#( messmer. ) music

[eldenbiscuit]

There are many ways of persuasion

There are many modes of control

Sometimes showing one act of kindness

Leads to kinder souls down the road

Hornsent at that point like “this battle’s yours, kid”:

[hoarah-babylon]

why am i seeing people say melina and messmer are twins? and that their parents are marika and radagon? is there any proof of this or is this people assuming things?

[princewylder]

Well that happened. That was a DLC.

[ezioeagle21]

I made a mini 8 bit cover of (part of) Messmer, The Impaler from Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree! (minimal spoilers, gameplay in the background is very blurred)

[huwmessmer]

huw x messmer i playlist breakdown

just thought id slowly break down some of my thoughts behind my music choices for the mixes i shared as a thematic / writing exercise? ( not all at once, just gonna go through both mixtapes ( and the third when its done ) bit by bit between writing and art etc )

first offffffff

themes of storms and oceans popped up a little. mostly bc of both the background and abilities of black knight captain huw. huw is a champion of the divine beast hunt, so he was in there fighting those dancing beasts which dealt with storms + the first one gives access to a storm related talisman ( so i have him holding one in that artwork im slowly doin lol )

the aspect of the crucible wings is tied into the crucible so a topic dear to me for both him and messmer and all the black knights and entire crusade is that whole element of hypocrisy ( thanks mom ) which the hornsent npc of course comments on. so i kind of stumbled on a theme of fighting a storm but also being tied to that enemy ( divine birds / sky / feathers / storm )

and the theme of oceans came up in my first messmer mixtape and continued here. so theres that ocean and death theme going on in elden ring in general (spirit jellies n OoO wormies ) and the washed up death stuff for the realm of shadow and all those fun fan theories like the shadow keep being related to helphens steeple or messmers army having mass suicided to get there and things like that which are fun to play with

ANYWAY

first couple songs:

01 obedear . purity ring

the ' oh but dear the sky is low ' reminds me of threats of storms & just foreboding and overall doomedness ( which unfortunately ties into inevitable betrayal ) with the intimateness of using ' dear ' in a discussion theres some sea themes as said and i esp like the ' Leaves us plastered to a bed of hairs with Me all coiled up near the bottom with my chest unbared ' bc beds n unbared chests are a lil sexy and ' coiled ' fits our favorite snimpaler

02 sugarbread . soap&skin

'sugarbread' sounds like a sweet title but the start is so horrific. i wanted to get something dramatic and dangerous in the start of the mix to acknowledge that yes these are two villains who did very bad genocidal things no matter how much fun the romance may be to play with and of course breaking hearts talk for inevitable tragedies the requem quotes for the dead and the mention of light which goes with grace

oh yeah huw bein a spirit now makes these mixes also have plenty of death in them i forgot that point

ye

[pyrefication]

tag dump

[honeybeeps]

obsessed with how hopeful the shadow of the erdtree story trailer is

[blasphemousclaw]

why Divine Beast Dancing Lion has the best soundtrack in the entire game

When I watched the first DLC trailer 6 months ago, I was so focused on Messmer that I never gave the lion dancers a second thought. But in a shocking turn of events, Divine Beast Dancing Lion is now my favorite boss in the whole game. To me, what makes this fight truly exceptional is its soundtrack, so I want to go through the music and outline all the things that make it so great!

What makes the music stand out is that it feels SO different from the rest of the OST… the majority of the boss tracks have a pretty similar style and instrumentation, but Divine Beast stands out in my opinion because of how it emphasizes its rhythm and texture.

Conceptually, this boss fight is first and foremost a dance — you are fighting two Hornsent warriors operating a lion costume based on the traditional Chinese lion dance in an arena that’s actually a giant stage.

