#elden ring dialogue

[thistoowillpasss]

Melina asking you to be nice to Boc is so kind and sweet

[valdotpng]

[mitsybubbles]

Saw this comic from the Dunmeshi Adventuer’s Bible and immediately had to drop everything to draw it

[slavonicrhapsody]

Rykard’s deadly machines have terrifying yet wholesome implications

Enemy placement in Elden Ring often has significant implications for the story and characters, and the iconic abductor virgins are my absolute favorite example of this concept. These machines of war crafted for Volcano Manor’s army are highly decorated with snake iconography: from the Duelist Helm item description, we learn that “The snake is viewed as a traitor to the Erdtree,” so it is immediately clear to enemy soldiers that these are weapons built for a war of blasphemy.

We learn from Patches that “long ago, they [the abductor virgins] were endowed with a spell of transposition,” and that the abductor at the bottom of the Raya Lucaria waterwheel has “its transpositional powers fully intact.” This implies that all of the abductors once had the ability to send their victims directly to Volcano Manor. Spreading his abductor virgins across the Lands Between gives Rykard access to a wide variety of victims. What did he do with them? It isn’t clear if Rykard had fed himself to the serpent before or after he dispersed his abductor virgins, but if he was already his snakey self, then it’s clear that these victims would’ve become snacks. And given that the area around the manor is called “Prison Town,” I think I know where they kept the snacks.

We find abductor virgins in these specific places:

- Volcano Manor

- Mt. Gelmir

- Sealed Tunnel, on the way to the Divine Tower of West Altus

- Caria Manor

- Raya Lucaria Academy

- Redmane Castle

- Caelid, near the Abandoned Cave

The abductor virgins originate from Volcano Manor. They are used in combat on the slopes of Mt. Gelmir, defending the manor from the Leyndell army’s assault. The Sealed Tunnel is on the way to the divine tower where we activate Rykard’s Great Rune, so I’d guess that he’s keeping this area under guard.

As for the other locations, what’s immediately obvious is that each place is where one of Rykard’s family members resides: Ranni at Caria Manor, Rennala at Raya Lucaria, and Radahn at Redmane castle. Like Rykard himself, each of them has been or is currently involved in a war.

CARIA MANOR

There is one abductor virgin patrolling the ramparts of Caria Manor. The Carians became embroiled in a civil war when the sorcerers of Raya Lucaria and their Cuckoo knights rebelled against the royals. Caria Manor is currently on the defensive after the Cuckoo knights attacked the manor. Ranni is still present at the manor and presumably assisted in its magical defense. We know that Ranni and Rykard have a degree of closeness and trust from the Blasphemous Claw item description, so it’s a natural conclusion that he would send his sister an abductor virgin to help defend their childhood home.

RAYA LUCARIA

There are two abductor virgins at Raya Lucaria. One patrols the central courtyard of the academy, and the other is found at the bottom of the academy’s waterwheel. This one is very out of the way; there aren’t any enemies down here at all. Since abductors are pretty useless without any prey to capture, I think that this one probably wandered down here by mistake and got stuck. This may be why its transposition power is still intact: it wasn’t using it, so it never wore off. I have absolutely no evidence for this except that it makes sense.

As previously stated, the Carian royals are in the midst of a civil war, so it is in Rykard’s interests to send weapons to aid his mother in recapturing the academy. The problem is, the sorcerers were able to lock Rennala in the library without much difficulty, so the abductor virgins just kind of wander around attacking anything in their path now.

REDMANE CASTLE

There is one abductor virgin inside the walls of Redmane Castle. Radahn famously fought against Malenia in Caelid during the Shattering, so it makes sense that he would be in need of weapons that could match the strength of the Cleanrot knights. We can surmise that Rykard and Radahn were close, because Rykard keeps a portrait of his brother above the fireplace in Volcano Manor’s main hall. I think Rykard would be more than willing to send Radahn a powerful weapon to help defend his castle.

ABANDONED CAVE

The abandoned cave is an interesting one… near the opening of the cave, there is a lone abductor virgin that has killed several of the giant dogs. Inside the cave, there are numerous broken pieces of abductor virgins scattered throughout the cave’s swampy insides. Since this cave is right on the edge of the Swamp of Aeonia, I think when Malenia bloomed, the inside of the cave got flooded with scarlet rot juice and most of the abductors inside got destroyed (except for the one that escaped). There are a lot of ways to interpret their presence here… Out of Rykard’s three family members, Radahn is the only one who was fighting an offensive war, so he would have required more weapons. I think the most sensible conclusion is that Rykard gifted Radahn a fleet of abductor virgins, but for some reason, they were stored in this cave, and were never used.

It’s interesting that Rykard would provide Radahn with weapons when their ultimate goals don’t seem to have aligned – perhaps Rykard didn’t care about that, since he’s still his brother? Or perhaps he didn’t care because it would gain him more victims to consume anyway? And perhaps Radahn guessed his brother’s sinister intentions, so he didn’t use them? Or perhaps Radahn just thought they were demented, so he only ever used the one to defend Redmane Castle.

CONCLUSION

The best explanation for the placements of the abductor virgins is that Rykard shared his weapons with his family in order to aid and protect them. At the same time, he gets to capture and devour those who would attack his family so he can absorb more and more power in order to ultimately devour the very gods. It’s a win-win scenario!

[acetier]

what was torins first impression of varre?

he wasn’t very endearing lmao

[val-of-the-north]

Recently found out about this cut Mohg dialogue. Now I am really sad wtf man :(

[The drawing I made for the audio]

[dimitrscu]

i was supposed to be getting footage of maliketh for @bimbomcgee but i uhh got a little distracted by someone who is definitely not maliketh :)

[maranull]

Ranni: You wanna come over for dinner and eat what my mother made? Tiche: What did she make? Ranni: Me.

[sweetmapple]

need him to feed me chicken soup condescendingly, stat

[sorrytonin]

might fuck around and put these foolish ambitions to rest

[throughdarkeningskies]

3 days later and I'm still fucking devastated that Fia killed D.... my wife killed my bestie.... man whose side am I supposed to be on here.....

[tarnussy]

Insolence! You upjumped little Tarnished!

[florjb0rj]

Marika, starting the Golden Order: “What should be considered blasphemous..?”

Messmer: “Mother, I’ve just burned down that big tree over there.”

Marika: “…and Snakes, having wings in odd places, and Burning large trees.”

[slavonicrhapsody]

I cannot believe this is the first I am hearing about this, but Ranni is actually directly confirmed to be the younger sister of Radahn and Rykard in the original Japanese version of Rogier’s dialogue! This nuance is lost in the English translation, as we do not have specified words for older or younger siblings, so this detail must have been simply dropped by translators.

Thanks to @loca5335 for pointing out the Japanese translation and @takers-flames for checking the Chinese translation, which reflects the age distinction in the text as well!

[folkdevilism]

Artorias of the Abyss was released more than ten years ago but I still think about that one line of casual NPC dialogue from Marvelous Chester where he mentions the giant talking mushroom in Oolacile but delivers the lines in a weirdly sensual manner.

[eldenringslut]

Time for a fun bit of pain *rubs hands together in glee*

Tanith says here: "I will never be a good mother... Our Lord (Rykard) must have known this all along” in response to giving Rya/Zorayas the Tonic of Forgetfulnesses.

I take this to mean that Tanith and Rykard never had any biological children together, and that Tanith blames herself for this, believing herself unworthy of being a mother and, of course, believing that Rykard shared this view of her.