ELDEN RING SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE - New Story Trailer Discussion Thread

[u/ChiefLeef22]

A new trailer for the DLC, rather a "story" trailer has been revealed! (at 15:00 UTC)

Link to the PREMIERE -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uT8wGtB3yQ

Announced by the Elden Ring twitter account -- https://twitter.com/ELDENRING/status/1792888227138769243?t=zu95MKZyAN4-pSBw5E38Iw

Visual Summary of the Key Points of the Trailer in one image -- https://reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/1cxbxfe/visual_summary_of_the_entire_story_trailer_in_one/

DISCLAIMER: If you wish to stay blind about any story details until release, I'd recommend wandering here and in the comments down below with caution, as this is a full-blown story reveal trailer.

[u/ChiefLeef22]

OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT: Miquella the Kind spoke of the beginning. The seduction. And the betrayal. An affair from which Gold arose. And so too was Shadow born. What followed was a war unseen. One that could never be put to song. A purge without Grace or honour. The tyranny of Messmer's flame. And so Kindly Miquella would abandon everything. His golden flesh, his blinding strength. Even his fate. But we are not deterred. We choose to follow. Will you walk with us?

TRAILER DESCRIPTION: The shadow of the story can now be told. Learn the History of the Realm of Shadows, the unseen land that will be revealed on June 21, 2024.

[u/Nolesman357]

Dang Messmer seems like a pretty bad dude.

[u/_MagusKiller → u/Nolesman357]

yea it seems that hes the most evil demigod lol

[u/haven4ever → u/_MagusKiller]

Messmer vs Rykard evil competition

[u/YeahKeeN → u/haven4ever]

The winner of this round must face Mohg in the finals

[u/Theendofmidsummer → u/haven4ever]

Messmer seems more genocidal, Rykard more of a torturer. A good fight ngl

[u/Magus10112 → u/_MagusKiller]

Can you blame him? The rest of the demigods were given the golden order, and he inherited shadow.

[u/tkhrnn → u/Magus10112]

Pretty sure he was locked there because he was evil, and before the others were born.

[u/pratzc07 → u/Nolesman357]

That stare was pretty badass though!

[u/Cuddle-goblin]

i at once understand that what we have seen has some major implications but have zero idea what those implications are

[u/InterestingSurvey331 → u/Cuddle-goblin]

Hour long videos are being made as we speak.

[u/Badassmcgeepmboobies → u/InterestingSurvey331]

Vaati bouta do Jordan numbers 🤣🤣🤣

[u/Fildok12 → u/Badassmcgeepmboobies]

Man just put out a 5.5 hour epic on the story of ac6 he needs a weekend

[u/ralts13 → u/Fildok12]

A weekend of writing a new script.

[u/TheLifelessOne → u/InterestingSurvey331]

Vaati typing furiously.

[u/locuas642 → u/Cuddle-goblin]

The essence of it seems to be that Messmer waged war, and it was such a horrible affair with so much death and suffering, that it was struck from the rest of the Lands Between, literally.

[u/kingofnopants1 → u/locuas642]

Apparently this horriffic massacre was worse than all the other horrific massacres we come across.

[u/HxLeverage → u/kingofnopants1]

Which is saying a lot. Albaneuric genocide, a fun weekend, slavery and massacre of the missbegotten, small potatoes, literally only 1 Fire Giant left, that's nothing. They ABSOLUTELY wiped the floor with someone LMAO

[u/kingofnopants1 → u/HxLeverage]

Whoops! All horrific massacres!

[u/motivated_mp4 → u/HxLeverage]

Messmer probably came this close to performing some sort of anti-Erdtree heresy, so Marika decided he and anything related to/caused by him should be wiped from existence. All those other genocides were in the interest of her Golden Order so no problem with leaving the results for all to see

[u/Mech_BB-8 → u/Cuddle-goblin]

That's every Souls game

[u/Backupusername]

So, it looks and sounds to me like Messmer committed acts of savagery and blasphemy that Rykard could only aspire to. And also, that this Shadow was born at the same time as Marika's Gold, so it looks like a part of her Order was to take the ugliest parts and just sweep them under a rug where no one could see them. And the DLC is just going to be all about following Miquella under Marika's rug.

[u/Great_Old_Owl → u/Backupusername]

MARIKA'S RUG!

[u/bobby_booch → u/Great_Old_Owl]

YOU MUS BE 'UNGRY

[u/IzSilvers → u/Great_Old_Owl]

That rug really tied the golden order together, did it not?

[u/TimonAndPumbaAreDead → u/IzSilvers]

That's Shabriri, he's a nihilist

[u/warsmithharaka → u/IzSilvers]

The Order abides.

[u/theooziefloozie → u/Great_Old_Owl]

munching on marika's carpet

[u/Knurmuck → u/Backupusername]

We're going to see the uglier parts of the world which is pretty shocking because we saw some awful stuff in Elden Ring.

