├── README.md └── comparisons ├── compare.ts ├── results.txt ├── shadow-of-erdtree ├── assemblyai.txt ├── flash-002-fixed.txt ├── flash-002.txt ├── flash-8b.txt ├── original.txt ├── pro-002.txt └── whisper-turbo.txt └── voilatest ├── V.mp3 ├── V_noiseremoved.mp3 ├── assemblyai.txt ├── flash-002-noise-removed.txt ├── flash-002-with-fixing.txt ├── flash-002.txt ├── original.txt ├── whisper-turbo-noise-removed.txt └── whisper-turbo.txt /README.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | This is a simple repo to collect prompts, examples, benchmarks and other useful resources for LLM-based transcription and diarization. 2 | 3 | # Comparisons 4 | 5 | To run the comparisons, run `bun comparisons/compare.ts` - or look at `comparisons/results.txt`. The WER estimation is based on using [Myer's Diff](https://www.nathaniel.ai/myers-diff/) to get references points and then compare. This isn't the proper way to do this, but the relative differences should hold. YMMV and IANA Specialist in this field :) 6 | 7 | # Prompts 8 | 9 | ## Transcription 10 | 11 | Here's the simple prompt we're using for transcription: 12 | 13 | ``` 14 | Transcribe this audio file in its entirety. 15 | ``` 16 | 17 | This prompt significantly improves the word error rate on some audio files: 18 | 19 | ``` 20 | Here is audio of someone speaking. Transcribe the whole thing for me, correcting for possible mistranscriptions based on your understanding. 21 | ``` 22 | 23 | Likely could be made a lot better, but this is a good start. 24 | 25 | ## Diarization 26 | 27 | This is Google's suggested prompt. 28 | 29 | ``` 30 | Generate audio diarization, including transcriptions and speaker information for each transcription, for this interview. Organize the transcription by the time they happened. 31 | ``` 32 | 33 | Works really well, but hard to clean out the non-transcription parts or use as structured data. 34 | 35 | From [@zhanghaoxxxx on Twitter](https://x.com/zhanghaoxxxx/status/1845960480248213551): 36 | 37 | ``` 38 | Please transcribe the audio file into lrc format, separating each speaker’s dialogue by labeling them as Speaker 1, Speaker 2, etc. Ensure that all spoken content is clearly segmented and each speaker is identified. 39 | ``` 40 | 41 | This works much better, but you can modify it for video files to identify speaker names (if it's in the video): 42 | 43 | ``` 44 | Please transcribe the video file into lrc format, separating each speaker’s dialogue by labeling them as with the appropriate names from the video. Ensure that all spoken content is clearly segmented and each speaker is identified. 45 | ``` 46 | 47 | If you want proper structured data, you can use the JSON prompt below with the schema. This is good at identifying speakers and returning good structured data, but for some reason punctuation keeps getting left out compared to the other methods. 48 | 49 | ````` 50 | Transcribe this for me, following this typespec: 51 | 52 | \`\`\`typescript 53 | type Transcript = { 54 | title: string; 55 | speakerNames: string[]; 56 | transcript: { 57 | speaker: name; 58 | startTime: number; 59 | text: string; 60 | }[]; 61 | } 62 | \`\`\```` 63 | 64 | Respond only in JSON. 65 | ````` 66 | 67 | Use this Schema: 68 | 69 | ```json 70 | { 71 | "type": "object", 72 | "properties": { 73 | "title": { 74 | "type": "string" 75 | }, 76 | "speakerNames": { 77 | "type": "array", 78 | "items": { 79 | "type": "string" 80 | } 81 | }, 82 | "transcript": { 83 | "type": "array", 84 | "items": { 85 | "type": "object", 86 | "properties": { 87 | "speaker": { 88 | "type": "string" 89 | }, 90 | "startTime": { 91 | "type": "number" 92 | }, 93 | "text": { 94 | "type": "string" 95 | } 96 | }, 97 | "required": ["speaker", "startTime", "text"] 98 | } 99 | } 100 | }, 101 | "required": ["title", "speakerNames", "transcript"] 102 | } 103 | ``` 104 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/compare.ts: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | import chalk from "chalk"; 2 | import fs from "fs"; 3 | 4 | interface DiffResult { 5 | type: "equal" | "insert" | "delete" | "replace"; 6 | value: string; 7 | } 8 | 9 | function myersDiff(oldStr: string[], newStr: string[]): DiffResult[] { 10 | const N = oldStr.length; 11 | const M = newStr.length; 12 | const max = N + M; 13 | const v = new Array(2 * max + 1).fill(0); 14 | const trace: number[][] = []; 15 | 16 | for (let d = 0; d <= max; d++) { 17 | for (let k = -d; k <= d; k += 2) { 18 | let x, y; 19 | if (k === -d || (k !== d && v[k - 1 + max] < v[k + 1 + max])) { 20 | x = v[k + 1 + max]; 21 | } else { 22 | x = v[k - 1 + max] + 1; 23 | } 24 | y = x - k; 25 | 26 | while (x < N && y < M && oldStr[x] === newStr[y]) { 27 | x++; 28 | y++; 29 | } 30 | 31 | v[k + max] = x; 32 | 33 | if (x >= N && y >= M) { 34 | return backtrack(trace, oldStr, newStr, max); 35 | } 36 | } 37 | trace.push([...v]); 38 | } 39 | return []; 40 | } 41 | 42 | function backtrack( 43 | trace: number[][], 44 | oldStr: string[], 45 | newStr: string[], 46 | max: number 47 | ): DiffResult[] { 48 | let x = oldStr.length; 49 | let y = newStr.length; 50 | const result: DiffResult[] = []; 51 | 52 | for (let d = trace.length - 1; d >= 0; d--) { 53 | const v = trace[d]; 54 | const k = x - y; 55 | 56 | let prevK; 57 | if (k === -d || (k !== d && v[k - 1 + max] < v[k + 1 + max])) { 58 | prevK = k + 1; 59 | } else { 60 | prevK = k - 1; 61 | } 62 | 63 | const prevX = v[prevK + max]; 64 | const prevY = prevX - prevK; 65 | 66 | while (x > prevX && y > prevY) { 67 | result.unshift({ type: "equal", value: oldStr[x - 1] }); 68 | x--; 69 | y--; 70 | } 71 | 72 | if (d > 0) { 73 | if (x === prevX) { 74 | result.unshift({ type: "insert", value: newStr[y - 1] }); 75 | y--; 76 | } else { 77 | result.unshift({ type: "delete", value: oldStr[x - 1] }); 78 | x--; 79 | } 80 | } 81 | } 82 | 83 | return result; 84 | } 85 | 86 | function calculateWER(reference: string[], hypothesis: string[]): number { 87 | const diff = myersDiff(reference, hypothesis); 88 | let substitutions = 0; 89 | let deletions = 0; 90 | let insertions = 0; 91 | 92 | for (let i = 0; i < diff.length; i++) { 93 | if (diff[i].type === "delete") { 94 | if (i + 1 < diff.length && diff[i + 1].type === "insert") { 95 | // This is a substitution 96 | substitutions++; 97 | i++; // Skip the next insert 98 | } else { 99 | deletions++; 100 | } 101 | } else if (diff[i].type === "insert") { 102 | insertions++; 103 | } 104 | } 105 | 106 | const totalErrors = substitutions + deletions + insertions; 107 | return totalErrors / reference.length; 108 | } 109 | 110 | function colorDiff(diff: DiffResult[], colorOnlyBad: boolean = false): string { 111 | return diff 112 | .map((item) => { 113 | switch (item.type) { 114 | case "equal": 115 | return item.value; 116 | case "insert": 117 | return colorOnlyBad ? chalk.red(item.value) : chalk.green(item.value); 118 | case "delete": 119 | return colorOnlyBad ? "" : chalk.red(item.value); 120 | case "replace": 121 | return colorOnlyBad 122 | ? chalk.red(item.value) 123 | : chalk.yellow(item.value); 124 | } 125 | }) 126 | .join(" "); 127 | } 128 | 129 | function processTranscriptions( 130 | reference: string, 131 | transcriptions: { 132 | name: string; 133 | transcription: string; 134 | }[], 135 | colorOnlyBad: boolean = false 136 | ): void { 137 | // console.log(chalk.blue("Original passage:")); 138 | // console.log(reference); 139 | // console.log(); 140 | 141 | reference = reference.toLowerCase().replace(/\,/g, ""); 142 | 143 | const refWords = reference.split(/\s+/); 144 | 145 | transcriptions.forEach((transcription, index) => { 146 | transcription.transcription = transcription.transcription 147 | .toLowerCase() 148 | .replace(/\,/g, ""); 149 | console.log(chalk.blue(`Transcription ${transcription.name}:`)); 150 | const hypWords = transcription.transcription.split(/\s+/); 151 | const diff = myersDiff(refWords, hypWords); 152 | console.log(colorDiff(diff, colorOnlyBad)); 153 | const wer = calculateWER(refWords, hypWords); 154 | console.log(chalk.yellow(`Word Error Rate: ${(wer * 100).toFixed(2)}%`)); 155 | console.log(); 156 | }); 157 | } 158 | // Example usage 159 | const originalPassage = fs.readFileSync( 160 | __dirname + "/voilatest/original.txt", 161 | "utf8" 162 | ); 163 | const transcriptions = [ 164 | { 165 | name: "Gemini Flash 002", 166 | transcription: fs.readFileSync( 167 | __dirname + "/voilatest/flash-002.txt", 168 | "utf8" 169 | ), 170 | }, 171 | { 172 | name: "Gemini Flash (noise removed)", 173 | transcription: fs.readFileSync( 174 | __dirname + "/voilatest/flash-002-noise-removed.txt", 175 | "utf8" 176 | ), 177 | }, 178 | { 179 | name: "Gemini Flash (with fixing in the prompt)", 180 | transcription: fs.readFileSync( 181 | __dirname + "/voilatest/flash-002-with-fixing.txt", 182 | "utf8" 183 | ), 184 | }, 185 | { 186 | name: "AssemblyAI", 187 | transcription: fs.readFileSync( 188 | __dirname + "/voilatest/assemblyai.txt", 189 | "utf8" 190 | ), 191 | }, 192 | { 193 | name: "Whisper Turbo", 194 | transcription: fs.readFileSync( 195 | __dirname + "/voilatest/whisper-turbo.txt", 196 | "utf8" 197 | ), 198 | }, 199 | { 200 | name: "Whisper Turbo (noise removed)", 201 | transcription: fs.readFileSync( 202 | __dirname + "/voilatest/whisper-turbo-noise-removed.txt", 203 | "utf8" 204 | ), 205 | }, 206 | ]; 207 | 208 | processTranscriptions(originalPassage, transcriptions, true); 209 | 210 | console.log( 211 | "===================== Second one: Shadow of the erdtree (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldTQoUxROzY) ======================" 212 | ); 213 | 214 | const originalPassage2 = fs.readFileSync( 215 | __dirname + "/shadow-of-erdtree/original.txt", 216 | "utf8" 217 | ); 218 | 219 | const transcriptions2 = [ 220 | { 221 | name: "Gemini Flash 002", 222 | transcription: fs.readFileSync( 223 | __dirname + "/shadow-of-erdtree/flash-002.txt", 224 | "utf8" 225 | ), 226 | }, 227 | { 228 | name: "Gemini Flash (with fixing in the prompt)", 229 | transcription: fs.readFileSync( 230 | __dirname + "/shadow-of-erdtree/flash-002-fixed.txt", 231 | "utf8" 232 | ), 233 | }, 234 | { 235 | name: "Gemini Flash 8b (with fixing)", 236 | transcription: fs.readFileSync( 237 | __dirname + "/shadow-of-erdtree/flash-8b.txt", 238 | "utf8" 239 | ), 240 | }, 241 | { 242 | name: "Gemini Pro (with fixing in the prompt)", 243 | transcription: fs.readFileSync( 244 | __dirname + "/shadow-of-erdtree/pro-002.txt", 245 | "utf8" 246 | ), 247 | }, 248 | { 249 | name: "AssemblyAI", 250 | transcription: fs.readFileSync( 251 | __dirname + "/shadow-of-erdtree/assemblyai.txt", 252 | "utf8" 253 | ), 254 | }, 255 | { 256 | name: "Whisper Turbo", 257 | transcription: fs.readFileSync( 258 | __dirname + "/shadow-of-erdtree/whisper-turbo.txt", 259 | "utf8" 260 | ), 261 | }, 262 | ]; 263 | 264 | processTranscriptions(originalPassage2, transcriptions2, true); 265 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/shadow-of-erdtree/assemblyai.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | I'm willing to bet that as soon as you entered this place you knew that we were going to get some answers in the shadow of the Erdtree. And we have. There are satisfying revelations regarding Queen Marika and Miquella and the omen and dragons and the gods. We even now know what Malenia whispered to Radahn in this scene before her scarlet flower bloomed in Caelid. This video will only scratch the surface. Its just an overview, a teaser of new revelations and the foreshadowing of a deeper analysis to come. So lets get into it. And this time lets begin at the end. After you defeat the final boss promised consort Radahn on your 400th attempt you can read the remembrance of a God and a lord which states in their childhood Miquella saw in Radahn a lord, his strength and his kindness that stood in stark contrast with their afflicted selves. The cutscene that plays here is a memory. Lord brother, I'm going to be a goddess. If we honor our part of the vow, promise me you'll be my consort. I'll make the world a gentler place. And so Miquella made his heartfelt wish that Radahn would one day be his king consort. Now this ending and the reappearance of Radahn has received a lot of early criticism. But I think this encounter does go a lot deeper than some people are giving it credit for. For example, were hearing about Miquellas side of the vow in this scene and about what Miquella wants. But what about Radahn? What was his part of the vow? What did he want? There is evidence of Radahn being kind, sure. But this is also a man who celebrates war. Did he truly share Miquellas vision for an age of compassion? And if he wanted to be with Miquella, why did he fight so vehemently against his death in the lands between? That would have brought his soul to the realm of shadow with Miquella. But the most chilling thing about this story, I think, is that even if Radahn did want to become Miquellas lord, and I can see that side of the argument too, to be fair. But even if he did want that, do Radahns wants even matter in the face of Miquella? The kind, as we speculated long ago from items like the bewitching branch. Miquella has the power of enchantment over others. He has the power to steal hearts, literally. If you are embraced by him twice in the final fight, your heart is stolen and it's like a part of you dies. Lord of the old order, let us go together. This effect can also be seen in Miquellas faithful band, who overcome their differences and shortcomings to fight for Miquellas cause until Miquellas enchantment is broken and they turn at each others throats. And what makes Miquella a fascinating character is that he isnt manipulating others for selfish reasons. His cause actually is righteous. When he wields love as a weapon, he does it genuinely to make the world a better place without any intent to cause harm. However, such acts are still oppressive. If your want is taken away, what is left of you that remains. Perhaps the saddest example of this is Mohg, who, as we speculated, was indeed under Miquellas spell. Once, in an attempt to free Lord Mohg from his enchantment, I challenged tender Miquella only to have my own heart rather artfully stolen. I knew not how weak I was. I believed that with sufficient mastery, even an empyrean would be within reach of my blade. I could not have been more mistaken. Miquella, the kind is a monster, pure and radiant. He wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men. There is nothing more terrifying. In the specimen storehouse, you can find the secret rite scroll which details the secret rite by which Miquella will ascend to godhood. It reads, a lord will usher in a gods return, and the lord's soul will require a vessel. Hans Buck reveals Miquella's plans in full. After Lord Mohg's slaying at his dynastic palace, it appears his body has been absconded with and taken straight to kind Miquella. As if using Lord Mohg to gain entrance to the land of shadow were not enough, he plans to use his corpse as the vessel of his king consort. He has forsaken Lord Mohg's soul. He desires only his empty shell. In your fight with Radahn, you might have noticed the horns sprouting from his gauntlets and his tendency to perform blood flame attacks. This is because Radahn occupies Mohg's body, fulfilling the terms of the secret rite at the gate of divinity where Miquella will become a God. So in retrospect, Mohg was under Miquella's spell all along and became obsessed with Miquella, believing that they would ascend together as lord and God. But Miquella had plans for Mohg, not just as a corpse to pull into the realm of shadow as a vessel for Radahn's soul, but as Ansbach reveals Mohg was also used as a means for Miquella to enter the realm of shadow in the first place. A while back, I speculated that the realm of shadow was a sort of death dimension and that Miquella's sacrilegious death at the hands of Mohg might have been intentional so that Miquella could enter the realm of shadow. And actually, surprisingly, those speculations were proven correct as well. Ansbach confirms that Mohg enabled Miquella to enter, and the tower of suppression makes it clear that all manners of death wash up in the realm of shadow, which lies at the very center of the lands between. Incidentally, Radahns return also answers one of the biggest mysteries of elden Ring, which was what Malenia whispered to Radahn as she let the rot flower blossom at the end of their fight. According to the young lions helm, she whispered, Miquella awaits thee, o promised consort. And so Malenias southward march to Caelid is finally explained as well. She was there to kill Radahna, that his soul could be taken to the realm of shadow and the vow could be upheld at any cost. Once transported to the realm of shadow, Miquella set off for the tower. And as his great rune says, on the way he abandoned everything, his golden flesh, his blinding strength, even his fate, all in this attempt to bury the original sin, to embrace the whole of it and be reborn as a new God. Miquella has said as much himself. He wishes now to throw it all away. He says the act, though undoubtedly painful, will sear clean the Erd three's wanton sin. The truth of his claim can be found at each cross, which is evident enough to earn my belief. But what was the Erdtree's sin that Miquella died and was reborn for? Well, now we've talked about the end. This brings us to the beginning. Michula, the kind, spoke of the beginning, the seduction and the betrayal, an affair from which gold arose. And so too was shadow born. These words come from Leda, and while she never says them in game, they're pretty damn important, because with Marika in the footage, it's clear that this was her seduction and her betrayal. That was the affair from which gold arose and shadow was born. The same music that played in that moment also plays here in the village where it all began, the shaman village to the northeast. At its center is this, a minor Erdtree, an incantation which reveals that this was Marikas home, which she one day bathed in gold. So Marikas home was a shaman village. The implication clearly being that she herself was a shaman. This was likely a matriarchal society of other numan women, though thats perhaps speculation better left for another video. Put simply, though, a shaman is defined as someone who has influence in matters of the spirit. Their spirituality is what's valued here. And it's on this point that this story takes a bit of a dark turn, for the message at the hidden entrance actually reads, have mercy for the spirited away shamans. Adjacent to this message is the statue that moves aside at the sign of the the O mother gesture. In Mesmer's shadowkeep. This emote is a clue to the truth and it actually leads us all the way down here to where the O mother gesture can be found. This dire place is called Bonnie Village, and a phantom at the whipping hut here elaborates on just who the shamans were, were, or rather the value they had. He states, for pity's sake, your place is in the jar. Nigh sainthood itself awaits you within. For shamans like you, this is your lot life were you accorded for this alone? So the shamans, in the words of their abusers at least, were accorded life for a singular purpose. And that was to be stuffed inside of jars with others. A nearby whip, bestrewn with rotting, misshapen teeth, elaborates on how and why it was used on the shamans. For one, it states that the pain it inflicts was used to encourage their obedience. But additionally it says that as their wounds ripen, they grow inflamed and ooze pus. And the flesh of shamans was said to meld harmoniously with others. So it is that the shamans stuffed into jars become this living amalgam of beings, presumably with the flayed shaman herself at the fore. So now we know what happened to the shamans. They were whipped into submission and forced inside of jars. We know a little bit of the why as well. Apparently it was done so that they could become saints. But the next question I want to answer is who? Who did this to them? Well, it was the horn scent. The caterpillar mask worn by hornsent himself reveals that it was a ritual implement of the greater potentates of Bonny village, which is this very village where we just discussed the evidence of the shamans abuse. It goes on to state that the mask was used to ward off thoughts of impurity, doubt, temptation and other wickednesses one is vulnerable to while absorbed in divine ritual. And man, if you need to ward off thoughts of doubt and wickedness while you're stuffing flayed people inside of jars. Maybe what you're doing is just straight up wrong. I'm starting to understand why Marika purged the realm of shadow with fire. It's as Leta says. They were never saints. They just happened to be on the losing side of a war. But if this mask wasnt proof enough of the hornset being responsible. Look at Belarat jail. Its below Belarat itself, which was the settlement of the hornsent. And to this day, the innards and the shamans remain with the shamans, offering their prayers to the innards of the great jars, such that they might be reborn one day into sainthood. But what is sainthood? Well, it's never