#Ensha of the Royal Remains

[zhavos-art]

Speaking of mysterious, unpredictable characters, Ensha.

Ensha probably just “is”. He’s there. You’re there.

I still feel betrayed by this cool guy.

[flaskofceruleantears]

I do have some body type headcanons, for the Roundtable Tarnished gang that I came up with while bored in the car:

D: MCU build. Very visibly strong, but my guy does not eat well or hydrate

Rogier: average and lean, more of a gymnast build. Very agile

Diallos: MY MAN IS BUILT LIKE A GREEK STATUE. He takes pride in his appearance and it shows, just look at how soft his hands are!

Brother Corhyn: dude is like 90lbs soaking wet you can knock this boy over with a stiff breeze. Twig of a lad

Nepheli: this woman wears no armor and dual-wields battle axes and she's a LOUX. She's built like a fucking fridge and can throw one across a football field

Roderika: canonically a soft, sheltered noblewoman who can hardly lift a blade; as such I feel like she's soft, delicate, and just a bit pudgy. Very very cute

Fia: milf build

Gideon: OLD CODGER AHEAD. No seriously tho, dude never leaves that desk, never does anything for himself, copies all your spells? He's built like a twiggy grandpa

Ensha: lean muscle, deceptively strong for his build; he's somewhat similar to Rogier in build, but a lot sturdier

[izar-tarazed]

in other news, Ensha keeps judging me while I play Dark Souls

[eggslamwich]

Blessing the er fandom with this wretched thing I made back in July

[insectart]

We had a “Secret Admirer” exchange in our group (basically Secret Santa but for Valentine’s Day), and this was my gift for @izar-tarazed! It is Ensha along with her OC Izar! ✨

[alberichfanpage]

ALBERICH THEORY!

Big thank you to @madtongue for listening to me ramble and helping me shape this theory. Our interpretations of Alberich are very different, but our love for him is the same.

So, I finally decided to do a dedicated Alberich themed run and, as I was collecting what I needed, I noticed something:

Besides his clothes on his corpse in Leyndell, everything came from Liurnia (you can farm the staff from that one thorn witch btw). I actually like that, just like his magic borders on the outskirts of glintstone sorceries, his equipment is on the far borders of the academy, too. Most curious, however, are the two ice spells he knows that are exclusively taught by Seluvis. Then I started to connect the dots...

So, we know that Alberich was in "service to the Roundtable Hold long ago" and I like to interpret this as him serving the leaders to the Roundtable, including Gideon. We also know that Gideon and Seluvis were close friends before Seluvis doll-ified Dolores.

What if, during this time of friendship, Alberich learned some magic from Seluvis? We know Gideon has a thirst for learning all things magic and we know Seluvis is more than willing to break rules for his own interests. In Gideon's quest for knowledge, perhaps he asked Alberich to learn what he could from an ally. He could have done this willingly, or maybe as a spy to keep Seluvis in check.

More damning, we have this curious line from Seluvis:

Considering the "red glintstones said to be formed by the blood of sacrifices" on all of Alberich's clothes, maybe his questionable ethics make him not so different from the doll-obsessed Seluvis?

Not only does Seluvis know the cold sorceries Alberich knows, but if you look back at the map above, we also find a camp of Firemonks/Thorn Sorcerers (including the one that drops the only other spell he uses) extremely close to the Carian Study Hall, home to the other Preceptor, Miriam. Perhaps that is where he learned that spell during the tutelage of Seluvis?

Ultimately, Seluvis went too far and Gideon distanced himself from him. Maybe Alberich was even involved with what happened with Dolores. Maybe this made Gideon want to sever all ties with Seluvis. Maybe he could have sent his personal assassin after Alberich to cut off loose ends. And maybe the assassin finished the job, but Alberich got the last laugh and took a souvenir to the grave?

The other thing to note is that this stuff must've happened pre-shattering because we find Alberich's body in the old Roundtable in Leyndell, which has not allowed any tarnished in under the reign of Morgott.

Then again, Vyke and Adan (and Bernahl(?)) were able to get past Leyndell. We also fight Vargram and Wilhelm where Alberich's body is, and they were both "one of the first Tarnished to arrive at the Roundtable." It's unclear if Alberich was also apart of that same group or pre-dates them?

I will be honest, placing things on a timeline is a little tricky, but I really like the pieces that I have put together here. Having a character as vague as Alberich is like a fun playground to come up with cool theories with and explore missing pockets of lore with other characters, too.

For instance, all the cold sorceries mentions Ranni's teacher, the Snow Crone. While my theory doesn't connect Alberich and her, @madtongue's Alberich does! So, go check out all the other Alberich theories there are and I will probably come up with a million more speculation posts as I explore TLB as my baby boy.

[katyspersonal]

I was not able to cram in all of them, so honestly, the characters from the past like Vyke, Dolores, Vargram etc need their own poll hfggfhfg + I guess Alberich has to go there too because of implication that he died in the past

Update: the second part of the poll with former members or more obscure ones here: ( x )

[velvet-apricots]

Giveaway prize for @izar-tarazed featering Ensha getting a hug from her tarnished!

