#scadu tree

[aylameridiandrawsstuff]

A new Elden Ring Art Deco Travel Poster!! Come visit the Gravesite Plain - follow in the footsteps of Miquella...

You can buy prints of all of these beauties here!

[space-blue]

SOTE rant (1)

One thing that I find very annoying, is the propensity for Lore video makers to completely jump on the DLC and analyse it in a void. Everyone is theory crafting like the base game doesn't exist anymore.

Everyone is taking Miquella's approach as the go to for divinity 101 and acting like only the people name dropped in the DLC matter, except for Radagon, who is very important, despite NEVER being named, ANYWHERE in the SOTE game files.

Oh no, excuse me, he's named ONCE in a delete dialogue (unless he speaks during battle but I was under the impression that he never does?) from Radahn:

Yet everyone is out there saying Marika used the gate to make herself a god and created Radagon in the process. And that he was created that way as her lord, and then immediately fathered Messmer and Melina.

But I... kind of don't see it? Why would SHE need to use a special vessel ritual like everyone is theorizing?

She already has a sworn lord : Godfrey.

Why is everyone making these Marika centric lore videos and never dropping the names of key characters?

Godfrey. Serosh. Maliketh. Why is nobody asking themselves WHEN did Marika get granted her "brother" Maliketh by the three fingers? Why is nobody making speculation on whether she had a pact with Hoarah Loux before becoming a god.

He could very well be the vessel needed. He doesn't need to have his soul separated from a body or any such nonsense. That's what Miquella ended up doing because he had no choice if he wanted to use Radahn.

Here is what we know of Godfrey :

Godfrey was a ferocious warrior. When he vowed to become a lord, he took the Beast Regent Serosh upon on his back to suppress the ceaseless lust for battle that raged within. The first demigods were The Elden Lord Godfrey and his offspring, the golden lineage. Crown of Godfrey, the first Elden Lord. The age of the Erdtree began amongst conflict, when Godfrey was lord of the battlefield. He led the War against the Giants. Faced the Storm Lord, alone. And then, there came a moment. When his last worthy enemy fell. And it was then, as the story is told, that the hue of Lord Godfrey's eyes faded. Helm of the Crucible Knights who served Godfrey, the first Elden Lord. Weapon of Godfrey, Elden Lord. It was broken in a battle fought as leader of the Tarnished during the Long March. This weapon is symbolic of Godfrey's vow to conduct himself as a lord, later becoming an emblem of the golden lineage. In the days of the past, a crown was warranted with strength.

The first demigods were The Elden Lord Godfrey and his offspring, the golden lineage.

This line either means that the voice of the game is lying, wrong, or not knowledgeable enough. Or that Messmer is not a demigod, or that Messmer is the son of Godfrey.

And while he does have red hair, he is cursed with a red flame... And his little sister, Melina, doesn't have the distinctive red hair of Radagon's children. She's also not a demigod as far as we know.

Messmer and Melina are named M like Mohg and Morgott! We have plenty of hints that they could be Godfrey's children, first and foremost being the canon base game text asserting all demigods first descended from him. We simply don't know otherwise.

It's also asserting he was the first Elden Lord, and not second or a later addition.

There's also his vow to conduct himself as a Lord, which seems like something he might have done prior to Marika making him Lord.

The beast depicted is Serosh, aged counselor who guides the golden lineage. The black nails protruding from golden fur are said to represent Serosh, Lord of Beasts, who went to become King Godfrey's Regent.

Serosh is very mysterious, and we just know he's some sort of limiter. I've made plenty of posts arguing for Maliketh and Serosh being the same type of beasts from the same global origins.

Beasts are reverred by the Hornsent! Our first boss is their storm beast guys, and the head looks quite similar to Serosh. Who, BTW, is also a spirit form?? Who turns real on command?

All this to say, it doesn't sound impossible at all, to me, that Marika would have come to the gate of divinity already having a lord lined up -- Godfrey -- and counsellors giving advice on how to execute her plan : Serosh and Metyr mother of fingers.

I assume it would be in Metyr's power to grand Marika her (necessary?) Shadowbound beast.

Isn't it interesting that Maliketh is a Shadowbound Beast? In our Shadow Realm DLC? He's never mentioned in the files, sadly.

But all of these people are key to Marika's ascension. I wish people would think about them more when they do their lore videos and not just roll right into creating Radagon out of thin air.

What bothers me most about the secret rite here, is that it says "the secret rite of the divine gateway", like THE rite, not A rite. It could be THE other one is not secret...

But more importantly, the line "usher in a god's return" just really does not fit EITHER of Miquella OR Marika. Neither of them is returning!! Maybe the God of Placidussax would be returning, but both Marika and Miquella are/try to ascend for the first time.

Miquella is also the only one with anyLord shennanigans we know of for sure.

I think Miquella divests himself of everything in order to comply with this ritual. So he has something to "return to". He sheds everything, so that he can pass through the gateway. But he's returning to an Empyrean's birthright. To a demi-god.

But we don't know that this is something Marika would have needed. We don't know that she used this specific ritual. After all, circumstances are VERY different for her :

The Gate of Divinity is fresh and bloody, implying a recent mass sacrifice. And then she plucks Gold from a corpse or receptacle of some sort.

None of this is depicted in Miquella's return, and he's not trying to emulate his mother, because her way of doing things came with a curse loaded "original sin". So we even have reason to believe Miquella would not actually be replicating the same ritual.

