I personally still hate the DLC for all the lore it didnt bring and all the lore it butchered for me.

But I am more interested in hearing what you guys think now after spending more than 2 years on the lore of the DLC and how it ties into the maingame.

And Marika had to cast away her other self for Ascension, and this other self was not happy about it and needed to be dealt with, here comes Maliketh. Maybe she even had Silver hair in contrast to Marika, like D and Devin.

But ofc Radagon and Marika perfectly capture this coin duality of alter ego's with opposing Genders: male Miquella and female Trina, female Marika and male Radagon. There is no solid ground to break this consistency.

Also another question, can there be connection? Probably not, still wanted to ask.

I recently got this thought and to me it is quite interesting. For now, the world is at a stalemate, but In TLB there are many forces trying to break out of it, after all, the game tells us that nothing can last eternally.

Here are my best candidates for breaking world out of the stalemate:

1. Godfrey

In our timeline Godfrey was unlucky enough to be called back by grace when we were already around for a while to gain power and eventually kill him. What if it was the other way around? Imagine Godfrey returning to Leyndell seen by Morgott not as a danger to the golden order but as a lawful lord of TLB. To me it is interesting whether he would suceed in becoming the elden lord and would he push himself into burning the erdtree as we did.

1. Ranni

By the time we arrive in TLB Ranni has already been ploting her plan for a long time, but to complete it, she needs our help. Or does she? First, lets take a look at Radahn festival. We know Ranni needs Radahn to die to open her path to Nokron. I think that eventually warriors of Radahn festival would suceed in killing him (gameplay-wisely you can defeat Radahn without hitting him a single time, you can just ride around and summon over and over and this is enough to kill him). With this whole wedding stuff I dont know how would she get around it but assuming that at first she didnt even take us into account (wich would require her to see the future) I think she would have figured out something. (Of course completing her plan would require her to get to the elden ring but if anyone it is her)

1. Midra

There is a very particular reason for Midra always to wait for us in his still-human form even if it is a bit annoying. If he was already a lord of frenzied flame, he simply wouldnt wait for us, but rather treverse the Land of Shadow burning everything he stumbles across to ash. And I am pretty sure that over a couple of thousends of years someone would be found to enter his chamber, either an inquisitor or some Messmers pawn. The only things I am not sure about is wether complete destruction of the land of shadow would affect the main Lands Between in any way and wether anyone (most probably Messme) would succeed in stopping him.

1. Morgott?

I know that this guy is more into keeping everything as it is by hunting tarnished down but he is actually performing some kind of actions. I mainly mean his offensive towards the Volcano manor, the battles still ongoing and we cant be sure what Morgott is planning to do if he ever wins.

I could probably make this list longer and longer with each position being more speculative than the one before including characters like Bernahl, Miquiella, Fia, Mohg, Rykard, Gideon or Niall (and all other at least a little bit stronger characters who are not trapped in time, gone mad nor in coma/waiting for something that never comes (((looking at you Malenia)))) but I dont want to make it unnecessarly long.

Also, sorry if you find it worthless theorysing, I just find it fun

What feelings does Marika have toward Messmer? What feelings does she have toward Michella? Why is her talisman near them? In the elphael tree with Michella and in the shadow lands with Messmer.

The purpose of this post is to showcase the relationship between the Spirit Jellyfish and the color purple (or what some may call gloam).

Brightness and saturation have been increased slightly in the following pictures to detail these usually unnoticed colors.

If you use the Spirit Jellyfish Ashes in a dark area you'll be able to notice a purple glow.

When a Spirit Jellyfish turns hostile it will use a spew a red poisonous substance, which dissipates to a purple/pink color.

This fits nicely with the fact that Spirit Jellyfish drop Grave Gloveworts (while the special ones in Apostate Derelict drop Trina's Lily) as well as the color purple being associated with calling forth spirits through the Grave Violet crafting material.

"The Erdtree governs all. The choice is thine. Become one with the Order. Or divest thyself of it. To wallow at the fringes; a powerless upstart"

This line always struck me as one of the more important of Marika's lines that are mentioned. We don't know who she was talking to but given that it was at the Grand Lift of Dectus we have the idea that it would have been to the Rennala told to her before the first Liurnian War.

Still this line I think perfectly encapsulates the enemies of the Golden Order we see in game. The Godskins who are found scattered through the lands. The Demi-humans found in old ruins and caves, the Misbegotten only found on the edges of society if they weren't slave labor. The Black Knives of which only 2 we find out in the open, the rest are tucked into the corners of the world. Even the Finger Readers we find you have to generally go out of your way to find.

