#the witch queen spoilers

[lunian]

[peachysunrize]

Was she in truth a witch who lay with demons, bringing forth dead children as payment for the knowledge they gave her? Was she a simpleminded slattern, as Eustace believes? A wanton who used her poisons and potions to bind men to her, body & soul? - writings of Gyldayn

[theobjectofyourire]

"The realm will suffer if Aemond One-Eye rules. You should pray you never meet him. He will cut you down soon as wish you good-day."

[thewisecheerio]

Elden Ring and Leftism

Elden Ring can be read as leftist, but not for the reasons the bigots think.

Every now and then, you'll see queerphobic or sexist complaints about "wokism" in FromSoftware games, or complaints about "leftist content" being pushed. If you want an example, I've included some at the end of the post.** However, know that you can safely skip that section, as the specific details of the bigotry are not relevant—just that they exist.

This is endlessly funny to me because this *isn't* actually the reason that Elden Ring can be read as leftist. The reason is that transcendentalism is in the water supply.

Transcendentalists have at least two qualities that are very relevant to Elden Ring: 1) They are explicitly anti-authoritarian. They believe that the best course of action is for individuals to think for themselves rather than blindly take guidance from a monarch, divine power, or other paternal figure. 2) They believe that everything is connected, both in nature and society, and that you can never fully understand one person without understanding the network as a whole. It's why all the poetry has nature symbolism brainrot.

Elden Ring is highly transcendental. First, let's address the anti-authoritarianism. Most of the villains are blindly following an authority, and commit atrocities on their behalf. Messmer with Mommy is the most obvious example. It's always tempting to ask why he kept following her orders to do genocide when she had so clearly abandoned the shadow realm and rejected him outright. Isn't this deeply *weird*? Would you not change your mind and start thinking for yourself after all that time? Maybe do something you enjoy that doesn't lead to a deep complex of self-hatred, hmm?

But the reason he doesn't think for himself isn't that he's a bit daft; it's that this serves a purpose narratively. It sets him up explicitly as villainous under a transcendental lens. "Blindly follows mommy's orders to do atrocities" is code for "pathetic, wet mess of a villain" in transcendental language. So as sympathetic of a character as he is from a social standpoint, he still serves the role of villain from a transcendental narrative standpoint.

In contrast, those characters that buck authority tend to be the most sympathetically written. Ranni is the most straightforward example. She explicitly undermines the Greater Will in order to seize back her own destiny and bodily autonomy. Her ultimate goal is to remove all gods (i.e. all hints of top-down authority) away from the Lands Between and keep them safely stashed far away in space, returning autonomy back to her homeland. And of all the demigods, her quest got perhaps the most attention in the narrative, making you want to follow it to completion. She flies in the face of the authoritarian system, and is written to be appealing—not at all a coincidence.

And just for a little more evidence, the Mending Rune of "Perfect" Order is explicitly described as a rune of transcendental ideology. Its main "insight" is simply that authorities aren't meant to be blindly trusted. You can read more about that here: https://www.tumblr.com/thewisecheerio/755852131024650240/elden-ring-rejection-of-authority-and

For the second transcendentalist property, Elden Ring also presents a highly interconnected story in which narratives are literally inseparable. You can't fully understand Miquella's story without also understanding Marika's and Malenia's and Radahn's stories. You can't fully understand Messmer's story without understanding Marika's. You can't fully understand the beautiful duality of Morgott and Mohg without looking at them both together. The narrative style has the same sort of interconnectivity that transcendentalists lust over in their analyses of nature.

So why does this make Elden Ring more woke than the bigots may even realize? The far right shares the anti-authoritarian notions, but without the interconnectivity; they tend to believe that it's every person for themself. But anti-authoritarianism plus a belief that all things are connected—that all of our actions affect each other, and that we therefore achieve nothing without caring for each other—IS the recipe for leftism, at least in the US. And indeed, many early transcendentalists were also active in the socialist movement, so it should be no surprise that there is overlap with modern leftists.

