I always liked the idea that the Redmaines were preventing the rot from spreading further by fighting to keep it at bay. They have the burning wall built at the entrance, clearly meant to keep things in
It’s likely they’re there’s still alive due to death being taken away from the lands between and because of this the rot has drastically mutated their body’s due to long-term exposure and made them animalistic.🐱
i feel like all of Rennala’s side, her children and their armies, are entire all gangster. From the Carian knights, to Gelmir knights and lion mane knights….all of them are just metal
Oh yeah moat definitely. I have a carian novle family video ive been writing a script for forever, gonna devote full attention after the aldia video releases
The Servants of Rot spawn around Milicent's church as well, which hosts a large graveyard. Scarlot Rot is all about new life from the death of the old.
Growing up near wine factories, and vineyards, noble rot feels like a specific scent. While it smells putrid, it’s a familiar scent for a product held with high regard.
The odd scythe shape looks alot like the Rune in the new DLC trailer. The sort of crescent moon shape that's glowing, thus connecting Malenia with her brother more
Seeing a lot of “Fermented Knight” jokes Noble Rot isn’t fermentation. It’s when wine grapes survive grey mold infestation due to a drop in humidity. The mold drinks a lot of water out of the grapes in stage one of an infestation, which leaves behind all the sugars making the grapes way sweeter and more flavorful. Fermentation (and not the fun kind) happens later if the rot isn’t suppressed by lowering the humidity. Maybe something similar happens to Malenia’s knights when being infected but having the infection suppressed is beneficial to the host.
When you slay Gowry, his body becomes a pest. What if that is not an illusion, but a sort of skinsuit pest's can make? What if the insect-like wings on the clean rot nights are literal wings of a pest that has reached a level of development beyond the typical pest? Like how the males and queens of ants have wings. Even if they were not making a clean rot knight skinsuit, an egg planted on this potent warrior of rot might grow into what is essentially a male breeding or at least higher, winged pest.
Last night I was farming for the clean rot knight armor and noticed an interesting drop. Which I noticed in your video as well, the Trina's Lily. I find it intriguing that the knights loyal to Melania would drop a trina lily. For one I was farming in the rot swamp and have no idea where the closest Trina's lily would even be. Secondly after you mentioned the idea that Miquella could have something to do with them, I wonder if its not Miquella but Trina keeping them loyal and hive like? Potentially in a way to break down Radans men? Not sure on that yet but i just find it interesting. Was kinda surprised you didnt mention the trina lily hahaha all in all, great video!
i like to believe that the cleanrot knights fight for malenia for the same reason miquella does what he does: curing, or expelling outer gods from people (aka scarlet rot) basically, they are fighting for themselves to be cured and if they die then it was a death in service of finding a cure.
Never understood the rot ants until you related it to cordyceps. Fungi is almost always what causes a tree to die too. They form a symbiotic relationship where they exchange nutrients that the other can't easily obtain. Perhaps that's why fire heretic, it kills both
It is interesting that Malenia and the Cleanrot knights don helmets depicting white wings, whereas Messmer dons a helmet adorned with bat/dragon wings. The Winged Scythe seems to have nothing to do with Malenia or Miquella, but it is the only weapon with angel wings on it. That sxythe is a "pagan" weapon, though, which likely means it does not belong to the Golden Order. I wonder if "angels" will be in the dlc.
I feel like the reason the cleanrot knights choose to follow Malenia could be the same reason people choose to follow Nurgle in the warhammer universe. They might be already afflicted with some other illness and hope by accepting the scarlet rot, that they might have a chance at maybe not survival but at least a purpose for their tortured existence. My only evidence is from what the invader Maleigh Marais and his robes. The whole family was cursed with sickness and therefore they were beguiled with Malenia.
In games like this I like to imagine what we’re experiencing is ancient history in that universe. And years down the road somewhere there’s a human from that universe carpooling with a vulgar militia, and one of the beast men, all dressed in business casual going to their office job. And their supervisor is a Malenia like
Interesting parallel, soldiers returning from Vietnam said "the Nam stays in ya" in regards to all the agent orange/smoke. So too do the Cleanrot Knights carry the accursed stagnation rot inside them
Yeah, makes sense the pests and the cleanrots are connected. Gowry has transformation magic. Though if Cleanrots are just pests wearing armor, gives me the same vibes as the mimic armors in Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon. I wish Zlofksy would do more refs of the pest babies. I see way more images of the adults. The wikis for Fextra and Fandom neglect them. I totally missed out on the caelid ruin eggs. Nice observation.