[cyrsed]

i've gotten basically to the end of shadow of the erdtree im just stuck on radahn lol.... i've gotten decent at his first phase & i've gotten him down to like 1/10th health a few times but even with ansbach and my mimic the fweakin holy beams get me every time

[valence-e]

I question I still have for the Shadow of the Erdtreee is what the NPC's are doing there. Unlike most things in Souls Games, what's happening is an active plot, we are like only a couple hours behind Miquella and he probably knew breaking his Great Rune would lift the Charm he had on everyone.

My best guess' for why the NPC crew are in the realm of Shadows are;

Just a coincidence, people charmed by Miquella just followed him like moths to a flame.

Miquella had a 10000 IQ plan to draw Ansbach, a threat to him, and a crew of loyal followers even post enchantment to protect him. He knew that once the enchantment broke, Leda would assassinate Ansbach. The Hornsent was just collateral damage, I guess he probably already lived in the land of shadows?

[abyssal-maiden]

Serpent's Hearth Pt. 5: Blissful Sacraments

Apologies for the delays! College is like that sometimes. Please hydrate and eat my lovelies. <3

Chapter warning: xBloodplayx xBoundingx xSmutx

!!!MDNI!!!: 18+ (( xbloodplayx xsmutx xpregnancyx xothersinsx))

XTouchStarvationxLightYanderexEnemiestoLoversxSizeDifferencex

Your senses initiate to the repeated sound of knocking. As your lids flutter open, you are confronted with…him. You lift your head, Messmer's warm hand slides down to rest over the left side of your collarbone. The forgotten lord of flame, snoring softly, beautifully slumped around you, serpents nestled comfortably between. He looked so peaceful and forlorn simultaneously. The knocking persists. You gingerly reach, brushing fiery strands from his face to reveal his closed eye. As you shift, the reptilian companions stir slightly, exposing Messmer's glowing iris as he wakes. He looks at you blankly for a minute as if deciphering if you’re real. He sits up slowly, hand running up your shoulder and cupping your neck before leaning into a gentle peck. He moves to your ear, kissing just beneath it, inhaling deeply before moving away. His scaled kin hiss in protest, hopelessly pulling at his frame towards your comfortable body heat. He sits on the edge of the bed groggily, securing his discarded gambeson around his waist as he stands. Quietly striding towards the door, rubbing his eye.

He’s careful not to open the threshold of the room too wide, opting to slip out and close it behind him. An ancient woman with a cane gives him a suspicious look through narrowed eyes. 

“Egidia…” He sighs.

“My lord.” The finger reader gives a shaky head bow. The servant pair holding her chair up look to be spent following the climb. 

“Forthwith with thy purpose..” he groans, still digging at his tired socket. “Thou wouldst disturb mine slumbering state, the first in moons.” 

At this, the old woman chuckles. “Most curious then, thee hath joined us in the corridor…” she ventures, glancing at the door, taking in his lack of shirt and steel. “ Wouldst thou not prefer to converse in thy bed-chamber, my lor-”

“State thee objective crone.” He hisses quietly over her.

“Very well, my lord.” She croaks in a malcontented tone. “Thee hast appointments to attend. Tis nearly high noon.”  She lifts her hand, the servants standing. “Dost thou intend to break thee fast this meridie?”

“I do desire such this day. See to it that it is grand. Enter not thine chambers unannounced.” He glowers as the group turns. “Do postpone mine audiences, I wish to bathe. Dismiss mine throne house servants until niht.” 

She looks as if to protest; the slitted eye of her sovereign warns her to cease any resistance. As they descend, he can hear the old matron cursing under her breath. He feels generous today; choice words never seem to affect the finger’s witch anyway, and he would not dare depose his mother's stooge too harshly. He enters the room to see you sitting at the table next to the window, observing the rampart. You’ve added a log to the fire, giving it new life in the cold stone hovel. A smile plays on his lips; you look beautiful in the midday glow of the Scadu Tree’s remains as your eyes cast over the distant ruins across the canyon. You turn your head to his towering image, a subtle look of uncertainty in your visage.

“Messmer…”

“Beg thee...another eventide to enjoy thou spell of firmament…” He murmurs, kneeling to sit eye-level, hand raising your knuckles to his lips. The heat grazes them as he soaks in the sight of you, your presence. His eye is vulnerable, his timbre possessive, like a puppy with a capacity for murder. He searches, but the flames have dispelled from your eyes. Verily, I shall make thee gaze shine anew, lightless minx.

He’s grasping at your head and pulling you to his lips. Leaning forward into your enchantment. He’s on his knees in front of the stool you inhabit, clinging to you as his tongue osculates around your own. His fingers hungrily dig through your hair, sliding down your frame at individual paces, exploring delicate blushing flesh under the calefying aura of his touch. The wood scrapes as he pulls your seat toward his chest so that his chin is nestled comfortably between your breasts. He looks up at you unguardedly, his face flushed. He parts his lips to speak but is interrupted by another knock at the door. He sits up from his crouching posture, sighing. 

“Mine honored beauty, sit upon the bed but for a moment.” He whispers, pulling your hand as he gets up.

Following his lead, you plant yourself on the side of the large circular piece. He smiles, finger tracing your chin as he draws the tattered curtain past its scorched edge. He answers the door once more. You survey the burns in the fabric, how they're ripped into frayed holes at the front end as if taken in rage, several of the small rings broken off the rod above. From behind the veil, the clattering of trays and the hushed pleasantries of several servants entering and departing can be heard. You try your best to hold your breath.