[val-of-the-north]

Potential Ensha info from the DLC

Me and @katyspersonal were hoping for more potential lore on Ensha, surprisingly enough... and we might have actually got our wish somehow. Let's take a look at the description of Ensha's bones for a second, as well as their properties...

While they don't look it at first glance, the description specifies the bones are "golden", and they can replenish HP when it's reduced. Gold and healing go hand-in-hand in Elden Ring's setting, so this propriety makes sense by considering the golden nature of the remains.

This description alone doesn't tell us much however. It describes the remains as belonging to an ancient lord named Ensha who is currently known as a soulless king. However, Shadow of the Erdtree might give us more hints about who he was prior to becoming an elaborate set of armor.

In the Lands of Shadow we can come across a very rare crafting material, mostly found around Scadu Altus and in the Shadow Keep and Fort of Reprimand. It is also held by the various Black Knights found around the world. This material is the Blessed Bone Shard.

These blessed bones shine gold with the blessing of the Scadutree, and can be used to craft many interesting items, including Festive Grease, Golden Vows (the tool, not the incantation), and Sunwarmth Stones. Two out of three of these items are directly aligned with the Golden Order (though the Festive Grease is likely part of the Shaman tradition which Marika made sure to somehow preserve), and one of them is directly tied to HP regeneration, the same passive power as Ensha's bones.

Since the other ingredients needed to craft it are a Spiritgrave Stone and a Black Pyrefly, neither connected to healing, I assume that part of the power comes from the blessed bones.

If this is the case, could it mean that the ancient lord Ensha participated in the Crusade as a warrior on the side of the Erdtree prior to his death? And that his bones were blessed because of his great service, as it was "the greatest honor that can be granted to the dead" after all. Him being some sort of lord or king might have also allowed his remains to be brought back to the Lands Between for a proper burial, or maybe even to craft this armor as a means to immortalize him. If so, his death must have been prior to the Lands of Shadow being hidden away by Marika.

Now, one could still question why Ensha's bones aren't as shiny as these shards are, but perhaps his blessing has faded with time. After all, the potency of the blessed bones we pick up is much greater than that of his armor, offering continuous healing to everyone nearby as opposed to just when our health gets low.

I think Ensha himself might have rested peacefully for years until after the Night of the Black Knives or the Shattering, which led to the rise of Those Who Live in Death through Deathroot. There is a possibility he himself is part of them, especially with the way he is described.

He is soulless, which has a deep connection to both Godwyn and other perished Demigods of the Night of the Black Knives. There seems to be a connection between death, undeath and the lack of a soul, strengthening the connection between Ensha and the undead.

He is further described as the king of the "lost and desperate", which seems to harken back to how Fia describes Those Who Live in Death as "the meek, and the many".

The connection seems slightly more obvious, as in Japanese she refers to them as "the weak" (弱き者) and she describes herself as their "guardian/protector" (庇護者). Meanwhile, Ensha is the King of those who "cling to/depend on" him (縋り付く) which seems to hold similar connotations of a weaker group of people needing a stronger figure for protection. In that case, Ensha might have been a surrogate king of sorts, but clearly not good enough to truly become their lord, a title fully reserved for the godly flesh of Godwyn. Or maybe, just like Fia, he was simply a self-appointed protector for them and had no higher aims.

The way in which he operates is still quite a mystery though. The man who wears the armor is also named Ensha, just like this ancient lord, so unless he is simply cosplaying him, there might be something deeper going on...

The DLC also introduced an interesting NPC enemy: Rakshasa. Named after a demon, the description of her armor makes a peculiar comment about following a certain path to "become" Rakshasa itself, hinting that the woman we just beat was just one embodiment of it.

Now, Ensha would be a bit different, but what if he also worked in a similar manner? As in, those who wear his remains become him by extension. But in that case, why would this king follow Gideon Ofnir? Is it because of his desire to reach the Haligtree? Perhaps he wants to confront Miquella since in his kindness he seems to have forsaken Those Who Live in Death, and if the Golden Epitaph is to be believed, agrees and maybe even endorses their destruction.

The vow of peace of the Roundtable Hold might be why someone like D doesn't strike him down on the spot. Or maybe hiding as a simple suit of armor proves to be quite effective in avoiding detection from the hunters of his kind.

[qoldencrowns-art]

Elden Ring fanart from last year

[a-tarnished-soul]

*gently sets down Ensha in the ask box for a vibe check*

Gideon has to keep telling Soul to stop bothering him, but I think they would vibe pretty well.

Funnily enough, Ensha never invaded Soul or Robin in the coop playthrough! Maybe Ensha switches loyalties. Maybe Soul and him get to spar on rare occasions.

Either way, he's a pretty cool character.

[Send Soul a character to do a vibe check]

[misfire-fake]

New poll!! Ty for everyone who requested their favorite freak to be put in, and don't forget to vote on my other polls!! And there are so many weird things in this game that idk abt that somebody wants so plsss comment any request u have!