They seem to be an order of metamorphic knights for Melania and Miquella, who is cocoon themed and since theyre the corpses of these knights reborn through rot as you say, they're a cocoon knight, perpetually evolving, sealed in unalloyed gold complete with erratic fungal growths and tattered moth wing capes. 😮
Excellent choice of music as always! On the subject: What would be the connection between cordyceps and those spiral sea shells? Given those snail like creatures are actual snakes, and their shells aren't that similar. Plus those snailsnakes don't roam the land of rot. So If there is a connection between the shrimpmen and Rottyboys, I think the answer would be somewhere within my reason of questioning. Amazing topic Madman, very thought provoking ideas here.
It's interesting cause noble rot is actually a beneficial fungus when found on wine grapes. It's something you WANT your grapes to have. So the cleanrot is a beneficial fungus of somesort.
Sometimes, yes! Noble rot aka botrytis is, generally, an undesirable thing for your wine grapes to be afflicted with; it leeches water and nutrients from the grapes and creates different flavors and is basically something that winemakers in humid regions spend a lot of care and effort to fight against. HOWEVER! In a few regions of the world, most famously Sauternes in Bordeaux and Tokaji in Hungary, winemakers intentionally allow this to happen, and let the grapes overripen as well. Less water + overripen = suuuuuper high sugar content, and the resulting grapes are then made into dessert wines! There are also non-dessert wines made this way, but generally that's by fermenting them all the way dry (letting the yeast eat alllll the sugar present instead of halting fermentation early to preserve sugar). So yeah, noble rot is desirable for dessert wine makers but usually not for most other winemakers!
Bro, wanted to pop in and say you are killing it. I watch every Vid, can't wait to unravel the DLC with ya and whatever else you choose to do for the channel afterwards 😊
I like to think in the world of elden ring, ideologies are everything and devoting yourself to a wmd is to portray their sense of devotion and loyalty to the ideology scarlett rot represents. Which leads me to believe Cleanrot Knights and named knights like Finlay are humanoid and willing. But it would be cool if we had an enemy comprised of thousands of bugs animating a suit of armor.
I find the idea that Miquella bewitched the Cleanrot Knights into serving Malenia a bit hard to believe. When you go to the shaded castle and enter the bell-bearing hunter arena, you will see him looking at a painting of Malenia standing completely still, almost like he's admiring her. Now let's go to the former owners of the shaded castle, particularly Maleigh Maria, a private believer in the scarlet rot, and the description of his armor stats. "The sons of House Marais are all sickly born. Little wonder that Maleigh Marais would be so beguiled by the beautiful and fierce goddess who was born into rot." You see, Malenia is an inspiration for him because he was sickly born just like her, and given that she was capable of growing into this fine warrior, no wonder you find a painting of her in the castle and some prosthetic arms and legs. Both the bell-bearing hunter and Maleigh Marais have no relation to Miquella, yet they admire Malenia, so I believe that Malenie is simply a charming and charismatic character. Also, the Cleanrot Knights may have been fighting for a future or their home (the Halig Tree). We don't know a lot about Malenia's reasons for the whole bioterrorism thing, but maybe it has to do with something or someone that both Malenia and the Cleanrot Knights believed in.
My initial thought was that they are rotten but that like melenia they fight against the scarlet rot Just like outward instead of melenias inward So their kinda cleaning up behind her
You! You may be the guy who will enjoy this thought, if you haven’t encountered it already. Land Octopuses, do you ever see certain types of trees in the Lands Between that look somewhat strikingly similar to the Land Octopus? I suppose maybe the land octopuses resemble the trees. You know the ones, often they are dark, some are burned, they have massive gashes in places (not all of them). Usually they are near graveyards or places with dead stuff but they are not obviously deathblighted. They look like they are made from a bunch of vines choking out a tree, or very flimsy trees entwining for stability, or tentacles…. I can’t shake the feeling that those weird looking trees and the land octopus are related. One came from the other or maybe they both developed from the same organism that once lived in the Crucible.
