Unveiling the Land of Shadow Speculation ▶ Elden Ring Lore 

Hey Moxie! Looking forward to watching this now with a cup of tea You're work is so well written, edited and recorded. Absolute joy to watch! Oh yeah - I'm in this haha!

Godfrey: Marika, you can't just send everything you don't like to the Shadow Realm! Marika: Fine, lock the children in the sewers. Godfrey: That's be- WHAT?!

I'd like to mention, in regards to Marika being potentially controlled by the elden beast, Ranni does explicitly say "I will not be controlled by that thing".

I love how Zelda lore channels are jumping into the best game ever lore hunt . Keep it going

I'm gonna take a wild guess, the Shadow Tree is tied to Godwyn, and in order to undo the death root, Godwyn either has to dealt a true death or resurrected.

I was thinking, the demigods have thier shadows, all of them are Beasts/Beastmen. Maybe, the Elden BEAST is "the shadow of the erdtree" itself? Just like the shadows are there to monitor the demigods, the Elden Beast is there to watch over the Erdtree, and take action when needed.

One thing that supports your theory on Farum Azula is that it roughly translates to, "The Blue lighthouse," or "Lighthouse of blue."

Finally SOMEONE is asking whether the sad skeleton horse boomerang dude is Radahn. Great video as always, the in-game captures continue to be god-tier.

Holy production! I can’t believe I haven’t heard of your channel before.

subbed when the whisper of "wtf does sunder mean" 😂😂

Marika:"You're a third rate duelist with a fourth rate deck"

I feel as though the Land of Shadow was the former place where Souls would go to after Death. However, Marika redirected this flow, now only beings shunned by the Erdtree go here (why we see so much heretical beings here) while forces aligned with the Erdtree will now have a way to rebirth in the Lands Between if they receive an Erdtree Burial at it's roots. This process was corrupted with the Death of Godwyn, with the Prince of Death at the Erdtree's Roots, Deathblight spread across the Lands between, preventing that rebirth during the Age of Abundance. Messmer's probably here on Marika's wishes so that he can control this population so that none of these beings return to the lands between, having their existence ended with Messmer's Flame.

Wow! Your storytelling and editing is very inspiring! Thank you for all the effort put into this - very cool

The bandit cameo was a jump scare in the best way possible!! 2 of my fave “Zelda-tubers” deserve so much success in the Elden Ring lore space!! Can’t wait for more!

Great style, great editing, great choice of music....just a fun time. Keep up the awesome work.

Regardless of how accurate your speculations are, I want you to know that this video is beyond professional and your best work yet. Felt like a documentary on network television. The details in the effects, voiceovers, research. Just superb! You should be very proud of yourself! P.S. best speculations I’ve seen yet on this subject IMO. 😊

Some of the best editing/game capture I have ever seen, great work

I adore your video structure and editing, major props and thank you for the amazing food for thought!

Not to get too into talking about Messmer just yet but I do have some food for thought. After brushing up on Celtic mythology, I'm convinced that Messmer is akin to Lugh and Miquella is akin to Bres the beautiful. Lugh's weapon was a firey spear and he was sometimes shown with a two headed snake wrapped around him. He was also known to wield fire. Lugh was also know as, "Lugh of the Long Arm." He was also half god and half giant and killed the Dagda, the, "Good God," who controlled life and death and was the father of druids. He also lead the fight vs the Formorians and killed the one-eyed lord of the Formorians, Balor, who was also his father. Bres was also called Eochu Bres or, "the beautiful horseman." Sometimes just called, "Eochaid." He was the beautiful son of of the one-eyed Balor and was the lord of the Formorians after Balor was killed. He was made king of the Tuatha Dé Danann when Nuada was disqualified due to the loss of his hand. Bres was known to be a bad king who made their equivalent of Zeus dig ditches. There is a little overlap and things don't match perfectl. I also see Miquella-as-Bres to be an inversion of Bres in a number of ways. For instance Bres was known to age very rapidly and was a full grown adult after only 11 years or something. Still, despite the overlap and inversions there are some incredible similarities. The Formorians were also called, "the sea people."

Miyazaki being a programmer, the Erd tree being the data tree for the game is also probably quite literal. In that sense everything that happens is literally written in the tree. Another thought on runes is that in gaelic tradition, not much was written down. So bards and songs were often the only way that history and knowledge was handed from one generation to the next. So it's my theory that the runes you pickup after your death are literally the words, thoughts and memory of your previous life, when you died. You literally pick up the story of your previous life to pick up where you left off.