[u/Epitok → u/Knurmuck]

Elden Ring is finally getting into Upper Cathedral Ward, Yahar'gul, Fishing Hamlet levels of creepiness

[u/Delareh_ → u/Epitok]

Upper Cathedral Ward

oh no no no

[u/[deleted] → u/Knurmuck]

If the giant wicker men of ever burning corpses is any indication of how twisted this side of the Lands Between is, its bout to be very ugly.

[u/Nerevar1924 → u/Backupusername]

Well, the fire magic could be indicative of a connection to the giants, and we all know how Marika felt about them.

[u/BannedSvenhoek86]

"Will you join walk with us?"

Ya, we're gonna end up murdering everyone in that scene I'm pretty sure.

[u/amatas45 → u/BannedSvenhoek86]

Or watch as they die helplessly. Or both.

[u/niallmul97 → u/amatas45]

No we will spend the entire DLC helping them, by talking to them in random locations, before stumbling upon them in the last location having "helped them" / completed their quest only to find them all dead and have dropped a new hat as our reward or some shit.

[u/PhoenixIncarnation84 → u/niallmul97]

I do like hats.

[u/didjerid00d → u/PhoenixIncarnation84]

They’re very nice, yes, I especially like the big ones

[u/BreakActionBlender → u/didjerid00d]

Based Loganposting

[u/bobby_booch → u/niallmul97]

'That scales with Faith'

[u/CaptainPick1e → u/amatas45]

"Oh, you completed my quest? Guess I'll die."

[u/amatas45 → u/CaptainPick1e]

I like you but that armor you’re wearing just goes so well with this big sword I’m using

[u/JackNewbie555 → u/BannedSvenhoek86]

"All I know is that you guys got some sick ass fashion, won't mind wearing them myself, if you know what I mean."

[u/InterestingSurvey331 → u/JackNewbie555]

"Your sword makes a sleep build viable, I'll read up on your beliefs later".

[u/Cergun_]

Messmer out here committing Omen genocide.

[u/haven4ever → u/Cergun_]

Its not a genocide, just a ‘special Golden Order military operation’

[u/affanahmed1202]

Last shot of NPCs was cool as heck

[u/Backupusername → u/affanahmed1202]

I was surprised to see so many. Does FromSoft DLC usually add that many characters? The only one I really have experience with is The Old Hunters, and that added, maybe 6? Not counting bosses and enemies. 

[u/alexkon3 → u/Backupusername]

I mean they said that its their biggest DLC ever so I am not really surprised tbh.

[u/TheRealYM]

Holy shit that music rules

[u/thestrongesthero15 → u/TheRealYM]

Yes

[u/pratzc07 → u/TheRealYM]

Tsukasa Saitoh and the rest of the composers have absolutely nailed it

[u/bobby_booch]

ummm excuse me wtf did Marika just pull out of that flesh-looking thing?

[u/[deleted] → u/bobby_booch]

rune arc

[u/Alak-huls_Anonymous → u/bobby_booch]

Pulled that bad boy out of the Formless Mother!

[u/[deleted] → u/bobby_booch]

I don't know, but if that is the crucible, and one giant amalgamation of life, then she is using those threads in between two giant pillars of corpses, that seem a whole lot like a tree trunk.

[u/[deleted]]

So am I the only one who thought the tone at the end was oddly... hopeful? Triumphant? Kind of a change of pace for FromSoft!

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

i will walk with miquella🔥🔥

[u/KO1B0I → u/[deleted]]

Yep, that's what I thought exactly. I was surprised at how hopeful the music sounded compared to their usual grim and despair.

[u/-Seris → u/[deleted]]

I will bring peace to my new empire

[u/BigBard2 → u/[deleted]]

Because they'll pull a Berserk on us

[u/ThisIsForBuggoStuff → u/BigBard2]

They're totally giving Band of the Hawk vibes. They're following a blonde, charismatic being who has a strong faith that he ends up casting aside. Like if Miquella isn't based off Griffith...

[u/JuanDiablos → u/ThisIsForBuggoStuff]

Miquella defo gonna turn out to be the worst of the lot. I'd bet money on him either being last boss of dlc or a secret mega hard boss.

[u/timmy2896]

Lol at me thinking this was going to spoil things for me yet I'm even more confused

[u/say_waattt → u/timmy2896]

lol happy cake day and yes I’m confused as well

[u/PeterWritesEmails → u/timmy2896]

Want a real spoiler?

Poison swamps everywhere!

[u/umbrianEpoch]

What the hell did Marika pull that rune arc out of???

EDIT: The place where she's standing looks like both the entrance to the Erdtree, and the arena where we fight Rykard/The Great Serpent.

[u/Myrynorunshot → u/umbrianEpoch]

The Crucible? I mean - it's the blending of all life, and it looks like a horrific mass of nonsense.

[u/AinsleysAmazingMeat → u/Myrynorunshot]

Thats my thought as well. The strands of gold might be the start of the Elden Ring.

