#jerren

[blasphemousclaw]

when your brother wants to help but he’s a bit of a freak

[winter-wise]

so I've found the greatest elden ring fanfic of all time:

Things Tarnished Are No Longer Allowed To Do In The Lands Between

[eldenringslut]

There’s an interesting piece of DLC lore I don’t think I’ve seen anyone discuss in detail yet. Namely that Freyja and Jerren both want what’s best for Radahn, but each have very different ideas of what that entails.

Both of them consider Radahn’s death at your hands to be a good and honourable one. But upon learning of Miquella’s plans, Frejya says this:

She seems to fully buy into the image Radahn portrays of being a warrior who lives and thrives in war. And to some extent she’s correct, with Radahn modelling himself after Godfrey (a warlord and conquerer) and even attempting to invade Leyndell during the Shattering Wars.

Jerren on the other hand, would rather Radahn be left in peace after being given an honourable death. The description of Jerren’s helmet reads:

The wording here is very important, implying both a very close relationship between Radahn and Jerren (which is also supported by how intimately Jerren speaks about Radahn) and that Radahn himself wished for an honourable death. This means that Radahn’s preferences likely align more with Jerren’s than with Freyja’s, and that he never wanted to be revived as Miquella’s consort.

One could still argue that Radahn simply wished to have an honourable death before becoming consort, but I think that doesn’t make much sense. If he were willing, it seems strange and convuluted that Radahn would ask to be killed in battle before becoming Lord rather than just becoming Lord immediately.

Additionally, the story makes more thematic sense if Radahn is brainwashed. Remember, Fromsoftware loves to give characters ironic or contrary fates. Radahn represents stagnation. He holds the stars and fate in stasis, styles himself in reference to past Elden Lords and refuses to leave his scrawny horse despite how cruel it is for him to still ride his sickly steed.

In the base game, this is brought to an ironic conclusion with him being infected by the scarlet rot, a more literal representation of stagnation and decay. But the DLC takes it even further. Ironically given his goal of bringing about a new Age of Compassion, Miquella too is unable to move on from the past. He clings to his (probably one sided) vow with Radahn and forces him to become his consort.

The God of a new age unable to let go of the past, and a Lord of stagnation forced to participate in bringing about a new era. These fates are the height of dramatic irony, and honestly I think Fromsoftware’s only mistake here was not foreshadowing it enough in the base game beforehand.

[tallfuckingidiot]

It's been a while since I did any non protest-related art, let alone posted anything, so I decided to start doing some small sketches here and there, so that I don't forget to use ink.

Anyways, here's Radahn and his bros, planning a battle (or playing D&D 🤷🏻‍♂️):

[blaiddfailcam]

thinkin about how iji gave weapons to the redmanes that would resist malenia's rot despite he would have to maintain the secret of ranni's disappearance during the shattering and how this implies he at least wanted to protect jerren even if he was to be perceived as "masterless" ...... and they were roommates

[snarp]

"What evidence in the base game even suggested that Radahn was a Schemer?"

It could be more obvious, but it's there:

* Radahn's siblings are world-champion schemers Ranni and Rykard... and he's fucking up Ranni's schemes.

* Jerren. Most Elden Ring story bosses have an interactable NPC an hanging around them who acts as kind of their proxy, with similar motivations and personality traits. Mohg has Varre; Rykard, Tanith; Malenia, Millicent; Maliketh, D; etc.

And Radahn's proxy is Jerren: creator of the "Radahn Festival" - a big fun party where everyone gets together to kill Radahn and feel good about themselves! He's good at using spectacle and colorful imagery to manipulate crowds.

Even if Radahn didn't have those skills himself, he valued them. He wanted a campaign manager.

* Radahn's gear and weapons are explicitly a kind of Godfrey-Radagon-fusion cosplay. Yeah, this can be read as "daddy issues"... but those guys are also the previous Elden Lords.

If Radahn knows what he's doing, he knows what he's doing is political. He's making a pitch: "I am the natural heir to both Radagon and Godfrey (and thus, the throne)."

* Millicent and Gowry. Malenia's proxy is manipulated and betrayed by a Carian sorcerer. If Millicent's situation is a mirror of something that happened to her "mother", then who was Malenia's Carian creep? (The guy she dueled, thereby destroying Caelid and bringing Millicent into existence.)