Amazing work! As always! And always happy to help 😊 Thanks for Crediting me (:

The boss room of the fight against the lion costume thing made me think of Farum Azula

Your background in cinematography really shows in the footage and editing and the theory crafting is also on point. Subbed.

6:25 that would also explain why the age of plenty came to an end. The tree was disconnected from its roots and couldn't provide any more sap to the lands between, while its lower part is oozing with it.

I'm 100% with you on all of the talk of the veils and what not. Hot take, Marika is/was a deathbed companion and her bedchamber is her Baldachin temple. (I actually am not totally sold on this one but I think the overlap of themes does make the theory plausible.

your videos are always top quality, thank you!

Your cadence and formatting and content are so good. I can't wait to watch more videos.

this is great work, fantastic video moxie, (outer) god tier editing

Always get so excited for these, your scripts and editing just keep getting better! 💜

What an absolute joy to watch. Your editing enables a really fun way to enjoy speculation. Absolutely well done.

This editing is amazing. This whole video is amazing, I love it.

Your production is a breath of fresh air! Telling the story by making it conversation with someone else or having someone else tell a part of it is really creative and brings good variety to keep the listener locked in. I also thoroughly enjoyed the little breaks in between some of the chapters so I as the viewer could let the new ideas sink in a little bit. Anyway, the Farum Azula idea seems on point. I think Miyazaki said in some interview that they have worked hard to have the player notice a change once the story in the DLC is over. To me, I take it to mean that the Land of Shadow’s connection with the Land’s Between will be restored, and you’ll potentially be able to see it in the base game. Keep up the great work and I hope to see some more Elden Ring content soon! 🤩

LOVE this video so much! It feels like the closest theory thus far.. very thoughtful & well crafted.

Your videos are always so good!

Quality editing and speculation, good material to think over as we wait the unbearable wait. Thank you Moxie for making this and sharing it with us. Speculation: If the titles weren't released by different production houses, I think that all the soulslike games FROM have made would be part of the same multiverse, but due to licensing this can never be stated as 'official canon'. That's why we get certain repeating motifs, like worldtree pillars and the essence of life being currency.

I really liked the theory about Farum Azula being connected to that new castle in the Land of Shadow!

Another thing that I always thought about, is that you just fall to your death when walking into the ocean. Makes me think the water is also an illusion. You would imagine it would slowly get deeper like an ocean but in every place you just fall

Wow. What an excellent, well-edited video. So glad I found this channel

Yo, when I say that I just nerded out on this video…I absolutely mean it. This was so awesome. The music playing in the background for the Structure Land of Shadow deck, beginning at 26:00 mark was just breathtakingly surreal as you made your assessments….jeez!!!!

INSTA SUB! Love the speculation and the editing!!

How's this not viral!!! Omg This is gold

Incredible video. Subbed.

This video was absolutely amazing

Everyone’s missing one obvious point, the shadow tree is really only a tree in name only. Look closely at the lower branches of the shadow tree, they look like the ends of plant roots spurting up That top part of it that more resembles a smaller tree could be the actual shadow tree, growing out of the lowest base roots of the Erd tree. The Erd Tree represents life and the roots of the tree along with the shadow tree represent death , together they make the great tree, A sort of ying and yang. (A bonus theory is that the shadow tree started first and the erd tree leeched off of it and oppressed it’s people to grow stronger and that’s all been buried and could’ve also been orchestrated by queen marika)

First time seeing your channel. Incredible work. Big agree about farum azula

Great presentation 🎉

Really a unique presentation style, Moxie! Just came across your content :D

I watch lots of FromSoft lore videos and this is one of the best; both as analysis and entertainment. Your informal tone is refreshing as most lore videos are either overly academic or use that hushed, storytime voice. I keep thinking about that lone Crucible Knight standing on a bridge to nowhere in Siofra River. The one you warp to through the belfry portal? That HAS to relate to the Land of Shadows somehow, right? That whole giant void is SUS.

This should have wayyyy more views

You did make a lot of interesting points, the bit about the Elden Beast being both the Ouroburous symbol on the Shadow of the Erdtree logo and a representation of the duality of the Erdtree and the Shadow Tree is very clever indeed. I think the editing, while impressively made, did distract from what you were saying at times though.

