The more I learn about how this game has taken from human history, the more I understand what Miyazaki means when says he's going to make something more abstract. He's finally at a point that he's touched so many points of actual history that he's finally free to be creative beyond direct inspirations. Can't wait to see that game.
All the Soulsborne games were just a part of an elaborate ritual meant to help Miyazaki ascend to godhood. Now he will move on and create his own universe
Miyazaki always alternates between an abstract game and a more "concrete" one, according to his own interviews. Abstract: Demon's Souls Concrete: Dark Souls Abstract: Bloodborne Concrete: Dark Souls 3 Abstract: Sekiro Concrete: Elden Ring Abstract: Armore Core? *EDIT: Looks like Miyazaki is not involved in Armored Core VI as he was in other games, so it probably won't fall into his own alternation, kind of like Dark Souls 2.
Virgin ER Analysists: lol "Marika's tits" was definitely GRRM's contribution Chad ER Analysists: 1st century Jewish assassins of Roman officials wielding curved knives have a distinct similarity to the Black Knives in game. GRRM's contribution is a retelling of the most infamous and pivotal moments in history through the lens of gripping fiction.
I mean, you might be right to an extent but all Soulsborne games have historical references in them. It's not something new to Elden Ring. Miyazaki is a history buff and from what I've heard a huge fan of European medieval history. Excluding Sekiro all of the Soulsborne games take huge influence from European history.
This comment is far more correct than many people might realize. George r.r. Martin's favorite period of history is post Byzantine Britain up to the war of the roses. These are all core historical contexts used specifically in Elden ring.
I HAVE BEEN BANGING MY HEAD over the apparent discontinuity between 'Elden John' tree worship and the Eternal Cities, and never even considered the 'rediscovering older prophecies' part. This makes perfect sense. Thank you for putting this all together into such a compelling and detailed narrative.
I would guess that most of the world building is Miyazaki's work. I think that's why we find obvious "Martinisms" which are all 60's fantasy and French and English wars focused characters intermingled with these nods to ancient Assyria, Judea, Rome, etc. The Conan the Barbarian, Robert the Bruce and Cuchulain stuff is all Martin. Everything else is Miyazaki and team. It's probably not as two dimensional as that in its entirety. But that's my general impression from the interviews, obviously never explicitly stated. Though I would guess that Miyazaki had more than a heavy hand when it came to Malenia, Miquella and Marika's characterization.
@@rainbowkrampus As I understand it, GRRM wrote the backstory for the world, and Miyazaki did all the actual in-game writing. It's possible this is just Miyazaki's doing, but something so fundamental as which world history to base the story on feels like George would've been at least involved
@@arabidllama Realistically it's probably a combination of the two of them. We know that both GRRM and Miyazaki are fans of the intersection between history and fantasy, and history is known to repeat itself, or more accurately for similar scenarios to repeat. It wouldn't surprise me if GRRM and Miyazaki had different specific ideas when they were writing that happened to fit the same overall theme when everything was joined together. After all, the Sicarii may be one of the most iconic groups of shadowy assassins striking at major political powers for social and religious reasons but they were certainly not the only ones. Whether GRRM and Miyazaki were thinking of the Sicarii, the Hashashins, the Guy Fawkes Gunpowder Plot or something completely different, all three of those examples and more fit the same general narrative even if they have more or less completely different social, religious and cultural reasons for existing.
@@quintonhoffert6526 I have no idea if this was an inspiration or not, but the thing that came to mind immediately for me was the assassination of Julius Caesar. I'm not saying he has any parallel in the game (I don't know enough about the characters in the game or Caesar himself to be able to confidently make connections), but the thought of a mass of dagger-wielding assassins taking out near enough a god among men really popped for me, you know? Even if it has no connection at all, the imagery is so evocative - I love it so much.
You are like toldinstone but with a focus on Elden Ring, weaving real world historical inspirations to give added context to the elements in game. Eloquent, entertaining, and educational. Thank you!