The Chinese lion dance is typically accompanied only by percussion (drums, gongs, and cymbals). So naturally, Divine Beast’s soundtrack has much more pronounced percussion in comparison to the rest of the soundtrack, featuring heavy drum beats and cymbals, plus shouts and chants from the choir. The music is in a steady 6/8, with 2 beats per measure divided into three pulses (think 1 2 3, 1 2 3) giving it a lilting, dancelike quality (this type of meter is often used in folk and traditional dances!). And, in the boss’s second phase, the dancing lion’s lightning, wind, and frost phases each have their own music and are timed to transition as the music transitions. The whole boss fight is programmed like a dance, so when you fight the boss it feels like you’re dancing with it too!

The choir has a range of vocalizations that goes beyond singing melodies and harmonies; as I touched on before, they’re also shouting and chanting. The shouts are used percussively and help accent the rhythm of the dance, and the low chanting also brings to mind a sort of religious ritual? Which is exactly what this boss fight is… in Hornsent culture, the lion dance is a ritual for invoking divinity:

“A charm depicting the crazed, cavorting dance of the divine beast conducted at the tower festival. Raises potency of storms. Divine beasts are messengers of the heavens, and their rage mirrors the tumult of the skies, of which storms are the pinnacle.” (Enraged Divine Beast talisman)

The lion dancers, or “sculpted keepers,” are those amongst the divine beast warriors (themselves the chosen amongst the tower’s horned warriors) who truly excelled at divine invocation, and were “granted the honor of the lion dance” (Divine Beast Warrior Armor). In the boss cutscene, the Hornsent Grandam calls upon the divine beast to possess the bodies of the sculpted keepers, and rise again to defend the tower… so the lion dance, performed by warriors skilled in divine invocation, is essentially a ritual for invoking the presence of the divine beast within the dancers in order to commune with the heavens.

The sculpted keepers, having invoked the rage of the divine beast, are able to channel the forces of the stormy skies — lightning, wind, and frost. The force of the storm is represented in the music by quick runs in the high woodwinds and strings that come and go like gusts of wind. The music almost never lets up or loses momentum; it goes at a powerful, furious pace until the end, embodying the divine beast’s fury.

But the Divine Beast that we fight has an extra layer of emotion that goes beyond divine ritual:

“When the Impaler's army assailed the tower, the ritual of the lion dance was turned toward martial ends—its divinity, its fury, its light-footed beauty.” (Remembrance of the Dancing Lion)

What was once a beautiful ritual dance conducted at the tower festival was forced to become a weapon of war in order to fight against their people’s annihilation at the hands of Messmer’s crusade. And even this was not enough…

The Dancing Lion that we fight was slain, lying in a pool of dried blood, when it is miraculously awoken again with a fervent prayer. This is the last lion dance that may ever take place, giving us a mere glimpse of this ruined city’s long-vanished splendor.

Listening to the soundtrack, there is not only pride in the music, but also an urgent, visceral, warlike rage, a multitude of voices joining in a desperate fight for their civilization’s very survival.

[anorlondos]

Messmer doodles because I love him. Peak fight peak music peak character etc etc

Idk how to draw snakes don't make fun of me. Anyways I expected him to be the devil from the bible but nah he's just kinda sad. Miquella, on the other hand,

[eldenbiscuit]

Marika and Messmer frames from my Elden Ring animatic “Blue”. As she dies from the shattered ring, Marika reminisces of the past and the son who loved her the most.

- “Sorry, mom. If I was only... normal”

- “Hey

Blue food isn't normal

Blue food is strange

And that's why it's my favorite

I never want it to change

To make it boring orange or green

Why be blah

When there's aquamarine”

———-

A mix of frames using a couple comic bases my tutor sent over, and some from imagination using Marika’s sculpted head from the end of the game.

[pinnedmother]

Modern AU Messmer

A bunch of headcanons I cooked up, fresh from the oven:

Due to an accident related to his mother when he was little, Messmer almost lost his eyes, the right one was thankfully restored by doctors soon after. He has poor eyesight now and is prescribed to either wear glasses or contact lenses (or, well, singular), but he hates both options: the glasses are out of the question, the guy thinks he looks dorky in them; and a contact lens “hurts him”, he wears it sometimes though, because his mother gifts it to him.