This explanation makes more sense where the cleanrot knights are just totally controlled. Hell, Miquella's "affection" ability seems way too perfect to have to amass an army like this.
Interesting note that just hit me at the beginning, you might mention it later: The halo scythes look like the glowing runes from the DLC. Maybe it represents allegiance to Miquella and therefore the rune is Miquella’s?
Cool that the cleanrot knights are actually growing wings, if you check behind the cape timy wings are growing like the rot ants in the eternal cities and haligtree
Something I've always found sad is how Malenia's follows are so blindly loyal to the rot. When Malenia herself and Miquella were trying everything they could to get rid of it (from Malenia) The poor Knights seem to be being used. Redmane are definitely cooler. Badass Knights loyal to a worthy leader just trying to protect their land. And they didn't need an Outer God on their side.
The Halo Scythe looks alot like that Miquella great rune in the DLC trailer.... plus the have that Ash of war that related to Miquella... i think they were 100% allured by Miquella.
I always thought that (just like players who use scarlet rot), the clean rot knight use the rot to make themselves stronger. (Even knowing what will happen to them) Radon's boys don't need that shit.
Thats chainmail? That actually makes way more sense now lol i thought those were like black sores on greyed skin. Or something like that mix of armor/rot malenia had on her good arm. But upon closer inspection its definitely chainmail
Only discovered your channel about 4-5 months ago, and I gotta say. High quality content about fun topics with an interesting take, AND a smoke buddy for the vids? I really hope the best for you man and can only wish your channel keeps growing. Keep up the amazing work my dude ✌🏻
Watching this video it occurred to me this game sometimes lies to us, what if the clean rot knights didn't just join her but.. they were spawned by her, in the same way Millicent and her other sisters were, what if that's why they are so loyal to her, cause in a way, if we believe this, they are sort of a part of her, no? Love this game and this channel, to me at least Elden Rings been the kind of game that just pulls back that irresponsable kid gamer that plays 400 on a single player game, and your videos have become like an after Elden session chilling routine, along with some good grass
Cleanrot knights > Redmane Knights. Not only were they vastly more powerful at their height, they were willing to endure the curse to follow their leader. The idea they are brainwashed seems to ignore all the descriptions we have in the game. Could be the case, but it's pure speculation. They were willing to endure the rot because they believed in the vision of their leaders. They were completely dedicated and unselfish in their motivations. The Redmane Knights have that in common with them and it's a very admirable trait. Yet, the CR knights are willing to sacrifice more for their cause. Also, their cause is more noble. Radahn has literally shackled the Lands Between into an era of stagnation at the behest of the ruling tyrant. I don't think it's a coincidence he acts like a rabid dog. He was powerful, loyal to his men, but ultimately desperate to serve the prevailing evil empire. Malenia and Miquella by contrast are fighting for a world where everyone can be accepted and judged on action not origin. Malenia sacrifices everything, even her own ego to protect that vision as do her knights. Ultimately, the Redmane Knights are truly epic and very brave. Yet, they are less skilled and follow a commander who, while a greater warrior, is tool of the ruling system. The Cleanrot knights are just as selfless, if not more so. They are more powerful warriors. They have a leader who is more noble and also challenge the existing order to replace it with something morally righteous.
An odd thing about the Cleanrot knights is that they seem to have wings as part of their design. Wings that look almost like a lacewing or damsel fly. The only other creature with insectile wings like that are the flying ants/termites. Ants are also usually the insects that are affected by the cordyceps fungi. I think that one possible point of origin are the silver tears, more specifically the larval tears. "Larval," as a word really conjures up insectoid offspring and it almost makes you wonder if the larval tears are termite or ant in origin. By that rational the Cleanrot knights might be ant larva that were turned into humanoids, that were later infected by rot and they are now being controlled by the rot fungus. Maybe they had no choice in the matter and maybe their acts of braver are more of a hive mind effect or mind control effect. If that's the case then their movement being similar to the pests might be because both the pests and knights are being mentally controlled or guided by the same outer god.