Your pacing and production values for this video were magnificent! The camerawork definitely stood out in its vibrant portrayal of the relevant scenery, and you kept finding new ways to show the imagery so the visuals wouldn't get stale. While I believe that the "greattree" is the product of a mistranslation and that there's only the Erdtree, your theories that the winding tree might be a parallel that Marika tried to separate out are interesting. While the image of a "second" Elden Ring beneath the known one is intriguing, I doubt that Marika split the Elden Ring in half. If Marika only wanted power, then she'd have no reason to pass up having what would essentially be two Elden Rings, and we know from Maliketh's experience that any Great Runes she disliked had to be disposed of in different ways. Furthermore, the arrangement of Great Runes in the Farum Azula mural actually matches the depiction seen on the road tiles throughout the Lands Between, possibly implying an artistic effect. With how Miyazaki has stated that the Land of Shadow exists in the same time as the Lands Between and was sundered from it, I believe that it might have been moved from the physical, conventional world into a different dimension, like an Evergaol or akin to Phase 2 Rennala and the Elden Beast's boss arenas. If the Land of Shadow physically overlaps with the Lands Between, and if it's located in the area where a bay exists on the main map, then the spiritual graves' existence is quite peculiar. There are no apparent physical graves in the Lands Between where the bay is located, so the sites seen in the Land of Shadow lack counterparts. Because of this, the presence of the ethereal tombstones could indicate a physicality to the Land of Shadow, even if the location is tied to a spiritual plane. If the two dimensions have some overlap, per the space on the map and the Divine Towers possibly being the anchors for the veils, then the Erdtree may exist in both realms at once. The winding tree might be hidden from the Lands Between just as the Land of Shadow is, and that could explain why both the Erdtree and the central tree in the Land of Shadow look so similar and have the same lean. The fact that specific branches of the winding tree are seemingly trying to squeeze the Erdtree's sap out implies that the plan isn't to help the Erdtree, and the bizarre basin tower suggests that someone has been planning to harvest this ill-gotten sap for a while. While Messmer certainly likes wielding fire, I don't think he's utilizing the Flame of Ruin. We can observe the Giants' Flame both against the Fire Giant and through the Tarnished's own incantations, and the visuals lack any black, thorn-like elements. Messmer's flame also seems to have pronounced crackling and smeared patterns, as seen when he attacks in the DLC trailer. We potentially observe the Giants' Flame again when Melina uses herself as fuel to burn the Erdtree, and this too has a distinct appearance from Messmer's fire. As for the Seat of the Sun, the design on the Sun Realm Shield might help place its location. The outer walls of the city have an elevated walkway running beneath the battlements, and the windows are so tall that they might begin from the floor. The only structures in the game that resemble this design are Leyndell's outer walls, which sport similar elevated walkways with tall windows beneath the battlements. The Sun Realm's buildings also have what appear to be oversized merlons fashioned like the points of a crown, unlike Farum Azula's outer walls and interior structures. The only place that might match this imagery is Stormveil Castle, with its spiky golden parapets upon parapets built by exiles from Altus Plateau. The particular shapes of the merlons partially resemble Godfrey's crown and the crown collars of the Erdtree Burial Watchdogs. This might imply that Marika wasn't concerned with splitting the Sun Realm away from the greater world or erasing its artistic culture. Also, while the Sun Realm Shield is dropped from undead in Farum Azula, the Jar Shield states that the beastmen have always used ceramics to create their shields. As such, the shields might have been brought to the city by exiled soldiers sent to guard the path to Maliketh a la the Banished Knights found up there, only for these soldiers to be killed and robbed by the beastmen. Also, if the Sun Realm was Farum Azula, it would be odd for the people living in the city to create such an inaccurate depiction of the place. As for the Elden Beast's design, I think the wound on its torso doesn't visually match anything seen in the game, so it was probably caused by Marika shattering the Elden Ring or in a subsequent battle before she was defeated. I also wonder if the Elden Beast was once entirely golden, but the injuries it received went beyond just a torso wound, causing it to lose its golden coating everywhere except for its tail. This could be paralleled by the Erdtree, which is generally golden on the outside but is revealed to have brown, wooden bark on its branches when fiercely burned. Regarding the Elden Beast's nature, I see it more as a guardian like the Shadows. If a god tries to outright destroy the Elden Ring, particularly if the relevant Shadow is absent or would otherwise be ineffective, the Elden Beast might intervene to preserve the Order. If the Elden Beast could control a god, then Maliketh would have been unnecessary once Marika claimed the Elden Ring, and several events in the game's backstory may have been unable to occur. Also, as a major Legend of Zelda fan myself, I don't agree with the assessment that a kami/god can't wield tremendous power in a human form. The Golden Goddesses created that series' universe and the Triforce, and the later character Hylia also appears to have been very humanoid before incarnating as Zelda. There's another reason I think the Elden Beast guards the Elden Ring rather than *being* the artifact. Upon defeating foes in Elden Ring, they tend to return to their true forms: Godrick loses all of his grafted limbs and only his core remains; the false Gowries are revealed to be Kindred of Rot; the commoner transformed into Margit at the Capital Outskirts returns to normal; etc. If the Elden Beast transformed into the Elden Ring, then the Elden Beast would stay in its original form at the Stone Platform after the fight, and the Great Runes would just meld into its body. Instead, the Elden Ring still exists as the Elden Ring. With this in mind, it's possible that the golden star is what became the Elden Ring, not the Elden Beast itself. That would allow for the Elden Ring to still exist upon the Elden Beast's defeat, and for mending the Elden Ring to not raise the question of whether that would revive the Elden Beast. A revived Elden Beast could make the fight feel arbitrary, or maybe even jeopardize several endings if the final boss reappears in the setting with even more power thanks to the returned Great Runes. Thanks again for the video! It was a very enjoyable experience. Sorry that this comment wound up longer than I expected it to be.

