legs, making them an X shape. They do in fact look like X Chromosomes. Maybe that has something to do with all those they guide being female and more specifically those who give birth, split rebus-like beings included. Don't know why they are just the two fingers then in the game then if they supposedly had a more x-shape form.

Nice one!

I have to wonder if there is a link between the two fingers (three fingers) and Placidusax, which when you fight him, it bears a very striking resemblance to the two fingers, just without dragon heads. There seems to be a link, but I'm not 100%

Alright whats goin on Zio. Keep it up bro

For some reason RU-vid unsubbed me from your channel, glad it at least suggested you again.

Wait so, you were just talking about the fingers, and you showed cipher pata. Doesn’t the crown on ranni’s hat look very similar to the words on cipher pata?

Maybe those fingers on top of the towers are made of wood but are so very old they have petrified you know like a mummy's body

2 and 3 fingers it is hand like the creature we kill but in high level, I think it is part of the whole alien body. Maybe we can see it in the future

The reason hes called two fingers is cus he only presses l2 and the roll button, thats all he ever knew

Off-topic I want to know why the star shards and the rune arcs are used the same?

In liturgical description on Jesus holding his hand with "two fingers pointing up" as symbolising" as above so below" is the meaning of blessing by priests. So maybe in Elden ring is the embodiment of the blessing or the symbolism of communication with a God through these fingers as "an antenna/amplification". I also believe like, our religious priests act autonomously, by corruption, influence, and subjectivity so they, the fingers, can be manipulated/manipulate that's why there are different types of fingers . I believe they meant to mirror some higher priests(patriarch)

An unexplored connection is between the Fingers and the beasts - the turning of claws into fingers that can work tools is the cornerstone of civilisation and is celebrated in the cinquedea, and the one thing we know the Fingers can definitely do is create intelligent beastmen. No way is that a coinky-dink.

Enia and the finger reader crones don't look particularily healthy either, nor do the general inhabitants and foot soldiers in the lands between. It's a side effect from being alive for thousends of years; same probably also goes for the fingers. Either that or they have untreated diabetes.

This is more of an out of world explanation, but I heard somewhere the idea that the finger imagery is all because that's how we interact with the game, either with a keyboard or a controller, it's our fingers.

"Finger Maidens" I will always laugh at that.

Kind of interesting wording. They call the Two fingers master Orators (not masters of speech, or understanding, but Orators which would imply masters of spoken words) when in the next breath specifying that they cannot speak. Almost like they are saying that they are implying that the Two fingers talk, but don't actually say anything.

Apart form the deep symbolic meaning. They definetely could be a type of fungi, as we never get to see their bottom like the sprout out of the ground, different from the finger creeper which clearly are severed hands because of their bottom. Also the two and three "fingers" dont have nails.

How I have always seen it, is as if the fingers themselves had been other tarnished, or humans/beings, before, and at some point they had received consultance from the Greater Will. I believe that they then slowly began to morph into this state of 'finger-like' appearance, due to their 'function' being shifted in their life to mainly receive and give consultation from the Greater Will. My main reason for this is that, in the room of the two fingers at the roundtable hold, behind the fingers is a big chair. Why would there ever be a big chair, if the finger(s) had always been a standing being? In combination with everything else which you hear and feel during my playthroughs, it kind of clicks for me. I do know that I only have this one chair of actual evidence. However, I still like to think that the fingers used to be actual beings similar to tarnished or empyrean or even numen, and that after attaining a significant presence in the lands between, they received guidance from the Greater Will (or other outer gods; just like the three fingers then would have had received their guidance from the god of frenzied flame). But not only guidance, but also a function. The function to relay messages from outer gods and to consult them.

I always felt that the Two Fingers and the Three Fingers were once part of the same Hand, before they split.

They move a second time when you ask about Queen Marika. Kinda surprised you forgot about that.

Personally, I can't help but think the two fingers standing up look like chromosomes.

Honestly there's one good reason why I disagree with the "fingers are the Erdtree's mycelial network" thing: when he receives a two-finger prayerbook, Corhyn states it does *not* bare any ancestry within the Golden Order, which is based around the Erdtree. Which could just be because it's a generic response for everything but a certain book, but still.

I don't think the colossal skeletons around Caelid and a few other locations are actually the bodies of giants, but growths. They're much like the "growths" the deathroot can create, like at the bottom of stormveil castle. What I think, is that the colossal skeletons are the equivalent of the deathroot growths but from the scarlet rot instead 10:32

normal sized fingers. normal sized tree. tiny people.

I do think they're fingers because hands can reach for things. They are literally the Greater Will's hands. The legs, however, were probably not in the game because Miyazaki's staff had to hold him back from making feet characters.

To me fingers always reminded roots which crawl in different places of the lands between. Tower signifies the birth of new tree if one of the empyreans will take the throne and become a god. If Erdtree is a parisite and Marika is a host, it makes every member of her offspring a potential bearer of the root. Godfrey never had his own tower despite being first Elden lord, he outgrew his purpose and was casted away. Hint also lies in words of Gideon "Tarnished cannot become an Elden Lord", means that no tarnished can truly manifest ambition of the greater will. The most suitable character for the role of new god would be Miquella, as he inherits power and features of both Marika and Radagon and despite being Malenia's twin he has golden hair. He is not a malformed monstrosity like Mogh or Morgot and he most likely was the chosen one, a true heir of golden lineage. Knowing Miyazaki's love for Berserk fingers could be just a reference for "god hand" as together they should form... well, a palm.

The fingers resemble both the twin bird and Placidusax.