He’s met with a pout when he pulls the curtain back, his brow communes a look of concern. The attitude dissolves almost instantly when the heaping feast behind him beckons you. Every fruit, grain, green, and meat you could imagine was laid intricately on a tray, white groupings of various cheeses dotted in different parts. 

“I’ve never seen so much fresh food in one place…” Your eyes betray a look of esurience. He seems delighted, standing straight, a proud gleam in his eye at your amusement.

“Tis for thee…” he glances away bashfully—his hand motions for you to sit at the table again. He drags his chair to the flank of your stool. Hand drawing circles on your thigh as he watches you eat. He periodically snags a grape, a chunk of cured meat, an olive, the like—his attention shifts between your lips and your hands. The serpents intruded by flecking at the dried delicacies and retreated at a soft cough from their master.

“Forgive me, I must quell these ravenous pests.” he hisses, rising and walking to the room's opposite corner. A small door above the end table opens, and he reaches in, fingers gripping the tails of a couple of mice. You could hear the squeaking terror as he tossed them into the air. The rest you turn away from, 

Your meal, however delicious, adjourned shortly after. Messmer excuses himself, returning a few moments later to collect you. He insists on carrying you down the winding staircase, passing the hall from which you originated. The snakes snuggle up in your lap and the curve of your neck. His heart beats quickly against your eardrum as you rest your head against him; glancing up, you meet his gaze. The glowing of his seal always gave away his attention in the dark, but he did not shy away from you now. 

“I cannot recall when last I enjoyed companionship…”

“How…long has it been for you..?” You blush in the dark, thankful for the dimly lit area. You had not been with a man since your reanimation and hoped it was not evident from your performance. 

“Well….” he pauses momentarily, the steps echoing around your movements. “I suppose…fifteen, no, sixteen hundred cycles now.”

You hear the wall appears behind you after exiting the stairwell. Another previously unseen awning across from the entry gate emits a pleasant aroma mixed with humidity.

How many fucking secrets did I miss?

The bathroom pillars extend the length of the room—a charred granite disrupted by cracks of gold from the floor to the vaulted ceiling. The space is filled with steam, myrrh wafts along with it. Trays of exquisite crystalline bottles line the right side of the wide bathing pool. The sides of the bath host an indented sitting ledge along the entirety of the inner perimeter, delving deeper towards the back of the room. Custom-built for the giant pawing at your thighs as he sets you on your feet. The ancient-looking candle stacks come to life as he enters, dropping his vestments on the slab floor and stepping down. He turns to you, holding his lengthy arm out, clawed hand extended. The serpents seem to gather together on his shoulders, giving the impression they dislike this particular activity. 

You take his hand, venturing out over the first step, water lapping at your thigh as it sinks into the warmth. He looks down and chuckles at your height. 

“Mine perfect toy.” He mumbled, sitting on the ledge and drawing you down onto his lap in the hot water. 

His fingers move in the air, and the doorway gives way to the illusion of brick.  Hands sloppily eager with pursuit, sliding up between your breasts to grip your neck, the other between your thighs. He inhales along your neck, pulling your head back, nipping your ear before rasping quietly.

“Ne’er have I felt such in the presence of another.”  His fingers spread across the gap of your thighs under the water, his ring and index gently running down your labia carefull not to part it just yet. 

“I extend thee an accord, A union wrought in lightless possession.”

Your mouth opens to speak, but his grasp slips into your open lips, nail tracing the center of your tongue.

“I wish to bind thee.” He groans, lifting you slightly with his grasp on your pussy. “Such impious fealty I would pay with mine own head.” 

His fingers curl, gripping the front of your slitted joy, plunging only knuckle deep. They teasingly alternate under the water; you feel his breath in your ear again.

“I will make thee fold in mine thrall.” he moans, you can feel his throbbing member against your back as he yanks at your cunt. “Thou shall want for naught, ne’er another.”

You moan around the digit penetrating your lips. His iris trembles with ecstasy, watching his finger covered in your saliva slide through your muffled mewls. 

“Agree.” He pulls harder against your sensitive clit, fingers parting the folds in the bath's warmth. 

“Agree.” His whisper is more commanding than before. His tongue slides up your neck; he sucks gently before plunging the two fingers into your hole.

“Say you are mine, mine alone, tarnished.” His finger pulls out of your gasping breaths as the two inside of your slit move around. His lips part in the effort, his pumping feverish before he moans again.

“ Say you are mine.”

“Yes me-MesSMer!” That familiar pulsing forms in your guts as his fingers dig into your core. “I am for thee alone!”

“Speak with sincerity, cherished little toy!” He hisses in your lobe, pulling back and using his spit-slicked grip to turn your face towards him. The water splashes around his bicep as he beats your cunt with his large hand.

“Dev…Devotion, my lord. I will bid devotion!” you call out as your body spasms in a twitching symphony around his hot fingers. The snakes have regained motivation as they observe and caress your flushed face.

You gutturally moan when he rises, gripping your left breast and right hip. The water cascades down as he stands, spinning around so your hands are slapped against the cold perimeter before being seized again. There is no hesitation in the first thrust as he bucks into you from behind, begging you for your capitulation in short, murmuring bouts. Miel and Purkoy constrict your arms, pulling them back into Messmer's thrusts. His hand leaves a stinging mark on your ass as he loses himself, hips jerking forward wildly against your addictive body. He leans down, the force of his cock pushing you to drooling bliss. 