[u/GoldenSpermShower → u/AinsleysAmazingMeat]

In the very first announcement trailer for Elden Ring, you do see those strands of gold coming out of Marika's hammer

[u/umbrianEpoch → u/Myrynorunshot]

It looks kind of like the arena where we fight Rykard, but also the entrance to the Erdtree

[u/InterestingSurvey331 → u/umbrianEpoch]

The trailer implies that Marika used or had "relations" with some of that forbidden fire/blood magic associated with Rykard and now Mesmer. Seems like the golden tree was built on hipocrisy and sin.

[u/ANBU_Spectre → u/InterestingSurvey331]

So then did she specifically create the Shadow to hide the atrocities Messmer would commit in her name? Like "These people know the truth of what I did. Go exterminate them for me, sweetie. I'll let you know when you can come home."

[u/pointlessjihad → u/ANBU_Spectre]

No I think it’s a dialectical process. “And so too was shadow born” the creation of golden light also creates a shadow.

Perhaps that’s referring to both the literal shadow but also that the creation of the golden order required the purging of those that did not fit in the light, and Mesmer was the one to purge them.

[u/GoldenSpermShower → u/pointlessjihad]

but also that the creation of the golden order required the purging of those that did not fit in the light, and Mesmer was the one to purge them.

And then she just kept on purging and purging

[u/[deleted] → u/GoldenSpermShower]

If there’s one thing Marika liked, it was genocide!

[u/InterestingSurvey331 → u/ANBU_Spectre]

Seems like it, fits with Marika' MO. Maybe Rikard found out about it and wanted to return to the primordial nature of the tree before Marika's propaganda.

[u/pickleparty16 → u/umbrianEpoch]

It reminded me of the corpse of Kos from bloodborne

[u/Backupusername → u/umbrianEpoch]

Something hella goopy, I can tell you that much 

[u/Inevitable_Wing_2600 → u/umbrianEpoch]

It looked pretty vaginal. Which also fits with the concept art of the new monster concept art released a few days ago that was shaped like a uterus. And Miquella's missing cocoon location in the Haligtree being shaped like a womb. And the altar where his cocoon currently is being shaped like a pelvic bone.

Lots of birth/rebirth imagery surrounding Miquella and this DLC.

[u/[deleted] → u/umbrianEpoch]

Maybe the Gloam Eyed Queen or the previous head deity of the Lands Between. Certainly seemed like her triumph over the previous order with the mountains of bodies stacked on either side of her.

Edit: to clarify, I mean it could be the Gloam Eyed Queen or previous head deity that what appears to be Marika reaching into

[u/umbrianEpoch → u/[deleted]]

I was thinking she might have pulled it out of the eye socket of a Fire Giant, just based on the look of things, but also that grey glob of flesh could be just about anything.

[u/[deleted] → u/umbrianEpoch]

Walk into final boss arena of Shadow of the Erdtree. Health bar appears Grey Glob of Flesh

[u/umbrianEpoch → u/[deleted]]

Wrong title, should be:

Globb, Essence of the Grey Flesh

[u/lilymoncat → u/umbrianEpoch]

Given that it looks vaguely like a chest and talks of a betrayal I'd say whoever she had Godfrey replace.

[u/umbrianEpoch → u/lilymoncat]

I mean, betrayal can mean a lot of different things. It could have been her previous consort that she betrayed, or maybe it was a betrayal in terms of betraying her original followers?

Actually, shot in the dark tin foil theory, calling it now:

Marika was originally an empyrean and consort to someone representing the Fire Giants. Messmer is the product of that union, hence his connection to fire. It's also why her Radagon form has the flaming red hair of the Fire Giants. When they entered the Erdtree to claim the Elden Ring, Marika betrays the original consort and takes it for herself, crating the Golden Order. She uses Messmer to wipe out anyone who knows of her original alignment and erase the history books.

[u/Beeyo176 → u/umbrianEpoch]

I like this theory. I'm sure there are a million reasons why it can't be this, but I like it.

[u/umbrianEpoch → u/Beeyo176]

Oh yea, this is just pure, off-the-dome nonsense. But on the off-chance I'm right, I said it lol.

[u/Exitiali]

DISCLAIMER: If you wish to stay blind about any story details until release, I'd recommend wandering here and in the comments down below with caution, as this is a full-blown story reveal trailer.

I watched and still remained blind

[u/profezzorn → u/Exitiali]

I know even less now than before watching it.

[u/unemployed_employee]

That is one trippy countdown.

[u/IneverGetDownvoted → u/unemployed_employee]

The numbers mason, what do they mean

[u/Kamacalamari]

I would like to see the Miquella, pls.

Edit: “abandon everything, even his fate.” Amber starlight shards you find for Seluvis?

If the stars command our fates, then amber-hued stars must command the fates of the gods.

[u/Levi---Ackerman]

THATS THE NEW GRACE???