...I think GRRM's conception of Radahn may have been a character type that FromSoft doesn't handle well. I feel like Soulsborne games tend to treat insincerity as contemptible, shameful, and obvious. If a Radahn characterized as "huge muscle guy carefully planning his outfit for purposes of political theatre" were allowed to talk, he'd probably just end up sounding like Patches. Same problem with Radagon. Bullshitters must shut up or shave their heads.

[eghostsofdeadchildren]

Eccentric's Armour Set.

[how-and-why-do-i-know-this]

I hear Jerren has a questline, so I'm gonna see what it has in store for me.

[almostlookedhuman]

[troythecatfish]

[ganondoodle]

jerren on his way to beat miquellas ass once he learns what he did to radahn

(Elden Ring)

[eldenringslut]

Final addition to the masterpost because I think it now covers basically everything about Miquella, Malenia and Radahn in the DLC.

My perspective and views on this have changed a bit over time, but I’m still leaving some of my older interpretations here in case anyone else likes them.

This is not meant as an attack on anyone who disagrees with me, one of my favourite things about Fromsoft game is that multiple interpretations of the lore are possible.

That said the post linked below pretty much sums up my final thoughts on the whole subject:

Okay this is going to be a masterpost linking to posts (both mine and other people’s) that encapulate my thoughts on the Elden Ring DLC lore surrounding Miquella and Consort Radahn. Mostly because I feel like I’m going to be disagreeing with people a lot about the lore and I’d rather have a single post I can link to to share my views.

I’m going to be reblogging this with additional links occasionally so sorry for the spam lol.

Some of the theories listed are going to be incompatible with one another, as there are multiple possible ways to interpret the lore. And as usual feel free to disagree with me and/or discuss lore with me :D

My initial response to the whole ‘chadahn’ thing:

An excellent analysis of Miquella and St. Trina:

Post about how the whole consort thing has nothing to do with sex:

A comparison between Miquella and Ranni, also another possible interpretation of Miquella’s mentality:

A more meta perspective on the whole situation:

Analysis of how Miquella changed over time and how the path to godhood may have changed him:

[blaiddfailcam]

The Radahn Festival

— FIGHTER SELECT —

Finger Maiden Therolina

Blaidd the Half-Wolf

Iron Fist Alexander

Castellan Jerren

Patches the Untethered

[snarp]

Once she's done telling you the above lies, Sellen hands you this:

(This thing's skill's animation looks like a sneak attack/backstab.)

The specific nature of the symbolism of the "undulating blade" is explained by Jerren's sword:

(This one's default skill's animation is "attacking something looming over you.")

They both symbolize starting fires - which is, itself, treason - but the Kris very specifically says "setting the Erdtree on fire and betraying you." Rennala gave this thing to Marika for the same reason Sellen gives it to the player.

[trashingfish]

[eldenringslut]

I think she exists as a foil to Jerren, with both of them being motivated by what’s ’best’ for Radahn.

The difference between them is that while Jerren wants to uphold Radahn’s wishes, Freyja is more interested in upholding Radahn’s image as ‘the great lion’. This provides us an interesting look at how different people can be equally loyal and yet have totally different ideas and motives.

This contrast also makes Radahn a parallel to Miquella. Throughout the DLC Miquella abandons his body and emotions in order to achieve godhood, leaving only a husk carrying the idea of Miquella forwards.

Similarly, Radahn’s desires are ignored by Miquella and his followers. He is brainwashed, forced into Mohg’s body and warped back into his ‘prime form’. He is now the image of ‘the great lion’, and nothing more. And importantly, Freyja is fine with this. She even fights alongside Leda to defend him from you, again showing that she only cares about Radahn’s image rather than Radahn himself.

So while Freyja doesn’t really give us any new information about Radahn’s character, she does help highlight the themes and parallels present in the DLC’s story.

So what was the point of Freyja’s character if she just exists to lie about Radahn? I don’t think I’ve seen another npc get this treatment from Fromsoftware before, usually they exist as exposition for the player. But Freyja apparently is just a dumbass who’s only purpose is to pretend she knows Radahn when she actually doesn’t. That’s just so weird to me, I honestly had hoped they would have given us someone who could have shone a bit of light on to Radahn’s character, but as it is we don’t end up learning anything new about him. Except that he’s kind and strong, as if people haven’t already been saying that for the last two years so that’s not exactly new information.