“Thee must submit most wondrously, exchange for mine endless heed. Give me wholeness, and I will reward thee eternal.” The silk command flows into your mind easily.

You nod vigorously as he pulls on your hair, using the excess leverage to push the limits of your distending folds.  His sharp talon slides across the side of your neck as he pounds relentlessly, his glowing eye obsessive as he watches your blood well up. He rips at his palm, waiting for your gasp as his teeth sink around the slit on your throat, slipping his blood into your maw and stifling the moan. The taste of copper laces with the heat of his flaming ichor, running down your throat, warming your body as your breasts slip and bounce against the granite of the bath with each forward motion of your lover's girth. His moan vibrates against your neck as he sucks.

“Yes, oh....gods. F-fuck, yes!” your voice is barely audible as the pounding of your snatch mixed with the splashing of warm water against Messmer’s swinging testicles and tensed thighs as they collide with your rump.  

He smears his blood all over your beautiful chin, pretty deep crimson on glass skin—your cheeks tingle, your eyes alight with his flame once more. He mewls joyfully at the sight, his left hand cupping your oblique before sliding to feel your tummy underneath. He moans, feeling the way his cantilever is hollowing you through your soft skin as he drives vigorously into your quaking split. His blood is eventually dripping from your hip, shoulder, neck, everywhere as he squeezes each part possessively with his leaking palm. Taking account of your form with his abyssal envy, moaning in ecstasy as he paints you in red. He can feel his need pooling in his lower stomach.

“Thou’rt mine.” He lustfully calls out to you.

His hot palms wrap the front of your thighs; the serpents tighten their hold on your arms. He’s lifting you, shoving himself into your tight trembling pussy. You’re on the verge of melting away while suspended when he shoves one of your legs up onto the edge of the pool. One hand stroking the base of his cock as he watches the cream of pleasure slowly collect along his shaft with each push of his convulsing monster. The constriction of your walls sucks every drop of his semen from his hulking phallus. You hear his hands come down on either side of your stimulated being as his faltering pace becomes slow and deep, shooting hot pangs against the limits of your sensitive walls. His long hair tickles your arched back. He stays like that, panting, pulling out with a slight gasping hiss as he views the mess he’s implanted spilling down your inner thighs. 

“Thou’rt mine.” He repeats, sitting back down in the bath, head leaning against your thigh as you lean on the side for a second to catch your breath. He pulls you back onto his lap.

“Thou’rt bound by blood.” He turns you, pulling your chin and placing a long, steamy smooch against your willing lips. “Thou willst know the imbuement of everlasting longing”

Your tongues dance for a while, the cloud of red surrounding you two dissipating over time. The mixture of blood adorns both of your faces as it is exchanged between the caressing of cheeks. The ritual is only dispelled when a shocked gasp sounds from the direction of the doorway. 

Master List

Previous // Next

[i-28-29]

Small theory:

Ive been recently thinking of Melinas scars all across her body, and how she's more or less just a shell with no soul.

Her scars are obviously burn scars, and it's implied they're more or less all over her body right?

Now one thing I've noticed, especially about the land of shadow, is how things there just look burnt. Its never said anywhere, and it mostly could be because of Marika covering up the possibility that Melina could've burned the Scadutree

The Scadu tree already looks dead from what we get to see of it, and its crumbling doesn't help. However, it looks as if it wasn't burned all the way, as if whatever fire had started burning it, stopped, and left it charred and black.

I've seen a lot of people say Messmers 2nd phase looks similar to frenzied flame ending Melina but I don't really see it. I think Messmer just happens to look like that because of the lighting

While obviously, Messmers whole face is burnt off (💀) he still retains most of his color. However Melina is significantly drained of her colors, looking fairly gray and pale.

Im sorta just grasping at straws now but at some point Melina had to have been just- a full person right??? So maybe the first time she burned the tree she burned away her body? And was left as a wandering soul now. And the second time burning a tree burned her soul as well. Her fire power seems to be significantly stronger than any we've seen, being obviously stronger than Messmers, and the only one to match what she could do being the frenzied flame.

Melina and the frenzied flame seem to be each others natural enemies

Okay I'm yapping now goodnight

[elwar-arts]

Elden ring "controversy"? SotET

I usually don't say things that could hurt peoples feelings or make them mad, but I've wanted to talk about this for a long time. In eldenring shadow of the erdtree, why are people defending the scadu tree fragment system? it feels like it should objectively be a bad game mechanic. "I need to stop doing the fun thing so I can go find easter eggs." didn't a similar system in a Dark souls 2 DLC get it branded as "the worst DLC" ? I'm just annoyed that 'influencers' gaslit people into believing they can't think of the DLC as weak (when compared to all other soulsborne DLC's) while still LOVING other parts of it. eldenring shadow of the erdtree gave me my favorite weapons, armor, npc's, bosses and most importantly, my most favorite BOSSFIGHT! Igon & I fighting Bayel was akin to opera and made me more emotional than most other games have, along with some other heart wrenching boss fights in that DLC. idk, I'm sleepy ranting. just, as a huge fromsoft fan, don't say it's good because it's hard or annoying, okay? it's good because it's supposed to be fun. :3

[bobbyzombiegg]

Finally killed the Scadu Tree Avatar! They were right. That sunflower's got hands.