@The Tarnished Archaeologist I would like to get your opinion on what I see in that symbol. I believe it is based on the Ediacran animal Charnia (the Ediacran is time before the Cambrian explosion which was for the longest time considered the first time of macro species, but later the VERY WEIRD & ALIEN Ediacran was found to be the first. which Most fossils that we have found are from Species of animals/plants have NO living relative, or even a modern equivalent) Specifically Charnia MASONI From the Charnwood Forest in England. is a far older, more ancient, and fitting better with your analysis of "Almost alien, so far removed that it has nothing in common with anything now" en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charnia ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ipkBmbi6k5c.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Spk0edEuNbQ.html (this is the best reference) Some references for you. I hope that you will look these over, and consider whether you agree or not.THIS IS WHAT IMMEDIATELY CAME TO MY MIND WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED ELUDING TO THIS SYMBOL IN EARLIER VIDEOS
@@tarnishedarchaeologist I would like to say that the fact that the two crucible knights that are named are named after the selurian, and the ordivician period, both came after the Ediacran period, that this would add weight to my theory. as this was before the crucible.
The thing I was thinking of when you were bringing up the designs on the mega-thrones, was that it called to me a artistic depiction of the Elden Beast from above, with its wing-like appendages.
I thought of the star beings like astel. Goes in tandem with the star worshipping and astel being an actual star, and finding astel in the underground cities.
You deserve many more subscribers. Not only for deciphering the mythos of Elden Ring, but also for inspiring people to learn more about the history of mankind.
I don't know, until you mentioned the critter I saw a plant / primitive tree. What you see as segmented legs / gills I personally see as drooping leaves.
Not sure if you have noticed but in Elphael the walls of the city (you have to climb roots to see them clearly) are full of tree brances filled with babies and buds.
The dead scorpion god of rot in the grand cloister certainly evokes the image of the Egyptian god Serket as well. Edit: The Sacarii dagger looks almost identical to the erdsteel dagger in-game. This helps establish the timeline of dagger reforging. Erdsteel daggers converted to blades of calling, converted to black knives. Alternatively the erdsteel dagger is the base and the other two are two possible parallel forms instead of a linear progression.
Gawd dude. I seriously cannot come up with words with weight enough to truly express the degree to which your video series has enriched my experience with and understanding of this game. So I'm just going to say this instead: Thank you. So very much.
I'm a bit confused about when and how the reign of beasts and dragons would slot into this framework - particularly if Serrosh is a significant ruler of the Crucible Era. How would he (or the Stormlord) have existed within the context of a crumbling Saint-and-Tree Empire, which is now at this point an age away from the Eternal Empire, which is itself an age or more away from the rule of Farum Azula (which seems contemporaneous with the Uhl Dynasty and the giants, as all of them share certain motifs)?
Serrosh is cleary a different kind of beast than the Beastmen. I think Serrosh and the Stormhawk King (Stormlord, most likely him) are more in line with being the original rulers of places like Stormveil, RoundTable Hold, Castle Morne, etc. In the timeline, all these locations show Great Tree depictions in their oldest stratum, with later additions of the Crucible statues and the final additions of Marika's era statues. These places are dripping with details from 3 eras. But i think the Great Tree depictions in Stormveil would make sense to be of the final days of the Great Tree, perhaps even post-destruction of the Great Tree. We don't actually have any decent clues about what life was like during the Great Tree era, possibly the destruction was so vast that most history was lost. See western Europe between the 6th and 10th century and the "obliteration of history" that took place, during those centuries we know more about the Eastern Roman Empire and the Middle East (Muslim Golden Age 8th-9th century) since they were much more advanced having not gone through a collapse unlike Rome/Ravenna/etc.
Hmm. Maybe the timeline goes like this: 1. Ancient Dragons 2. Crucible 3. Eternal Cities 4. Golden Order. It makes for a nice progression in terms of the values of the metals associated with these eras. 1. Ancient Dragons ruled over the beasts, who used stone tools. 2. The Crucible era is associated with red-tinged gold, which may be seen as copper. 3. The Eternal Cities are associated with silver (Silver Tears, Silver Fireflies, you name it). 4. The Golden Order is associated with, of course, gold. So we have stone-copper-silver-gold in terms of the progression, materials of progressively greater value.