[izar-tarazed]

So in one of my attempts against Messmer I brought along Ensha to get some nice screenshots. And while I did get some, there's also this one and I can't unsee the budgie gif:

[art-of-monkan]

💀Ensha of the Royal Remains, aka💀

edge, lord

[owlthatisnotgold]

I took a look at the entire Royal Remains armor set and my previous statement about the helm being from one of the headless demigods in the walking mausoleums is wrong. There is an entire skeleton embedded in what looks like corpse wax in the armor. The description for each item says that the bones are golden.

Which made me think of this particular item

"Shard of bone with a golden shine. Material used to craft items. Exceedingly rare to find. A bone fragment touched by the gold of the Scadutree, broken from the remains of the warriors who perished in the realm of shadow. A blessing such as this is said to be the greatest honor that can be granted to the dead." Most notably, this item is dropped by the Black Knights who serve under Messmer.

So the owner of this skeleton, whose name is an anagram of "Ashen", was probably one of Marika's children, was soulless in life for some reason but was a king, and had bones of gold that may have at one point touched the golden sap running down from the Scadutree.

[katyspersonal]

Hey so, i kinda am a little confused at how things make more sense now, (referring to the post with tigers) how does it makes sense now?

Okay, this is a reference to this post:

I am cracking up at this meme format every time hdfshsdg I assume you both are referring to the last part and not just anon, since the first one is kinda simple: Marika's reactionary paranoia towards any subspecies that believes they are divine has backstory, former deifying of Crucible was part of her clever plan to screw Hornsent over as soon as she can since they mention her "betrayal" and snakes are seen as traitor of the Erdtree as Messmer and his simps were thrown under the bus blablabla we heard all this

As for Ensha: My friend @val-of-the-north made a better post on the topic here ( x )! I recommend simply reading it, but I will summarise anyway!

So, the gold of the Erdtree and Scadutree are connected as they're two sides of each other, for starters! Ensha's bones are strangely golden too, and they even share the same passive power of slowly healing the wearer as gold of the Erdtree with their stones of tailsmans depicting the Erdtree sap! It is now very likely to suggest that he was a warrior blessed in a similar way, but brought back since he was a king, a very important figure!

The term 'soulless' is otherwise used exclusively for the Demigods that died in the Night of the Black Knives; Godwyn and those who are now buried in Mausoleums and guarded by their headless knights! Ensha is not only called that, but also his "weapon" is a literal skeletal arm latching onto him 🤔 Him having been one of the warriors blessed upon death, but having his death somehow disturbed after Shattering works naturally! Maybe other corpses instinctively crawled towards him because the healing power still lives in him. I also like to think that this golden energy was what deceived D's radar x) Besides, Roundtable Hold welcomes not only Tarnished because Dolores, stated to once have been a part of the Roundtable Hold, wasn't one for example:

Radiant golden eyes are not the thing that happens with Tarnished, with the exception of Anastasia who became monstrous upon eating many people ( x ) Hers are closer to the effect of eating Dragons' hearts on the eyes than grace

(P.S. Mentioned already, but Ensha can't talk and Alberich, who was driven mad by people talking shit about him, coincidentally drops a Tainter's Tongue which is also golden! Alberich was heretical from the Golden Order standpoint, so Ensha's backstory being linked with it would explain speaking not kindly of him.. and paying I guess 💀 )

As for Dung Eater: Apparently, sun-face is connected with the Fell God!

I need a button on my keyboard that just says 'sorry I forgot to copy a screenshot' fdshdfhsd Okay so, I did kinda think that 'the guidance he once saw' was supposed to refer to being called by Grace, especially since Gold has subtle connection with the sunlight. But even back then it didn't make much sense because all Tarnished depicted in the intro were shown to be raised from their deaths by Grace (except for maybe Fia but overall it is complicated how deathbed mechanics works)! And so he already had the sun symbol before:

Besides, according to Boggart, who shared jail with him (weird flex to put a thief together with a serial killer but sure), he was already doing.. whatever he was doing. So I decided I didn't have enough braincells to understand and left it for later, and I was right I guess fhhdfsd

Apparently, Fell God has connection with the horns, so, Crucible! It is like a missing link in why two of Marika's children were born Omens and why Leonine Misbegotten, the ones with red manes, are internally known as 'children of radagon' ( x )! Also, one of the Leonine has Radagon's sword!

Omens also are haunted by Wraiths, who are both fire creatures and have horns:

^ a kind of 'fire' Omens with uncut horns can summon, fire Morgott explodes into upon stage transition, and also Dung Eater can summon wraiths too! The wraiths do respond to the bells of wraith-callers as well!

The nature of these spirits is for another tangent (and yes I do have a guess fdhfds), but yes it seems like that the "guidance" he envisioned was actually about Fell God, and not Grace! His goal is and already was to curse everyone with Omen stuff, whatever is the reason. He might have came in contact with a weird power and decide it was a good goal to pursue, much like Gowry and Shabriri (Flame of the Fell God states that Fell God still lurks even after death). Or maybe he was strangely in contact with the wraiths despite not being an Omen himself, and their own yearning for curse upon everyone descending from Marika rubbed onto him? (could also explain why he feels like he should have been born an Omen) Or maybe he himself just researched a lot, in simple terms, he is Just Like That xD In any case there is finally some extra context to it!