And uh. If anyone plays on console, would they mind helping me with the final boss of the dlc? I got a +16 scadu bonus and I'm still getting 3-shot. I usually refuse to do summoning for the final bosses of the main games and dlcs, but I don't think I'm doing this on my own

[trenchgardens-ooc-ooc-ooc-ooc]

elden ring's entirety is about reproduction...

metaphors taken literally, the world tree, the family tree, horticulture, gold, the rebis, genocide, culling, hubris, eugenics, the fallacy of purity, self polination, god

the great tree of the dragons was a conifer, it was felled, burned? in its place was born a crucible- crown sprouting, Merika "pruned" the family tree. she cut the crown sprouts, hundreds of diverse linneages, and favored one specifically, then she shed herself of the association to the crucible, and banished the keys to power which put her in power again and again and again, she seizes power and then removes the way she did and hides it... the great tree, the crucible, the crucible knights, the Tarnished, Godfrey, the Hornsent, the land of shadow, the Scadu tree, the divine tower, the gate of divinity, the jar saints, Miquella, his Haelig tree, his divinity, HIS ascension, his discarding of the Golden Order, his discarding of his Sister, his Body, his other half, his Doubt, his Love, stripping himself of everything to persue an Un-Alloyed Gold.

the Fallacy of Purity.

Pure-blood knights of Mohg...

to forge bonds and mend scars, families would intermarry.

to give credibility to their rule, royalty would marry old royalty,

to give credibility to their sustained rule, royalty would marry royalty,

they would keep the bloodline, "pure."

the Fallacy of Purity

you find gold in a rock, you remove the rock, you grind it to dust, you sift through the crumbles, you emulsify and push through a grate, you take the remainder, you burn it, you obliterate it, you drown it, you hammer it, you burn it, you burn it hotter, you boil it, you capture it as it flees, you discard what it could not take with it, you freeze it, you melt it, you hammer it, you melt it, you hammer it, you melt it, un-alloyed gold.

A useless material.

The Fallacy of Purity.

To miss the forest for a tree, to miss a tree for a branch, to miss a branch for a bough, to miss a bough for a twig, to miss a bow for a leaf, to miss a leaf for a segment, for a capilary, for a cell, for a cloroplast, for a protein, for an atom, for a neutron

A useless material.

There is a concept of neutronium. A material with no electrons or protons, an element 0, something before hydrogen, a Pure material.

A useless material.

Gold is formed through subjecting stones to hell. Un-Alloyed Gold is formed through subjecting Gold to hell. Neutronium could be formed by subjecting Un-Alloyed Gold to hell...

No matter how tender, how exquisite, a lie will remain a lie.

Elden Ring is about eugenics, and how it never ends. Why it would never end.

A means cannot justify the end of Purity, because there is no such thing as a state of Purity. Purity is a fallacy.

The genocide of the dragons, beast-men, hornsent, giants, albinurics... it continues forever.

Ancient Dragons, Drakes. Giants, Trolls. First Albinurics, Second Albinurics. Hornsent, Omen. Divine Beasts, horned lions. Jar saints, living jars. Beast-men, Misbegotten. They arent destroyed, they cant be destroyed, they are still there, it is impotent torture. It's ends arent just immoral, or impossible to achieve, but both, and still absolutely and completely ineffectual at any progress towards the goal. The genocide cannot even create a population with the parts they removed still removed.

The Giants were exterminated, but some giants, the Least Giant giants, joined the Golden Order in betrayal. They were enslaved. Gutted.

Genocide is a means to an end, the end is Purity, and Purity is a fallacy.

If any concept is worthy of the title 'obscene,'

Purity is obscene.

Elden Ring is a story about a nation formed from tyranny, genocide, brutal bloodshed, and maintained through eugenics, torture, lies, cruelty, and absolute delusion, hiding its past and maintaining a lie both explicit and of omission saying that it is good despite its origins. A society created through subjugation and fundamental foundations of inequality and lies. A more perfect union.

Elden Ring is a story about a woman named Marika and her persuit of Purity.

[headcanontheshitoutofsoulsborne]

Guys, I have a confession to make. I have zero interest in playing the Elden Ring DLC atm. I still will open up headcanons for it starting August 1st. I spoiled myself on the lore and I made screenshots and got screenshots from friends for the most important characters. I think a couple are still missing like Ymir or Bayle, but I find a way around. But now under the cut I want to say the why I can't bring myself to play the Elden Ring DLC right now:

So... I was genuinely excited for this DLC. It would give us Miquella lore. It would finally tell us what his deal is. We can finally see his plan to save his sister etc etc. And then I saw people being REALLY disgruntled about the DLC. Mostly Mohg fans. So I got curious... far too curious. "What are they so upset about?" And so I looked up spoilers. I looked up who the final boss of the DLC is. Only to be slapped in the face with Radahn. Freaking Radahn! Apparently he and Miquella are doing a twin princes situation?! After that relevation I ran to AO3 to look at the ship tags...

Not. a. single. Miquella/Radahn. fic. had. been. written. pre. DLC. That DLC... just gave us a crackship that had nobody on the agenda and made it CANON! I couldn't believe it. But I first wanted to play through the DLC and see if I can take something from it that I like. And yeah, there are things I like from the lore, but I cannot help but think that final boss is bullshit that someone pulled out of their ass. Malenia whispering to Radahn in the story trailer is not enough for me. Okay, so I played the game, but... ...while the exploring is as fun as in the main game... It suffers from the same problems I have with the Elden Ring main game end game. Enemies with bloated HPs, FAR too long combos and I just don't have fun learning a boss when I heal after a combo and the animation is too slow so they hit me again with the start of their next combo. I don't want to summon my mimic tear for every single boss. Really not. But sometimes the DLC feels like it forces me to because I am not fast enough anymore. Why are all these bosses on speed? Sigh... it just isn't much fun to me anymore. What I liked so much in Dark Souls and Bloodborne, the hard and fair gameplay, seemed to have reduced to "hard for the sake of being hard". And yes, I collected Scadu Tree fragments. Doesn't change the fact that the bosses still have insanely long combos that my brain cannot comprehend. One day I will play through the DLC. I paid money for it after all... but after that sorely disappointing final boss reveal and the game being more of the weakest part of Elden Ring (at least for me), I don't feel like playing atm. I kinda hope that FromSoft takes a long break from Soulsborne now and thinks about where they want to go with it.