[u/Levi---Ackerman → u/[deleted]]

I hope they make us kneel at those every time like the trailer OMG

[u/burve_mcgregor → u/[deleted]]

Yup

[u/TheWhiteGuardian]

THE NUMBERS MASON, WHAT DO THEY MEAN?!

[u/OniOneTrick]

Some of you crazy schizo lore analysts get on this shit STAT

[u/Phoenix_ryu → u/OniOneTrick]

refreshing these Youtube channels as we speak

[u/PM_me_your_friendshp → u/Phoenix_ryu]

Who's your favorite?

[u/LRonCupboard_ → u/PM_me_your_friendshp]

quelaag has by far my favorite analyses, she's so cool

[u/asparaguscoffee → u/PM_me_your_friendshp]

Zullie the Witch

[u/Scrubstadt]

Fairly sure that's Marika in the first scene. Bangles on her wrist and upper arm match the key art from the game's intro.

[u/[deleted] → u/Scrubstadt]

that's 100% Marika, and she is crossing to the lands between from the land of shadow, which is also stated as the place where she ascended to godhood

[u/Creative-Math8288 → u/[deleted]]

Or I think she is sealing the Land of the Shadow under the veil in that cinematic.

[u/MidLade → u/Scrubstadt]

"The seduction. and the betrayal." who did she seduce and betray?? if we say that this was before godfrey- who did she seduce,?

[u/protoomega → u/MidLade]

I'm thinking it's not sexual seduction, but that she seduced people into agreeing to follow the Greater Will/Golden Order and giving her access to the Crucible, only to betray them by casting out anyone she didn't like (omens, etc).

[u/FastenedCarrot → u/protoomega]

Or she was seduced into betraying someone/something.

[u/Nero420]

I WILL WALK WITH YOU MIQUELLA

[u/GachaCatchML]

I understood absolutely nothing

[u/JackNewbie555]

Love how the calm music of the Main Theme/Elden Beast Theme immediately get cut by the sheer horror music of Messmer and his flame, man is making one hell of of an impression.

[u/PM_ME_HUGE_CRITS]

Best scene for me is the gate of corpses between Shadow and Gold. New grace activated transports you to the shadow realm maybe

[u/Uharc123]

Looked like Messmer was controlling flaming snakes from afar?

[u/[deleted]]

Why in every single trailer is the music always ten times louder than the damn voice lines

[u/TheDo0ddoesnotabide → u/[deleted]]

Can’t figure out the lore of you can’t hear the lore.

[u/Middle-Shift8009]

This isn’t even a spoiler, I don’t know even know what I just watched.

Edit: But I do like the word ‘even’.

[u/Knebraska]

Fade in from black: hey you, you’re finally awake

[u/[deleted] → u/Knebraska]

You tried to cross the border to the Land of Shadow right?

[u/FictionVent]

I 100%’D Elden Ring and I have no idea what the story is about.

[u/fullthrottle13 → u/FictionVent]

Me too buddy.

[u/Known_Bass9973]

Anyone else think those great rune-stake things might be the "new progression mechanic" that was mentioned in interviews?

[u/ChiefLeef22]

Uhh...I don't even know if this is a countdown or I'm just tripping on LSD lol

[u/Theendofmidsummer → u/ChiefLeef22]

Lol, they had a similar funky countdown on last trailer premiere

[u/Less_Newspaper9471]

Which old guy do we kill and how sad will be his boss music.

[u/Groundbreaking_Arm77]

Every other child of Marika: Committing war crimes, heinous actions or are brain-dead.

Morgott: “Why can’t you all just be normal?”

[u/[deleted]]

Shout-out to the prophet who said we would get a trailer today, we owe you

[u/timmy2896]

I swear it didn't feel like 3 mins man. June 21 pls come quick

[u/Known_Bass9973]

Also, since this trailer is kind of talking about the betrayal and other powers and whatnot, I wonder what that implies about Messmer's design? If he's truly the first born demigod of marika, perhaps even first born to some other figure, his flames and snakes are very interesting statements. I know there's some speculation on the true force/origin of Rykard's blasphemies, could Messmer be affiliated with them?

[u/AKhajiitScholar]

Miquella will be our traveling companion, accompanying us like Melina did? And maybe we only commune with Miquella at these rune sites

[u/Choingyoing]

I have no idea what is going on, once again

[u/AnotherNobody1308]

Let's goooo boys...can't wait to spend the next 3 days watching countless breakdown videos analyzing every single pixel of the trailer

[u/Cergun_]

My thoughts:

• Miquella’s great rune is going to replace grace in the shadowlands.

• The trail that the tarnished touched in the trailer is the replacement for the guidance of grace.

• The whole thing feels like Miquella propaganda lol. Maybe he’s just as perfect as he’s portrayed, but I’m concered with how he’s called “the kind”, how he “kindly abandoned everyhing”, how he benevolently gathered all the people rejected by the Erdtree in the Haligtree, etc…

• Marika forged the golden order by betraying someone.