explained directly. I do have some ideas, but they might have to wait for another video. What we do know is that the horn scent were obsessed with invoking divinity, and forcing the shamans to achieve sainthood was likely one facet of that. So it's the horn scent that we need to discuss next. The horn scent are an extremely ritualistic people with swathes of their culture devoted to spiritual research and invoking the divine. And one of the most sacred things to them is the crucible, which they have to thank for their tangled horns, which are considered an evolutionary gift. If you didn't know. The crucible has been long established as this primordial form of the Erdtree, a blending of life that became the Erdtree's primal, vital energies. And apparently it originated in the place that became the realm of shadow. This becomes quite clear thanks to Devonia, who is the longest serving of the crucible knights. According to her helmet, she quested in search of the crucibles origin and departed from the lands of the Erdtree alone. Another item we can find thats a clue for the crucible is spira, an incantation for a spiral of light. The spiral, it says, is a normalized crucible current that one day will form a column that stretches to the gods. Maybe it's no coincidence that the white Tower of Ballarat is a spiral, nor that it culminates in a divine gateway. That is a column of the dead stretching to the gods. There's also trees that include the dead. But I digress. I'm getting off topic. Back to Marika, because at some point, it seems Marika rose to prominence within or adjacent to this hornsent culture. We can kind of infer this because hornsent refer to marikas eventual purge as a betrayal. And something can only really be a betrayal if you were aligned with them in the first place. Right. So the hornsent were aware of Marika, and likely her erdtree as well. Before what they call the betrayal. But how? How did Marika rise to such power in their homeland? Where she was presumably a shaman? One of those subjugated well before there was this betrayal. There was a seduction from which gold arose. And I think the fingers had a hand in it. I fear that you have borne witness to the whole of it. The conceits, the hypocrisy of the world built upon the Erdtree. The follies of men, their bitter suffering. Is there no hope for redemption? The answer, sadly, is clear. There never was any hope. They were each of them defective, unhinged from the start. Marika herself and the fingers that guided her. And this is what troubles me. No matter our efforts, if the roots are rotten, then we have little recourse. Ymir is the high priest of Manus Meta. A cathedral of the hand to the east. Once, he instructed Rilana herself in the sorceress. But eventually he would come to abandon this allegiance to the moon. Stating that the moon was merely the closest of the celestial bodies and nothing more. I am a Glintstone sorcerer. We study the stars and examine the life therein. Are you familiar with our findings? Long ago, we began as stardust. Born of a great rupture far across the skies. We, too, are children of the greater will. Is that not divine? Is that not sublime? And yet none can fathom its implications. Its utter brilliance in the ruins of this land and beneath Manus meta itself are the echoes of that great truth that Ymir glimpsed. This is Meta herself. The mother of fingers. Her remembrance reads. The mother of all two fingers and finger creepers was in turn, a magnificently gleaming daughter of the greater will and the first shooting star to fall upon the lands between. You might recall the elden ring and the elden beast made landfall in the lands between upon a star as well. But meta came even before that. So it was that this mother birthed the fingers communing with and receiving signs from the greater will who occupied the great beyond. But at some point, meta became broken, abandoned. And no sign has come through ever since. Do you recall what I said? That Marika and the fingers that guided her were unsound from the start? Well, the truth lies deeper still. It is their mother who is damaged and unhinged. The fingers are but unripe children. Victims in their own right. It's not clear when meta was broken, abandoned. But I assume it was before Marika started taking the guidance of the fingers, since Ymir states that the fingers were unsound from the start. Thus, the greater will's guidance is outdated at the very least, and has been for all of Marika's reign. That's a pretty big revelation. Incidentally, Placidusax was also elden Lord before Marika, and he was abandoned by his God as well. So maybe things became broken around that time. Lots of speculation to be had there. At any rate, abandonment by the greater will or no, Marika took up the power of the elden ring that the fingers offered for her own reasons, and the abandoned fingers spread the glory of the greater will through her, and she through them. Another important item on this topic is the ancient seed talismans that can be found which depict the two fingers around an erdtree seed. They had a hand in the birth of the Erdtree. All this while, the fingers claimed to be envoys for the greater will. But that's a lie. The greater will is gone. The fingers are alone, operating on outdated guidance. This is something that many characters suspected. But most characters in Elden Ring assumed that this happened around the time the Elden ring was shattered. It's a revelation that the fingers have been broken for a really long time, and so the tarnished, too, is alone, following this guidance of grace that now likely only belongs to Marika herself. If anyone. And Marika might have played friendly with the horn scent for a time, but eventually, she had what was surely vengeance. When the horn scent were purged, subjugated, and betrayed, the realm of shadow became this disconnected domain of death, and the shadow tree that looms high became the realms symbol of abandonment, not grace. Before she left, Marika bathed the village of her home in gold, placing a small, illusory tree that restores the health of those nearby. She did this knowing full well that there was no one left to heal. Then she left, never to return, not even for her son, who she left behind to endlessly enact her subjugation of the realm of shadow. So next, let's talk about Messmate the impaler. As anticipated, Mesmer is entirely loyal to his mother, who is Queen Marika. His armor reveals that on his mother's wishes, Mesmer made himself a symbol of fear, undertaking the cleansing crusade she desired. And in the end, all those stripped of the grace of gold would perish in the embrace of Mesmer's. To this end, he had his black knights, fire knights, and common infantry, not to mention the carian forces who followed Rilana into war on Mesmers behalf. So it was that the hornsent were purged in a war without end. A phantom at castle ensys bemoans o marika, I beg. Embrace your child and give us a sign. How long must this holy war stretch on? But Marika never returned, testing their faith. One phantom even raises the possibility that Mesmer himself has been abandoned. And he has. The final straw for him is when Yu, a tarnished who would become elden lord, arrives at his doorstep. I will not suffer a lord devoid of light. No mother forgives me. Soon tarnished wilt thou be taken in the jaws of the abyssal sun. Like his siblings, Mesmer was born cursed. In fact, the game likens his curse to Melinis, who is heavily implied to be his younger sister. Messma too, it is said, bore a vision of fire. We learn this from the item Mesmers kindling, which describes the fire that endless burns within him, a dark thing eaten away at by a wicked serpent. His remembrance elaborates on this serpent, stating a malevolent snake writhed within Mesmer and so his very mother plucked out his eye and put in its place a seal of grace. So I was wrong about this eye. It wasn't the slitted eye of dragon communion. Instead it was Marikas seal of grace holding back something terrible. The description continues to state that even with this seal in place, Marikas fear compelled her to secret away her child within the realm of shadow, hidden away, keeping company with the original sin and a hatred that would not be confined. Theres so much more to say about this base serpent and the dark fire. Theres so much more to say about Messma. We even learn from Gaius's remembrance that Mesmer was an older brother to Radahn, meaning Mesmer's birth, and thus the birth of Melina as well likely would have arrived much earlier in the timeline. And there's a ton of curiosities with Mesmer's knights as well, some of whom were loyal, some who were disloyal, and some of whom occupied this space of reluctance in between. But those stories are better off in other videos. In the interest of moving on, there is one last thing I want to talk about with Messma, and it's that in the cut dialogue, Messma notes that Miquella has spoken of us to him. And indeed we do know that Miquella did come through this shadow. Keep divesting himself at the crosses all the while. Which brings us to our next topic, St. Trina. Each cross of Miquella is a piece of himself, marked with his great rune arms, an eye flesh. But there's a couple of crosses in particular that I remember as a part of what was an extremely chilling moment. As you progress along the coast towards the fissure, you notice that Miquella has divested himself of his doubt and vacillation. Without these things, he was free, it seems, to abandon something that was very dear to him. And inside the fissure, at what is perhaps the deepest part of the land in the realm of shadow, we realize that Miquella has actually divested himself of his love. A phantom says kindly, miquella, I see you've thrown away something you should not have under any circumstances. How will you salvation offer to those who cannot be saved, when you could not even save your other self? His other self, his love, his fate was St. Trina. So to Miquella, who was one of Marikas kin, having a second self is nothing new, really. Weve now even learned from the shamans that their flesh melds harmoniously with others. After all. Actually, the fact that St. Trina was able to be discarded might even suggest that Radagon could have become divested from Marika in a similar way. But Miquellas other half was truly special, and she was renowned for granting peaceful sleep to many in the lands between which I imagine would have been very much appreciated in this land that's filled with the weary undead. So St. Trina naturally had many followers, and perhaps at the fore was Tioli, whose obsession with St. Trina returns almost immediately. When Miquella's enchantment finally breaks, I'm feeling rather lost, haunted by memories of St. Trina, her visage, her senna, the lore of velvety sleep. What kindly Miquella chasten me for falling for St. Trina while knowing that she was the discarded half. The problem is, I simply cannot help it. I would sacrifice everything just to gaze upon her one last time. St. Trina is below, defended by a putrescent knight who is basically tainted flesh, once given eternal rest, that now serves St. Trina. Die enough times to St. Trina's nectar and you will hear her words. Make Miguel stop. Don't turn the poor thing into a God. Godhood would be Mikaela's prison, a caged divinity beyond saving. You must kill Micolah. Grant him forgiveness. All of this makes you realize that if godhood really would be Miquellas cage, as St. Trina believes, then it really might have been marikas cage as well. It echoes what the saw seals suggested long ago. That solemn duty weighs upon the one beholden, not unlike a gnawing curse from which there is no deliverance. In the end, Marikas caged divinity is likely a part of why she shattered the elden ring, and so Miquella's divinity would surely come at a cost to him. He would essentially be sacrificing him himself to bring about that gentle age in the name of everybody who would fall under his enchantment. And this enchantment is a tendency that Miquella regains when he returns in full force as a God. Because once charmed by Miquella, a circlet of light adorns your head. And according to the description of the circlet of light which you receive after Miquellas defeat, this enchanting circlet would have been the foundation of Miquellas age of compassion, not the Elden ring. Presumably, in his age, all would be charmed. But Miquella found one that would refuse to be embraced. You. No wonder, as one God and one kingdom consort is all the world needs, and you're the chosen elden lord of a different age, whatever ending that may be for you. So naturally you would have refused to be embraced. Thank you for watching, and thank you for listening to me, even with my nasally Covid voice. Sorry about that. Before I go displate currently have a limited time sale for 27% off your first displate and 37% off for any displates after that. And you'll get that deal just by clicking the link below. I've commissioned a new design to celebrate shadow of the ode tree. This one is called eclipse, and it's this gorgeous black and white illustration commissioned from Nico Delort. This one has a lot of Easter eggs and references hidden within it. How many can you find? And if you're looking to pick up a few more displates to make use of that discount, check out my other store offerings as well. I love commissioning these designs and displates are honestly great, convenient products that just make any space more interesting. So check that out. And again, thank you for watching. Please subscribe for more shadow of the Erdtree lore because I've really barely scratched the surface here today. I really had to restrain myself from going deeper into all of these topics in the the interest of providing a concise overview of all of the lore. And I didn't even cover all of the lore. It was still tough. Honestly, the most fascinating content is yet to come. I still want to talk about how Bael, the new dragon in the DLC, is actually the father of the Drakes, and how he had a war with placidusax. I wish I had time to talk about the abyssal forest and Midras Manse, which the horn sent locked away. And then there's Godwyn, whose story we can actually say has come to a conclusive end just by virtue of the lack of new information we've received on him. There's so much more to every single thing I've talked about today, and I encourage you to go through the item descriptions and seek these answers yourself if you're interested, because ideally, you know, I won't be the only source of information that you go through. Support other creators, think critically about all of the content you consume. But thank you for watching mine, and I look forward to exploring all of this with you in the months to come. Look for another upload soon. Cheers, guys. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/shadow-of-erdtree/flash-002-fixed.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | I'm willing to bet that as soon as you entered this place, you knew that we were going to get some answers in the Shadow of the Erdtree. And we have. There are satisfying revelations regarding Queen Marika and Miquella and the Omen and dragons and the gods. We even now know what Malenia whispered to Radahn in this scene before her scarlet flower bloomed in Caelid. This video will only scratch the surface. It's just an overview, a teaser of new revelations and the foreshadowing of a deeper analysis to come. So, let's get into it and this time, let's begin at the end. After you defeat the final boss, promised consort Radahn, on your 400th attempt, you can read the Remembrance of a God and a Lord, which states, in their childhood, Miquella saw in Radahn a lord, his strength and his kindness that stood in stark contrast with their afflicted selves. The cutscene that plays here is a memory. Lord brother. I'm going to be a god. If we are not our part of the vow. Promise me you'll be my consort. I'll make the world a gentler place. And so Miquella made his heartfelt wish that Radahn would one day be his king consort. Now, this ending and the reappearance of Radahn has received a lot of early criticism, but I think this encounter does go a lot deeper than some people are giving it credit for. For example, we're hearing about Miquella's side of the vow in this scene and about what Miquella wants. But what about Radahn? What was his part of the vow? What did he want? There is evidence of Radahn being kind, sure, but this is also a man who celebrates war. Did he truly share Miquella's vision for an age of compassion? And if he wanted to be with Miquella, why did he fight so vehemently against his death in the Lands Between? That would have brought his soul to the realm of shadow with Miquella. But the most chilling thing about this story I think is that even if Radahn did want to become Miquella's lord, and I can see that side of the argument too, to be fair, but even if he did want that, do Radahn's wants even matter in the face of Miquella the Kind? As we speculated long ago, from items like the Bewitching Branch, Miquella has the power of enchantment over others. He has the power to steal hearts, literally. If you are embraced by him twice in the final fight, your heart is stolen, and it's like a part of you dies. Lord of the Old Order. Let us go together. This effect can also be seen in Miquella's faithful band who overcome their differences and shortcomings to fight for Miquella's cause until Miquella's enchantment is broken and they turn at each other's throats. And what makes Miquella a fascinating character is that he isn't manipulating others for selfish reasons. His cause actually is righteous. When he wields love as a weapon, he does it genuinely to make the world a better place without any intent to cause harm. However, such acts are still oppressive. If your want is taken away, what is left of you that remains? Perhaps the saddest example of this is Mohg, who, as we speculated, was indeed under Miquella's spell. Once, in an attempt to free Lord Mohg from his enchantment, I challenged tender Miquella, only to have my own heart rather artfully stolen. I knew not how weak I was. I believed that with sufficient mastery, even an Empyrean would be within reach of my blade. I could not have been more mistaken. Miquella the Kind is a monster, pure and radiant. He wields love to strive clean the hearts of man. There is nothing more terrifying. In the Specimen Storehouse, you can find the Secret Rite scroll which details the secret right by which Miquella will ascend to godhood. It reads, a Lord will usher in a God's return, and the Lord's soul will require a vessel. Andsbeck reveals Miquella's plans in full. After Lord Mohg's slaying at his Dynastic Palace, it appears his body has been absconded with and taken straight to Kind Miquella, as if using Lord Mohg to gain entrance to the land of shadow were not enough. He plans to use his corpse as the vessel of his king consort. He has forsaken Lord Mohg's soul. He desires only his empty shell. In your fight with Radahn, you might have noticed the horns sprouting from his gauntlets and his tendency to perform Bloodflame attacks. This is because Radahn occupies Mohg's body, fulfilling the terms of the Secret Rite at the Gate of Divinity, where Miquella will become a god. So, in retrospect, Mohg was under Miquella's spell all along and became obsessed with Miquella, believing that they would ascend together as Lord and God. But Miquella had plans for Mohg, not just as a corpse to pull into the realm of shadow as a vessel for Radahn's soul, but as Ansebeck reveals, Mohg was also used as a means for Miquella to enter the realm of shadow in the first place. A while back, I speculated that the Realm of Shadow was a sort of death dimension, and that Miquella's sacrilegious death at the hands of Mohg might have been intentional so that Miquella could enter the Realm of Shadow. And actually, surprisingly, those speculations were proven correct as well. Ansebeck confirms that Mohg enabled Miquella to enter, and the Tower of Suppression makes it clear that all manners of death wash up in the Realm of Shadow, which lies at the very center of the Lands Between. Incidentally, Radahn's return also answers one of the biggest mysteries of Elden Ring, which was what Malenia whispered to Radahn as she let the rot flower blossom at the end of their fight. According to the Young Lion's Helm, she whispered, Miquella awaits thee, oh promised consort. And so Malenia's southward march to Caelid is finally explained as well. She was there to kill Radahn so that his soul could be taken to the Realm of Shadow and the vow could be upheld at any cost. Once transported to the Realm of Shadow, Miquella set off for the Tower, and as his Great Rune says, on the way he abandoned everything, his golden flesh, his blinding strength, even his fate, all in this attempt to bury the original sin, to embrace the whole of it and be reborn as a new God. Miquella has said as much himself. He wishes now to throw it all away. He