Importantly, all of these points would be identical whether there were queer and feminist characters in Elden Ring or not. So next time you see someone with their panties in a bunch over Elden Ring's "woke agenda", just know that it is possible to read it as WAY more woke than maybe even they realize.

-----

**For those looking for the example of bigoted "discourse" I mentioned, here you go. All others, you're done reading this post; the analysis is all above.

CW homophobia, transphobia, sexism. In a recent video ("Shadow of the Erdtree is Overrated"), you can explicitly hear gamer Synthetic Man spend multiple minutes complaining about gay characters and then say, "And look, I obviously hesitate to call this DLC woke, but I am noticing FromSoftware including more and more leftwing content into their games...Whether it's the sheer number of girl bosses--there's a lot more strong, female knight characters in this DLC...[or Ymir] a man(!) becomes a mother(!) and it sounds like pure, gross, autogynephilic fetish content..."

Unfortunately, it's not just him, as any fan who's been on any forum knows. Here are some comments on the video compiled by reddit user SlippySleepyJoe:

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Gamingcirclejerk/comments/1dz53av/elden_ring_and_its_lore_is_too_woke_that_its_out/

[r0ugesun]

Due to personal reasons I’ll be ignoring hotd canon and pretending it’s a lighthearted family sitcom

Daemon: Bazinga! *laugh track*

[cinematic-phosphenes]

I want Alys to arrive at Harrenhal in Episode 7 and then Simon Strong formally introduces her to Daemon for the first time. "This is our medicine woman, just arrived back from Riverrun where she's been tending to Lord Tully these past six months."

And then Daemon starts crying again.

[asklesbianonceler]

I'd like to pose some theories and observations about The Night of Black Knives

There's something extremely specific about the black knives and it's that they cannot be seen while wearing their cloaks unless illuminated by the Sentry's Torch, an item that was not held in the lands between until after Godwyn's death, and yet, here it is. Not just an average wooden torch, a custom torch, in the hand of a black knife, specifically illuminating her face. She is showing her face to Godwyn so he knows who killed him. She wants him to see her, a woman with long blonde hair.

It was no mistake it was Godwyn and he was not just the best choice. It was personal.

What else do we know of the black knives? They had close ties to Marika herself and were all Numen just like her.

We now know Godwyn was not her first son and his death was merely a means to an end. Would she be able to sacrifice a child forced upon her by the golden order? A child who in the eyes of the order was perfect? I think so. If it gave her a good enough excuse to shatter the Elden Ring which she was still punished for.

Maliketh's great rune says Marika only needed him to seal away destined death, yet she betrayed him. Who else would have been able to get close to him?

Ranni and Marika wanted the same thing. It was all set up. There is a reason Ranni cradles Marikas head in the age of stars ending before putting it back on Marikas body.

Marikas body also vanishes in Rannis. It isn't being taken over by the Elden ring again. Ranni sets her free. she didn't have to put the head back on.

Yes, I can tie Melina into all this. Just ask.

[thelvadams]

DESTINY 2: SEASON OF THE SERAPH

Our end begins.

[rainingriversofyou]

Hypaxia Enador 🧪🦠

Crescent City

Artist: elizianna.the.one

[lizzieraindrops]

BRING ME PINS FOR MY RED STRING BOARD

Eris looked to the last card. The Wish puzzled her. A wish is desire, the greatest power in this universe. Eris had wished before. It had led her here. Would she be asked to wish again? What else would her desire wrought? Turning away, Eris left the cards on the table and took her questions with her.

From the Ex Diris exotic grenade launcher lore. This will obviously be highly relevant to the resolution of Season of the Witch. What does Eris really want??

guiding others down the same path that saved me. But... I might allow myself to want more than peace. What, I am not certain. Is joy the word? Might I find that again?