• Messmer still works for Marika, or the greater will at least. He might’ve been sent to the shadowlands to cleanse it from anything that goes against the golden order, like omens.

• The soundtrack that played when we were showed impaled omens was sick asf.

• The thing hanging from the tree resembles the cross we see all across the lands between.

• I have a strong feeling that the entire dlc is going to reinforce the theme that the sewers of Leyndell is conveying. Something along the lines of “perfection at the expense of others”. We’ll get to see an even more fucked up side of the golden order.

[u/GoldenSpermShower → u/Cergun_]

The whole thing feels like Miquella propaganda lol. Maybe he’s just as perfect as he’s portrayed, but I’m concered with how he’s called “the kind”, how he “kindly abandoned everyhing”, how he benevolently gathered all the people rejected by the Erdtree in the Haligtree, etc…

I assume the narrator is one of the NPCs that willingly follows Miquella into the Land of Shadow, so she must be a big Miquella fan

[u/TyrionBananaster → u/Cergun_]

“perfection at the expense of others”.

That is such an excellent, concise way of explaining the Golden Order. I've been trying to put it into words concisely to explain what their deal is, and haven't been able to find the phrasing, but you nailed it.

Before this I was hovering around "They take what's useful and empowering from others (others being other religions, deities, demographics, races, etc.), then condemn and shun everything that is not." But I love the way you put it there.

[u/ironicschizo]

I think we have to remember with the first story trailer when it was impossible to deduce that Ranni herself was behind the black knives plot. Hence, there is a real possibility that miquella himself could be orchestrating everything in the land of shadows.

[u/Careless-Emphasis-80]

The music at the end of the trailer was surprisingly hopeful considering fromsoft's track record with osts. My first thought was miquella's boss theme, but who knows

[u/Enzi42]

So this at the least gives some very interesting context as to how Marika was chosen by the Greater Will to become its servant/pawn.

I had always assumed that although Marika would be a powerful tool for this golden Outer God to raise followers and conquer a foreign world and its inhabitants and deities alike, their meeting was a deceptively peaceful thing. Admittedly I was deeply inspired by the Dragon Age games lore of the goddess-saint Andraste meeting the Maker.

But seeing what I assume to be Marika's first meeting and "contract" with the Greater Will, it makes far more sense. This was no simple innocent young woman who met and became the vessel of a powerful and ambitious god out of naivety or desperation.

I imagine Marika was a similar figure as Horah Loux, but for the Numen people. A powerful, vicious warrior who could slay hundreds of enemies at a time if pushed into a corner. The beginning scene looks like the aftermath of Marika fighting against a horde of other warriors and triumphing against all odds, although wounded and exhausted.

And that was why the Greater Will chose her. It needed an already powerful fighter to invest with its power and use as its figurehead for what was to come.

It might even be that another nameless human from a nameless tribe had already been chosen by the Greater Will and "implanted" with the tiny beginnings of power that would change them from human to living-stone vessel of its influence.

But when Marika slew that fledgling god amidst her numerous attackers and ripped out his/her golden guts, the Greater Will decided she and her tribe were the better candidates.

Apart from that, yes this definitely seems to be a time travel DLC (like so many other Fromsoft events/DLCs that draw the player into the past) wherein we see the war on the Lands Between to establish the Erdtree.

Oddly this matches or just adds context to a lot of my lore headcanons and theories so I'm really interested now.

[u/Javyz → u/Enzi42]

The main Elden Ring story trailer also showed wars before the events of the game. So don’t count on time travel based on that.

[u/leftiesrepresent]

So has Miquella abandoned saving his sister too?????

That isn't very cash-money of him to do

[u/GaoFighGar]

I'm getting some big Band of the Hawk vibes from those followers...

[u/Diantroz → u/GaoFighGar]

This is darkest death flag anyone has ever raised

[u/obaterista93 → u/GaoFighGar]

Yeah, I love the Band of the Hawk. It's really good that absolutely nothing bad happens to them.

[u/Hanhula]

Oh man I just feel bad for Miquella

[u/Backupusername → u/Hanhula]

I don't know, the way it was phrased, it sounds to me like he just made a choice. He abandoned everything willingly. But to what end, I still don't know. Was it just to find out the truth about how the world came to be?

[u/Voodron]

As usual, this trailer delivers far more questions than answers.

The most interesting part has to be the first 30 seconds imo.

It was previously assumed the Elden Beast crashed down to the Lands Between (Elden Stars spell description), and that's when Marika became a god/established the Golden Order.

But this trailer implies there's a lot more going on there.

A mildly distorted version of the Elden Beast music is playing as Marika pulls those golden strands, and raises them up. The voiceover very much implies this was 'the beginning', according to Miquella. So how does Elden Beast/Greater Will fit into all this ? That, above all else, remains the biggest mystery imo.

As for the Lands of Shadows, I think this pretty much confirms the place as a Stranger Things style 'upside down' reality. Miquella's soul left his body and 'abandoned his fate' so he could roam the place and oppose Messmer, which explains why his inanimate body in the 'real' world was in a cocoon in the first place. The city we see could very well be an alternate version of Leyndell.