@Ates Goksu yes exactly very much like the real world and we know Michaela was going to usher the age of unalloyed gold or untainted gold perhaps DLC or a future series
I kind of assumed the Dragons and their beastmen ruled over the age of the crucible and their order was the 1st incarnation of the Golden Order as the Red Gold color that marks the age of the Crucible also marks the Red Gold wielded by the Ancient Dragons also note how all the aspects of the crucible wielded by the Crucible knights seem Dragonic in nature: Fire breath, reptilian tail, reptilian horns... Then for whatever reason the Crucible age and the Dragon Order came to an end when Placidusax's God disappeared after likely likely abandoned by the greater will and Marika was selected as the new Vessel and establish a New order for a new age and Placidusax took Faraum Azula into Sky when he retreated beyond time.
Another eminently enjoyable and beautifully articulated masterpiece. And I'm STILL confused as to how this channel only has 12.7k subscribers... seriously. How is this possible?
I can't wait for your Volcano Manor breakdown, you seem to have a pretty solid idea of what Rykard's all about. Now that you mentioned him being connected to the eternal cities I'm gonna pay attention for leaded windows next time I'm there.
At 5:51 you talk about the symbol on the back of the Nox Thrones being a brachiopod. That makes sense from the pictures that were provided, but I’m wondering, could the brachiopod design actually be reference to the Elden Beast? We know that the Beast came down from a golden star, (possibly during the Age of Stars) and if you look at the design of the Beast, it has a head and a tail that are somewhat symmetrical, and it’s “wings” have little “stems” similar to the gills found on brachiopods. It would be easiest to look at if you could T-Pose the Elden Beast, but it’s tough to tell from what we see in game.
Really well-made and interesting video. This gives so much clarity to the history of the Lands Between and the backstory of the events of the game. One thing that has been bugging me is, where does the civilization of ancient dragons and beastmen that built Farum Azula fit into all this? Do they predate even the Divine Tower era, or did they develop parallel to another civilization? The fact that they evidently worshipped the Elden Ring and had an Elden Lord makes it seem like they were a direct predecessor to the current Golden Order, but the age of their ruins and lack of tree iconography seems to indicate that they far predate almost every other civilization in the Lands Between.
I think that the rediscovery of Tree Worship has happened multiple times - the ancient roots and the Elden Ring have been there the entire time, from the beginning of all things. The Dragons faded and later the Dynast rediscovered it; the Dynasty ended and eventually the Blessings of Sap religion resurrected it. The tree keeps growing back, until the Ring’s own vessel/bearer shattered it, a catastrophe on a totally new scale.
I wonder what "banished underground" really means when it comes to Nox. Their cities clearly look built into their surroundings (grand lifts and stuff) so they probably were always underground. But maybe they used to have an above-ground component (lower Leyndell, Sellia, maybe the older part of the Academy Town in Liurnia) that was either repurposed or completely destroyed (I wouldn't be surprised if there was a town around the Lift in Limgrave that was razed to the ground when the Nox were banished)
like the mistwood ruins? tho they aren't in condition to tell how old they are honestly that part of limgrave seem quite empty, specially if you consider that haight fort is nearby, there should be more settlement around...
After reading your comment i've got a thought that maybe like in Dark Souls 1, humanity originates from underground and slowly climbs above the ground as civilisation become more advanced. Like a metaphor of climbing the evolution ladder, humans in Elden Ring literally climb up. With your logick "banished underground" would mean to destroy everything on the ground level, without any magical mambo jumbo of sending entire cities underground :). And it makes perfect sense imo. BTW. Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't Selia the only eternal city that has empty giant throne? That would explain why Selia was spared - they resigned in last moment from creating their giant ruler.
I thought they were always underground, but the giant sinkhole in Leyndell is very suggestive. The outrageous location of Raya Lucaria as well. I can't reconcile these themes either.
This is something that always stumped me as well but I think if we look at the description for the Eternal Darkness spell it makes a bit more sense. To me it seems they were literally sucked into a black hole and transported underground, fales night sky and all, save for The Eternal City of Leyendell which had its night sky taken away.
@@grandthaumaturgist Interestinggg idea concerning Sellia. That would also explain why Radahn, a Golden Order fanboy would be okay with going there to learn sorceries himself.
This is like when i first started watching Ancient Aliens, this series is absolutely amazing and i usually am an old miser about things like this. Gargantuanly well done.
