Who is this woman, and who is that baby? | Elden Ring’s Abductor Virgins 

I love the soulsborne tradition to question 'is this a wacky coincidence, or an elaborate historical reference'. I like to think it's a reward to people such as yourself for gathering many intricate parts to piece together the story.

The name Tanit fucking blew my mind. I think you're right about the Phoenician inspiration here. What makes me scratch my head the most is how comparatively younger the architecture of Volcano Manor is. Perhaps Rykard has more modern inspirations than just Ahab? If so, I wonder what they are.

We should consider the text of Daedicar's Woe: "Disturbing likeness of a woman whose skin was flayed. She smiles with a serene tenderness. Increases damage taken. It is said that this woman, named Daedicar, indulged in every form of adultery and wicked pleasure imaginable, giving birth to a myriad of grotesque children." She is likely the mother of all the serpentmen populating Volcano Manor and she may be a good fit for the identity of the Abductor Virgin. It's also very possible that she and Tanith are one and the same.

This is the first time I've heard about the connections to the Phoenicians and there is a LOT there. Excellent video!

Am I crazy? I could've sworn that somewhere in the game it specifically said that rykard created the abductor virgins in tanith's image and now I can't find that anywhere!

The structure of your videos highlight the kineticism of your thought process and the sincerity of your inquisitiveness and I think that leads to some of the best videos out there.

As far as I'm aware, you are the first and only lore diver to make these connections. Well done! As others have commented, the Tanith/Tanit link is pretty phenomenal. All your other theorized Phoenician associations stand on merit, but i think that name really brings everything together in an unassailable way. My compliments to the chef!

Marvelously researched. Some of this I knew (or suspected), but the depth that draws from our own world is ever mind blowing. Also randomly, I really dig the wallpaper behind you. It simultaneously suits you and the themes/presentation of this video.

This is by far the most interesting break down I’ve seen for the abductor virgins. Absolutely fantastic detective work. This is why this game is so fun to discuss

Just discovered you, but you, Tarnished Archaeologist and Sinclair Lore are officially my fave From lore channels!

Learn history with Elden Ring

And THIS is why I named you as one of my favorite lore channels!!! What an interesting video!!!

This video just goes to show just how much detail is in this game

This is the second video I’ve watched where I started a skeptic, and ended up seeing things more in line with your view. I’m not totally convinced that the Phoenician Tanit/Tanith correlation is concrete,, but I’m very warm to the idea now. Thanks for a great vivid!

Clicked on this thinking it just be a fun video about stuff i already knew about. But you had me very invested and interested in all the history and theories. I subscribed and plan to catch up on some of your videos, hope they are a lot like this one.

In this and every other soulsborne game that have “grabby” enemies, if you rapidly press the R1 and L1 bumpers, you can escape quicker.

This is Tarnished Archeologist level lore hunting! Great work!

Awesome video! Miyazaki always strives for a perfect three part mix of real world history, European fantasy and Japanese fantasy. Great research!

Great video! I always love learning about real world history whenever I watch elden ring lore videos, you and the channel Elden Tales are great for that

This video is amazing!!! I am blown away that you were able to find so many connections. Every day my love for this game and the community around it gets so much stronger.

This definitely opened my eyes to want to look more into the mythology influence used throughout elden ring. While watching your video I looked up Baal and it tells how he become worshipped after the death of Gideon?? Didn't know how deep all this went! Definitely going to watch your other videos now!

brilliant connections to real history. This is some tarnished archaeologist grade research. I wonder how much of this stuff came from GRRM vs Miyazaki. Either one or both of them know A LOT of history

This was a really fun video! I love how you structured it in the same way as your knowledge grew. Theory to research, to rabbit holes, to some really awesome discoveries of connections to the past. Very fun and very cool.

Love the channel and the phenomenal story telling! Also,the well-researched depth and logic you bring to the lore. I just picture the team at Fromsoft gathered around a screen watching and pointing fingers,"You!You told her!" "I didn't tell anyone anything...it was you!"