says the act, though undoubtedly painful, will sear clean the Erdtree's wanton sin. The truth of his claim can be found at each cross, which is evidence enough to warrant my belief. But what was the Erdtree's sin that Miquella died and was reborn for? Well, now we've talked about the end. This brings us to the beginning. Miquella the Kind spoke of the beginning, the seduction and the betrayal, an affair from which gold arose, and so too was shadow born. These words come from Loretta, and while she never says them in game, they're pretty damn important because with Marika in the footage, it's clear that this was her seduction and her betrayal, that was the affair from which gold arose and shadow was born. The same music that played in that moment also plays here in the village where it all began, the Sharman village to the Northeast. At its center is this, a minor Erdtree and incantation which reveals that this was Marika's home, which she one day bathed in gold. So, Marika's home was a Sharman village, the implication clearly being that she herself was a Sharman. This was likely a matriarchal society of other Numen women, though that's perhaps speculation better left for another video. But simply though, a Sharman is defined as someone who has influence in matters of the spirit. Their spirituality is what's valued here, and it's on this point that this story takes a bit of a dark turn, for the message at the hidden entrance actually reads, have mercy for the spirited away Sharman. Adjacent to this message is the statue that moves aside at the sign of the Oh Mother gesture in Mohgwyn's Shadow Keep. This emote is a clue to the truth, and it actually leads us all the way down here to where the Oh Mother gesture can be found. This dire place is called Bonny Village, and a phantom at the whipping hut here elaborates on just who the Sharman's were, or rather, the value they had. He states, for pity's sake, your place is in the jar. Nay, Sainthood itself awaits you within. For Sharman's like you, this is your lot. Life were you accorded for this alone. So, the Sharman's, in the words of their abusers at least, were accorded life for a singular purpose, and that was to be stuffed inside of jars with others. A nearby whip bestrwn with rotting misshapen teeth elaborates on how and why it was used on the Sharman's. For one, it states that the pain it inflicts was used to encourage their obedience. But additionally, it says that as their wounds ripen, they grow inflamed and ooze pus, and the flesh of Sharman's was sent to meld harmoniously with others. So it is that the Sharman's stuffed into jars become this living amalgam of beings, presumably with the flayed Sharman herself at the fore. So now we know what happened to the Sharman's. They were whipped into submission and forced inside of jars. We know a little bit of the why as well. Apparently it was done so that they could become saints. But the next question I want to answer is who? Who did this to them? Well, it was the Horned. The caterpillar mask worn by Horncent himself reveals that it was a ritual implement of the greater potentates of Bonny Village, which is this very village where we just discussed the evidence of the Sharman's abuse. It goes on to state that the mask was used to ward off thoughts of impurity, doubt, temptation and other wickedness, one is vulnerable to while absorbed in divine ritual. And man, if you need to ward off thoughts of doubt and wickedness while you're stuffing flayed people inside of jars, maybe what you're doing is just straight up wrong. I'm starting to understand why Marika purged the Realm of Shadow with fire. It's as Loretta says, they were never saints. They just happened to be on the losing side of a war. But if this mask wasn't proof enough of the Horned being responsible, look at Bellum's Jail. It's below Bellum itself, which was the settlement of the Horned, and to this day, the Inners and the Sharman's remain, with the Sharman's offering their prayers to the Inners of the great jars such that they might be reborn one day into Sainthood. But what is Sainthood? Well, it's never explained directly. I do have some ideas, but they might have to wait for another video. What we do know is that the Horned were obsessed with invoking divinity, and forcing the Sharman's to achieve Sainthood was likely one facet of that. So, it's the Horned that we need to discuss next. The Horned are an extremely ritualistic people with swathes of their culture devoted to spiritual research and invoking the divine. And one of the most sacred things to them is the Crucible, which they have to thank for their tangled horns, which are considered an evolutionary gift. If you didn't know, the Crucible has been long established as this primordial form of the Erdtree, a blending of life that became the Erdtree's primal vital energies. And apparently, it originated in the place that became the Realm of Shadow. This becomes quite clear thanks to Devonia, who is the longest serving of the Crucible Knights. According to her helmet, she quested in search of the Crucible's origin and departed from the lands of the Erdtree alone. Another item we can find that's a clue for the Crucible is Spiral, an incantation for a spiral of light. The spiral, it says, is a normalized Crucible current that one day will form a column that stretches to the gods. Maybe it's no coincidence that the White Tower of Bellum is a spiral, nor that it culminates in a divine gateway that is a column of the dead stretching to the gods. There's also trees that include the dead, but I digress. I'm getting off topic. Back to Marika, because at some point it seems Marika rose to prominence within or adjacent to this Horned culture. We can kind of infer this because Horned referred to Marika's eventual purge as a betrayal, and something can only really be a betrayal if you were aligned with them in the first place, right? So, the Horned were aware of Marika and likely her Erdtree as well before what they call the betrayal. But how? How did Marika rise to such power in their homeland where she was presumably a Sharman, one of those subjugated? Well, before there was this betrayal, there was a seduction from which gold arose, and I think the Fingers had a hand in it. I fear that you have borne witness to the whole of it, the conceits, the hypocrisy of the world built upon the Erdtree, the follies of men, their bitter suffering. Is there no hope for redemption? The answer, sadly, is clear. There never was any hope. They were each of them defective, unhinged from the start, Marika herself and the Fingers that guided her. And this is what troubles me. No matter our efforts, if the roots are rotten, then we have little recourse. Emier is the high priest of Manus Meta, a cathedral of the hand to the east. Once he instructed Loretta herself in the sorcerous arts, but eventually he would come to abandon this allegiance to the moon, stating that the moon was merely the closest of the celestial bodies and nothing more. I am a glintstone sorcerer. We study the stars and examine the life therein. Are you familiar with our findings? Long ago, we began as Stardust, born of a great rupture far across the skies. We too are children of the Greater Will. Is that not divine? Is that not sublime? And yet none can fathom its implications, its utter brilliance. In the ruins of this land and beneath Manus Meta itself are the echoes of that greater truth that Emire glimpsed. This is Meta herself, the mother of Fingers. Her Remembrance reads, the mother of all two Fingers and Finger Creepers was in turn a magnificently gleaming daughter of the Greater Will and the first shooting star to fall upon the Lands Between. You might recall the Elden Ring and the Elden Beast made landfall in the Lands Between upon a star as well, but Meta came even before that. So it was that this mother birthed the Fingers, communing with and receiving signs from the Greater Will who occupied the Great Beyond. But at some point, Meta became broken, abandoned, and no sign has come through ever since. Do you recall what I said that Marika and the Fingers that guided her were unsound from the start? Well, the truth lies deeper still. It is their mother who is damaged and unhinged. The Fingers are but unripe children, victims in their own right. It's not clear when Meta was broken, abandoned, but I assume it was before Marika started taking the guidance of the Fingers, since Emire states that the Fingers were unsound from the start. Thus, the Greater Will's guidance is outdated at the very least, and has been for all of Marika's reign. That's a pretty big revelation. Incidentally, Placidusax was also Elden Lord before Marika, and he was abandoned by his God as well, so maybe things became broken around that time. Lots of speculation to be had there. At any rate, abandonment by the Greater Will or no, Marika took up the power of the Elden Ring that the Fingers offered for her own reasons, and the abandoned Fingers spread the glory of the Greater Will through her, and she through them. Another important item on this topic is the Ancient Seed Talismans that can be found, which depict the two Fingers around an Erdtree seed. They had a hand in the birth of the Erdtree. All this while, the Fingers claimed to be envoys for the Greater Will, but that's a lie. The Greater Will is gone. The Fingers are alone, operating on outdated guidance. This is something that many characters suspected, but most characters in Elden Ring assumed that this happened around the time the Elden Ring was shattered. It's a revelation that the Fingers have been broken for a really long time. And so, the Tarnished too is alone, following this guidance of grace that now likely only belongs to Marika herself, if anyone. And Marika might have played friendly with the Horned for a time, but eventually she had what was surely vengeance when the Horned were purged, subjugated, and betrayed. The Realm of Shadow became this disconnected domain of death, and the Shadow Tree that looms high became the realm's symbol of abandonment, not grace. Before she left, Marika bathed the village of her home in gold, placing a small illusory tree that restores the health of those nearby. She did this knowing full well that there was no one left to heal. Then, she left, never to return, not even for her son who she left behind to endlessly enact her subjugation of the Realm of Shadow. So next, let's talk about Mohgwyn, the Impaler. As anticipated, Mohgwyn is entirely loyal to his mother, who is Queen Marika. His armor reveals that on his mother's wishes, Mohgwyn made himself a symbol of fear, undertaking the cleansing crusade she desired, and in the end, all those stripped of the grace of gold would perish in the embrace of Mohgwyn's flame. To this end, he had his Black Knights, Fire Knights, and common infantry, not to mention thecarian forces who followed Loretta into war on Mohgwyn's behalf. So it was that the Horned were purged in a war without end. A phantom at Castle Sol, bemoans, oh Marika, I beg embrace your child and give us a sign. How long must this holy war stretch on? But Marika never returned, testing their faith. One phantom even raises the possibility that Mohgwyn himself has been abandoned, and he has. The final straw for him is when you, the Tarnished, who would become Elden Lord, arrives at his doorstep. I will not suffer our Lord devoid of light. No mother, forgive me. Soon, Tarnished, wilt thou be taken in the jaws of the abysmal serpent, shorn of light? Like his siblings, Mohgwyn was born cursed. In fact, the game likens his curse to Malenia, who is heavily implied to be his younger sister. Mohgwyn too, it is said, bore a vision of fire. We learn this from the item Mohgwyn's Kindling, which describes the fire that endlessly burns within him, a dark thing eaten away at by a wicked serpent. His Remembrance elaborates on this serpent, stating a malevolent snake writhed within Mohgwyn, and so his very mother plucked out his eye and put in its place a seal of grace. So I was wrong about this eye. It wasn't the slitted eye of dragon communion. Instead, it was Marika's seal of grace, holding back something terrible. The description continues to state that even with this seal in place, Marika's fear compelled her to secrete away her child within the Realm of Shadow, hidden away, keeping company with the original sin and a hatred that would not be confined. There's so much more to say about this base serpent and the dark fire. There's so much more to say about Mohgwyn. We even learn from Gyias's Remembrance that Mohgwyn was an older brother to Radahn, meaning Mohgwyn's birth and thus the birth of Malenia as well likely would have arrived much earlier in the timeline. And there's a ton of curiosities with Mohgwyn's Knights as well, some of whom were loyal, some who were disloyal, and some of whom occupied this space of reluctance in between, but those stories are better off in other videos. In the interest of moving on, there is one last thing I want to talk about with Mohgwyn, and it's that in the cut dialogue, Mohgwyn notes that Miquella has spoken of us to him, and indeed we do know that Miquella did come through this Shadow Keep, divesting himself at the crosses all the while, which brings us to our next topic, Saint Trina. Each cross of Miquella is a piece of himself marked with his Great Rune, arms, an eye, flesh, but there's a couple of crosses in particular that I remember as a part of what was an extremely chilling moment. As you progress along the coast towards the fissure, you notice that Miquella has divested himself of his doubt and vacillation. Without these things, he was free it seems, to abandon something that was very dear to him. And inside the fissure at what is perhaps the deepest part of the land in the Realm of Shadow, we realize that Miquella has actually divested himself of his love. A phantom says, kindly Miquella, I see you've thrown away something you should not have under any circumstances. How will you salvation offer to those who cannot be saved when you could not even save your other self? His other self, his love, his fate was Saint Trina. So to Miquella who was one of Marika's kin, having a second self is nothing new really. We've now even learned from the Sharman's that their flesh melds harmoniously with others after all. Actually, the fact that Saint Trina was able to be discarded might even suggest that Radagon could have become divested from Marika in a similar way. But Miquella's other half was truly special, and she was renowned for granting peaceful sleep to many in the Lands Between, which I imagine would have been very much appreciated in this land that's filled with the weary undead. So, Saint Trina naturally had many followers, and perhaps at the fore was Tiollie, whose obsession with Saint Trina returns almost immediately when Miquella's enchantment finally breaks. I'm feeling rather lost, haunted by memories of Saint Trina, her visage, her sonnets, the lore of velvety sleep. Would kindly Miquella chase on me for falling for Saint Trina while knowing that she was the discarded half? The problem is, I simply cannot help it. I would sacrifice everything just to gaze upon her one last time. Saint Trina is below, defended by a putrescent knight who is basically tainted flesh once given eternal rest that now serves Saint Trina. Die enough times to Saint Trina's nectar and you will hear her words. Make Miquella stop. Don't turn the poor thing into a god. Godhood would be Miquella's prison. A caged divinity is beyond saving. You must kill Miquella. Grant him forgiveness. All of this makes you realize that if godhood really would be Miquella's cage, as Saint Trina believes, then it really might have been Marika's cage as well. It echoes what the Sorcerers Seals suggested long ago, that solemn duty weighs upon the one beholden, not unlike Gey, knowing curse from which there is no deliverance. In the end, Marika's caged divinity is likely a part of why she shattered the Elden Ring. And so Miquella's divinity would surely come at a cost to him. He would essentially be sacrificing himself to bring about that gentle age in the name of everybody who would fall under his enchantment. And this enchantment is a tendency that Miquella regains when he returns in full force as a god because once charmed by Miquella, a circlet of light adorns your head. And according to the description of the Circlet of Light which you receive after Miquella's defeat, this enchanting circlet would have been the foundation of Miquella's age of compassion, not the Elden Ring. Presumably in his age, all would be charmed, but Miquella found one that would refuse to be embraced, you. No wonder as one God and one King Consort is all the world needs and you're the chosen Elden Lord of a different age, whatever ending that may be for you. So naturally, you would have refused to be embraced. Thank you for watching and thank you for listening to me even with my nasally COVID voice. Sorry about that. Before I go, Displate currently have a limited time sale for 27% off your first Displate and 37% off for any Displates after that, and you'll get that deal just by clicking the link below. I've commissioned a new design to celebrate Shadow of the Erdtree. This one is called Eclipse, and it's this gorgeous black and white illustration commissioned from Nico De Lord. This one has a lot of Easter eggs and references hidden within it. How many can you find? And if you're looking to pick up a few more Displates to make use of that discount, check out my other store offerings as well. I love commissioning these designs and Displates are honestly great convenient products that just make any space more interesting. So check that out and again, thank you for watching. Please subscribe for more Shadow of the Erdtree lore because I've really barely scratched the surface here today. I really had to restrain myself from going deeper into all of these topics in the interest of providing a concise overview of all of the lore, and I didn't even cover all of the lore. It was still tough. Honestly, the most fascinating content is yet to come. Uh, I still want to talk about how Baal, the new dragon in the DLC, is actually the father of the Drakes and how he had a war with Placidusax. I wish I had time to talk about the Abyssal Forest and Midhir's Manse which the Horned locked away. And then there's Godwyn whose story we can actually say has come to a conclusive end just by virtue of the lack of new information we've received on him. There's so much more to every single thing I've talked about today, and I encourage you to go through the item descriptions and seek these answers yourself if you're interested because ideally, you know, I won't be the only source of information that you go through. Support other creators, think critically about all of the content you consume. But thank you for watching mine, and I look forward to exploring all of this with you in the months to come. Look for another upload soon. Cheers guys. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/shadow-of-erdtree/flash-002.