Incredible video! This does bring up the question of the crucible. I feel like it’s implied that the crucible was revered, if not worshipped, and was the predecessor of Erdtree worship. The crucible was symbolized by red gold, paralleled by red lightning, which became normal gold with Erdtree and the dragon cult. I’m just wondering how these pieces fit together
Well Done tying REAL world history into the Elden Ring Story! Very Plausible and another example of the wide spanning branches of Miyazaki's imagination. Thanks for your work here!
This is by far the most interesting and well researched elden ring channel I've come across. Everytime you deliver great content which isn't the same surface level information but a in depth exploration of the real world inspiration. Keep up the amazing work
Bro you blew my fucking mind with that Leyndell church find. I always thought it was just a random spot for a checkpoint, did not pay attention to the architecture AT ALL. I had no idea how far thought out this game's world was O_o
Your videos are amazing, there are so many details about the world that just get missed by other lore RU-vidrs as they mostly focus on more tangible stuff like item descriptions. The combination of analyzing visual clues and looking for real-world inspirations brings your videos to a new level. However, I'm getting confused about the general timeline of the world as you're theorizing it. The general sequence of Ancient Dynasty -> Eternal Empire -> Saint And Tree era -> Erdtree era is pretty clear, but there are many questions. Mainly I'm not sure how Farum Azula fits into it, but some other small details too don't seem to fit. It would be really cool if you made a general timeline of the history of Lands Between - describing all the stuff in general terms, maybe with links to your previous videos for more details about your theories.
I love this type of content. I think it's pure genius. You are the only one able to go beyond the text lore and give in depth meaning to the inspirations for the game. Mind blowing. Bravo!
Thank you for good chronological explanation. But I still have several questions - 1. Where divine towers came from? You said they were built before old Uld dynasty arrived. So who built them? 2. How could old dynasties, who had worshipped sacred tree, become Eternal cities inhabitants, worshipping stars?
We hope to address these in future videos, but for now: 1. There is good evidence the divine towers were built by the same people who built the giant's forge. www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/v69s96/the_divine_towers_and_forge_were_built_by_the/ As we suggested in our "Holiday Special" video, this was likely the race of titans or ancient giants, the ones whose skeletons are found in the bedrock of Caelid and the Mountaintops. 2. Because they were subsumed by the Eternal City culture, like Rome and the more ancient centers of Egypt and Greece.
@@tarnishedarchaeologist Glad you answered and thanks for the link :) About my second question - so it means that Eternal cities and their inhabitants lived and prevailed for a long time before Uld dynasty arrived to Lands Between? And firstly Eternal cities inhabitants and old dynasties people were, emm, like different nations? According to your video I understood as the old dynasties were literally first people of Lands Between, then they had somehow became Eternal cities residents. Or I got you wrong?
In addition to being an avid gamer, as an actual archaeologist and a history geek, I am simply awe-struck! This was something I did not piece together at all. And this answers pretty much every question I was pondering regarding Elden Ring lore. I am just flabbergasted. Good friggin' job, keep it up.
So glad to see another video! Great content as always, really thoroughly enjoyed the Eternal Empire ideas in the last video and am thrilled to see what more you've found!
Very fun timeline theory! I am a huge fan/supporter of the idea that humanity/Numen were originally a faith of astrologers, and Erdtree worship began later! Though ngl, the little sea critter bit at the beginning felt a LITTLE like a stretch - it seems more to me that lots of the Nokron/Nokstella iconography is meant to depict flowing liquid silver and/or water, shown as swirling silver inlays. This makes a lot more sense for their culture, and it's possible the iconography on their giant thrones is more depictive of a waterfall or just a continuation of that same generic flowing iconography. Or if we take Occam's Razor, it's just a generic design. There are some examples of that around too.
To me, they resemble the castings of lead into water, or molybdomancy, a New Years tradition many cultures have. This would also follow their astrological and alchemical leanings. That's how I saw their buildings, as well as the spooky ghost remains in the cities - as cast figures of lead or aluminium, with pools of quicksilver around them. The alchemical parallel also works well when one of their number goes on to found her Golden Order. And in an interesting twist, it can then be purified into white gold by a descendant of those traditions who has gone beyond her flesh, Ranni.