I love your videos! This was great. I never got close enough to an abductor virgin to see those details. Mostly because I was trying to not be grabbed by them haha

That's a great theory ! Miazaki its known as his Master Kentaro Miura, to take inspirations from greats historical characters, events and places even. Like the Sumerians Clay tablets in the Eternal City at the foot of the statue of the bearded man, that's legit a Sumerian clay tablet exposed in a museum. Your theory is pretty solid i like it a lot. Leyndell is a Mix of Roma , Costantinople , and Paris. Greeks and romans has fought the phoenicians so it makes sense that miazaki would also use them as inspiration! Elden ring religions mirrors ours : you have pre historich times with dragons and beasts then you have the ugabuga times, fire worship and giants , then firsts humans look at the stars and base religions on it , then you have the pagan era more inclined to nature : the crucible and time of plenty , then you have the advent of monotheism , marika and the golden order , and then the empire falls, like Roma did.

Bruh game aside, the history you just showed is crazy and connecting it back to the game is crazy, I totally see the similarities 😲 this was amazing

Fascinating, I absolutely love how Elden Ring incorporates old cultures, religions, cults, architecture, myths and whatever else. This video points out amazing connections to Phoenicians and Mt. Gelmir. Awesome 👏🏽👌🏽

In the Shadow trailer we see a new statue of Marika behind Messmer cradling a baby… I feel like there’s something to the recurrence of these themes, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Wow every time I think I’ve seen all of Elden Ring lore I stumble upon a gem like this 😮 super insightful and makes so much sense, the Tannit/ Tannith thing is too perfect to ignore

Thank you so much for this 💚 Tanith is my favorite Elden Ring character and the lack of lore videos about her has been such a bummer. I just assumed everything that we could learn about her had already been found. So you can imagine how delightful this video was for me! 💚

Amazing work! The algorithm stopped showing me your vids for a while and I'm sorry to say that I'd forgotten about your channel. I loved your Windmill Village and Boc videos and subscribed when those came out. Looks like I've got a backlog to watch through now. Looking forward to it!

Every time I encounter one of these I'm like nope not today (or like you did kill them with magic) idk y but they creep me out more than any other enemy in elden ring

I think this is brilliant! Its a very well thought out idea, and makes so much sense.

Whoa I love how the video got more intense with the connection as it went on 😮

Ive never really played this game, finding this out is really fascinating , i really like the apprearence of this creature and the fascinating lore behind it. Well thought out video 😊

Wow, fhat last segment was a real twist for me. Never really knew anything about phoenician culture, and all the volcano manor shenanigans - especially the abductor virgins - never made sense to me. Your research and writing makes this all fit so well!

I was just watching a random Elden Ring of yours made 2 years ago and you just uploaded a new Elden Ring video 15 ago as if the time in writing this. Lol

Honestly, amazing detective work, super interesting, keep them coming!

It is super weird I went on here specifically to search 'what are the abductor virgins' and this was the first thing that popped up in my recommendations

Excellent work! I love this parallel.

When a body decomposes, it creates certain gases that the machine might use to run

Dope insight in to a character that isn’t explored. Great research and references. GORGEOUS voice also. Subscribed lol

Great video! Really interesting. I love all the links to ancient history. Very cool. ❤

y'know, it might just be the lighting of that particular shot accentuating dents in the metalwork, but the zoomed look at the virgin's child makes it look an awful lot like the top and side of the infant's head are _scaled_

The living jars are made from flesh of other beings. I think that adds to it.

Great video! You make a lot of really good points.

I had a thought that since the volcano manor uses all the blasphemous imagery to rebel against the erdtree, it could be that the iron virgins represent Marika. Like she could have lost a child and Rykard makes a weapon in that shape to hurt her psychologically. I don’t know for sure but it’s all very intriguing.

I wonder if this theory needs revisiting with the snake theme, the mother statue, and Mezzmer...🤔

It is WILD how dark these games get the closer you look at them. Satisfying but also incredibly eerie.

Great video, great research done to make a compelling case.

If you look at the handle of the Scavengers Curved sword it features the same design as the abductor virgins.