Two fingers and three fingers make a whole hand! And the Three Fingers' "dialogue" suggests to me that in the times of the Crucible, the Two and Three Fingers were joined. Or rather, there was an original Five Fingers species or individual. Also, there's an association between Beastmen/"the beasts who first gained intelligence" and five-fingered hands. I conjecture that the Beastmen are the ancestors of humanity, and at the end of "prehistoric times" the flame of the Crucible was split into the Flame of Frenzy (chaos) and a flame of order (the Golden Order?) along with their representatives, the first Two and Three Fingers. The 3F can grab, so they probably represent the thumb, index, and middle fingers; they evoke the image of a claw, grasping and clutching, primordial and bestial. Then the 2F would have the be the ring and pinky fingers; they represent dexterity, stability, daresay refinement. So I think in this early era, beasthood and humanity became distinct, and before even the Greater Will showed up on the scene, the Two Fingers provided guidance to early man in matters of faith and possibly prejudice.

When I heard words like "inner-member" , the "fingers" and overall the "two finger" I was expecting a cultist approach of it where two of the highest members were the ones having some sort of connection or ritual with something out worldly. And the whole "great will" was more a doctrine....turns out it was an actual two finger hand and a god unnironacally called "great will"?

The dead two fingers on the Divine towers are just textured with decayed flesh. Not wood.

i honestly thought they had the fingers because eveyone leaves messages in dark souls like "finger but hole"

Here a theory to Rannis fingers: What if the knive we get for her, was the very first "black knive" which was somehow special and is therefore different looking than the other ones (also bec its made out of a person). We see on Godwhyn how much the body can take a grotesque form after only being half dead. Maybe Rannis Fingers were normal before too, but Ranni killed them with the black knife causing the same kind of death as Godwhyns making them look so different and misshapen

I've been yelling this question into the void since the game came out.

like someone else said the fingers are how we play the game; i think they are the in-game representation of whatever is outside the Lands Between, or the game itself. imo a lot of details of Elden Ring seem to refer to the fact that it is a contained game world, controlled by outside players ("the Greater Will").

Being mildly unfathomable helps build their position within the world. Of course it ties to hand of god. They basically exist simultaneously in another dimension (keeping them from harm). And similar to the voice/scribe of God, they communicate God's will through other means, as people can't understand such themselves. Tying to Gnostic structure that these games build upon, the Fingers are basically the equivalent of Metatron. Metatron is also tied to the theory that there could be more Gods in Heaven (but that they're still not all equal). There's also stories of Enoch being turned to Flames, drawing a correlation to the Fingers of the Frenzies Flame. " _This Enoch, whose flesh was turned to flame, his veins to fire, his eye-lashes to flashes of lightning, his eye-balls to flaming torches, and whom God placed on a throne next to the throne of glory, received after this heavenly transformation the name Metatron._ " And so on. All the alchemical stuff was basically just a precautionary path to the prior Gnostic (and Hermetic) roots that it built upon.

I do think the finger creepers are giants hands.

Honestly? Maybe it's as simple as the game giving us the forks (similar method of flipping people the middle finger, but in Australia with sexual connotations). Those fingers are conniving bastards, regardless of how many fingers they have.

I always assumed the one great was the 5 fingers greater will broke away and took 2 fingers with it lol but again makes no sense

Kid named finger

Excited for the deepest lore

I love your content

Ok, I have a theory I've been chewing on since your Ranni video. First, your theories are definitely on-track, and I firmly believe there are layers to how best to interpret the Fingers. For instance, in Catholicism there are holy relics that are literally the mummified hands of saints that are supposed to still have holy powers. Then there's the possible Berserk reference of the GodHand, who manipulate causality to enact the will of the Idea of Evil. And if you take a look at the illustration for Baphomet/Goat of Mendes, and the explanation for its design.. well, there's a lot there, but particularly, its right hand points two fingers up at a white moon, while the left hand points three fingers down at a black moon. I recommend looking into it in full. As for the fungal aspect, I think there's even more to it than that. Dead Man's Fingers are Xylaria Polymorpha, but there's another called Xylaria Globosa, which look like Dead Man's Fingers... but incredibly gory, exactly like Ranni's Two Fingers. And furthermore, there's also Xylaria Hypoxylon, the Candlesnuff Fungus, which both in name and appearance bears striking resemblance to the ghostly "candle trees" that lead us to obscure caves. Upon reaching the Haligtree, it's immediately clear that the candle trees are associated with Miquella, whose butterflies, lilies, and saplings already serve as rewards for thorough exploration. Which has me wondering... are these "trees" actually a fungus serving as a new kind of "Fingers" for the Haligtree? Was that Miquella's solution to their meddling? They're little more than lampposts, but the spirit of an old man emerges to be a guide, rather than it being a weird, sentient thing channeling who-knows-what. And that brings me to my theory: Gideon's final Incantation says that after studying with the Two Fingers, he discovered that "all had been broken long ago." With the Two Fingers and Erdtree being no exception. It would be a bit odd if this was referring to the Shattering tho, right? It's hardly a "discovery," after all. So what if "all" had actually "broken" long before the Ring did? What if the apparent abandonment of the Greater Will, and the Two Fingers inability to contact it swiftly after acting like it was directly channeling it before.. means the Greater Will is dead? Or perhaps never even existed at all? OR, what if the difference between the Greater Will and the One Great is that the One Great fractured into different aspects of itself, and "Greater Will" is in truth a title given to whichever aspect has control of the Elden Ring? Like, the Outer Gods are all "Wills" of the One Great. This idea came partly from the "god with many faces" concept from ASOIAF, but also the thought that maybe the Fingerslayer Blade actually DID manage to kill the Greater Will, which is why Fingers started choosing Empyreans to replace Marika, and why the Elden Beast refuses to accept a new Elden Lord- it wants to remain the head honcho.