Astounding work, this whole Elden Ring playlist is incredible. I can't fathom the hours Miyazaki / Martin and perhaps other scriptwriters spent on this game - so much details - this is insane. Thank you for those delightful moments.
The breadth of knowledge and imagination of GRRM and Miyazaki blows my mind. Thinking about their worlds is like looking at one of those insanely realistic sculptures or the Sisteen Chapel or looking at the Milky Way in a clear night sky.
Incredible video. These details enrich the game so much more. What blew me away in this one is the connection that was made with Ancient Egypt, and the influence the architecture of the Temple of Isis at Philae had on the rotten underground segment of the game. ♥
are you telling me no one is going to ask "so godwyn single handedly stopped a dragon war but 2 women held him down to be killed" this was a sacrifice man and i will fucking figure out what godwyns plan was
Is it too hard to believe he got abushed by litteral invisibile silent assassins? Also he defeated Fortissax and started an alliance with the dragons, surerly a big accomplishment but its not like he sterminated them with raw power or smth.
Something that keeps on gnawing on me about Godwin's form and the eclipse and the story in general is that it kind of reminds me of some old stories I heard about Chinese dragons. One story being that the sun was supposedly devoured by a dragon during an eclipse and that the villagers would have to bang on pots and pans to scare monsters and beasts away. Another was a story about how a carp climbed a river up a mountain and eventually jumped over something called the dragon's gate. Apparently this so impressed the gods that the carp was turned into a golden dragon. Finally, I heard one description of a dragon that really reminded me of Godwyn. Apparently dragons were made out of parts of other animals. claws of a tiger the face of a lion, antlers of a deer, the underbelly of a clam and scales on it's side like a carp's. Apparently the five fingers was particularly important for some emperors of china and that only they could display a dragon with five fingers. I'm not sure what any of this means but maybe Godwyn is reverting back to his carp self.
This level of detail in the history and archeology and story is so complex and crazy (in a good way). It reminds me a bit of Ash Lake from DS1, how so much thought and effort is put into parts of the game that will almost certainly go unnoticed by a huge chunk of the playerbase. I think part of what makes these games so long-lasting and replayable is how much there is to discover when you really pay attention to small details and think things through from many different angles, even after many playthroughs.
Great work! Only a crazed historian/archeologist could do the amazing work you've done!! Having studied the themes that you're talking about and having played the game words can explain the great work in place!
I was playing last night and noted the illusory sprout and golden seed in Nokstella. Given the source of those seeds and illusory trees and the associated burning event, it further evidences the fact that the eternal cities were banished after the first burning.
always excited to see one of ur vids! I'd like to point out you can see the nox throne motif not just in lower leyndell, but also in alot of the baroque architecture of upper leyndell, especially the big gatehouse and ramparts that surround the fortified manor - they appear as small square flourishes on the walls and plinths
A second thought: The Dynast also rediscovered the ancient Tree Worship tradition, since he unearthed something known in Farum Azula before anything else. So it’s not just a single interregnum, but a series of rediscoveries, perhaps each occurring with a new growth of a trunk (or trunks, in the Erdtree Era with its clonal Lesser Erdtrees). I wonder - did the trunk begin to grow before the Tree Worship faith was resurrected, or did the worshippers somehow encourage the growth of the trunk?
To clarify: the Tree Worship tradition is here being associated directly with the Greater Will, but I can’t necessarily prove that the ancient dragons also revered the roots/tree, only the Greater Will and the Elden Ring.
That symbol that looks like the internal structure of a jellyfish also looks remarkably similar to the spear that has impaled that dude in the 'Shadow of the Erdtree' trailer.
Jesus, learning rhe inspiration for Black Knives si just so mindblowing. It'a one thing about learning about in-game lore AND another learning about its parallels and inspiration from real events. Damn.
On the cultural influence of the eternal cities, the basic soldier enemy, in Limgrave at least, is a nightborn. They have grey skin, indicating that the descendents of the Nox can be found quiet commonly on the surface.