I’ve formed a real addiction to watching every single video on this subject I’ve come across. “There is nothing more terrifying.”

Very well produced!

8k views is criminal the editing was amazing

What if the tree is grafted.

Love that this is edited like a true crime documentary or something haha great work!

My guess (heavy speculation) regarding farum azula is that the ancient dragons knew Marika was going to do something drastic. Since they were implied to be the ruling civilization pre-erdtree, and may have had informants via the ancient dragon cult, they were privy to the knowledge somehow. Placidusax split the part of the city that had their elden ring and fled to the sky to escape being sealed to the shadow lands. This also puts him closer to the sun which could be the “fled god” that the Remembrance of the dragon lord references. The fled god could also be the greater will as when you enter his boss arena he seems to be communing similarly to how the two fingers commune with the greater will. This further makes sense when considering that he has an Elden ring in the first place and he spouts golden fire. That’s MY crackpot theory though sorry for wall of text 😅

I believe that Marika took the Elden Ring (the one in Farum Azula) and then removed all its "wildness" but as we know removing a shard of the Elden ring means that it has to be stored somewhere. I think Marika removed the unwanted elden ring shards whom mesmer inherited and split the land of shadow so that the her order is solidified.

Holy hell, if that skeleton on a horse is like "Leonard's spirit of revenge puppeting the skeletal remains of radahn" that would be so cool lol

THIS VIDEO IS MINDBLOWING

I subbed within the first 7 seconds. I know good editing when I see it.

Excellent video

As a newcomer to ER lore, this blew my mind. Thank you!

I love that people keep calling it the shadow realm. We got the duelists, we got the shadow realm, and we have living humans being burned as sacrifices. Yugioh confirmed for the DLC.

hey Moxie, awesome sound design on this video. super engaging

The comments under this video are absolutely mind-opening! You really activated the glycogen in some people's craniums. Thanks for this video, looking forward to more!

You got all the Champs together in this one!

Considering that "farum" could be translated to "lighthouse", it seems that Farum Azula serves as guidance to the lands between. It is also suggested that the tarnished moved from and came back to the lands between on boats. "Cross the sea of fog, to the lands between" 🤔

This is art, thank you.

Great video. The connection between the ring in Farum Azula and the Golden Order blew my mind. Though, the person riding torrent might still be Marika when she first arrived in the land of shadow since there is no giant building there. It makes sense why you’re also given her three wolves’ spirit ashes (if they are hers)

Incredible!

I want to know why Kung Fu was a sin in the lands between, and how Marika was able to send Kung Fu into the underworld...

I wish I had the patience to put in as much work as you do in your videos

I like you little fan arts of Describing the Lands in Shadow

I haven’t watched all the vid yet but the editing and work into this is amazing Now here’s something I theorize. Ever notice how all 6 divine towers are lined up perfectly to surround the sea in the middle of the map. What if the divine towers are gate keeping the Shadow lands and concealing it so we can’t see it

HOLY F%#@! This vid JUST gave one of my theories, just a bit more viability! One of them that I have, I think Messmer was the original leader of The Confessors, after they were formed by Marika, to stamp out the last bits of resistance to the Erdtree, the Two Fingers, and the Golden Order! If you look at Messmer's Spear, on the Trailer Photo, around the mid-point, it looks like to me, the symbol that's on the Confessor's Cloaks AND the Crespius Crossbows, just turned a little! The Confessor's purpose was to get rid of any devation from the Two Finger's and their teachings, among those who worshipped it OUTSIDE the Lands Between! Land of Shadow, cut off, outside from the Land's Between, AND the Land of Shadow is where Marika first step on and became a God! Could Messmer be the first Leader of the Confessor's? CRAZY, but, BAT-S%#@ if true! New Sub!

