The RAREST Enemy in Elden Ring | LORE 

I always thought the Mantis blade were the actual claws of the crab that it took off to give them as a weapon to their host.

If you go into the fight with 0 insight, these enemies won't spawn.

Cemetery Shades gave off a huge Bloodborne vibe to me when I first came in contact with them. They are a very disturbing enemy imo.

After finding out about the bug on their heads, I couldn't help but think back to Dark Souls 1 Sunlight Maggot and Solaire

The cemetery shade lowkey freaked me out when i first found him

I stumbled into the little alcove in the Gelmir Hero's Grave that hid one of these things. At that point, I hadn't done any of the catacombs that featured them as bosses, so it was my first time seeing one. It scared the living shit out of me as it deleted my health bar in 5 seconds.

I got so numb to jumpscare horror over the years that I was genuinely surprised at the fear these things gave me from appearance alone

Zio you should look at the Winged Scythe lore. Really weird stuff, it talks about winged maidens being death's gentle envoys. The weapon art emits light and feathers like angel miracles in DS3 and that same type of light is emitted by Miranda blossom notorius attack and related Miranda cut content.

I always assumed they were the shades of those spirit ashes from the summons they drop upon defeat. Lhuthel the headless, twinsage sorcerer ashes, and kindred of rot ashes. This category was not accepted by the erdtree to be absorbed into the tree upon death since they were outside the guidance of grace. So now they linger in death.

I got one to be a boss in Elphael during a randomizer run. It was the most infuriating part of the whole experience. I am really glad we don't meet them past Mt Gelmir. Trust me, that health has no business going up.

"The Healing Church has discovered a great variety of invertebrates, or phantasms, as they are called. Shells with slime still harbour arcane power." *the fallen invertebrates tell a much older headcanon 💀

Could these be mausoleum knights that got infected by a deathblight creature? They are grave keepers, and it would explain why the shades can teleport. And one of them drops the Luthel the Headless ash as well. Maybe that shade is what happened to Luthel?

4:55 "Also begs the question: Where did the crab come from" Someone gotta call Limit Breakers, looks like the Catacombs Small Crab from DS3 is back for round 2

I didn’t know the Australian horror moth exsisted, and now I’m itchy

2:00 I found this one because I used that alcove to avoid the chariot. It felt fairly mean.

My impression ( or call it head cannon ) was that cemetery shades are normal (super)natural animals/monsters/phenomenon in Lands Between not directly connected or involved to events of the shattering or Gods or Erdtree or anything else. But just existing in the world, although in very rare numbers, whatever is happening with the world, more like a cryptid or a rare animal or rare phenomena. Like if shattering never happened and everything is as normal there still would be stories and legends ( because rarely anybody has seen one ) of creepy insect crabs in dark places of the dead that take control of the body...

These enemies instantly reminded me of Bloodbornes "Mad One" enemies and also a bit of the "Madman" enemies when it comes to the aggressive moveset. When I first encountered them I thought they were a copy from Bloodborne but they do look a bit different. The design is VERY similar though.

Love this type of content as someone that is still grinding The Lands Between, I say thank you Zio!

2:00 My first time seeing one was a few seconds of terror spent realizing I wasn't alone in that alcove.

The weapons the cemetery shade uses are similar to the pests staff. It’s extremely odd and they seem to share aspects with all kinds of different things in the game

When you mentioned that the shade has wounds indicating it was once part of the tree, an idea struck me. What if the shades are a form a church grim? A church grim is the spirit of the first being to be buried in a graveyard, tasked with guiding other occupants to the afterlife and warding off evil spirits that would intercept them. Maybe that spider-crab-moth thing is how the shade/church grim is selected? Edit: nvm I got further into the video there's like 50 other guys that do the same things, it would be redundant

I just barely found your channel but I love it, the metroid ambience fits so well somehow

I’ll tell you this, I played through the entirety of Elden Ring at release with my fiancée, we went into the crypt which had a cemetary shade and adds (imps or skeletons, can’t remember) and it was a tense and exciting fight that took us several attempts at low level.

Loving the Metroid Prime soundtrack at the end .. as soon as I heard it, I recognised it .. I played that game so much on my GC .. hard to forget .. 🤟

I’m loving these bite-sized lore videos about obscure enemies.

Look closely at the arms of the spider crabs on the head, they share the same color as the Gem inbedded into the helphen!

The Cemetery Shades are such a cool design, the remind me a lot of the Mad Ones from Bloodborne. I wish there were more Shades in the game!

I haven't seen the Luigi video but I like what you said about his point. The servants of rot don't have rot powers themselves but no one disputes their association. It could be the same thing with the Shades. They don't have deathblight but are still connected to the deathroot. That actually makes perfect sense.