Wow this might be some of the most groundbreaking Elden Ring lore I've seen. Really impressive stuff. I'm so intrigued now towards the motives of the shardbearers. Specifically, those who Morgott lists as "willful traitors" when we fight him at the base of the Erdtree. Does this mean they all had a part to play in the Night of the Black Knives? Obviously, we know Ranni was instrumental. Ryckard and Radahn seem to be connected tangentially. Godrick could have been making a play for the throne by eliminating those in his lineage closer to succession. Melania and Miquella are a mystery to me though. I thought they liked Godwyn! Absolutely glued to this channel to see what they uncover next!
“Following section will be on the test?” Good sir, I was busy being mesmerised by your content and forgot to even open by notebook…. Don’t do this to me.
Sooooo good and so much good comparison and lore/history of our own to make sense and give context. LOVE IT!!!!!! ELDEN Ring has brought lore hunters to another level I have never seen.
I know it's a bit off-topic, but I hope one day to see your take on the black hexagonal architecture seen from the cliffs and beaches just south of the standed graveyard, the Radahn zone/Dragonbarrow cliffs and especially in the Mountaintops of the Giants. Are they even supposed to have been build by something, or are they more like an act of nature, evocative of basalt hexagonal columns. Also, I think I need a timeline with each of these empires having their own line or row in it, because I am losing track of the number of Elden-thing empires/trees that have existed. Is it 3 or 4 (or 5)?
My personal guess is that they are of the same or similar culture that made the Divine Towers. Since in an earlier episode the Archaeologist mentions the 'saint and tree' society as having built the bridges to literally reconnect with old faith, perhaps it is the ancient dynasty themselves that built the divine towers?
This is the deepest insight I have ever seen into a Fromsoft game, rivaled only by DMC Redgrave's Paleblood Hunt for Bloodborne. You are an absolute legend and clearly have done your studies. Brilliant stuff!
I was both awestruck and conflicted with this episode of fantastic lore! Everything I heard made a lot of sense and matched to so many (impossible to appropriately list in short) things I knew and thought about the Elden Ring Lore. Yet there was my conflict with this one era you didn't include in this telling of shifting ages - the Crucible. The iconographies of the Trees and Elden Rings of the past suggest to me that the time of the Crucible was a time of conflicting sprouts after something catastrophical happened to the Greattree - from which a single, golden sprout emerged/was selected as the Erdtree, given from the iconographic interpretations you provided from the statues of the Saint cradling one sprout of many from a large trunk. I tried to include this time in the progression you mentioned here - and it all just seemed so unfitting, because the time of the Crucible was so red-golden, so primordial and so uncivilized. How could such an era come after such great civilisatory progress as seen in the ages of the Eternal Cities or the age of the Saint and Tree/Greattree? And how did Hoara Loux and the Crucible Knights fit into all of that? But the more I thought about it, the more my seeming conflicts clicked and it did not seem so contrived anymore... Since you compared Hoara Loux' time to maybe Anglo-Saxons, that would fit with some quite more barbaric times in the end and after the high-civilisatory times of the Roman Empire. Although I am not quite satisfied with the color-wise implications of that, it doesn't seem that implausible to have a Lord of the Battlefield after the (maybe quite literal) downfall of the Eternal Cities - and whatever may have come between that. I can't possibly go into detail in a simple comment, but I like to share my wider thoughts about a possible timeline progression based on your statements in this video. It really inspired me and certainly will give me much food for thought for a long time from here on out (Thanks for that, btw :D)! There might be some proto-ancient time of humongous Giants and Divine Towers, but Farum Azula could be a starting point for consequent history, with an Elden Lord Dragonking and a God with gloam-filled eyes, commanding Godskins - who after some cataclysmic event with a meteor was fled and went underground to remain maybe an empyrean for later times. With the Flying Fortress from the Heart of the Lands evicted from its ancient connections to the surrounding lands, the civilisation around the Prophet / Elden John can form. Maybe they experiment with Claypeople and find ways to construct Golems, Watchdogs and Imps based on this - they might even form catacombs around greattree roots, burn their dead in there in ghostflame und guard them with those automatons. As you mention, the Numens arrive in some time around or before that and eventually the Eternal Cities can emerge, in which a small cult takes inspiration from the Greattree present in the Lands Between and venerates it. These times might constantly be dreaded by the godskin apostasy - depending on if and which gods or