[zeleneagle]

Finished the SOTE dlc fully (pretty much at least)

Boss ratings (in the order that I fought them):

Divine Lion dancing beast: 8/10, fun fight even if it's difficult, not too frustrating, looks very cool, very solid overall

Rellana, Twin Moon Knight: 7.5/10 slightly less fun than Divine Lion imo but still a good fight, like pontiff sulyvahn if he had HRT

Golden Hippopotamus: 7/10, solid fight, sorta fun, not too much to say about this one

Scadutree avatar: 3/10, I really dislike these very large bosses with high movement speed who just knock you around and run away, there's a few of those in this dlc unfortunately, just not something I like

Messmer the impaler: 9/10, very nice fight, skillful but not frustrating once you figure out how to dodge his attacks (rolling forward every time), one of my faves in the DLC

Commander Gaius: 7/10, same deal as the hippo, an alright fight but not too much to say about it, didn't wow me nor frustrate me

Romina, Saint of the bud: 9/10, another fave like Messmer, the fight itself is really cool and she's fun to fight so long as you dodge properly

Promised consort Radahn: 6/10, if it was just the first phase and then ramped up slightly this might've been an 8 or 9 instead, but that second phase exists. I just don't like it, there's too much bullshit and I pretty much just got through it cus I had an OP build and dealt more damage than he did in time, tldr: first phase good, second phase bad

Midra, lord of frenzied flame: 8.5/10, very solid fight, nice moveset, very cool location and story too

Putrescent knight: 3/10, just like scadutree avatar, I just don't like it, the moveset is annoying with delays, the bitch moves around constantly, and if he hits you he knocks you on your ass so the next hit also lands. Just an annoying fight.

Metyr, mother of fingers: 8/10, fun fight IMO, looks cool too and I like Ymir's quest to reach her

Bayle the Dread: Now normally I'd give this fight 8/10 BUT, Igon is there which elevates it to a 9.5/10, definitely my favorite fromsoft dragon fight, good job fromsoft.

I'll put the area and lore ratings after a break since this is long enough already.

AREA RATINGS:

Gravesite plain: 6/10, this is not a bad area but pales in comparison to some other areas in the dlc, hence the lower score, pretty enough

Scadu altus: 6/10, pretty much the same as gravesite plain

Shadow keep: 6/10, fine enough area but once again, doesnt really stand out to me

Scadutree: 6.5/10, starting to get there, this area is somewhat nicer than the others so far

Scadutree base: 4/10, the view of the tree is cool ig but the avatar is there and youre only there for as long as you fight that thing

Hinterlands: 8/10, pretty along with some cool lore spots like the finger ruins and shaman village, nice

Ancient ruins of Rauh: 9/10, very cool area, love the aesthetics of it, amazing

Tower of shadow: 7/10, looks alright, sorta fun to traverse, not much more to say about it

Abyssal woods: 10/10, the area looks amazing, the lore is great, the gameplay is refreshing, perfection

Cerulean coast: 9/10, once again, looks amazing, finding this right out of a cave system gives the same vibes as siofra did, very good

Stone coffin fissure: 7/10, looks alright but thats about it, the st trina room at the end on its own gets an 8.5/10

Jagged peak: 9/10, looks cool, filled with dragons, gives a very nice sense of adventure

Overall the areas themselves are very nice, especially the ones to the south

LORE STUFF:

One of the things that sorta pulled the dlc down for me is Miquella and all the bs around him. Called Miquella the kind but just seems cruel and self absorbed to me. My friend did point out that "the kind" may be a mistranslation since in spanish it is more "polite Miquella" or something.

To be more specific, its the name that bothers me and how they handled Miquella lore. I think how he behaves is spot on, a child who is revered as prodigy with angelic looks, likely never told hes in the wrong, would likely behave the way he does.

Dunno why but "kindly" for such a person just annoys me, if it is indeed a mistranslation then that fixes my annoyance. So overall Miquella lore 5/10 for me

Overall dlc rating: 7.5/10

The other bits of lore are cool but the part that especially cranks up the rating here are Igon and Bayle, absolutely iconic npc, 10/10.

[aylameridiandrawsstuff]

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ps I'm working on Lake of Rot right now!!!

[space-blue]

Less theory crafting and more me having an episode of some sort

Everyone is focusing on Marika betraying the hornsent at the gates of Divinity and who/what was going down with that "affair" mentioned, and I'm like... can we please not forget the fingers??

Why is nobody talking about the Fingers?? And who is the Grandmother mentioned in her braid item description?

We're told (by a pretty cookie guy) that the fingers and Marika were "unsound from the start".

We also see the craters in which the Fingers/Metyr first arrived. So like... did that happen during Marika's lifetime? Or was she born to a Shaman numen village that was already communicating/communing with Metyr somehow?