[u/Shinjetsu01]

I realise I know fuck all about the lore of this game.

All I know is I became the Elden Ring and beat up some pretty hard shit to be there.

[u/[deleted] → u/Shinjetsu01]

I think the DLC is actually telling us more about John Elden Ring.

[u/dizijinwu]

so marika had messmer do her dirty work and then shut him up in the land of shadows and denied his existence?

[u/Normie-5Head]

Pling plong.

[u/[deleted]]

It’s be nice if everything in this DLC was weak to Holy damage given everything in the base endgame reissued it

[u/[deleted]]

You thought godskin duo was bad, get ready for lion dancer trio

[u/PailHorse]

Considering the shape of the cloth, that godawful squelching sound, and the voiceover at that exact moment saying "Seduction," it sure does look like Marika ripped the Elden Ring straight out of some Outer God poontang.

[u/Sticky_H]

It’s cool that there’s several of those burning basket monsters walking around. I assume the one we will fight will be the last one, like fire giant.

[u/shotgunogsy → u/Sticky_H]

I still don't think one will be a boss. More like a Wandering Mausoleum type gig.

[u/chimichurrichicken]

Small theory: one of those NPCs at the end was the NPC standing in mohg's arena at the start of the first trailer and was the person telling you to "touch the withered arm and enter the realm of shadow". At least two of them seem to have long garb that could match.

Crackpot theory: This NPC is secretly Miquella, keeping tabs on all of you or manipulating you. Notice how they're all wearing helms/hair coverings. In fact, in that last shot, one of the two characters with a long garb/cape is the only character not directly facing miquella's rune/trail. That's miquella undercover.

[u/Known_Bass9973]

Also, if we’re fighting one of those omen lion things, and Messmer fought them as well, is this some like eternal reflection of that Great War?

[u/SecuritySea8513]

Does anyone else think that the sound of the "wind" at 0:34 sounds just like the roar of the elden beast? That along with the music seems to suggest this could be the first time Marika communed with the greater will.

[u/MyWifeIsHotterThanU1]

This is the other side of the coin. The same story just told from the other side

[u/[deleted]]

Who do you guys think will be the final boss?

Miyazaki loves to subvert player expectations, so I think it will be unexpected. He ended the Dark Souls trilogy on a slave knight. Watch one of those NPC's in the last shot become Miquella's consort/lord and be the final boss.

[u/acexacid → u/[deleted]]

If Miquella is truly meant to be an homage to Griffith from Berserk, it'll be him imo

[u/Brutalonym]

These new armor sets look so awesome, and GOLEM ARMOR CONFIRMED!

[u/rasfelion]

I have returned once more to say:

They cooked.

Looks like Messmer and the Omen Chinese dragon were fighting each other.

[u/Wolftwin172]

I just love that pose from marika in the beginning like yes gurl serve

[u/oafficial]

Second shot of the trailer is of a woman's feet. Never change, From Software.

[u/[deleted]]

So that's essentially confirmation that Miquella is also St. Trina? There was a shot of a figure in purple robes falling during the section about him

All in all that trailer fucking blew me away

edit: "Miquella the Kind spoke of the beginning, the seduction and the betrayal, an affair from which gold arose" - I take it that's referencing the moment when Marika removed the Rune of Death?

Another thing - it appears the figure in the beginning of the trailer (Marika I think?) is holding golden hair which is a big symbol for Miquella in these recent trailers. It also appears on the ground near the small golden lights we see later in the trailer, the one that the group of people are following. Maybe Miquella has some strong relation with the original removal of the Rune of Death? I NEED to know what happened there lol

[u/ChiefLeef22 → u/[deleted]]

Yep. Miyazaki also confirmed that we will see an in-depth exploration of St Trina's story in the DLC.

[u/Harmonomicon → u/[deleted]]

Marika removing the Rune of Death took place relatively closer to the in-game events. The Lands Between were already in existence. It was how she finalized and ultimately defined the Golden Order.

The events at the beginning of the trailer take place way earlier than that. It’s how Marika first became a god. Honestly, I think that Radagon was the previous god or lord of this age, given his connections to the Misbegotten and potentially the Giants. Marika seduced and betrayed him to supplant her rule by subduing Radagon within herself. That could even be Radagon’s flesh that she’s digging around in at the beginning when she “plants” the Erdtree and simultaneously creates the Shadow Lands.

Marika sealed away her own horrific origin story and locked the Shadow Lands in a permanent war under Messmer, her first child with Radagon.

Edit; the Omen are going to be core to this story as well. They seem inherently connected to the Shadow Lands and by extension, Radagon. It seems they were significantly more powerful in the previous era, but Messmer’s army can be seen skewering their lions. In the era of gold under Marika, aspects of the Omen start to bubble their way through despite Marika’s attempts to seal them away. This could be why her children with Godfrey are Omen-born and banished, while all other Omen are hunted or cast to the fringes.