halfgods reside and how involved the Greater Will might be in all these times (any ideas on that?) - vestiges of an old empire which might seek vengeance and/or new power (not unlike what scions of the E.C. later might seek and get charmed with by Ranni...). However, the Eternal Cities fall, possibly after experimenting too much on artificial Lords and Fingerslayer Blades. Samely, the cult around the Greattree has emerged and enlarged, so a new age of the Saint and Tree can prosper - until that Greattree is hit by another cataclysmic event, from which the era of the Crucible emerges. Since its roots are intact, new buds emerge from the trunk and everything is in opposition - perfect times for Lords of the Battlefield, Stormkings, ancient Godskins, Misbegotten... ok, I won't name all. But only one sprout is victorious and the Erdtree, such the Golden Order comes into power, Hoara Loux end the Crucible Era ceremoniously and dons the Title of Godfrey. Marika might have cemented her power also by letting Maliketh kill the old Gloam-Eyed Queen and holding control over the Greatrune of Death, but this old Empyrean probably was not the only vestige of a long-fallen empire lurking in the Undergrounds. Ranni might have conspired with Rykard in a plot to rid herself of control by the Greater Will and charmed some Numen from the old Eternal Cities to bid her plans - them not knowing that she might use their hatred against Marika or their strife to rebuild their former glory for her own sinister plans. Thus came the night of the Black Knifes, The Shattering and 2.000 years of war from which no Lord arose... so far... I think I just had to vent that, so that it's written down somewhere^^ Thank you for giving this a place under your video :P And I know that some parts in this might be quite devisive, and I might reconsider a lot of that - as always - but that's also where the fun in speculation lies, no? I would be very very interested in how or if the Greater Will interacted with all of these possible eras and how the Elden Ring changed/regressed over that. We only see that involvement in Farum Azula, the Age of the Greattree, the Crucible, the Age of the Erdtree, Golden Order and Golden Order Fundamentalism. Especially the Time of the Prophet and of the Eternal Cities would be fascinating to explore more deeply - however possible that might be given the thin evidence we (yet) seem to have in the game. But I learned from your videos more than anything, that there is so much more to find in the enviroment, design and historical reference, however faint it might be. And I am sure that we will have so much more time of Jolly Cooperation in searching, speculating and discussing this wonderful lore. Thank you! So much! For the amazing contribution, you, Tarnished Archaeologist, bring to this community! Praise the Lore
I knew this world had history but this is beyond what I imagined. If your finds and conclusions are correct this place is extremely ancient and civilizations rose and collapsed just like our own world. Your content is truly amazing
I can't wait for this video series to be finished. Then I can watch everything again and replay the game. This time, I will not only understand what's going on but also what I'm looking at!
I wish to ask: What is your academic history? You have a great insight into architecture like no other lore hunter. I'd like to know where you are coming from when you investigate so thoroughly into a single aspect of the game
The lead windows in the Nox buildings suggests to me that either they took over buildings that were already there, or they became averse to light after building them. Nox architecture would just not include windows otherwise.
I've always wondered how Elden Ring managed to snag Game of the Year instead of God of War Ragnarok. At first I thought It certainly wasn't because of its story-driven nature, which happens to be my personal preference. However, these lore videos have proven me otherwise and I'm just mindblown. Elden Ring is undeniably story-driven, but unlike God of War, it doesn't heavily rely on NPCs. Instead, it cleverly uses its surroundings as part of the narrative. It's absolutely incredible!
What do you think of Iji's Mirrorhelm stating it wards off the intervention of the greater will and the two fingers with regards to the Black Knife Assassins around his corpse?
Maaaaan. I'm not disagreeing with you about the little sea guy with feet gills -- I don't have the acumen to even put forward an alternative even if I wanted to disagree -- but rather what I'm wondering is how people come up with this stuff. I've never even heard of those things. And then you segue into bioluminescence of marine life to support the idea. It's awesome. It also makes me glad I gave up on most of my own personal lore exploration shortly after the game came out: I'm under equipped.
So, the old dynasty was various ancient cultures, the eternal cities built upon were old Rome, the Eternal city destroyed was Jerusalem, and Leyndell was Byzantium at the brink of collapse. More or less. Cool
This was so insightful. Your videos are real gems, and help sheding light on From Software's real-life inspirations. Please keep making this type of content!