Yesssssssssss! So glad to see another video, hope all is well!

this was insanely good

I loved your connection w the jars and sacrifice - but one thing about the jars is that I think the becoming a jar was voluntary. Just by how Alexander talks about it it seems like that form was desirable. Sekiro’s Pot Noble is a similar theme

Love the video and subscribed after. You also used the term confirmation bias correctly

This is great work!

Facinating! Great video!

I am just curious if you have drafted an entire display board of historical articles and Elden Ring assets webbed with red yarn piecing this together. Because I was going down that rabbit hole for a while. And I think that's what makes Elden Ring so immersive, because it makes me feel like Indiana Jones piecing together old secrets.

Phoenician descendant here and we claim Lady Tanith.

Great insights as always!

As soon as I saw the image @11:13 I was completely on board. Look at the jar in the center-right next to the twin-jars, and the other jars of that style in the picture; those jars are literally the in-game model, cracked wax-lid and all! All the other details add up too, it fits with the artists being told to do wikipedia-dives on Jezebel etc for their inspiration. Brilliant detective work! I had always wondered why the torture/murder-machines were strange iron women. Now solve the mystery of the enormous skeletal remains in Caelid next, please! lol (IIRC Zulie did a video analyzing them and they're like 20-times larger than the giants in the Mountaintops)

Wow this makes a lot of sense. Great find!

Wow such a great video! Can't believe I haven't come across the channel before. I can't look at living jars the same 😢

Excellent video! You did a lot of great research, the connection to the graveyards under the Volcano Manor to real world historical graveyards is an excellent find! I would posit that Tannith not having children is most likely an issue with her choice of lover: Rykard. He almost looks like he is suffering from leprosy or his flesh is melting in his pre-snake portraits, leading me to believe he might be the one who is infertile. It would then make sense to why she adopts Zoyaras, she is so infatuated with Rykard that she adopts his snake-child, and the serpent design evoking stealing a person to place in the womb. Just a thought! Rykard is one of my favorite characters in Elden Ring, thanks for sharing this video!

This is such a good video!

Great insight and love the perspective 👏🔥💯

Pro tip for dodging the grab: if you jump, the grab completely misses you also give you the chance to jump attack the snake arms, also works for a lot of other non-weapon grabs like from zombies. It has been a while since ive played so maybe it was unintentional and has been patched though.

I have the second book, it’s super cool :) lots of art that lets you see details that are hard to see even when camera breaking

Very well done this is awesome 🌊

This really made me want to play this game. Those metaphors are extremely deep.

Haven't played elden ring in a couple months. But I'm always down to listen to some lore 😅. Thanks for another cool video!!

Great video, you clearly love doing research. Your theory definitely jives with Fromsoft's tendency to go from some real historical deep cuts. Also, yeah Confirmation Bias is indeed the term you were looking for, specifically Illusory correlation.

the jar theory makes sense since the living jars in elden ring eat their fallen opponents which means they are vessels for corpses. the living jars purpose seems to be a food source for the erdtrees a sacrifice if you will, mashed by the erdtree avatars when the living jars get near the erdtrees.

I mean, I'm inclined to call this canon

amazing work and symbolism!.Iv'e been obsessing over the being on the briar greatshield. She is what iv'e been calling a flame dancer, twisting around with a sword and evoking flames from under her. There is an undead soldier loyaly watching, and one reaching its arms out to embrace the flames. The shield has wear and tear, but it also looks like ash is falling to feed flowers forming in the flames. This being was a solitary ascetic(religious self discplined) that came from another land. The only thing we get to know is that this being is guilty in these lands and bound to something, by something. After looking for other beings related to being guilty, I ended up at things like prisoners, flame scholars, and interestingly, the crucified undead that awaken at night. I noticed the crucified undead not only being in a similar state to marika, the thing they are on greatly resemble the symbol in Marika's scarseal, and after watching this video because I hadn't noticed until now, the abductor virgins share a similar line under their eye like they are crying. I believe everything you say is true about them representing Tanith, but I also think it gives insight on some of their ancestor's family drama. My favorite example is, Blaidd is like a half brother to Ranni. Its not something said ingame, but what is said, is Maliketh is like a half brother to Marika. If you make the leap that their immediate families might not have been so different, you can use the context to fill in spots that make sense for other groups of family. I think perhaps Marika herself did not give birth to children in the way a human would.I think part of conquest was conversion, with volcano manor serving as a place of "reinstitution" before Rykard changed. After staring at a Miranda Blossom for who knows how long, I think their process of procreating is closer to Marika's, then a human. I think the Erdtree is like the mother flower, and the minor erdtrees like the children, but they eat people in some way to do this. The flowers are called maneaters and the erdtrees roots eat more then anything. The land octopus also share this feature. Now when I look at the elden ring, all I can see are the different rings actually being the children of one big thing. Side note I recently watched a video of what Tasmania is like, and believe it or not, its like the lands between... even down to having trees that need to burn to release its seeds, or they'll just keep growing. And crazy animals everywhere with huge biome shifts for a small area.