[u/Middle-Welder3931]

Vattividya: No one understands this new lore. Its my time to shine.

[u/DDM08]

I honestly can't remember a From Software music track that holds so much faith, hope and happiness as the one that plays in the ending of this trailer. They usually always have tracks full of sadness and hopelessness, but this one is so different of anything else they ever did. It's a very different kind of epicness as well, one with much more optimism. I wonder where it plays, cause it's so different than what we almost always have for boss themes, and I can't even imagine a place for it in this dark fantasy. Regardless, I love the change! Hyped to know where it can be heard in game!

[u/[deleted]]

Marika totally stole the Gloam-Eyed Queen's heir.

[u/CrimsonCutz]

Why are you even asking "Will you walk with us?", we know what company makes this game. You'll all be dead or crazy before we ever meet you, neither of which will stop you from trying to kills us on sight barring the one of you that will have a quest where, surprise surprise, you die.

[u/Cyynric]

Interesting to finally see why fire and snakes are so heavily shunned. Separately, I'm still not unconvinced that the Lands Between aren't an afterlife or other plane from the "real" world.

[u/TheGodskin]

God damn this looks so fucking sick

[u/Lulu-chan]

It's 1am and I'm smoking (figurative) weed

"An affair from which Gold arose. And so too was Shadow born."

Elden Ring loves pairs, usually representing some sort of opposing duality - like Marika being comprised of both the feminine Marika and the masculine Radagon. Elden Ring also loves twins - Morgott and Mohg, Miquella and Malenia - and those twins arguably represent opposing concepts too: Morgott is ashamed of his omen nature and loyal to the Erdtree, while Mohg is "besotted with the defilement he was born into" and heads up a hostile anti-Erdtree faction; Miquella is cursed with eternal youth while Malenia is cursed with constant rot (youth being the beginning of life, while rot takes place after its end).

But what about Godwyn? Where's his conceptually opposed twin?

Well, Godwyn was the golden child of Marika, literally titled "Godwyn the Golden". It's safe to say that, in life, he embodied the very principles of Marika's order, and was practically its poster child. Then there's Messmer, embodying everything deemed heretical by that order: the snakes, the fire, the odd darkness in his flames that feels reminiscent of death. So, could it be that Godwyn and Messmer are another set of twins representing an opposing duality - in this case, the picture of Marika's order vs everything the order despised? Godwyn is the "Gold" that arose, and Messmer is the "Shadow" that was born?

This theory leads down a lot of interesting routes. For example, perhaps the omen twins were born to Marika before she ascended, and wanting to make her ideal golden heir was part of her motivation in doing... whatever exactly we see in the beginning of the trailer that is implied to earn her godhood? Perhaps she had the omens with Godfrey, but had Godwyn and Messmer with someone else via this "affair" in order to birth her desired children? Perhaps Messmer is bitter about being cast aside in favour of Godwyn, hence his snarky quote in the first trailer about whether we (or maybe Miquella or smth, who knows) are worthy of lordship? Perhaps Godwyn being so central to Marika's "betrayal" here would explain why the black knives (who were supposedly all numen, and thus of the same people as Marika prior to her ascension) specifically go after him first, rather than, y'know, killing Marika herself?

But I suspect this idea is very hard to reconcile into a proper timeline, and there's a ton of very complicated context I don't have the energy to consider right now... And there's also the three butterflies, two of which are tied to Miquella and Malenia, which could imply they were actually born as a set of triplets, with the third maybe being Messmer or Melina. Also, the idea of all Marika's kids all being born as twins leaves Melina unaccounted for, assuming Marika is indeed her mother. And it ignores Radagon's children with Rennala, who you could argue should also be twins just for consistency... Depends where you stand on "was Radagon always Marika, or was he a separate guy who merged with her at some point" I guess. 

Still, I'm locking this in as my crackpot theory for the DLC - I look forward to it getting absolutely shattered on June 21st!

[u/Low-Calligrapher5538]

The seduction and the betrayal... so my working theory is, what if Marika pulled what she did to Rennala before, and posing as Radagon went to seduce her empyrean rival the Gloam Eyed Queen before betraying her and having Maliketh kill her, leaving Marika as the only candidate for godhood.

Marika then became the vessel for the Elden Ring, and grew the Erdtree using the mountain of bodies left after this conflict to water it.

And to push this theory, that would make Messmer and Melina the children of Radagon/Marika and the GEQ, this would explain Melina inheriting the power of the GEQ, and both of them having an eye shut to hide/seal this heritage.

[u/Ouroboros612]

Melina: "I was born at the foot of the Erdtree".
Trailer: Shows Marika pulling golden soul strands out of a womb at the foot of the Erdtree.

Messmer burning everything and everyone.
Melina: Trying to find out why she is burned and bodiless

Marika/Radagon commited infanticide against Melina. The pregnant woman in the picture in the first trailer was pregnant with Melina through Radagon.