From Eris' last radio message in Season of the Haunted. Once resigned to misery, Eris now wants something more than the peace she has gained helping others process and survive trauma like hers. She even entertains the once-impossible idea of seeking joy in her life.

"Hey," Drifter said. "You find that joy yet?" "Soon," Eris answered. "Joy is built... but I have taken the first step."

From the IV. Tether in the Purpose lorebook from Season of the Deep. She's seeking the joy, folks! But still, what does she want?

I am lost in these lunar tunnels. Out of ammo. Short on Light. I am out of moves, save one. I clutch an Ahamkara bone in one hand, and my dead Ghost in the other. I hear a whisper. My vision is gone. My face itches from the viscous flow from my eyes. Though I can't see, I find that I suddenly know the way out.

From the Cloak of the Great Hunt lore all the way back in Forsaken. She wants what she's always wanted, what she originally wished upon an Ahamkara bone for. A way out. Of the Hellmouth, of her personal misery, of the Sword Logic and the greater horrific positive feedback loop of violence that the Hive have been enacting upon the universe for billenia.

Your star got its name from the oldest myths in that archive. and when your mother told your father that story...the star became your name. A prayer that all will go as it must... and the way it must go is struggle." "Aiat." Not a word in Ulurant or any other Cabal tongue. "But Caiatl means something else." "Yes. 'It may not always go as it needs to go.' A good name for a soldier." (emphases mine)

From Caiatl's journal in the Lightfall Collector's edition. A way out!!! It keeps coming up in the lore again and again. Ending vicious cycles and finding out what's beyond them, even the Hive's unstoppable AIAT.

Recovery is a spiral, not a circle. You may return to the same patterns, but you will break free." —Eris Morn

From the Refashioned Shapes (!!!) ship from Shadowkeep. Perhaps the most iconic Eris line in the game. This is who she has always been! This is what she has always sought. By finally fully embracing and claiming the way the Hive have affected her, she is going to paradoxically END THE HIVE'S CYCLE OF VIOLENCE. The HIVE!!! She is going to FREE HERSELF and in doing so FREE THE HIVE FROM THE SWORD LOGIC!!!!!

[arcielee]

ℍ𝕠𝕦𝕤𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕣𝕒𝕘𝕠𝕟 𝕤𝕡𝕠𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕣𝕤

My favorite part of this season is Alys Rivers tormenting Daemon. 🥰

She is just flitting about like a barn owl, licking blood off of her fingers and calling him on his bullshit shenanigans and I am loving every minute, ngl.

I am so excited for how she will interact with Aemond, but I am truly enjoying the actual build up of her character.

[e1dritchqueer]

G Witch rlly made Permit look like the coolest thing imaginable like look at this shit

like if I'm going to risk my body in order to become increasingly connected to my gundam might as well do it in style

[thewisecheerio]

Fanart Sources

Miquella-Trina: https://x.com/Umami_Fox/status/1799730435200807029

Marika-Radagon: https://x.com/BowieTea/status/1802117531781705782

Miquella/Radahn: https://x.com/DevelvDeva/status/1808838885914595410

Malenia/Finlay: https://x.com/koyoriin/status/1507096808677421069

P.S. You can pull Bikard's cut content from my cold, dead hands. Daedicar's Woe originally read:

[baby-girl-aaron-dessner]

“I’m not a woman at all. I’m a barn owl, cursed to live in human form.”

- Alys Rivers

[imjulia-andilikecats]

Look at him clapping. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH🥺❤

The fact that Ser Simon Strong is so patient with Daemon, even when Daemon is high in Owl Lady Juice, held him at knifepoint and pissed off most of the other River Lords. Still, Ser Simon stayed by his side. Never complained about his antics.

However, the moment he sensed disloyalty. Ser Simon Freaking Strong IMMEDIATELY sent a letter to Queen Rhaenyra. Freaking MVP. BEST MAN. I LOVE HIM!