"A braid of golden hair, cut loose. Queen Marika's offering to the Grandmother. What was her prayer? Her wish, her confession? There is no one left to answer, and Marika never returned home again."

You can see the missing braid on this statue BTW.

Is the grandmother perhaps a finger reader? Did Marika harness the Greater Will's powers to take over? Or was the Greater Will already arround and in use by the hornsent? I certainly didn't see any proof of that. There is also no example of a finger reader anywhere while their bodies pepper the ground in some areas of the base game.

From my personal experience riding around and reading what I find, it seems like Marika, part of a people destined for inhuman torture in jars, all for lofty goals of "sainthood", whatever that means, made a secret prayer, wish and confession, to this reverential Grandmother figure.

There was already signs of tree worship, what with the lifelike human shape within the tree you find the gifted braid at. It reminds me of Miquella's own shape in his tree.

We also see people eembedded in trees in the keep on our way to the final boss. Clearly this is something endemic to this land, that Marika implemented in the Lands Between. Maybe the difference between that tree and Miquella's is simply the divinity of the person at its core.

Anyway, she clearly confessed she was about to do something F'ed Up, wished for revenge and prayed for success... Or prayed to the Greater Will, accepting to become a vessel for it if it can give her the tools to destroy her oppressors.

I'd like to also mention that the fingers mushroom has completely whack lore :

You're telling me people want to be fingers so bad that they eat that mushroom to hallucinate that they are? And fingers are basically mushrooms growing off the Erdtree?? Like some sort of alien parasite?

What's the timeline then???

Metyr makes landfall. She's the first shooting star in the Lands between. Some time later, the Elden Beast arrives. It is explicitely a vassal beast and the one that carries the Elden Ring.

The Erdtree sprouts from the Elden Ring, so the tree, whatever it was called at the time, predates all this. We have the hornsent, in their own land, doing their own thing. And in the Lands between we have Placidusax as Elden Lord, with his own god. Meanwhile the hornsent are building spirals to try and reach the gods, and stuffing people into jars to make "saints". Maybe that mentality is what leads them to making the pillars of divinity out of freshly slaughtered people...

The entire time Metyr is (presumably??) making babies that serve as relays to the Greater Will. But allegedly relay to her and her to nothing at all, and they give garbled guidance the entire time?? Was Placidussax using fingers to get his guidance? I don't know.

Then Marika cuts her braid, makes a prayer, and leaves her village. She has an affair (which doesn't have to be sexual) is involved into seduction (her being seduced, or her doing the seducing? Again, doesn't have to be sexual) and betrays the hornsent. This is pretty obvious.

We see her pull gold thread out of something, and I've seen theories it's grace from the eyes of Placidussax's god. Grace from the gloam eyed queen belly, some sort of egg, or even the serpent Messmer is bound to.

I frankly have no idea. The previous age being of the crucible, some have guessed THAT is the crucible, or its physical form. I wonder if that thing is at all related to the jars, which are so prominent in the story. Sainthood is never explained, but was the goal of jar making perhaps related?

It would certainly explain Marika's presence for such a ritual, since she can't have had crazy status as a shaman? Or else she did do some seducing, and was there in some other official capacity.

Does Hoarah come into play already?? Does Serosh??? Were the fingers guiding her, leading her on, explaining how she needs a consort, and the strands of the Elden Ring, so that she can kickstart her own order?

Were the fingers guiding the hornsent towards that tree making goal already, and Marika highjacked that?

You also have to see the way the gate is a fused mass of bodies reaching to the sky, and their culture was obsessed with stuffing people into jars to bring them closer to the divine. The serpent fuses with Messmer and the God devouring serpent is made out of writhing bodies. The erdtree is stuffed with corpses at its root, and the trees in the hornsent settlements are as well.

It seems like ascending to a higher power or to godhood requires an enormous sacrifice.

In that regard, we also see Miquella speedrun the god thing, and he discards his flesh, his emotions and his doubts (not great) and worst of all, his love. Which really saddens a nearby ghost, and prompts his own alter ego to beg us to kill him. Because godhood would be torture/a cage to him.

Then he's at the gate, trying to use the reanimated corpse of one half brother, stuffed with the compliant and silent soul of another... The making of his lord required the killing of two demi gods, which is maybe just as meaningful as killing hundreds of nobodies.

Did Marika strike an alliance with the Abyssal Serpent and a lord of the Badlands and a Beast because that's who she had to ally herself with against the hornsent? Was Maliketh given to her as half brother/shadow as a form of alliance with Serosh's people? And she then gave her firstborn son to the serpent?

Or did she turn parts of her allies into her first children by stuffing them into jars? I've seen that theory, and it certainly would help explain why Messmer is half fused with a serpent and Melina (his little sister) has a gloam eye.

Marika could then promptly have betrayed *everyone*, killing the GEQ, The serpent, and reducing Serosh to a ghostly limiter for her husband, and her new brother into a tool for future plans.

She went on a crusade of violence, conquest, and never stopped fucking with the hornsent back home, hiding their realm from view and making it the recipient of every death.

Then she stops to take a breather and study the Greater Will a little closer, realises how wrong it is. Maybe finally cotoning on to Metyr's abandonment. Maybe she also sees the plans for her own replacement.

So she creates the Tarnished, tasks them to return, enable Ranni and give her shaman (??) numen girlies to go kill her child with. And assuming Godwyn is perfect because Marika divested herself of her love (the same way we know Miquella did) and formed him with it, then it's possible she has little trouble sacrificing him for her plans. Marika has very few qualms about sacrifice, clearly.