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | I'm willing to bet that as soon as you entered this place, you knew that we were going to get some answers in the shadow of the Erdtree. And we have. There are satisfying revelations regarding Queen Marika and Miquella and the Omen and Dragons and the Gods. We even now know what Malenia whispered to Radahn in this scene before her scarlet flower bloomed in Caleid. This video will only scratch the surface. It's just an overview, a teaser of new revelations and the foreshadowing of a deeper analysis to come. So, let's get into it and this time, let's begin at the end. After you defeat the final boss, promised consort Radahn, on your 400th attempt, you can read the remembrance of a god and a lord, which states in their childhood, Miquella saw in Radahn a lord. His strength and his kindness that stood in stark contrast with their afflicted selves. The cut scene that plays here is a memory. Lord brother. I'm going to be a god. If we are not a part of the vow. Promise me you'll be my consort. I'll make the world a gentler place. And so Miquella made his heartfelt wish that Radahn would one day be his king consort. Now, this ending and the reappearance of Radahn has received a lot of early criticism. But I think this encounter does go a lot deeper than some people are giving it credit for. For example, we're hearing about Miquella's side of the vow in this scene and about what Miquella wants. But what about Radahn? What was his part of the vow? What did he want? There is evidence of Radahn being kind, sure, but this is also a man who celebrates war. Did he truly share Miquella's vision for an age of compassion? And if he wanted to be with Miquella, why did he fight so vehemently against his death in the Lands Between that would have brought his soul to the realm of shadow with Miquella? But the most chilling thing about this story, I think, is that even if Radahn did want to become Miquella's lord, and I can see that side of the argument too, to be fair, but even if he did want that, do Radahn's wants even matter in the face of Miquella the Kind? As we speculated long ago from items like the bewitching branch, Miquella has the power of enchantment over others. He has the power to steal hearts. Literally, if you are embraced by him twice in the final fight, your heart is stolen and it's like a part of you dies. Lord of the old order. Let us go together. This effect can also be seen in Miquella's faithful band, who overcome their differences and shortcomings to fight for Miquella's cause, until Miquella's enchantment is broken and they turn at each other's throats. And what makes Miquella a fascinating character is that he isn't manipulating others for selfish reasons. His cause actually is righteous. When he wields love as a weapon, he does it genuinely to make the world a better place without any intent to cause harm. However, such acts are still oppressive. If your want is taken away, what is left of you that remains? Perhaps the saddest example of this is Mohg, who, as we speculated, was indeed under Miquella's spell. Once, in an attempt to free Lord Mohg from his enchantment, I challenged tender Miquella. Only to have my own heart rather artfully stolen. I knew not how weak I was. I believed that with sufficient mastery, even an Empyrean would be within reach of my blade. I could not have been more mistaken. Miquella the Kind is a monster, pure and radiant. He wields love to strive clean the hearts of man. There is nothing more terrifying. In the specimen storehouse, you can find the Secret Rite scroll, which details the secret rite by which Miquella will ascend to godhood. It reads, "A Lord will usher in a God's return and the Lord's soul will require a vessel." And this book reveals Miquella's plans in full. After Lord Mohg's slaying at his Dynastic Palace, it appears his body has been absconded with and taken straight to Kind Miquella. As if using Lord Mohg to gain entrance to the land of shadow were not enough, he plans to use his corpse as the vessel of his king consort. He has forsaken Lord Mohg's soul. He desires only his empty shell. In your fight with Radahn, you might have noticed the horns sprouting from his gauntlets and his tendency to perform Bloodflame attacks. This is because Radahn occupies Mohg's body, fulfilling the terms of the Secret Rite at the gate of divinity where Miquella will become a God. So, in retrospect, Mohg was under Miquella's spell all along and became obsessed with Miquella, believing that they would ascend together as Lord and God. But Miquella had plans for Mohg, not just as a corpse to pull into the realm of shadow as a vessel for Radahn's soul, but as Ensbuck reveals, Mohg was also used as a means for Miquella to enter the realm of shadow in the first place. A while back, I speculated that the realm of shadow was a sort of death dimension and that Miquella's sacrilegious death at the hands of Mohg might have been intentional so that Miquella could enter the realm of shadow and actually surprisingly, those speculations were proven correct as well. Ensbuck confirms that Mohg enabled Miquella to enter and the Tower of Suppression makes it clear that all manners of death wash up in the realm of shadow which lies at the very center of the Lands Between. Incidentally, Radahn's return also answers one of the biggest mysteries of Elden Ring, which was what Malenia whispered to Radahn as she let the rot flower blossom at the end of their fight. According to the Young Lion's Helm, she whispered, "Miquella awaits thee, oh promised consort." And so Malenia's southward march to Caleid is finally explained as well. She was there to kill Radahn so that his soul could be taken to the realm of shadow and the vow could be upheld at any cost. Once transported to the realm of shadow, Miquella set off for the tower. And as his Great Rune says, on the way he abandoned everything, his golden flesh, his blinding strength, even his faith. All in this attempt to bury the original sin, to embrace the whole of it and be reborn as a new god. Miquella has said as much himself. He wishes now to throw it all away. He says the act, though undoubtedly painful, will sear clean the Erdtree's wanton sin. The truth of his claim can be found at each cross, which is evidence enough to warrant my belief. But what was the Erdtree's sin that Miquella died and was reborn for? Well, now we've talked about the end, this brings us to the beginning. Miquella the Kind spoke of the beginning, the seduction and the betrayal, an affair from which gold arose and so too was shadow born. These words come from Loretta, and while she never says them in game, they're pretty damn important because with Marika in the footage, it's clear that this was her seduction and her betrayal that was the affair from which gold arose and shadow was born. The same music that played in that moment also plays here in the village where it all began, the Shaman village to the northeast. At its center is this, a minor Erdtree and incantation which reveals that this was Marika's home, which she one day bathed in gold. So Marika's home was a Shaman village, the implication clearly being that she herself was a Shaman. This was likely a matriarchal society of other Numen women, though that's perhaps speculation better left for another video. But simply though, a Shaman is defined as someone who has influence in matters of the spirit. Their spirituality is what's valued here and it's on this point that this story takes a bit of a dark turn. For the message at the hidden entrance actually reads, "Have mercy for the spirited away Shamans." Adjacent to this message is the statue that moves aside at the sign of the Oh Mother gesture in Mohgwyn's Shadow Keep. This emote is a clue to the truth and it actually leads us all the way down here to where the Oh Mother gesture can be found. This dire place is called Bonnie Village and a phantom at the whipping hut here elaborates on just who the Shamans were, or rather, the value they had. He states, "For pity's sake, your place is in the jar. Nay, Sainthood itself awaits you within. For Shamans like you, this is your lot. Life where you are courted for this alone." So the Shamans, in the words of their abusers at least, were accorded life for a singular purpose and that was to be stuffed inside of jars with others. A nearby whip bestrewn with rotting misshapen teeth elaborates on how and why it was used on the Shamans. For one, it states that the pain it inflicts was used to encourage their obedience. But additionally, it says that as their wounds ripen, they grow inflamed and ooze pus and the flesh of Shamans was said to meld harmoniously with others. So it is that the Shamans stuffed into jars become this living amalgam of beings, presumably with the flayed Shaman herself at the fore. So now we know what happened to the Shamans. They were whipped into submission and forced inside of jars. We know a little bit of the why as well. Apparently, it was done so that they could become Saints. But the next question I want to answer is who? Who did this to them? Well, it was the Horned Cent. The caterpillar mask worn by Horned Cent himself reveals that it was a ritual implement of the greater potentates of Bonnie Village, which is this very village where we just discussed the evidence of the Shamans' abuse. It goes on to state that the mask was used to ward off thoughts of impurity, doubt, temptation and other wickedness one is vulnerable to while absorbed in divine ritual. And man, if you need to ward off thoughts of doubt and wickedness while you're stuffing flayed people inside of jars, maybe what you're doing is just straight up wrong. I'm starting to understand why Marika purged the realm of shadow with fire. It's as Loretta says, "They were never saints, they just happened to be on the losing side of a war." But if this mask wasn't proof enough of the Horned Cent being responsible, look at Bellaria Jail. It's below Bellaria itself, which was the settlement of the Horned Cent and to this day the Inners and the Shamans remain, with the Shamans offering their prayers to the Inners of the great jars such that they might be reborn one day into Sainthood. But what is Sainthood? Well, it's never explained directly. I do have some ideas, but they might have to wait for another video. What we do know is that the Horned Cents were obsessed with invoking divinity and forcing the Shamans to achieve Sainthood was likely one facet of that. So, it's the Horned Cent that we need to discuss next. The Horned Cents are an extremely ritualistic people with swathes of their culture devoted to spiritual research and invoking the divine. And one of the most sacred things to them is the Crucible, which they have to thank for their tangled horns, which are considered an evolutionary gift. If you didn't know, the Crucible has been long established as this primordial form of the Erdtree, a blending of life that became the Erdtree's primal vital energies and apparently, it originated in the place that became the realm of shadow. This becomes quite clear thanks to Devonia, who is the longest-serving of the Crucible Knights. According to her helmet, she quested in search of the Crucible's origin and departed from the Lands of the Erdtree alone. Another item we can find that's a clue for the Crucible is Spiral, an incantation for a spiral of light. The spiral, it says, is a normalized Crucible current that one day will form a column that stretches to the Gods. Maybe it's no coincidence that the White Tower of Bellaria is a spiral, nor that it culminates in a divine gateway that is a column of the dead stretching to the Gods. There's also trees that include the dead, but I digress. I'm getting off topic. Back to Marika, because at some point it seems Marika rose to prominence within or adjacent to this Horned Cent culture. We can kind of infer this because Horned Cent refer to Marika's eventual purge as a betrayal and something can only really be a betrayal if you were aligned with them in the first place, right? So the Horned Cents were aware of Marika and likely her Erdtree as well before what they call the betrayal. But how? How did Marika rise to such power in their homeland where she was presumably a Shaman, one of those subjugated? Well, before there was this betrayal, there was a seduction from which gold arose and I think the Fingers had a hand in it. I fear that you have borne witness to the whole of it. The conceits, the hypocrisy of the world built upon the Erdtree. The follies of men, their bitter suffering. Is there no hope for redemption? The answer, sadly, is clear. There never was any hope. They were each of them defective, unhinged from the start. Marika herself and the Fingers that guided her. And this is what troubles me. No matter our efforts, if the roots are rotten, then we have little recourse. Emiri is the high priest of Manus Metta, a cathedral of the hand to the east. Once, he instructed Loretta herself in the sorcerous arts, but eventually he would come to abandon this allegiance to the moon, stating that the moon was merely the closest of the celestial bodies and nothing more. "I am a Glintstone sorcerer. We study the stars and examine the life therein. Are you familiar with our findings? Long ago, we began as Stardust, born of a great rupture far across the skies. We too are children of the Greater Will. Is that not divine? Is that not sublime? And yet none can fathom its implications, its utter brilliance." In the ruins of this land and beneath Manus Metta itself are the echoes of that greater truth that Emiri glimpsed. This is Metta herself, the mother of Fingers. Her remembrance reads, "The mother of all two Fingers and Finger Creepers was in turn a magnificently gleaming daughter of the Greater Will and the first shooting star to fall upon the Lands Between." You might recall the Elden Ring and the Elden Beast made landfall in the Lands Between upon a star as well, but Metta came even before that. So it was that this mother birthed the Fingers, communing with and receiving signs from the Greater Will who occupied the great beyond. But at some point, Metta became broken, abandoned and no sign has come through ever since. Do you recall what I said? That Marika and the Fingers that guided her were unsound from the start. Well, the truth lies deeper still. It is their mother who is damaged and unhinged. The Fingers are but unripe children, victims in their own right. It's not clear when Metta was broken, abandoned, but I assume it was before Marika started taking the guidance of the Fingers, since Emiri states that the Fingers were unsound from the start. Thus the Greater Will's guidance is outdated at the very least and has been for all of Marika's reign. That's a pretty big revelation. Incidentally, Placidusax was also an Elden Lord before Marika and he was abandoned by his God as well. So maybe things became broken around that time. Lots of speculation to be had there. At any rate, abandonment by the Greater Will or no, Marika took up the power of the Elden Ring that the Fingers offered for her own reasons and the abandoned Fingers spread the glory of the Greater Will through her and she through them. Another important item on this topic is the Ancient Seed Talismans that can be found which depict the two Fingers around an Erdtree seed. They had a hand in the birth of the Erdtree. All this while, the Fingers claimed to be on voice for the Greater Will, but that's a lie. The Greater Will is gone. The Fingers are alone operating on outdated guidance. This is something that many characters suspected, but most characters in Elden Ring assumed that this happened around the time the Elden Ring was shattered. It's a revelation that the Fingers have been broken for a really long time. And so the Tarnished too is alone following this guidance of grace that now likely only belongs to Marika herself, if anyone. And Marika might have played friendly with the Horned Cent for a time, but eventually she had what was surely vengeance when the Horned Cent were purged, subjugated and betrayed. The realm of shadow became this disconnected domain of death and the shadow tree that looms high became the realm's symbol of abandonment, not grace. Before she left, Marika bathed the village of her home in gold, placing a small illusory tree that restores the health of those nearby. She did this knowing full well that there was no one left to heal. Then she left, never to return. Not even for her son, who she left behind to endlessly enact her subjugation of the realm of shadow. So next, let's talk about Mohgwyn, the Impaler. As anticipated, Mohgwyn is entirely loyal to his mother, who is Queen Marika. His armor reveals that on his mother's wishes, Mohgwyn made himself a symbol of fear, undertaking the cleansing crusade she desired and in the end, all those stripped of the grace of gold would perish in the embrace of Mohgwyn's flame. To this end, he had his Black Knights, Fire Knights and common infantry, not to mention the Carion forces who followed Loretta into war on Mohgwyn's behalf. So it was that the Horned Cent were purged in a war without end. A phantom at Castle Sol's bemoans, "Oh Marika, I beg, embrace your child and give us a sign. How long must this holy war stretch on?" But Marika never returned, testing their faith. One phantom even raises the possibility that Mohgwyn himself has been abandoned and he has. The final straw for him is when you, the Tarnished, who would become Elden Lord arrives at his doorstep. I will not suffer our lord devoid of light. No, mother, forgive me. Soon Tarnished, wilt thou be taken in the jaws of the Abysmal Serpent, shorn of light. Like his siblings, Mohgwyn was born cursed. In fact, the game likens his curse to Malenia, who is heavily implied to be his younger sister. Mohgwyn too, it is said, bore a vision of fire. We learn this from the item Mohgwyn's Kindling, which describes the fire that endlessly burns within him, a dark thing eaten away at by a wicked serpent. His remembrance elaborates on this serpent, stating, "A malevolent snake writhed within Mohgwyn and so his very mother plucked out his eye and put in its place a seal of grace." So I was wrong about this eye. It wasn't the slitted eye of Dragon Communion. Instead, it was Marika's seal of grace, holding back something terrible. The description continues to state that even with this seal in place, Marika's fear compelled her to secrete away her child within the realm of shadow, hidden away, keeping company with the original sin and a hatred that would not be confined. There's so much more to say about this base serpent and the dark fire. There's so much more to say about Mohgwyn. We even learn from Gaius's remembrance that Mohgwyn was an older brother to Radahn, meaning Mohgwyn's birth and thus the birth of Malenia as well likely would have arrived much earlier in the timeline. And there's a ton of curiosities with Mohgwyn's Knights as well, some of whom were loyal, some who were disloyal and some of whom occupied this space of reluctance in between. But those stories are better off in other videos. In the interest of moving on, there is one last thing I want to talk about with Mohgwyn and it's that in the cut dialogue, Mohgwyn notes that Miquella has spoken of us to him and indeed we do know that Miquella did come through this Shadow Keep, divesting himself at the crosses all the while, which brings us to our next topic, Saint Trina. Each cross of Miquella is a piece of himself marked with his Great Rune, arms, an eye, flesh. But there's a couple of crosses in particular that I remember as a part of what was an extremely chilling moment. As you progress along the coast towards the fisher, you notice that Miquella has divested himself of his doubt and vacillation. Without these things, he was free, it seems, to abandon something that was very dear to him. And inside the fisher, at what is perhaps the deepest part of the land in the realm of shadow, we realized that Miquella has actually divested himself of his love. A phantom says, "Kindly Miquella, I see you've thrown away something you should not have under any circumstances. How will you salvation offer to those who cannot be saved when you could not even save your other self?" His other self, his love, his faith was Saint Trina. So to Miquella, who was one of Marika's kin, having a second self is nothing new, really. We've now even learned from the Shamans that their flesh melds harmoniously with others after all. Actually, the fact that Saint Trina was able to be discarded might even suggest that Radagon could have become divested from Marika in a similar way. But Miquella's other half was truly special and she was renowned for granting peaceful sleep to many in the Lands Between, which I imagine would have been very much appreciated in this land that's filled with the weary undead. So Saint Trina naturally had many followers and perhaps at the fore was Tiolene, whose obsession with Saint Trina returns almost immediately when Miquella's enchantment finally breaks. I'm feeling rather lost, haunted by memories of Saint Trina. Her visage, her sonorous, the lore of velvety sleep. Would kindly Miquella chastise me for falling for Saint Trina while knowing that she was the discarded half? The problem is I simply cannot help it. I would sacrifice everything just to gaze upon her one last time. Saint Trina is below, defended by a putrescent knight who is basically tainted flesh once given eternal rest that now serves Saint Trina. Die enough times to Saint Trina's nectar and you will hear her words. Make Miquella stop. Don't turn the poor thing into a god. Godhood would be Miquella's prison. A caged divinity is beyond saving. You must kill Miquella. Grant him forgiveness. All of this makes you realize that if Godhood really would be Miquella's cage, as Saint Trina believes, then it really might have been Marika's cage as well. It echoes what the Sore Seals suggested long ago, that solemn duty weighs upon the one beholden, not unlike a knowing curse from which there is no deliverance. In the end, Marika's caged divinity is likely a part of why she shattered the Elden Ring. And so Miquella's divinity would surely come at a cost to him. He would essentially be sacrificing himself to bring about that gentle age in the name of everybody who would fall under his enchantment. And this enchantment is a tendency that Miquella regains when he returns in full force as a god, because once charmed by Miquella, a circlet of light adorns your head and according to the description of the circlet of light which you receive after Miquella's defeat, this enchanting circlet would have been the foundation of Miquella's age of compassion, not the Elden Ring. Presumably, in his age, all would be charmed. But Miquella found one that would refuse to be embraced, you. No wonder as one god and one king consort is all the world needs and you're the chosen Elden Lord of a different age, whatever ending that may be for you. So naturally, you would have refused to be embraced. Thank you for watching and thank you for listening to me even with my nasally COVID voice. Sorry about that. Before I go, Displate currently have a limited time sale for 27% off your first Displate and 37% off for any Displates after that. And you'll get that deal just by clicking the link below. I've commissioned a new design to celebrate Shadow of the Erdtree. This one is called Eclipse and it's this gorgeous black and white illustration commissioned from Nico De Lord. This one has a lot of Easter eggs and references hidden within it. How many can you find? And if you're looking to pick up a few more Displates to make use of that discount, check out my other store offerings as well. I love commissioning these designs and Displates are honestly great convenient products that just make any space more interesting. So check that out and again, thank you for watching. Please subscribe for more Shadow of the Erdtree lore, because I've really barely scratched the surface here today. I really had to restrain myself from going deeper into all of these topics in the interest of providing a concise overview of all of the lore, and I didn't even cover all of the lore. It was still tough. Honestly, the most fascinating content is yet to come. Uh, I still want to talk about how Bael, the new dragon in the DLC, is actually the father of the Drakes and how he had a war with Placidusax. I wish I had time to talk about the Abysmal Forest and Midir's Manse, which the Horned Cent locked away. And then there's Godwyn, whose story we can actually say has come to a conclusive end just by virtue of the lack of new information we've received on him. There's so much more to every single thing I've talked about today and I encourage you to go through the item descriptions and seek these answers yourself if you're interested, because ideally, you know, I won't be the only source of information that you go through. Support other creators, think critically about all of the content you consume. But thank you for watching mine and I look forward to exploring all of this with you in the months to come. Look for another upload soon. Cheers guys. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/shadow-of-erdtree/flash-8b.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | I'm willing to bet that as soon as you entered this place, you knew that we were going to get some answers in the shadow of the Erdtree. And we have. There are satisfying revelations regarding Queen Marika, and Miquella, and the Omen and Dragons and the Gods. We even now know what Melania whispered to Radahn in this scene, before her scarlet flower bloomed in Kaleido. This video will only scratch the surface. It's just an overview, a teaser of new revelations and the foreshadowing of a deeper analysis to come. So, let's get into it and this time, let's begin at the end. After you defeat the final boss, Promised Consort Radahn, on your 400th attempt, you can read the Remembrance of a God and a Lord, which states in their childhood, Miquella saw in Radahn a lord, his strength and his kindness that stood in stark contrast with their afflicted selves. The cutscene that plays here is a memory. Lord Radahn. I'm going to be a god. If we are not part of the vow. Promised me, you'll be my consort. I'll make the world a gentler place. And so, Miquella made his heart-felt wish that Radahn would one day be his king consort. Now, this ending and the reappearance of Radahn has received a lot of early criticism, but I think this encounter does go a lot deeper than some people are giving it credit for. For example, we're hearing about Miquella's side of the vow in this scene, and about what Miquella wants. But what about Radahn? What was his part of the vow? What did he want? There is evidence of Radahn being kind, sure, but this is also a man who celebrates war. Did he truly share Miquella's vision for an age of compassion? And if he wanted to be with Miquella, why did he fight so vehemently against his death in the Lands Between that would have brought his soul to the realm of shadow with Miquella? But the most chilling thing about this story, I think, is that even if Radahn did want to become Miquella's lord, and I can see that side of the argument too, to be fair. But even if he did want that, do Radahn's wants even matter in the face of Miquella the Kind? As we speculated long ago from items like the Bewitching Branch, Miquella has the power of enchantment over others. He has the power to steal hearts. Literally, if you are embraced by him twice in the final fight, your heart is stolen, and it's like a part of you dies. Lord of the old order. Let us go together. This effect can also be seen in Miquella's faithful band, who overcome their differences and shortcomings to fight for Miquella's cause until Miquella's enchantment is broken, and they turn at each other's throats. And what makes Miquella a fascinating character is that he isn't manipulating others for selfish reasons. His cause actually is righteous. When he wields love as a weapon, he does it genuinely to make the world a better place without any intent to cause harm. However, such acts are still oppressive. If your want is taken away, what is left of you that remains? Perhaps the saddest example of this is Mohg, who, as we speculated, was indeed under Miquella's spell. Once, in an attempt to free Lord Mohg from his enchantment, I challenged Miquella. Only to have my own heart rather artfully stolen. I knew not how weak I was. I believed that with sufficient mastery, even an empyrean would be within reach of my blade. I could not have been more mistaken. Miquella the Kind is a monster, pure and radiant. He wields love to strive clean the hearts of man. There is nothing more terrifying. In the specimen storeroom, you can find the Secret Rite Scroll, which details the secret rite by which Miquella will ascend to godhood. It reads, "A lord will usher in a God's return, and the lord's soul will require a vessel." And, Ansbach reveals Miquella's plans in full. After Lord Mohg's slaying at his dynastic palace, it appears his body has been unscathed and taken straight to Miquella as if using Lord Mohg to gain entrance to the Lands Between wasn't enough. He plans to use his corpse as the vessel of his king consort. He has forsaken Lord Mohg's soul. He desires only his empty shell. In your fight with Radahn, you might have noticed the horns sprouting from his gauntlets and his tendency to perform blood flame attacks. This is because Radahn occupies Mohg's body, fulfilling the terms of the secret rite at the gate of divinity, where Miquella will become a God. So, in retrospect, Mohg was under Miquella's spell all along and became obsessed with Miquella, believing that they would ascend together as lord and god. But Miquella had plans for Mohg, not just as a corpse to pull into the realm of shadow as a vessel for Radahn's soul, but as Ansbach reveals, Mohg was also used as a means for Miquella to enter the realm of shadow in the first place. A while back, I speculated that the realm of shadow was a sort of death dimension and that Miquella's sacrilegious death at the hands of Mohg might have been intentional so that Miquella could enter the realm of shadow, and, actually surprisingly, those speculations were proven correct as well. Ansbach confirms that Mohg enabled Miquella to enter, and the Tower of Depths makes it clear that all manners of death wash up in the realm of shadow, which lies at the very center of the Lands Between. Incidentally, Radahn's return also answers one of the biggest mysteries of Elden Ring, which was what Melania whispered to Radahn as she let the rot flower blossom at the end of their fight. According to the Young Lion's helm, she whispered, "Miquella awaits thee, o promised consort." And so, Melania's southward march to Kaleido is finally explained as well. She was there to kill Radahn so that his soul could be taken to the realm of shadow, and the vow could be upheld at any cost. Once transported to the realm of shadow, Miquella set off for the tower, and as his great rune says, on the way he abandoned everything—his golden flesh, his blinding strength, even his faith—all in this attempt to bury the original sin, to embrace the whole of it and be reborn as a new god. Miquella has said as much himself. He wishes now to throw it all away. He says the act, though undoubtedly painful, will sear clean the Erdtree's wanton sin. The truth of his claim can be found at each cross, which is evidence enough to warrant my belief. But what was the Erdtree's sin that Miquella died and was reborn for? Well, now we've talked about the end, this brings us to the beginning. Miquella the Kind spoke of the beginning, the seduction and the betrayal, an affair from which gold arose and shadow was born. These words come from Loretta, and while she never says them in game, they're pretty damn important because with Marika in the footage, it's clear that this was her seduction and her betrayal. That was the affair from which gold arose and shadow was born. The same music that played in that moment also plays here in the village where it all began, the Shawlman village to the northeast. At its center is this, a minor Erdtree, an incantation which reveals that this was Marika's home, which she one day bathed in gold. So, Marika's home was a Shawlman village. The implication clearly being that she herself was a Shawlman. This was likely a matriarchal society of other Numen women, though that's perhaps speculation better left for another video. Put simply though, a Shawlman is defined as someone who has influence in matters of the spirit. Their spirituality is what's valued here and it's on this point that this story takes a bit of a dark turn. For the message at the hidden entrance actually reads, "Have mercy for the spirits that await the Shawlmen." Adjacent to this message is the statue that moves aside at the sign of the omen mother gesture in Melania's shadow keep. This emote is a clue to the truth and it actually leads us all the way down here to where the omen mother gesture can be found. This dire place is called Bonny village. And a phantom at the whipping hut here elaborates on just who the Shawlmen were or rather the value they had. He states "For pity's sake, your place is in the jar. Nyce sainthood itself awaits you within. For Shawlmen like you, this is your lot. Life where you are accorded for this alone." So the Shawlmen, in the words of their abusers at least, were accorded life for a singular purpose, and that was to be stuffed inside of jars with others. A nearby whip, bestruned with rotting, misshapen teeth, elaborates on how and why it was used on the Shawlmen. For one, it states that the pain inflicted was used to encourage their obedience, but additionally, it says that as their wounds ripen, they grow inflamed and ooze pus and the flesh of the Shawlmen was meant to meld harmoniously with others. So it is that the Shawlmen stuffed into jars become this living amalgam of beings, presumably with the flayed Shawlmen herself at the four. So now we know what happened to the Shawlmen. They were whipped into submission and forced inside of jars. We know a little bit of the why as well. Apparently, it was done so that they could become saints. But the next question I want to answer is who, who did this to them? Well, it was the Horned Sentinels. The caterpillar mask worn by the Horned Sentinels themselves reveals that it was a ritual implement of the greater potentates of Bonny village, which is this very village where we just discussed the evidence of the Shawlmen's abuse. It goes on to state that the mask was used to ward off thoughts of impurity, doubt, temptation, and other wickednesses one is vulnerable to while absorbed in divine ritual. And man, if you need to ward off thoughts of doubt and wickedness while you're stuffing flayed people inside of jars, maybe what you're doing is just straight up wrong. I'm starting to understand why Marika purged the realm of shadow with fire. It's as Loretta says. They were never saints, they just happened to be on the losing side of a war. But if this mask wasn't proof enough of the Horned Sentinels being responsible, look at Belladon. It's below Belladon itself, which was the settlement of the Horned Sentinels, and to this day the innards and the Shawlmen remain with the Shawlmen offering their prayers to the innards of the great jars such that they might be reborn one day into sainthood. But what is sainthood? Well, it's never explained directly. I do have some ideas, but they might have to wait for another video. What we do know is that the Horned Sentinels were obsessed with invoking divinity, and forcing the Shawlmen to achieve sainthood was likely one facet of that. So, it's the Horned Sentinels that we need to discuss next. The Horned Sentinels are an extremely ritualistic people with swathes of their culture devoted to spiritual research and invoking the divine. And one of the most sacred things to them is the Crucible, which they have to thank for their tangled horns, which are considered an evolutionary gift. If you didn't know, the Crucible has long been established as this primordial form of the Erdtree, a blending of life that became the Erdtree's primal vital energies, and apparently, it originated in the place that became the realm of shadow. This becomes quite clear thanks to Devonia, who is the longest-serving of the Crucible Knights. According to her helm, she quested in search of the Crucible's origin and departed from the Lands of the Erdtree alone. Another item we can find that's a clue for the Crucible is Spiral, an incantation for a spiral of light. The spiral, it says, is a normalized Crucible current that one day will form a column that stretches to the Gods. Maybe it's no coincidence that the white Tower of Belladon is a spiral, nor that it culminates in a divine gateway that is a column of the dead stretching to the Gods. There's also trees that include the dead, but I digress. I'm getting off topic. Back to Marika, because at some point it seems Marika rose to prominence within or adjacent to this Horned Sentinel culture. We can kind of infer this because the Horned Sentinels refer to Marika's eventual purge as a betrayal. And something can only really be a betrayal if you were aligned with them in the first place, right? So the Horned Sentinels were aware of Marika, and likely her Erdtree as well, before what they call the betrayal. But how? How did Marika rise to such power in their homeland where she was presumably a Shawlman, one of those subjugated? Well, before there was this betrayal, there was a seduction from which gold arose and I think the fingers had a hand in it. I fear that you have borne witness to the whole of it. The conceits, the hypocrisy of the world built upon the Erdtree, the follies of men, their bitter suffering. Is there no hope for redemption? The answer sadly is clear. There never was any hope. They were each of them defective, unhinged from the start, Marika herself and the fingers that guided her. And this is what troubles me. No matter our efforts, if the roots are rotten, then we have little recourse. Emia is the high priest of Manus Ceta, a cathedral of the hand to the east. Once he instructed Radahn herself in the sorcerer's arts, but eventually, he would come to abandon this allegiance to the moon. Stating that the moon was merely the closest of the celestial bodies and nothing more. I am a glintstone sorcerer. We study the stars and examine the life therein. Are you familiar with our findings? Long ago, we began as stardust, born of a great rupture, far across the skies. We too are children of the greater will. Is that not divine? Is that not sublime? And yet none can fathom its implications. It's utter brilliance. In the ruins of this land, and beneath Manus Ceta itself, are the echoes of that greater truth that Emia glimpsed. This is Manus herself, the mother of fingers. Her Remembrance reads, "The mother of all two fingers, and finger creepers, was in turn a magnificently gleaming daughter of the greater will, and the first shooting star to fall upon the lands between." You might recall the Elden Ring and the Elden Beast made landfall in the lands between upon a star as well, but Manus came even before that. So it was that this mother birthed the fingers, communing with and receiving signs from the greater will, who occupied the great beyond. But at some point, Manus became broken, abandoned, and no sign has come through ever since. Do you recall what I said that Marika and the fingers that guided her were unsound from the start? Well, the truth lies deeper still. It is their mother who is damaged and unhinged. The fingers are but unripe children, victims in their own right. It's not clear when Manus was broken, abandoned. But I assume it was before Marika started taking the guidance of the fingers, since Emia states that the fingers were unsound from the start. Thus, the greater will's guidance is outdated at the very least, and has been for all of Marika's reign. That's a pretty big revelation. Incidentally, Placidusax was also Elden Lord before Marika, and he was abandoned by his God as well. So maybe things became broken around that time. Lots of speculation to be had there. At any rate, abandonment by the greater will or no, Marika took up the power of the Elden Ring that the fingers offered for her own reasons. And the abandoned fingers spread the glory of the greater will through her, and she through them. Another important item on this topic is the Ancient Seed Talismans that can be found, which depict the two fingers around an Erdtree seed. They had a hand in the birth of the Erdtree. All this while, the fingers claimed to be on voice for the greater will, but that's a lie. The greater will is gone. The fingers are alone, operating on outdated guidance. This is something that many characters suspected. But most characters in Elden Ring assumed that this happened around the time the Elden Ring was shattered. It's a revelation that the fingers have been broken for a really long time. And so, the tarnished too is alone, following this guidance of grace that now likely only belongs to Marika herself, if anyone. And Marika might have played friendly with the Horned Sentinels for a time, but eventually, she had what was surely vengeance when the Horned Sentinels were purged, subjugated, and betrayed. The realm of shadow became this disconnected domain of death, and the shadow tree that looms high became the realm's symbol of abandonment, not grace. Before she left, Marika bathed the village of her home in gold, placing a small illusory tree that restores the health of those nearby. She did this knowing full well that there was no one left to heal. Then she left, never to return, not even for her son who she left behind to endlessly enact her subjugation of the realm of shadow. So, next, let's talk about Melania, the impaler. As anticipated, Melania is entirely loyal to her mother, who is Queen Marika. His armor reveals that on his mother's wishes, Melania made herself a symbol of fear, undertaking the cleansing crusade she desired, and in the end, all those stripped of the grace of gold would perish in the embrace of Melania's flame. To this end, she had her black knights, fire knights, and common infantry, not to mention the Carrian forces who followed Radahn into war on Melania's behalf. So it was that the Horned Sentinels were purged in a war without end. A phantom at Castle Entis bemoans Marika. I beg, embrace your child and give us a sign, how long must this holy war stretch on? But Marika never returned, testing their faith. One phantom even raises the possibility that Melania herself has been abandoned. And he has. The final straw for him is when you, tarnished, who would become Elden Lord, arrives at his doorstep. I will not suffer. Oh lord, devoid of light. No mother, forgive me. (A few short, indistinct sounds follow, possibly breaths or other noises.) Soon, tarnished. Wilt thou be taken in the doors of the abyssal serpent shown of light? Like his siblings, Melania was born cursed. In fact, the game likens his curse to Melania, who is heavily implied to be his younger sister. Melania too. It is said: "Bore a vision of fire." We learn this from the item Melania's Kindling, which describes the fire that endlessly burns within him, a dark thing eaten away at by a wicked serpent. His remembrance elaborates on this serpent stating, "A malevolent snake writhed within Melania." And so, his very mother plucked out his eye and put in its place a seal of grace. So, I was wrong about this eye. It wasn't the slitted eye of dragon communion, instead, it was Marika's seal of grace holding back something terrible. The description continues to state that even with this seal in place, Marika's fear compelled her to secretly away her child within the realm of shadow. Hidden away, keeping company with the original sin and a hatred that would not be confined. There's so much more to say about the abyssal