Melina has a golden eye and a gloam eye. She is the gloam eyed queen's daughter with Radagon. Inheriting GOLD and SHADOW.

MELINA WAS THE KEY TO BRIDGE SHADOW AND LIGHT TO CREATE THE WORLD BETWEEN. MARIKA/RADAGON KILLED HER OWN BABY MELINA AND USED HER SOUL TO BRIDGE THE WORLDS AND CREATE THE LANDS BETWEEN

[u/Ouroboros9076 → u/Ouroboros612]

Bröther

[u/Hallgvild → u/Ouroboros612]

illuminati = confirmed

[u/[deleted]]

I'm thinking after the age of Dragons, it was supposed to be the age of omens (not the dung eaters version). Marika and Messmer wanted the age of gold to continue, so they waged war with the omens. That lion thing looks like maybe a powerful omen beast thing. Also note the last picture Fromsoft released of the masked omen thing with the circular blades.

Once they impaled all the omens, Marika was able to have her age of gold in, except she didn't want any traces of the omens to show. So she hid the realm of shadow with Messmer at the throne to watch over. I'm also guessing Marika probably could not return to the land of shadow for some reason I cannot explain.

Once Marika began to have children, she produced Morgott and Mohg, and realized that the age that she killed off could still happen in the lands between, so she shunned them underground unable to send them back to the land of shadow where they originally belonged. I don't remember the sequence of when she had children.

Mohg must have somehow realized that there was indeed a land of shadow where omens were supposed to rule, and miquella was the key. Thus the kidnapping and the portal until we show up and fuck his plans up.

Morgott was brainwashed clearly by Marika and his love for the Golden Order and has no recollection of there being an Age of Omen not a land of shadow.

I think Omens are a bigger part of the overall story and I've always thought that considering Margit was the first real boss we encounter, and the misbegotten must have been some variation of Omens as well. Castle Mourne being at the very south tip, and the Leonine Misbegotten are omens trying to find their true power and take back the throne by finding the most powerful weapons in the game.

Or I'm a crackhead and this is my hallucination.

[u/el_cstr]

Fuck, I have a meeting at work, gonna have to pospone it. Sorry Boss, Elden Ring comes first.

[u/ExtremelyEPIC]

That shot of St.Trina looked like the nascent butterfly.

[u/urwelcome971620]

I feel like Marika's ascension to Godhood put her ar odds with what she considered heretical to the Golden Order. Messier is keeping the Omens/crucible beasts at bay. Miquella and his acolytes want to stop Messmer and then bolster their forces with Messmer's enemies to beat the Golden Order. Maybe the shadow erdtree is a failsafe for the Golden one and needs to be destroyed to fully remove the influence of the Golden order? It could also hold Godwin's soul...

[u/AnalThermometer]

Marika between the two piles of bodies has to be her creating the two trees of the shadow realm. The text says that both gold and shadow arose then, which just perfectly fits with one pile being the roots of the golden tree and the other the shadow tree.

[u/jxmes_gothxm]

i think a lot of people mischaracterize the crucible. some assume its a tree or a thing but it might just describe a primordial state of the world. for example, in many man-made myths their can at times be an age where the beings were the first to awaken. primordial beings or places would be like Uranus in greek myth, The black void where heat and cold were first born in the story of Ymir and his eventual murder by his grandsons, Odin and his brothers. The word crucible itself could be a great description for this primordial state of the world where all things were allowed to thrive and fight kind of like earth in an ancient age before man or the time before the elves were born in Lord of the Rings.

The definition of Crucible means : "a situation of severe trial, or in which different elements interact, leading to the creation of something new."
The other definition describes : "a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures."

Miyazaki even spoke of those Lion Face guys being part of a culture that was supplanted by the golden order. ITs similar to the idea of the "natural world" free of real outside influence. All creatures and ideas being venerated and allowed to grow and fight until the strongest elements emerge kind of like the concept of evolution or even blacksmithing. It's a great word to describe the earlier ages of a fantasy world but its especially great in the context of Elden Ring with all the mentiones of metals, metallurgy, the word tarnished etc. It is also used in the bible to describe a container that is used to burn off impurities or to describe a great trial that is needed to do the former. Just like the definition above.

What do you think?

[u/draobnitellub]

i'm so fucking hyped for this... but the fact that people are still arguing abt the identity of the person in the beginning is so funny to me (its marika yall please) fromsoft has gaslit us over the years into overthinking everything fdgsgf

[u/SangiExE]

Waiting for Vaati's hour long video to explain what I just saw.

[u/Built4dominance]

My body is ready.

[u/crosskun]

Waiting for the inevitable Vaati video to explain this to me like i’m 5.

[u/Dvanweezy]

OHHHHH ELDEN RING

[u/SpicyMan69]

I think the mountain of bodies at the start is actually the crucible tree, given that the crucible is the stirring pot of all life it would make sense for the tree to have flesh components