Eventually she breaks the Elden Ring, knowing it'll shatter the Greater Will's influence and trap her (Radagon, can't fit him in this easily), but she'll bide her time.

I wonder if she thought her definition of Order was flawed. I wonder if she saw that she'd become the same as the people who made her, sacrificing others. I wonder if any of it was part and parcel with her divinity, and that her only way out was to be slain by the next god chosen by the (broken) fingers.

I wonder WHEN the fingers started rotting.

I wonder if Marika had it in for the hornsent, or had it in for the Outer Will from the get go. With base game I was pretty happy with the theorry that Marika, as a numen, was playing the Long LONG con against the Outer Will, getting to godhood to lay the fundation of her betrayal. There are plenty of signs of premeditation, the Tarnished themselves being the biggest of them all.

The guidance of Grace now can basically only come from Marika herself as well! So it's another big tell.

But now we learn her very ascencion is born of betrayal. In the sin of mass sacrifice (and with the potential guidance of a broken fallen star)

And you gotta wonder... were jars made for the Greater Will? Is the Greater Will, which is THE big creator of life, the god that the hornsent were making saints for? Was it the Greater Will's teachings, or past incarnation of gods, that gave life to shamans only to wip them raw and merge them into other being until they made jars? Whatever that meant? Do baby jars contain shaman children???

Is Alexander related the Marika???????

More seriously, it's fascinating that Jar making culture went from stuffing live people in it, to becoming a funeral practice, with the living jar stuffing corpses inside itself and absorbing their power. That seems... like an evolution? The people Alexander stuffs inside him are not alive. UNLESS the core that makes Alexander is also a fucked up shaman.

WHY IS THERE A BONNY VILLAGE WITH A POTENTATE IN THE LANDS BETWEEN???? Who is perpetuating that tradition, and why? Shouldn't Marika be livid and forbid it? Or does she allow its continuing because the nature of the jars has changed? Is the village made from rescued jars containing people she once knew and loved?

What about the giant massive ass fucking jar outside the arena? How do you explain that one? Surely if anyone is going to reach sainthood, it'll be that jar...

Anyway. Could Marika have started with a deeply ingrained hatred for the Greater Will? Could her becoming its god just be her way to highjack its power and start ruling, even as she planned its very downfall?

This would even mesh well with Ranni's ending, or the three fingers. Any ending that basically ends the Greater Will's influence would be a victory for such a Marika. Where she'd make the ultimate sacrifice of her own self.

Anyway, please scream back at me!!!

[selfawerew0lf]

Ok so I'm hyped up on pre work out we'll see how this plays out.

Ok so in the arena of Miquella there are a bunch of bones and bodies of Hornsent in front and composing the gate itself. This is the first mass sacrifice/extinction event that fueled the Godhood gates for Marika. She became a Goddess based on this sacrifice.

MIQUELLA got the sacrifices he needed through the war that Malenia waged against Radahn. Godrick I'm sure helped with whatever casualties we got from that fight, but please note she kicked his ass and never took his Great Rune. It would have been easy. He was the weakest, but the Rune wasn't the goal. It was the slaughter of both her and Radahn's army. Which happened to take place over Mohgwyn Palace grounds where Miquella's cocoon was. NOT ONLY THAT she was forced to bloom which unintentionally sacrificed the entire side of Caelid. She played her part beautifully in that regard with the only draw back being Radahn was to stubborn and kawaii to die.

Now that leads me back briefly to Messmer and his war campaign because that got me thinking. Belurat has their own empyrean why use Marika? Because they didn't. Messmer's campaign might have been partially fueled by the need to find blood sacrifices to fuel Marika's ascension and escape out of the Scadu Lands. So much so that Messmer found a way to seal off the tower that led up to the God Gates so that none could pursue and stop his mother from ascending.

TLDR: I wasn't prepared for global mass sacrifices to giant trees like this, but here we are.

[adapperblob]

Just learn about architectural follies and now I finally have the correct language to point to the stupid structure before the Scadu tree challice. And funnily enough, just like the dlc, it's all just one big folly!

[simon-newman]

Shadow of the Erdtree

So. I've just reached exactly 100 deaths in the Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree alone.

It's time to celebrate!

Anyway.

Hall of fame for the most deaths inflicted upon my lowly Tarnished self:

3rd place: Putrescent Knight at 13 kills!

2nd place: Ancient Dragon Senessax at 14 kills!

1st place: Rellana the Twin Moon Knight at 24 kills!

I've only used a summon for Rellana out of those 3.

Other honorable mentions:

Ghostflame Dragons (Scadu Altus, the one battling a whole gaggle of Messmer soldiers), Blackgoal Knight - both at 7 kills.

Myself by drinking St. Trina's Nectar - 5 deaths (it's for plot reasons!).

And also. I got killed by an inanimate tree one time due to a bug that left me stuck in it's branches (the game killed me after some 30 seconds of being unable to move).

So. Is the DLC as hard as people claim it to be?

Honestly I don't think so? Other than a few select bosses I'm basically stomping everything on my way. As many deaths to Rellana as I had I'll say that unlike Malenia this boss is annoyingly spammy with her attacks. I've "almost had her" 4 times before resorting to a Summon out of frustration.

I went in without much knowledge about any boss I'ld be facing and for the first whole day completely ignored the DLC blessing system that'd make me stronger - just to get a feel on how bad it'd be. I'm also avoiding to use summons. So far only used Oleg against 4 bosses.