serpent and the dark fire. There's so much more to say about Melania, we even learn from Godfrey's remembrance that Melania was an older brother to Radahn, meaning Melania's birth and thus the birth of Melania as well likely would have arrived much earlier in the timeline. And there's a ton of curiosities with Melania's knights as well, some of whom were loyal, some who were disloyal, and some of whom occupied this space of reluctance in between, but those stories are better off in other videos. In the interest of moving on, there is one last thing I want to talk about with Melania. And it's that in the cut dialogue, Melania notes that Miquella has spoken of us to him. And indeed, we do know that Miquella did come through this shadow keep, divesting himself at the crosses all the while. Which brings us to our next topic, Saint Tarnished. Each cross of Miquella is a piece of himself marked with his great runes, arms, an eye, flesh. But there are a couple of crosses in particular that I remember as a part of what was an extremely chilling moment. As you progress along the coast towards the Fisher, you notice that Miquella has divested himself of his doubt and vacillation. Without these things, he was free it seems to abandon something that was very dear to him. And inside the Fisher, at what is perhaps the deepest part of the land in the realm of shadow, we realize that Miquella has actually divested himself of his love. A phantom says, "Kindly Miquella, I see you've thrown away something you should not have under any circumstances. How will you salvation offer to those who cannot be saved when you could not even save your other self?" His other self, his love, his fate was Saint Tarnished. So, to Miquella who was one of Marika's kin, having a second self is nothing new really. We've now even learned from the Shawlmen that their flesh melts harmoniously with others after all. Actually, the fact that Saint Tarnished was able to be discarded might even suggest that Radahn could have become divested from Marika in a similar way, but Miquella's other half was truly special, and she was renowned for granting peaceful sleep to many in the Lands Between, which I imagine would have been very much appreciated in this land that's filled with the weary undead. So, Saint Tarnished naturally had many followers, and perhaps at the four was Tio-lie, whose obsession with Saint Tarnished returns almost immediately when Miquella's enchantment finally breaks. I'm feeling rather lost, haunted by memories of Saint Tarnished, her visage, her son, the lore of velvet sleep, would kindly Miquella chase me for falling for Saint Tarnished while knowing that she was the discarded half? The problem is I simply cannot help it. I would sacrifice everything just to gaze upon her one last time. Saint Tarnished is below, defended by a putrescent knight, who is basically tainted flesh once given eternal rest that now serves Saint Tarnished, die enough times to Saint Tarnished's nectar and you will hear her words. Make, Miquella. Stop. Don't turn the poor thing into a god. Godhood would be Miquella's prison, a cage. Divinity is beyond saving. You must kill Miquella. Grant him forgiveness. All of this makes you realize that if godhood really would be Miquella's cage, as Saint Tarnished believes, then it really might have been Marika's cage as well. It echoes what the soar seals suggested long ago, that solemn duty weighs upon the one beholden not unlike a gnawing curse from which there is no deliverance. In the end, Marika's cage divinity is likely a part of why she shattered the Elden Ring. And so, Miquella's divinity would surely come at a cost to him. He would essentially be sacrificing himself to bring about that gentle age in the name of everybody who would fall under his enchantment. And this enchantment is a tendency that Miquella regains when he returns in full force as a god, because once charmed by Miquella, a circlet of light adorns your head. And according to the description of the circlet of light, which you receive after Miquella's defeat, this enchanting circlet would have been the foundation of Miquella's age of compassion, not the Elden Ring. Presumably, in his age, all would be charmed. But Miquella found one that would refuse to be embraced, you, no wonder, as one god and one king consort is all the world needs, and you're the chosen Elden Lord of a different age, whatever ending that may be for you. So, naturally, you would have refused to be embraced. Thank you for watching, and thank you for listening to me, even with my nasally, coughed voice. Sorry about that. Before I go, Displate currently have a limited-time sale for 27% off your first Displate and 37% off any Displates after that. And you'll get that deal just by clicking the link below. I've commissioned a new design to celebrate Shadow of the Erdtree. This one is called Eclipse, and it's this gorgeous black and white illustration commissioned from Nico D'Lort. This one has a lot of Easter eggs and references hidden within it. How many can you find? And if you're looking to pick up a few more Displates to make use of that discount, check out my other store offerings as well. I love commissioning these designs, and Displates are honestly great, convenient products that just make any space more interesting. So, check that out, and again, thank you for watching. Please subscribe for more Shadow of the Erdtree lore because I've really barely scratched the surface here today. I really had to restrain myself from going deeper into all of these topics in the interest of providing a concise overview of all the lore, and I didn't even cover all of the lore. It was still tough. Honestly, the most fascinating content is yet to come. I still want to talk about how Bale, the new dragon in the DLC, is actually the father of the Drakes and how he had a war with Placidusax. I wish I had time to talk about the Abyssal Forest, and midorrus man, which the Horned Sentinels locked away, and then there's Godwin, whose story we can actually say has come to a conclusive end just by virtue of the lack of new information we've received on him. There's so much more to every single thing I've talked about today, and I encourage you to go through the item descriptions and seek these answers yourself if you're interested because ideally you know, I won't be the only source of information that you go through. Support other creators, think critically about all of the content you consume. But thank you for watching mine, and I look forward to exploring all of this with you in the months to come. Look for another upload soon. Cheers guys. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/shadow-of-erdtree/original.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | I'm willing to bet that as soon as you entered this place, you knew that we were going to get some answers in the Shadow of the Erdtree. And we have. There are satisfying revelations regarding Queen Marika, and Miquella, and The Omen, and Dragons, and the gods. We even now know what Malenia whispered to Radahn in this scene before her scarlet flower bloomed in Caelid. This video will only scratch the surface. It's just an overview, a teaser of new revelations and the foreshadowing of a deeper analysis to come. So let's get into it. And this time, let's begin at the end. After you defeat the final boss, promised Consort Radahn on your 400th attempt, you can read the remembrance of a God and a Lord, which states "in their childhood. Miquella saw in Radahn a lord his strength and his kindness that stood in stark contrast with their afflicted selves." The cutscene that plays here is a memory. "Lord brother, I'm going to be a god. if we honour our part of the vow, promise me you'll be my consort. I'll make the world a gentler place." And so Miquella made his heartfelt wish that Radahn would one day be his king consort. Now, this ending and the reappearance of Radahn has received a lot of early criticism. But I think this encounter does go a lot deeper than some people are giving it credit for. For example, we're hearing about Miquella's side of the vow in this scene and about what Miquella wants. But what about Radahn? What was his part of the vow? What did he want? There is evidence of Radahn being kind. Sure, but this is also a man who celebrates war. Did he truly share Miquella's vision for an age of compassion? And if he wanted to be with Miquella, why did he fight so vehemently against his death in the lands between, That would have brought his soul to the realm of shadow with Miquella? But the most chilling thing about this story, I think, is that even if Radahn did want to become Miquella's Lord, and I can see that side of the argument too, to be fair. But even if he did want that do Radahn's wants even matter in the face of Miquella the Kind, as we speculated, long ago from items like the Bewitching Branch, Miquella has the power of enchantment over others. He has the power to steal hearts. Literally, if you are embraced by him twice in the final fight, your heart is stolen and it's like a part of you dies. "Lord of the Old order. Let us go together." This effect can also be seen in Miquella's faithful band, who overcome their differences and shortcomings to fight for Miquella's cause. Until Miquella's enchantment is broken and they turn at each other's throats. And what makes Miquella a fascinating character is that he isn't manipulating others for selfish reasons. His cause actually is righteous. When he wields love as a weapon, He does it genuinely to make the world a better place without any intent to cause harm. However, such acts are still oppressive. If your want is taken away, what is left of you that remains? Perhaps the saddest example of this is Mohg, who, as we speculated was indeed under Miquella's spell "once in an attempt to free Lord Mohg from his enchantment. I challenged tender Miquella only to have my own heart rather artfully stolen. I knew not how weak I was. I believed that with sufficient mastery, even an Empyrean would be within reach of my blade. I could not have been more mistaken. "Miquella the kind is a monster, pure and radiant. He wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men. There is nothing more terrifying" in the specimen storehouse. You can find the Secret Rite scroll, which details the secret rite by which Miquella will ascend to godhood. It reads Lord will usher in the gods return, and the lords soul will acquire a vessel. Ansbach reveals Miquella's plans in full "after Lord Mohg's slaying at his dynastic palace. It appears his body has been absconded with and taken straight to kind Miquella, as if using Lord Mohg to gain entrance to the Land of Shadow were not enough. He plans to use his corpse as the vessel of his king consort. He has forsaken Lord Mohg's Soul. He desires only his empty shell." in your fight with Radahn. You might have noticed the horns sprouting from his gantlets and his tendency to perform blood flame attacks. This is because Radahn occupies Mohg's body, fulfilling the terms of the secret right at the Gate of Divinity, where Miquella will become a god. So in retrospect, Mohg was under Miquella's spell all along and became obsessed with Miquella, believing that they would ascend together as Lord and God. But Miquella had plans for Mohg, not just as a corpse, to pull into the realm of shadow as a vessel for Radahn's soul. But as Ansbach reveals. Mohg was also used as a means for Miquella to enter the realm of Shadow in the first place. A while back, I speculated that the Realm of Shadow was a sort of death dimension, and that Miquella's sacrilegious death at the hands of Mohg might have been intentional so that Miquella could enter the realm of shadow. And actually, surprisingly, those speculations were proven correct as well. Ansbach confirms that Mohg enabled Miquella to enter, and the tower of suppression makes it clear that all manners of death wash up in the land of shadow, which lies at the very center of the Lands Between. Incidentally, Radahn's return also answers one of the biggest mysteries of Elden Ring, which was what Malenia whispered to Radahn as she let the rot flower blossom at the end of their fight. According to the Young Lions helm, she whispered, "Miquella awaits thee. O promised consort." And so Malenia's Southwood march to Caelid is finally explained as well. She was there to kill Radahn so that his soul could be taken to the realm of shadow, and the vow could be upheld at any cost. Once transported to the Realm of Shadow, Miquella set off for the tower and, as his reat Rune says, on the way he abandoned everything his golden flesh, his blinding strength, even his fate. All in this attempt to bury the original sin, to embrace the whole of it and be reborn as a new God. "Miquella has said as much himself. He wishes now to throw it all away. He says the act, though undoubtedly painful, will sear clean the Erdtrees wanton sin. The truth of his claim can be found at each cross, which is evidence enough to earn my belief." But what was the Erdtree's sin Miquella died and was reborn for? Well, now we've talked about the end. This brings us to the beginning. "Miquella the kind spoke of the beginning. The seduction, and the betrayal. An affair from which gold arose. And so too was shadow born." These words come from Leda. And while she never says them in game, they're pretty damn important. Because with Marika in the footage, it's clear that this was her seduction and her betrayal. That was the affair from which gold arose and shadow was born. The same music that played in that moment also plays here in the village where it all began. The shaman village to the north east. At its center Is this, a minor Erdtree, an incantation which reveals that this was Marika's home, which she one day bathed in gold. So Erica's home was a shaman village. The implication clearly being that she herself was a shaman. This was likely a matriarchal society of other Numen women, though that's perhaps speculation. Better left for another video. Put simply, though, a shaman is defined as someone who has influence in matters of the spirit. The spirituality is what's valued here. And it's on this point that this story takes a bit of a dark turn for the message at the hidden entrance actually reads, have mercy for the spirited away Shamans. Adjacent to this message is the statue that moves aside at the sign of the "O Mother" gesture. In Messmer's Shadow keep. This emote is a clue to the truth, and it actually leads us all the way down here to where the O mother gesture can be found. This Dire place is called Bonny Village, and a phantom at the whipping hut here elaborates on just who the shamans were, or rather, the value they had. He states, for pity's sake, your place is in the jar. Nigh- sainthood itself awaits you within. For shamans like you. This is your lot. Life were you recorded for this alone. So the shamans, in the words of their abusers, at least, were accorded life for a singular purpose. And that was to be stuffed inside of jars with others, a nearby whip astrewn with rotting, misshapen teeth Elaborates on how and why it was used on the shamans. For one, it states that the pain it inflicts was used to encourage their obedience, but additionally it says that as their wounds ripen, they grow inflamed and ooze pus, and the flesh of shamans was said to meld harmoniously with others. So it is that the shamans stuffed into jars become this living amalgam of beings, presumably with the flayed shaman herself. At the fore. So now we know what happened to the shamans. They were whipped into submission and forced inside of jars. We know a little bit of the why as well. Apparently it was done so that they could become saints. But the next question I want to answer is who? Who did this to them? Well, it was the hornsent, the caterpillar mask worn by hornsent himself reveals that it was a ritual implement of the greater potentates of Bonny Village, which is this very village where we just discussed the evidence of the shamans abuse. It goes on to state that the mask was used to ward off thoughts of impurity, doubt, temptation and other wickednesses one is vulnerable to while absorbed in divine ritual. And man If you need to ward off thoughts of doubt and wickedness while you're stuffing flayed people inside of jars, maybe what you're doing is just straight up wrong. I'm starting to understand why Marika purged the realm of shadow with fire. Its as Leda says "they were never saints. They just happened to be on the losing side of a war." But if this mask wasn't proof enough of the hornsent being responsible, look at Belurat Jail. It's below Belurat itself, which was the settlement of the hornsent. And to this day the innards and the shamans remain with the shamans offering their prayers to the innards of the great jars such that they might be reborn one day into sainthood. But what is sainthood? Well, it's never explained directly. I do have some ideas, but they might have to wait for another video. What we do know is that the hornsent's were obsessed with invoking divinity, and forcing the shamans to achieve sainthood was likely one facet of that. So it's the hornsent that we need to discuss next. The hornsent are an extremely ritualistic people, with swaths of their culture devoted to spiritual research and invoking the divine, and one of the most sacred things to them is the crucible, which they have to thank for their tangled horns, which are considered an evolutionary gift. If you didn't know, The Crucible has been long established as this primordial form of the Erdtree, a blending of life that became the Erdtree's primal and vital energies. And apparently it originated in the place that became the realm of shadow. This becomes quite clear thanks to Devonia, who is the longest serving of the Crucible Knights. According to her helmet, she quested in search of the crucible's origin and departed from the lands of the Erdtree alone. Another item we can find that's a clue for the Crucible is spira, An incantation for a spiral of light. The spiral, it says, is a normalized crucible current that one day will form a column that stretches to the gods. Maybe it's no coincidence that the White Tower of Belurat is a spiral. Nor that it culminates in a divine gateway that is, a column of the dead stretching to the gods. There's also trees that include the dead. But I digress. I'm getting off topic back to Marika because at some point it seems Marika rose to prominence within or adjacent to this hornsent culture. We can kind of infer this because haunts refer to Marika's eventual purge as a betrayal, and something can only really be a betrayal if you were aligned with them in the first place, Right? So the hornsent were aware of Marika and likely her Erdtree as well, before what they call the betrayal. But how how did Marika rise to such power in their homeland, where she was presumably a shaman, one of those subjugated? Well, before there was this betrayal, there was a seduction from which gold arose. And I think the fingers had a hand in it. "I fear that you have borne witness to the whole of it. The conceits, the hypocrisy of the world built upon the Erdtree, the follies of men, their bitter suffering. Is there no hope for redemption? The answer, sadly, is clear. There never was any hope. They were, each of them defective, unhinged from the start. Marika herself, and the fingers that guided her. And this is what troubles me. No matter our efforts. If the roots are rotten then we have little recourse." Ymir is the high priest of Manus Metyr. A cathedral of the hand to the east. Once he instructed Rellana herself in the sorcerous arts, but eventually he would come to abandon this allegiance to the moon, stating that the moon was merely the closest of the celestial bodies and nothing more. "I am a glintstone sorcerer. We study the stars and examine the life therein. Are you familiar with our findings? Long ago we began as stardust. Born of a great rupture far across the skies. We too are children of the greater will. Is that not divine? Is that not sublime? And yet none can fathom its implications, its utter brilliance." In the ruins of this land and beneath Manus Metyr itself. Are the echoes of that greater truth, that Ymir glimpsed? This is Metyr herself, the mother of fingers. Her remembrance reads the mother of all two-fingers and finger creepers was in turn a magnificently gleaming daughter of the greater will, and the first shooting star to fall upon the lands between. You might recall, the Elden Ring and the Elden Beast made landfall in the lands between upon a star as well, but Metyr came even before that. So it was that this mother birthed the fingers, communing with and receiving signs from the greater will, Who occupied the great beyond. But at some point, Metyr became broken, abandoned, and no sign has come through ever since. "Do you recall what I said? That Marika and the fingers that guided her were unsound from the start? Well, the truth lies deeper still. It is their mother who is damaged and unhinged. The