Love your content big fan, just wish your videos didn't cap at 10min every time. Would love to see a full length video eventually. Thanks for keeping us crazy souls boys up to date with everything.

Yoooooo he was the one enemy in the catacombs I couldn't wait to see again and I was even hoping id run into one somewhere else like in a cemetery or something, love his design and how mysterious they are, I love his moveset

Never realized how scary these things are now im terrified,cheers 👍

Great video❤..i almost foget about these creatures sometimes but this really made me want to know more about them..

I remember freaking out the first time I saw this thing. A shadowy phantom teleporting right up to you the second you come through the fog. The way it stares at you, Shudders and then approaches is totally nightmarish

The headcrab thing remonds me of the Eggsack on the head in DS1 and the spider infected people from DS2

Never knew about the crab, great video!

Wouldn't it be cool to be exploring a hero grave in Elden ring when suddenly from up ahead you begin to faintly hear a winter Lantern getting closer and closer that was super tough mini boss fight

I appreciate the Super Metroid Merida music being used on an Elden Ring video

Maybe creatures like the spidercrabs have a little bit of Godwyn and his will in them and now Godwyn is no longer a person, he's a swarm. And Miquella wanted to prevent all of this with his attempt to revive Godwyn. Because Godwyn in this form is the only thing that can stop Miquella from claming the throne.

Good lore Video, pls more of this!!

6:37 eyyyyy thats a sick nameless king cosplay build

"You wouldn't notice it if someone didnt tell you" You mean the one that jumps you in the middle of a dungeon? Yeah I noticed it 😢

My best friend is one of the main developers and artists for Elden ring. I asked him the other day about all the little things no one knows or understands about these games, he says that’s the fun bit. Leave it up to the audience. But also that he enjoys commenting on random posts and videos giving direct answers to these questions about who they are and what and whatever. On a burner account. And people will argue with him 😂 in other words, the answers are out there somewhere. We just won’t ever know 💀

Ah, "Torvus bog" my guiding Explanatory Dialogue Song you were with me all along.

I see a connection between their weapons and the wing blade you get near Astel just in the shape.

I ran into the non boss version whilst avoiding the chariot-thingy in that dungeon. I started randomly taking damage when I saw it’s silver eyes.

i came across one of these guys in a dungeon the other day and i was like woah he’s got glowing eyes, never seen him before

I am thinking that these are actually regular enemies that we will see in the DLC and FromSoftware put them in as a little nod/suggestion on what is to come.

there is /one/ cemetary shade down in Fringefolk Hero's Grave, just along the main chariot path

They’re like a fusion of the Graveyard Wraiths in Hemwick Charnel Lane and the Little Blue Alien guys in the Forest from Bloodborne.

They are like the crystallians, they are inspired by a RolePlayGame Book. In the book "L'île du Roi Lézard", The Lezard King have a parasitic Insect/crabs in the heads. Its a french book, I let you search, and I hear nobody talking of that

I saw some gladiator guy in a snow field with a snake wrapped around him. Never saw that until yesterday

upon seeing the crab in the model editor, i thought it bore a striking resemblance to Astel, and the falling star beast, notably in which some insectoid creature is inhabiting the remains of the deceased. Astel also able to warp in and out of the physical, and both bosses have grabbing attacks of a similar ilk

The catacombs may be the same underwolrd dimensions as the chalice dungeons, were u can gain insight and see these higher dimension terrors

Probably one of the most metal af enemy designs in the game.

the one non enemy shade always jumpscares me there lmaoo

The first shade I ran into was actually the one hiding in the corner of that wall section. Killed me instantly lol

they REALLY cool and i love the blade they drop

Only the way these guys move freaks me out but they're pretty easy to kill.

Also, I always thought the Pumpkinheads description referenced them as the reason for the helmet.

Objectively one of the coolest enemies. And it's rare, which is rare in Elden ring

Hey Zio, just as a reminder, what you do with this channel is always high quality. I'm subbed to a bunch of channels but always watch your videos right away because it's gonna be good. Just keep doing what you're doing

0:42 i need those swords

I love this enemy, it reminds me of The Beast from Over the Garden Wall.

Those eyes remind me of that boomerang throwing horse rider from the DLC trailer.

This was so interesting!

Imagine if this could be a transformation form in the DLC. Wouldn't that be nuts?

Oh shit I've never even SEEN these enemies before

He reminds my of the beast in over the garden wall

Crabbo finally evolved. 😂 Bless his little heart ❤

Can you please tell me what’s the background music in this video? I’m an ambient music fanatic, I love this track..