Has snake pets he unironically calls his best friends. If he can, Messmer takes them with him: one likes to be out and about, while the other is usually chilling under his clothes. When people point out that it’s weird, Messmer laughs it off by saying he’s basically blind and they’re his special assistance guide-snakes.

Being the eldest, he can be very stern and a killjoy, but he only does so to gain his mom’s favor. Unfortunately to him, she’s much more strict and less warm to him than to her other children. Messmer has depressive episodes due to his mother’s coldness.

He’s a sporty guy and loves playing basketball, his height is one of the many reasons why he’s outstandingly good at it. Messmer is a captain of the team “Fire Knights”, and they’re flooring their main opponent team “The Hornsents” every match.

He’s kind of an edgy metalhead, but he frequently listens to classical music as well, it helps him sleep.

An avid gamer, especially a fan of the older hits like Warcraft, Starcraft, Heroes of Might and Magic, Doom, etc. His infatuation with games passed on to some of his younger siblings.

He also plays electric guitar quite well and has an amateur band with some of his friends and siblings. They can’t decide on the name though. The candidates were: “Burning Crusade” (yes, he did took it from WoW, was genuinely shocked when told it’s illegal), “Abyssal Serpent” (he hated it personally), “Children of the Erdtree” (too childish…), “Genocidal Purge” (too gory…), etc. Melina, who plays bass, said all these names are super lame, while Kood yes-man's through all of them.

Messmer used to hide his music from you, because he wasn’t certain if you’d like it. He was scared that you’d think it’s cringy and his heart just wouldn’t take it. But when you finally heard him play and loved it, he was happy beyond believe. Now Messmer likes to write cute little melodies for your enjoyment.

He doesn’t sing, too embarrassed. Only after a lot, A LOT of pleading he finally agreed to sing for you. But you, and you alone! Don’t tell anyone! Ever!!! His voice sounds soft, because he keeps it down, but it’s pleasant and melodic, going well with the guitar. You owe him now though.

[drenched-in-sunlight]

*SoTE spoilers undercut

This is a continued discussion in light of Marika's newly discovered tragedy. It changes so many things about how we look at the story thus far but more importantly - the DLC story trailer, especially this scene:

think about how Messmer knows, very acutely, that at one point his mother could have been cut up and put in a jar. and that his other kins were not so lucky....... it gives that scene such a tragic edge.

he wasn't doing this just for the violence. this is his answer to Marika's love and all she has done for him. yeah it's not right, it's not justified, but as something done to avenge for the kind of pain she went through? it won't be logical nor right but it's something he will do again without hesitation.

the infirmary in Shadow's Keep shows that he's trying to care for and save whatever left of her people. their people.

the line he said in his armor set description hits different when you consider all that. he wants to be the heir to all her sorrow and all of her pain. wishing that he could alleviate even just a bit of the burden of her grief and survivor guilt.

i wonder if, when Marika hid him in the Land of Shadow, fearing people will judge him for the malevolent snake he carried, she raised him in her home village? this will explain why the Tree Sentinels guarding the village drop two Blessing of Marika - the blessing that specifically stated Marika made it for Messmer's sake and him alone. it will also explain how he knew of his Mother's tragic past and took it upon himself to carry out her wish of vengeance for her people.

(also if you wanted to get to Marika's village, you have to perform the O Mother gesture before her statue in his Shadow Keep, implying he's guarding the way to her home village as well.)

One other thing I like is that in the story trailer, the heroic music sounds like it's for Miquella. and it is, in a way. it is his boss music, but the lyrics has "Ave Marika Aeterna" (Hail, Marika The Eternal).

Given that the boss arena is where Marika - the sole survivor of a whole village, walked through to salvage the remains of her people, making them the symbol of her divine ascension, I wonder if that OST is actually for her - the God, the woman whose story is finally realized in this DLC, and those female voices singing in honour of her are the spirits of her fallen kins: cheering on their last hope for justice. Through this girl, those people who had been wronged and died there will live on eternally.