Girl I’m waiting on ur Elden ring DLC reaction!!! Was just thinking about you after watching it!

Never thought about Tannith being the one the Virgins are based off of. Makes sense though since she is the only person Rykard seemed to have cared for.

Lovely video, your presentation is very easy to listen to and i beleive your research and opinions are sound and thorough. Edit: i decided to subscribe

I always kinda brutally assumed that the meat inside the abductors was actually the skin of previous people clamped inside.

i'm amazed...here i was thinking that abductor virgins were just a one way ticket to volcano manor

Great research as always👍

you crushed it with this video , no way this was coincidental

its leather on the inside. crude leather pinned to the inside of the walls as padding. The description say they are used to capture live prey.

Lore and history!? These videos are great :D

WOW, just wow. The similarities and possible inspiration is so obvious now.

Swear I these things rolling in hallway at night when I first started playing this game. I thought they all sent volcano manor, I avoided them like the plague.

Really good video & analysis

great video 🙏🏼 thought provoking 🧐

Would it be out of line to hypothesize that Tanith is related to the Dominula region? The special festival maidens, a virgin dancer, and abductor virgins and the theme of shedding skin between the god skins and the snakes and cannibalism, it all feels connected to me

You are on my top 3 with vaatividya and zullie The witch. Thank you!

My first time climbing Mt gelmir i reached that spot with like 4 or 5 abductor virgins and I just kinda stared out across that battlefield and said well fuck this is gona be bad.

It would be wild to find out she wasn't just any dancer but the blue dancer

Why did I have to discover this channel just now, her voice is adorable, I can’t 😭😩. Don’t mind me, just gonna casually binge watch the entire catalog while I take medicine and sip some tea under the blanket lol Okay, had to edit after finishing the video. 1. Had no idea she was also attractive, I paused the video 10 seconds in to leave my initial comment. 2. Really enjoyed the thought provoking commentary and how well each thought was articulated as well as the rationale behind each of them.

Great video. Thanks!

From my understanding the Abductor virgins share a likeness to Lady Tanith of Volcano manor. The child could be Zoraya.

Girl I love your theory!!!

the ties back to ancient history are fascinating. you do good job pulling all the threads together, imo. my first playthrough was almost by an abductor virgin. i was abducted at the bottom of raya lucaria and transported to a cave with two abductor virgins and no way to escape or, at my skill level, kill them. i had just about given up hope when i found a cheese online by some other poor sod who got abducted! 😂

Hey, have they changed the arms that pop out? I thought they were more grippy looking tentacle things, more like those of the blade Rykard pulls from himself. These snakes on your vid look so different to what I remember.

Maybe Queen Marika once had a demigod child through a Virgin woman and the Child she bore with the Goddess; was/is Messmer the Impaler (Who we Tarnished have yet to meet in the Shadow of The Erdtree DLC 20.06.2024) Just a theory…never would have thought of it without coming across your video…love your theory as well. You’re soooo right, the abductor Virgin really just sticks to the mind with a trauma note😂🥲💀 As for the Red meat&mist on the inside. It could be strength boosts for that grab&crush, considering they were created. I really feel the red mist and the snakes are giving demigod Messmer vibes, you got me thinking girl, please do make more theory vids, especially with Shadow of the Erdtree releasing soon 🎉