The obscure Vagrant enemy in Dark Souls is a type of phantom capable of travelling between worlds. It is also a crab creature.

I never knew that the shades were two different beings, always thought it was a dude with a creepy head. It does appear that there is a strong connection to Deathroot so maybe it could be something like a corrupted kindred of rot. Could be something like what happens if a kindred of rot touches Deathroot though these are more crab-like then insect-like. I don't think they have connections to the mausoleum knights since the body does have a head though it could be ones that broke their code. I could see that as punishment for knights. You'd have that crab take over the body to defile it while it is protects the catacombs. Now that I said that it could be connected to the Seedbed Curse and Dungeater, crabs are scavengers. Maybe a variant of the Seedbed Curse where its not corrupted or accelerated by Dungeater. Maybe the shade is what happens when Seedbed Curse happens naturally. I don't know just some thoughts.

i found once not unique enemy but a giant vampire bat in the mountains of giants with a different motif/ patterns under his wings maybe a bug or an error forgot by a dev maybe

I came across one by mistake out of no where in one of the heroes cave. I'm on journey six, and I ha forgotten this enemy. One thing tho I noticed is, it fade kind of like Radagon and the beast. Some of Radagon , I believe left arm is shadow like. And if you look at the Elden beast, he is too. Ain't he like a wear parasite too?

Wonder if they were made as the hints of the future dlc, just shadows from the world between that got trapped or broke through... If we are getting a mirror world, I might go have a look for the shades in their locations.

In the inheritance series (Eragon) a shade is a sorcerer that tried to take multiple souls into themselves to use their power but the souls take over because he wasn’t strong enough to control them. Probably has nothing to do with these but that’s the only other time I’ve heard of shades

The regular part of the head, not the crab, looks like a deep sea telescope fish.

Here is something interesting, there was a software update that I downloaded yesterday. I didn’t get to read the patch notes though.

This and sages from the chalice dungeons 😅😅 like okay cool to WOAH FAST real quick

dog the nostalgia of the dark torvus bog theme

Omg i remember fighting these and after 200 hours i only fought them once and totally forgot about it!

Found the 4th one and it scared the heck out of me lol

Im doing my first run rn, I actually stumbled into the non boss one in the gelmir hero grave cuz I ducked into the crevice to not die to the chariot and the shade promptly jumpscared and fucked me up

Death birds are weak to holy also and I find it curious the shades are (all but one) found in the catacombs. Obv related to death also.

That shit is fucking scary. I will never forget that first time

I had no idea about the face of Godwyn on the backs of the crabs!

Can you make a video of the annoying lightning balls? I don't remember their name but you find them in the same place you find the dragonkin solider underground.

They remind me of an enemy from bloodborne when you fight the witches of hemwick.

I always prepared the encounter with as much DPS as possible to avoid any shenanigans with them. Like the design but still terrified by them

The tentacles of the crab look like the antennae of moths than the specific moth inflated thing

Hmmmm I remember fightibg against them with a faith build, and the litanh of proper death incantation dealt binus damage against them, so if my memory seeves correctly, they are part of Those who live in Death

As for the insect, I'm sure it's modeled after Progonyleptoidellus, which is a type of Harvestman.

My theory is that the Cemetery Shade is a product of a parasitic bug taking advantage of one of the bodies in the catacombs and, unlike the statues and the gladiators who were appointed as grave keepers, the Shade became a keeper of their own will (maybe to protect their food supply). Their weapon I believe is made from their own body, as another user pointed out, which isn't that much of a stretch since the Kindred of Rot did a similar thing with their glaives

The cemetery shade with the light on it’s head looks like what everyone thinks are birds in the dlc trailer

Reminds me of the insight suckers on blood borne and them one things on demon souls

The metroid ost🔥

its possible the cenemtary shades are a more "natural" extension of of the power of death, possibly linked to the likes of the deathbirds and ghostflame, as opposed to godwynn and those who live in deaths more corrupted form of death with deathblight, which would also explain their roles as guardians of graves when the various creatures associated with the prince of death defile them instead

that metroid soundtrack is hitting

The way that the creature is standing and how it acts kind of reminds me a little bit of Dark Souls 1 with solar and the Sunlight Maggot & the Chaos Bug. One of the main differences is in Eldon ring they're using Corpses, and in Dark Souls 1 it was a living person. And like you said in Eldon ring they use depictions of aquatic life and death roots, and in Dark Souls 1 the main concept was using a false light kind of like an angler fish, that resembled the Sun in solar's case. Just my thoughts

The position of the light on the spider crab almost reminds me of that one barnacle which acts as a parasite for crabs. It would be kind of funny if the barnacle was controlling the crab controlling the humanoid.