All this of course seems like such a charitable take on all this, after all Marika ended up being just like the oppressors who used to put her people in jars, but I think I just want to appreciate how the environmental storytelling of this DLC is simply amazing. and once you consider that this is, in the end, Marika's story, everything will make a lot more sense.

[dragon-communion]

It's really tragic that Messmer is a genocidal warlord because I think he would love MCR. He strikes me as the type to have educated opinions on classical music while also stonefacedly vibing to screaming pop-punk bands that started in someone's garage and thematically explore why nobody loves them. Get this man some Evanescence immediately. You KNOW when he's having a bad day being tortured by his inner demons he listens to Haunted and Whisper and Bring Me To Life.

He's got scoliosis, a pet snake, and winged serpents on his outfit, I swear I met someone like him at every convention I've ever been to. He's got "huge guy with tiny dog" energy. He's just extremely and unfortunately Catholic. Incredible character design.

[phantasia69]

Ok so I've been playing the Elden Ring DLC since the day it dropped. I haven't finished it completely yet so once I do I'll share my final thoughts. I have some things I want to talk about, but keep in mind that I haven't finished it yet.

Major Spoilers for Shadow of the Erdtree below.

First of all, what the hell is going on with Miquella??? Making Radahn his consort?? This honestly felt so out of left field. I'm actually kinda mad. The whole "Miquella is actually not a good person and is actually kinda evil" is so boring and I hate it. What happened to his mission of curing himself and Malenia of the afflictions they were born with? Why on Earth would he choose Radahn as a consort?? I feel like it would have been more interesting to have Miquella be a relatively good person despite being an Empyrean (who tend to have a track record for being messed up). It just feels like Miyazaki spit on the lore of an interesting and mysterious character and said fuck all that let's just make him evil like what???

I'm loving the music, visuals, acting, and boss fights of the DLC so far but the lore has been disappointing for me.

Also, the lack of stuff about Messmer is aggravating as well. You would think that, as the poster boy of the DLC, he would be given a spotlight but no, barely anything from what I've seen. Additionally, we also haven't really learned anything significant about Marika?? Why did she shatter the Elden Ring?? What were her motives??

There's just so many unanswered questions and it's so frustrating knowing that they'll never be answered since Fromsoftware isn't going to be making another DLC for Elden Ring.

I'll just stop here. Once I finish the DLC I'll make a more detailed post. I just kind of wanted to rant because I'm mad.

[space-blue]

How did you get Messmer to stand in that field? I'm guessing it's a mod of sorts?

Tears of fucking blood, is how. Over an hour scouring the internet trying to understand how to install and run the mod. Some redditor saved my ass in the end. It's a mod that lets you "craft" summons from any NPC and boss.

I wanted to play as him (his model) so I could use emotes and have an easier time with the camera (I couldn't find a free camera mod?? Am I blind??). But this will do. He runs around after me and I just take forever getting him in a good place, then I roll on the ground butt naked and disappear in the flowers. I can't always hide my Tarnished hower.

I have many clips and screens. Wanted to use them in a little lore video on Messmer, but I'm hung up on recording my shitty french accented voice.. Maybe I'll make the video just on top of the music for this location?

Have some screenshots :

I also took the pubber there...

Here is the mod in question. Also as a summon he doesn't deal much damage, which fits me well because he's hyper reactive and I wouldn't want him one shotting people everywhere.

Also you can only summon in summon areas, but then he follows you everywhere. He's also hilarious to have around because he uses his special move all the time and sometimes it's like... Messmy... Chill. I can only post one video so I'll have the other of him overreacting in another post.

Honestly this is super fun and I may keep playing that way. It feels less lonely, and I want to do a run where I go and get him (and maybe sometimes Maliketh) and "convince" them to help get to Marika. You know they'd both be mega on board.