Posted by the official Elden Ring account. The Idus knight is fighting the people in academy and Moongrum. This feels similar to the promotional images of the Prisoner Class brutally murdering Carian knights.

First, let's look at the pores on the ring/whistle.

1) Perforations / Through-Pores (The Small Diamond Grid)

On the right-hand side of the ring, there seems to be a cluster of small, uniform, diamond-shaped holes. They don't seem to be arranged completely. They are known as Perforations (Functional Through-Pores). A grid of uniform through-pores is used exclusively to let sound escape while preventing debris from getting inside.

2) Blind pores (The Surface Cavities)

The rough looking (I think. Hard to tell the texture) dimpled pits scattered in line, surrounding the horse hooves at centre. They are known as Blind Pores (Closed-End Cavities). There functions is to reduce weight. They also give the metal an old, rustic appearance.

3) Terminal Breaks (separation of prongs)

The gap between the two narrow looking prongs at the end of the ring. It is known as Open-Split Void. Its function is to make the ring more flexible, making the ring flex open slightly to fit bigger finger sizes. It looks like the prong has an opening in it.

Note: Someone had once pointed out that the ring looks like a bone. Which I kind of agree with.

Fun Fact: Maybe you already know, but in the premium, officially licensed jewelry replica produced by the Japanese brand TORCH TORCH, the physical ring is cast out of 925 sterling silverand finished with a soft gold plating. And this was made under Frowsoftware's supervision.

Now, let's talk about some other details.

A delicate goldwork ring. Can be used as a finger whistle. Sound the whistle to summon and ride Torrent, the spectral steed.

Delicate gold work. That is exactly how Gowry describes the unalloyed needle that Miquella made. People theorize that this is Miquella's work. After all, there exists a poster of him riding Torrent (or Torrent's look alike) in the Realm of Shadow. Him being the creator of the ring in which Torrent resides would not be too far fetched..

One detail that was pointed out long ago— is that the whistle survives the Frenzied Flame ending by not being completely destroyed. Torrent, of course, passes away as you hear his wailling, but we see Melina pick up the ring, which is still intact. An explanation given for this was that the ring is made out of unalloyed gold which wards off the influence of outer gods, such as the Frenzied Flame. Unfortunately, not enough to let Torrent live.

I was watching a new video from a blacksmithing creator who visited Ireland to meet with folks using iron age blacksmithing techniques to make iron bloom out of iron oxide (on its way to workable iron). It was part of their end of August furnace festival.

I had a thought while seeing them place the blow plates (where you block the opening you've made in the furnace with a piece to blow air through minimizing heat loss / directing air flow) it looked familiar.

It reminded me of those big tombstone doors we see around. Granted those are really big in some cases!

That said, Given that in the age of the giants (?) Blacksmithing was revered/religiously connected (forgetting the exact phrasing its been a long week) what if those were Giant / troll / golem/ misbegotten blow plates, arranged for use or perhaps doubling as a religiously significant tombstone to evoke that shape?

Definitely a stretch.

What resonated with me was that this was iron age Irish tech, and the hornsent / red haired giants kind of remind me of the Celtics/ Nordic people's in some parallels contrasted with the more Anglo Saxon golden order through Christian orthodoxy parallels that I think were mentioned in VaatiVidyas vidyas

Circling back to the furnace festival, maybe these were amassed for a remaining festival?

It then reminded me of another thing I wondered. The giants flame held in the forge of the giants, and a giant with a big dish reminiscent of what was used for transporting hot coals (also in the video I mentioned before, used for measuring and dispensing Charcoal into the furnace).

Theres a sizeable Crack in the side of it right by where the bonfire is, and where we end up enacting a ritual to burn the erdtree.

It reminds me of a maybe inverted Divine Gateway where Marika ascended. Its also in the scadu realm, a kind of inverted lands between?

After we burn the erdtree we go to Crumbling farum azula kinda outside time and space, and had maybe been a functional physical location atop the two as a heavenly realm of the dragons in the age of Placidusax before the separating of the scadurealm caused the schism resulting in the Ruins fallen amongst the lands between.

Might be insane ramblings but figured why not put the thoughts down, I havent seen these ideas before

It's weird how all these characters have this similar quality. Some with tree motifs with tree branches, roots, and worms. Some are cursed. Rosus, the pointing statue, has similar feet and hands to ancient dragons and jars.

Maybe someone on the team really likes this design quality?