fingers harbored unripe children, victims in their own right. It's not clear when Metyr was broken. Abandoned. But I assume it was before Marika started taking the guidance of the fingers. Since Ymir states that the fingers were unsound from the start. Thus the greater will's guidance is outdated at the very least, and has been for all of Marika's reign. That's a pretty big revelation. Incidentally, Placidusaax was also Elden Lord before Marika, and he was abandoned by his God as well. So maybe things became broken around that time. Lots of speculation to be had there. at any rate, abandonment by the greater will or no. Marika took up the power of the Elden Ring that the fingers offered for her own reasons, and the abandoned fingers spread the glory of the greater will through her, and she through them. Another important item on this topic is the ancient seed talismans that can be found, which depicts the two fingers around an Erdtree seed. They had a hand in the birth of the Erdtree. All this while the fingers claimed to be envoys for the greater will. But that's a lie. The greater will is gone. The fingers are alone, operating on outdated guidance. This is something that many characters suspected, but most characters in Elden Ring assumed that this happened around the time the Elden Ring was shattered. It's a revelation that the fingers have been broken for a really long time, and so the tarnished too is alone. Following this guidance of grace that now likely only belongs to Marika herself, If anyone. And Marika might have played friendly with the hornsent for a time, but eventually she had what was surely vengeance when the hornsent to were purged, subjugated and betrayed. The realm of shadow became this disconnected domain of death, and the shadow tree that looms high became the realm's symbol of abandonment, not grace. Before she left, Marika bathed the village of her home in gold, placing a small illusory tree that restores the health of those nearby. She did this knowing full well that there was no one left to heal. Then she left, never to return. Not even for her son, who she left behind to endlessly enact her subjugation of the realm of shadow. So next, let's talk about Messmer the Impaler. Of course, as anticipated, Messmer is entirely loyal to his mother, who is Queen Marika. His armor reveals that on his mother's wishes, Messmer made himself a symbol of fear. Undertaking the cleansing crusade she desired, and in the end, all those stripped of the grace of gold would perish. "in the embrace of Messmer's Flame" To this end, he had his black knights, fire knights, and common infantry. Not to mention the Carian forces who followed Rellana into war on Messmer's behalf. So it was that the hornsent were purged in a war without end. A phantom at Castle Ensis bemoans "O Marika... I beg... embrace your child and give us a sign. How long must this holy war stretch on?" But Marika never returned, Testing their faith. One phantom even raises the possibility that Messmer himself has been abandoned. And he has. The final straw for him is when you, the tarnished Who would become Elden Lord, Arrives at his doorstep. "I will not suffer... A lord devoid of light. O mother, forgive me. Soon, Tarnished. Wilt thou be taken in the jaws... of the abyssal serpent, shorn of light" Like his siblings, Messmer was born cursed. In fact, the game likens his curse to Melina's, who is heavily implied to be his younger sister. Messmer too, it is said, bore a vision of fire. We learned this from the item Messmer's kindling, which describes the fire that endlessly burns within him, a dark thing eaten away at by a wicked serpent. His remembrance elaborates on this serpent, stating A malevolent snake writhed within Messmer, and so his very mother plucked out his eye and put in its place a seal of grace. So I was wrong about this eye. It wasn't the slitted eye of Dragon Communion. Instead, it was Marika's seal of grace holding back something terrible. The description continues to state that even with this seal in place, Marika's fear compelled her to secret away her child within the realm of shadow, hidden away, keeping company with the original sin and a hatred that would not be confined. There's so much more to say about this space serpent and the dark Fire. There's so much more to say about Messmer. We even learn from Gaius's remembrance that Messmer was an older brother to Radahn, meaning Messmer's birth and thus the birth of Melina as well Likely would have arrived much earlier in the timeline. And there's a ton of curiosities with Messmer's Knights as well, some of whom were loyal, some who are disloyal, and some of whom occupied this space of reluctance in between. But those stories are better off in other videos. in the interest of moving on There is one last thing I want to talk about with Messmer, and it's that in the cut dialog, Messmer notes that Miquella has spoken of us to him. And indeed, we do know that Miquella did come through this shadow keep, divesting himself The crosses all the while. Which brings us to our next topic. Saint Trina. Each cross of Miquella is a piece of himself marked with his great rune. Arms, and eye, flesh. But there's a couple of crosses in particular that I remember as a part of what was an extremely chilling moment. As you progress along the coast towards the fissure, you notice that Miquella has divested himself of his doubt and vacillation. Without these things, he was free. It seems to abandon something that was very dear to him. And inside the fissure, at what is perhaps the deepest part of the land in the realm of shadow, we realize that Miquella has actually divested himself of his love. A phantom says "kindly Miquella, I see you've thrown away something you should not have under any circumstances. How will you salvation offer to those who cannot be saved when you could not even save your other self" his other self, his love, his fate was Saint Trina. So to Miquella, who was one of Marika's kin, having a second self is nothing new really. We've now even learned from the shamans that their flesh melds harmoniously with others after all. Actually, the fact that Saint Trina was able to be discarded might even suggest that Radagon could have become divested from Marika in a similar way. But Miquella's other half was truly special, and she was renowned for granting peaceful sleep to many in the lands between which I imagine would have been very much appreciated. In this land that's filled with the weary undead. So Saint Trina naturally had many followers, and perhaps at the fore was Thiollier, whose obsession with Saint Trina returns almost immediately. When Miquella's enchantment finally breaks. "’m feeling rather lost. Haunted by memories. Of St. Trina. Her visage. Her scent. The lure of velvety sleep. Would Kindly Miquella chasten me? For falling for St. Trina, while knowing that she was the discarded half? The problem is… I simply cannot help it. I would sacrifice everything, just to gaze upon her, one last time." Saint Trina is blue, defended by a putrescent knight who is basically tainted flesh once given eternal rest that now serves Saint Trina Die enough times to Saint Trina's nectar. And you will hear her words. "Make Miquella stop. Don't turn the poor thing into a god. Godhood would be Miquella's prison. A caged divinity... is beyond saving. you must kill Miquella... Grant him forgiveness." All of this makes you realize that if godhood really would be Miquella's Cage as Saint Trina believes, then it really might have been Marika's Cage as well. It echoes what the soreseal's suggested long ago, that solemn duty weighs upon the one beholden, not unlike a gnawing curse from which there is no deliverance. In the end, Marika's caged divinity is likely a part of why she shattered the Elden Ring, and so Miquella's divinity would surely come at a cost to him, and he would essentially be sacrificing himself to bring about that gentle age in the name of everybody who would fall under his enchantment. And this enchantment is a tendency that Miquella regains when he returns in full force as a god. Because once charmed by Miquella, a circlet of light adorns your head, and according to the description of the circlet of light which you receive after Miquella's defeat, this enchanting circlet would have been the foundation of Miquella's age of compassion, not the Elden Ring. Presumably, in his age, all would be charmed, but Miquella found one that would refuse to be embraced. You. No wonder as one God and one king Consort is all the world needs. And you're the chosen Elden Lord of a different age, whatever ending that may be for you. So naturally, you would have refused to be embraced. Thank you for watching. And thank you for listening to me, even with my nasally Covid voice. Sorry about that. Before i go. Displate currently have a limited time sale for 27% your first Displate, and 37% off for any Displates after that, and you'll get that deal just by clicking the link below. I've commissioned a new design to celebrate the Shadow of the Erdtree. This one is called Eclipse, and its this gorgeous black and white illustration commissioned from Nico Delort. This one has a lot of easter eggs and references hidden within it. how many can you find? and if you're looking to pick up a few more Displates to make use of that discount, check out my other store offerings as well, I love commissioning these designs, and Displates are honestly great, convenient products that just make any space more interesting. So check that out, and thank you for watching. Please subscribe for more shadow of the Erdtree lore, because I've really barely scratched the surface here today. I really had to restrain myself from going deeper into all of these topics. In the interest of providing a concise overview of all of the lore, and I didn't even cover all of the lore and It was still tough. Honestly, the most fascinating content is yet to come. I still want to talk about how Bayle, the new dragon in the DLC, is actually the father of the Drakes and how he had a war with Placidusaax. I wish I had time to talk about the abyssal forest and Midra's Manse, which the hornsent locked away. And then there's Godwyn, whose story we can actually say has come to a conclusive end just by virtue of the lack of new information we've received on him. There's so much more to every single thing I've talked about today, and I encourage you to go through the item descriptions and seek these answers yourself if you're interested. Because ideally, you know, I won't be the only source of information that you go through. Support other creators. Think critically about all of the content you consume. But thank you for watching mine, and I look forward to exploring all of this with you in the months to come. Look for another upload soon. Cheers, guys! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/shadow-of-erdtree/pro-002.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | I'm willing to bet that as soon as you entered this place, you knew that we were going to get some answers in the shadow of the Erdtree. And we have. There are satisfying revelations regarding Queen Marika, and Miquella, and the Omen, and dragons, and the gods. We even now know what Melania whispered to Radahn in this scene before her scarlet flower bloomed in Caelid. This video will only scratch the surface. It's just an overview. A teaser of new revelations and the foreshadowing of a deeper analysis to come. So let's get into it, and this time, let's begin at the end. After you defeat the final boss, promised consort Radahn, on your 400th attempt, you can read the Remembrance of a God and a Lord, which states, "In their childhood, Miquella saw in Radahn, a lord, his strength and his kindness that stood in stark contrast with their afflicted selves." The cutscene that plays here is a memory. Lord brother, I'm going to be a god. If we are not our part of the vow, promise me you'll be my consort. I'll make the world a gentler place. And so, Miquella made his heartfelt wish that Radahn would one day be his king consort. Now, this ending and the reappearance of Radahn has received a lot of early criticism, but I think this encounter does go a lot deeper than some people are giving it credit for. For example, we're hearing about Miquella's side of the vow in this scene, and about what Miquella wants. But what about Radahn? What was his part of the vow? What did he want? There is evidence of Radahn being kind, sure, but this is also a man who celebrates war. Did he truly share Miquella's vision for an age of compassion? And if he wanted to be with Miquella, why did he fight so vehemently against his death in the Lands Between that would have brought his soul to the realm of shadow with Miquella? But the most chilling thing about this story, I think, is that even if Radahn did want to become Miquella's lord, and I can see that side of the argument too, to be fair, but even if he did want that, do Radahn's wants even matter in the face of Miquella the Kind? As we speculated long ago from items like the Bewitching Branch, Miquella has the power of enchantment over others. He has the power to steal hearts. Literally, if you are embraced by him twice in the final fight, your heart is stolen, and it's like a part of you dies. Lord of the old order, let us go together. This effect can also be seen in Miquella's faithful band, who overcome their differences and shortcomings to fight for Miquella's cause until Miquella's enchantment is broken and they turn at each other's throats. And what makes Miquella a fascinating character is that he isn't manipulating others for selfish reasons. His cause actually is righteous. When he wields love as a weapon, he does it genuinely to make the world a better place, without any intent to cause harm. However, such acts are still oppressive. If your want is taken away, what is left of you that remains? Perhaps the saddest example of this is Mohg, who, as we speculated, was indeed under Miquella's spell. Once, in an attempt to free Lord Mohg from his enchantment, I challenged tender Miquella, only to have my own heart rather artfully stolen. I knew not how weak I was. I believed that with sufficient mastery, even an Empyrean would be within reach of my blade. I could not have been more mistaken. Miquella the Kind is a monster, pure and radiant. He wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men. There is nothing more terrifying. In the Specimen Storage, you can find the Secret Rite Scroll, which details the secret rite by which Miquella will ascend to godhood. It reads, "A lord will usher in a god's return, and the lord's soul will require a vessel." Ensha reveals Miquella's plans in full. After Lord Mohg's slaying at his dynastic palace, it appears his body has been absconded with and taken straight to kind Miquella. As if using Lord Mohg to gain entrance to the land of shadow were not enough, he plans to use his corpse as the vessel of his king consort. He has forsaken Lord Mohg's soul. He desires only his empty shell. In your fight with Radahn, you might have noticed the horns sprouting from his gauntlets and his tendency to perform bloodflame attacks. This is because Radahn occupies Mohg's body, fulfilling the terms of the secret rite at the gate of divinity, where Miquella will become a god. So, in retrospect, Mohg was under Miquella's spell all along and became obsessed with Miquella, believing that they would ascend together as lord and god. But Miquella had plans for Mohg, not just as a corpse to pull into the realm of shadow as a vessel for Radahn's soul, but as Ensha reveals, Mohg was also used as a means for Miquella to enter the realm of shadow in the first place. A while back, I speculated that the realm of shadow was a sort of death dimension, and that Miquella's sacrilegious death at the hands of Mohg might have been intentional so that Miquella could enter the realm of shadow. And, actually, surprisingly, those speculations were proven correct as well. Ensha confirms that Mohg enabled Miquella to enter, and the Tower of Suppression makes it clear that all manners of death wash up in the realm of shadow, which lies at the very center of the Lands Between. Incidentally, Radahn's return also answers one of the biggest mysteries of Elden Ring, which was what Melania whispered to Radahn as she let the rot flower blossom at the end of their fight. According to the Young Lion's Helm, she whispered, "Miquella awaits thee, oh promised consort." And so, Melania's southward march to Caelid is finally explained as well. She was there to kill Radahn so that his soul could be taken to the realm of shadow, and the vow could be upheld, at any cost. Once transported to the realm of shadow, Miquella set off for the tower. And as his Great Rune says, on the way, he abandoned everything: his golden flesh, his blinding strength, even his fate, all in this attempt to bury the original sin, to embrace the whole of it and be reborn as a new god. Miquella has said as much himself. He wishes now to throw it all away. He says the act, though undoubtedly painful, will sear clean the Erdtree's wanton sin. The truth of his claim can be found at each cross. 'Tis evidence enough to warrant my belief. But what was the Erdtree's sin that Miquella died and was reborn for? Well, now we've talked about the end, this brings us to the beginning. Miquella the Kind spoke of the beginning, the seduction and the betrayal, an affair from which gold arose. And so, too, was shadow born. These words come from Letna. And while she never says them in-game, they're pretty damn important because, with Marika in the footage, it's clear that this was her seduction and her betrayal that was the affair from which gold arose and shadow was born. The same music that played in that moment also plays here, in the village where it all began: the shaman village to the northeast. At its center is this, a minor Erdtree, an incantation which reveals that this was Marika's home, which she one day bathed in gold. So Marika's home was a shaman village. The implication, clearly, being that she herself was a shaman. This was likely a matriarchal society of other Numen women, though that's perhaps speculation better left for another video. But, simply though, a shaman is defined as someone who has influence in matters of the spirit. Their spirituality is what's valued here, and it's on this point that this story takes a bit of a dark turn. For, the message at the hidden entrance actually reads, "Have mercy, for the spirited-away shamans." Adjacent to this message is the statue that moves aside at the sign of the Oh Mother gesture in Mesma's Shadow Keep. This emote is a clue to the truth, and it actually leads us all the way down here to where the Oh Mother gesture can be found. This dire place is called Boney Village. And a phantom at the whipping hut here elaborates on just who the shamans were, or rather, the value they had. He states, "For pity's sake, your place is in the jar. Nay, sainthood itself awaits you within. For shamans like you, this is your lot. Life, were you accorded, for this alone." So the shamans, in the words of their abusers at least, were accorded life for a singular purpose, and that was to be stuffed inside of jars with others. A nearby whip, bestrewn with rotting, misshapen teeth, elaborates on how and why it was used on the shamans. For one, it states that the pain it inflicts was used to encourage their obedience, but additionally, it says that "As their wounds ripen, they grow inflamed and ooze pus," and "The flesh of shamans was said to meld harmoniously with others." So it is that the shamans stuffed into jars become this living amalgam of beings, presumably with the flayed shaman herself at the fore. So now we know what happened to the shamans. They were whipped into submission and forced inside of jars. We know a little bit of the why as well. Apparently, it was done so that they could become saints. But the next question I want to answer is who? Who did this to them? Well, it was the Hornscent. The Caterpillar Mask, worn by Hornscent himself, reveals that it was a ritual implement of the greater potentates of Boney Village, which is this very village where we just discussed the evidence of the shamans' abuse. It goes on to state that the mask was used "To ward off thoughts of impurity, doubt, temptation, and other wickednesses one is vulnerable to while absorbed in divine ritual." And man, if you need to ward off thoughts of doubt and wickedness while you're stuffing flayed people inside of jars, maybe what you're doing is just straight-up wrong. I'm starting to understand why Marika purged the realm of shadow with fire. It's as Letna says, they were never saints. They just happened to be on the losing side of a war. But if this mask wasn't proof enough of the Hornscent being responsible, look at Bellarat Jail. It's below Bellarat itself, which was the settlement of the Hornscent. And, to this day, the Inneds and the shamans remain, with the shamans offering their prayers to the Inneds