24:24 WORM SPOTTED, DAY MADE.

blowing my mind with this one Moxie

Hey now, listen. You can't start painting connections between Dark Souls and Elden Ring without talking about Painted Worlds. Specifically Ariandel and the Painter Girl. Please go down this particular rabbit hole. I've been stuck down here for awhile, and it's really dark. There's a reason the opening sequence of Elden Ring is comprised of paintings, and not a fully done cinematic like the story trailers and past FromSoft game openings. They are fully capable of full cinematics, but they made a choice to use slow-pans over paintings. There's a reason the horizon of the Lands Between looks like a vividly colored painting from every angle. The prevalence of color as used to denote aspects of the world, such as the many varieties of color in correlation with properties found in glintstone, lightning, and not least of all flames. Heck, there's the painting treasure hunts found throughout the lands.

Bro what did I just click on? Your video was one of the most exciting lore videos I’ve ever seen

The thumbnail is so cool

Was gonna post a comment talking about how shallow the games lore was and several plot points that should have been withheld. You addressed those very well and acknowledged that. 10/10 great job on this video. Dark souls and Elden ring do connect. On a meta level. Great observation. People who say the games have no connecting, or at least similar plot points have never played more than one souls game.

The lands between being sundered makes the convocation of 14, hydaelyn and zodiark canon in elden ring lore now, fight me

Really good video

9:59 this song goes so hard. I love it

As your mom, you've done my little nerdy heart proud. I feel like watching this people would now understand our family debate Christmas morning on whether Rey was a Skywalker or a Palatine. Nerd runs in our blood.

Such great ideas here! It does make me sad that King's Field is so often left out of the shared universe (or multiverse?) theories of these games.

It's interesting that the Shadown Lands are said to be obscured _by_ the Erdtree, rather than from it. Miyazaki said the baldachin-like veil in the sky is representative of the seal Marika placed on the land, and since Marika has a direct relation to the Erdtree, it makes sense that it's the cause of the lands being separated. The eclipse could be the light being blocked by the Erdtree, literally its shadow. I really like Ratatoskr's idea that the Shadow Lands are still right there in the middle of the map and we just can't see or touch them.

But if farum azula was above or in the lands of shadow and then Marika disconnected them, resulting in some cataclysm in farum azula, them that would explain why the dragons attacked leyndell in the war of the dragons, it was a retaliation.

"In other words, it looks like Miquella did some kinda magic something" Thanks for the deep dive 😂

It's pretty cute how the shot with the bright Erdtree in the dlc looks like a baby hanging onto their mother

Another one joining the Great Zelda Migration, Pog. Together we are Strong

tf is the production value of this random video in my recs? off the gd charts

Hey hey! Love the video, especially you pointing out how Miquella's intelligence is as strong as his faith. Definitely didn't associate him with the stars. To build on that! I can tell you where the sun is! 🌞 go to Castle Sol and look up! It's still stuck there, in the sky, stuck in a permanent Eclipse. The sun isn't gone, it's just paused and obfuscated.

And what does Ranni say about her situation and why she did what she did? "I would not be controlled... by that Thing." The Elden Beast. And to think, it was an eldritch liason that began all of this... it is all but a cycle.

Deathroot is just the shadow tree trying to reunite with the erdtree 👀

It should be noted that the site of grace inside the Erdtree is called Stone Platform. It makes no sense for that to be inside a tree. Also, If you clip outside of the stone platform there is a sandy area you can explore along with a blue warp that takes you back on top of the platform but only once. Whats up with that?

Wonder if theres some corilation beyween the usage of the word shadow here and how it was used when talking about blaid or malaketh.

My personal belief is that Miquella went to the Realm of Shadow to collect the sap dripping from it. My thoughts come from the Icon Shield, and the Blessed Dew talisman. He most likely needs it to heal the Haligtree, or keep it from rotting away into a husk.

Dam farm azula being connected to that castle in the shadow area mindblown hope it ends up being true