of the great jars such that they might be reborn one day into sainthood. But what is sainthood? Well, it's never explained directly. I do have some ideas, but they might have to wait for another video. What we do know is that the Hornscent were obsessed with invoking divinity, and forcing the shamans to achieve sainthood was likely one facet of that. So, it's the Hornscent that we need to discuss next. The Hornscent are an extremely ritualistic people, with swaths of their culture devoted to spiritual research and invoking the divine. And one of the most sacred things to them is the Crucible, which they have to thank for their tangled horns, which are considered an evolutionary gift. If you didn't know, the Crucible has been long established as this primordial form of the Erdtree, a blending of life that became the Erdtree's primal vital energies. And apparently, it originated in the place that became the realm of shadow. This becomes quite clear thanks to Devania, who is the longest serving of the Crucible Knights. According to her helmet, she quested in search of the Crucible's origin and departed from the lands of the Erdtree alone. Another item we can find that's a clue for the Crucible is Spiral, an incantation for a spiral of light. The spiral, it says, is a normalized Crucible current that one day will form a column that stretches to the gods. Maybe it's no coincidence that the white tower of Bellarat is a spiral, nor that it culminates in a divine gateway that is a column of the dead stretching to the gods. There's also trees that include the dead, but I digress, I'm getting off-topic. Back to Marika, because at some point, it seems, Marika rose to prominence within, or adjacent to, this Hornscent culture. We can kind of infer this because Hornscent referred to Marika's eventual purge as a betrayal. And something can only really be a betrayal if you were aligned with them in the first place, right? So, the Hornscent were aware of Marika and likely her Erdtree as well, before what they call the betrayal. But how? How did Marika rise to such power in their homeland where she was, presumably, a shaman, one of those subjugated? Well, before there was this betrayal, there was a seduction, from which gold arose. And I think the Fingers had a hand in it. I fear that you have borne witness to the whole of it. The conceits, the hypocrisy of the world built upon the Erdtree. The follies of men. Their bitter suffering. Is there no hope for redemption? The answer, sadly, is clear. There never was any hope. They were each of them defective. Unhinged from the start. Marika herself, and the Fingers that guided her. And this is what troubles me. No matter our efforts, if the roots are rotten, then we have little recourse. Imiya is the high priest of Manus Celes, a cathedral of the hand to the east. Once he instructed Rya Lucaria herself in the sorcerous arts, but eventually he would come to abandon this allegiance to the moon, stating that the moon was merely the closest of the celestial bodies, and nothing more. I am a glintstone sorcerer. We study the stars and examine the life therein. Are you familiar with our findings? Long ago, we began as stardust, born of a great rupture far across the skies. We, too, are children of the Greater Will. Is that not divine? Is that not sublime? And yet none can fathom its implications, its utter brilliance. In the ruins of this land and beneath Manus Celes itself are the echoes of that greater truth that Imiya glimpsed. This is Meta herself, the mother of Fingers. Her remembrance reads, "The mother of all Two Fingers and Fingercreepers was in turn a magnificently gleaming daughter of the Greater Will, and the first shooting star to fall upon the Lands Between." You might recall, the Elden Ring and the Elden Beast made landfall in the Lands Between upon a star as well. But Meta came even before that. So it was that this mother birthed the Fingers, communing with and receiving signs from the Greater Will, who occupied the Great Beyond. But at some point, Meta became broken, abandoned. And no sign has come through ever since. Do you recall what I said? That Marika and the Fingers that guided her were unsound from the start. Well, the truth lies deeper still. It is their mother who is damaged and unhinged. The Fingers are but unripe children, victims in their own right. It's not clear when Meta was broken, abandoned, but I assume it was before Marika started taking the guidance of the Fingers since Imiya states that the Fingers were unsound from the start. Thus, the Greater Will's guidance is outdated, at the very least, and has been for all of Marika's reign. That's a pretty big revelation. Incidentally, Placidusax was also Elden Lord before Marika, and he was abandoned by his god as well, so maybe things became broken around that time. Lots of speculation to be had there. At any rate, abandonment by the Greater Will or no, Marika took up the power of the Elden Ring that the Fingers offered for her own reasons. And the abandoned Fingers spread the glory of the Greater Will through her, and she through them. Another important item on this topic is the Ancient Seed Talismans that can be found, which depict the Two Fingers around an Erdtree seed. They had a hand in the birth of the Erdtree. All this while, the Fingers claimed to be envoys for the Greater Will, but that's a lie. The Greater Will is gone. The Fingers are alone, operating on outdated guidance. This is something that many characters suspected, but most characters in Elden Ring assumed that this happened around the time the Elden Ring was shattered. It's a revelation that the Fingers have been broken for a really long time. And so, the Tarnished, too, is alone, following this guidance of grace that now likely only belongs to Marika herself, if anyone. And Marika might have played friendly with the Hornscent for a time, but eventually, she had what was surely vengeance when the Hornscent were purged, subjugated, and betrayed. The realm of shadow became this disconnected domain of death. And the shadow tree that looms high became the realm's symbol of abandonment, not grace. Before she left, Marika bathed the village of her home in gold, placing a small illusory tree that restores the health of those nearby. She did this knowing full well that there was no one left to heal. Then she left, never to return, not even for her son, who she left behind to endlessly enact her subjugation of the realm of shadow. So next, let's talk about Mesma the Impaler. As anticipated, Mesma is entirely loyal to his mother, who is Queen Marika. His armor reveals that "On his mother's wishes, Mesma made himself a symbol of fear, undertaking the cleansing crusade she desired. And in the end, all those stripped of the grace of gold would perish in the embrace of Mesma's flame." To this end, he had his Black Knights, Fire Knights, and common infantry, not to mention the Carian forces who followed Rya Lucaria into war on Mesma's behalf. So it was that the Hornscent were purged in a war without end. A phantom at Castle Entsis bemoans, "Oh Marika, I beg, embrace your child and give us a sign. How long must this holy war stretch on?" But Marika never returned, testing their faith. One phantom even raises the possibility that Mesma himself has been abandoned. And he has. The final straw for him is when you, a Tarnished who would become Elden Lord, arrives at his doorstep. I will not suffer a lord devoid of light. No mother, forgive me. Soon, Tarnished, wilt thou be taken in the jaws of the abyssal serpent shorn of light? Like his siblings, Mesma was born cursed. In fact, the game likens his curse to Malenia's, who is heavily implied to be his younger sister. Mesma too, it is said, bore a vision of fire. We learn this from the item Mesma's Kindling, which describes the fire that endlessly burns within him, a dark thing eaten away at by a wicked serpent. His remembrance elaborates on this serpent, stating, "A malevolent snake writhed within Mesma." And so, his very mother plucked out his eye and put in its place a seal of grace. So, I was wrong about this eye. It wasn't the slitted eye of dragon communion. Instead, it was Marika's seal of grace, holding back something terrible. The description continues to state that, "Even with this seal in place, Marika's fear compelled her to secrete away her child within the realm of shadow, hidden away, keeping company with the original sin, and a hatred that would not be confined." There's so much more to say about this base serpent and the dark fire. There's so much more to say about Mesma. We even learn from Gaius's Remembrance that Mesma was an older brother to Radahn, meaning Mesma's birth, and thus the birth of Malenia as well, likely would have arrived much earlier in the timeline. And there's a ton of curiosities with Mesma's knights as well, some of whom were loyal, some who were disloyal, and some of whom occupied this space of reluctance in between. But those stories are better off in other videos. In the interest of moving on, there is one last thing I want to talk about with Mesma, and it's that, in the cut dialogue, Mesma notes that "Miquella has spoken of us to him." And indeed, we do know that Miquella did come through this Shadow Keep, divesting himself at the crosses all the while, which brings us to our next topic: Saint Trina. Each cross of Miquella is a piece of himself marked with his Great Rune: arms, an eye, flesh. But there's a couple of crosses in particular that I remember as a part of what was an extremely chilling moment. As you progress along the coast towards the Fisher, you notice that Miquella has divested himself of his doubt and vacillation. Without these things, he was free, it seems, to abandon something that was very dear to him. And inside the Fisher, at what is perhaps the deepest part of the land in the realm of shadow, we realized that Miquella has actually divested himself of his love. A phantom says, "Kindly Miquella, I see you've thrown away something you should not have, under any circumstances. How will you salvation offer to those who cannot be saved when you could not even save your other self?" His other self, his love, his fate, was Saint Trina. So, to Miquella, who was one of Marika's kin, having a second self is nothing new, really. We've now even learned from the shamans that their flesh melts harmoniously with others after all. Actually, the fact that Saint Trina was able to be discarded might even suggest that Radagon could have become divested from Marika in a similar way. But Miquella's other half was truly special, and she was renowned for granting peaceful sleep to many in the Lands Between, which I imagine would have been very much appreciated in this land that's filled with the weary undead. So, Saint Trina, naturally, had many followers, and perhaps at the fore was Thops, whose obsession with Saint Trina returns almost immediately when Miquella's enchantment finally breaks. I'm feeling rather lost, haunted by memories of Saint Trina, her visage, her sonorous, the lore of velvety sleep. Would kindly Miquella chastise me for falling for Saint Trina while knowing that she was the discarded half? The problem is I simply cannot help it. I would sacrifice everything just to gaze upon her one last time. Saint Trina is below, defended by a putrescent knight who is, basically, tainted flesh once given eternal rest that now serves Saint Trina. Die enough times to Saint Trina's nectar, and you will hear her words. Miquella, stop. Don't turn the poor thing into a god. Godhood would be Miquella's prison, a cage. Divinity is beyond saving. You must kill Miquella, grant him forgiveness. All of this makes you realize that if godhood really would be Miquella's cage, as Saint Trina believes, then it really might have been Marika's cage as well. It echoes what the Soreseal suggested long ago: that solemn duty weighs upon the one beholden, not unlike a gnawing curse from which there is no deliverance. In the end, Marika's cage, divinity, is likely a part of why she shattered the Elden Ring. And so, Miquella's divinity would surely come at a cost to him. He would, essentially, be sacrificing himself to bring about that gentle age in the name of everybody who would fall under his enchantment. And this enchantment is a tendency that Miquella regains when he returns in full force as a god, because, once charmed by Miquella, a circlet of light adorns your head. And, according to the description of the Circlet of Light, which you receive after Miquella's defeat, this enchanting circlet would have been the foundation of Miquella's age of compassion, not the Elden Ring. Presumably, in his age, all would be charmed. But Miquella found one that would refuse to be embraced: you. No wonder, as one god and one king consort is all the world needs, and you're the chosen Elden Lord of a different age, whatever ending that may be for you. So, naturally, you would have refused to be embraced. Thank you for watching, and thank you for listening to me, even with my nasally COVID voice. Sorry about that. Before I go, Displate currently have a limited-time sale for 27% off your first Displate and 37% off for any Displates after that, and you'll get that deal just by clicking the link below. I've commissioned a new design to celebrate Shadow of the Erdtree. This one is called Eclipse, and it's this gorgeous black-and-white illustration commissioned from Nico Delort. This one has a lot of Easter eggs and references hidden within it. How many can you find? And if you're looking to pick up a few more Displates to make use of that discount, check out my other store offerings as well. I love commissioning these designs, and Displates are, honestly, great, convenient products that just make any space more interesting. So check that out. And again, thank you for watching. Please subscribe for more Shadow of the Erdtree lore, because I've really barely scratched the surface here today. I really had to restrain myself from going deeper into all of these topics in the interest of providing a concise overview of all of the lore. And I didn't even cover all of the lore, and it was still tough. Honestly, the most fascinating content is yet to come. I still want to talk about how Adula, the new dragon in the DLC, is actually the father of the drakes, and how he had a war with Placidusax. I wish I had time to talk about the Abyssal Forest and Midir's Manse, which the Hornscent locked away. And then there's Godwyn, whose story we can actually say has come to a conclusive end just by virtue of the lack of new information we've received on him. There's so much more to every single thing I've talked about today, and I encourage you to go through the item descriptions and seek these answers yourself if you're interested, because ideally, you know, I won't be the only source of information that you go through. Support other creators, think critically about all of the content you consume. But thank you for watching mine, and I look forward to exploring all of this with you in the months to come. Look for another upload soon. Cheers, guys. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/shadow-of-erdtree/whisper-turbo.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | I'm willing to bet that as soon as you entered this place, you knew that we were going to get some answers in the shadow of the Erd Tree. And we have. There are satisfying revelations regarding Queen Marika and Mickela and the Omen and dragons and the gods. We even now know what Melania whispered to Radan in this scene before her scarlet flower bloomed in Caelid. This video will only scratch the surface. It's just an overview, a teaser of new revelations and the foreshadowing of a deeper analysis to come. So, let's get into it, and this time, let's begin at the end. After you defeat the final boss, promised consort Radan, on your 400th attempt, you can read the remembrance of a god and a lord, which states, In their childhood, Mickela saw in Radan a lord. His strength and his kindness that stood in stark contrast with their afflicted selves. The cutscene that plays here is a memory. The cutscene that plays here is a memory. The cutscene that plays here is a memory. The cutscene that plays here is a memory. The cutscene that plays here is a memory. The cutscene that plays here is a memory. The cutscene that plays here is a memory. If your want is taken away, what is left of you that remains? Perhaps the saddest example of this is Moog, who, as we speculated, was indeed under Mikkula's spell. Once, in an attempt to free Lord Moog from his enchantment, I challenged tender Mikkula, only to have my own heart rather artfully stolen. I knew not how weak I was. I believed that with sufficient mastery, even an Empyrean would be within reach of my blade. I could not have been more mistaken. Mikkula the kind is a monster. Pure and radiant. He wields love to shrive clean the hearts of men. There is nothing more terrifying. In the specimen storehouse, you can find the Secret Rite Scroll, which details the secret rite by which Mikkula will ascend to godhood. It reads: "A lord will usher in a god's return, and the lord's soul will require a vessel." Hans Buck reveals Mikkula's plans in full. After Lord Moog's slaying at his dynastic palace, it appears his body has been absconded with, "and taken straight to kind Mikkula." "As if using Lord Moog to gain entrance to the land of shadow were not enough, he plans to use his corpse as the vessel of his king consort. He has forsaken Lord Moog's soul. He desires only his empty shell." In your fight with Radhan, you might have noticed the horns sprouting from his gauntlets, and his tendency to perform blood flame attacks. This is because Radhan occupies Moog's body, fulfilling the terms of the Secret Rite at the Gate of Divinity, where Mikkula will become a god. So, in retrospect, Moog was under Mikkula's spell all along, and became obsessed with Mikkula, believing that they would ascend together as Lord and God. But Mikkula had plans for Moog, not just as a corpse to pull into the realm of shadow as a vessel for Radhan's soul, but as Ansbach reveals, Moog was also used as a means for Mikkula to enter the realm of shadow in the first place. A while back, I speculated that the realm of shadow was a sort of death dimension, and that Mikkula's sacrilegious death at the hands of Moog might have been intentional so that Mikkula could enter the realm of shadow, and, actually surprisingly, those speculations were proven correct as well. Ansbach confirms that Moog enabled Mikkula to enter, and the Tower of Suppression makes it clear that all manners of death wash up in the realm of shadow, which lies at the very center of the lands between. Incidentally, Radhan's return also answers one of the biggest mysteries of Elden Ring, which was what Melania whispered to Radhan as she let the rot flower blossom at the end of their fight. According to the young lion's helm, she whispered, "Mikkula awaits thee, her promised consort." And so, Melania's southward march to Caelid is finally explained as well. She was there to kill Radhan so that his soul could be taken to the realm of shadow, and the vow could be upheld at any cost. Once transported to the realm of shadow, Mikkula set off for the Tower. And as his great rune says, "The way he abandoned everything: his golden flesh, his blinding strength, even his fate, his own fate, and his own fate." "Mikkula has said as much himself. He wishes now to throw it all away. He says the act, though undoubtedly painful, will sear clean the Erd Tree's wanton sin. The truth of his claim can be found at each cross, which is evidence enough to earn my belief." What was the Erd Tree's sin? That Mikkula died and was reborn for? Well, now we've talked about the end, this brings us to the beginning. "Mikkula the kind spoke of the beginning. The seduction, and the betrayal. An affair from which gold arose. And so too was shadow born. Who was shadow born?" These words come from Leda. And while she never says them in game, they're pretty damn important, because with Marika in the footage, it's clear that this was her seduction, and her betrayal. That was the affair from which gold arose, and shadow was born. The same music that played in that moment also plays here, in the village where it all began. The shaman village, to the northeast. The center is this, a minor Erd tree. An incantation which reveals that this was Marika's home, which she one day bathed in gold. So, Marika's home was a shaman village. The implication clearly being that she herself was a shaman. This was likely a matriarchal society of other Numen women, though that's perhaps speculation better left for another video. Put simply though, a shaman is defined as someone who has influence in matters of the spirit. Their spirituality is what's valued here. And it's on this point that this story takes a bit of a dark turn. For the message at the hidden entrance actually reads, "Have mercy for the spirited away shamans." Adjacent to this message is the statue that moves aside at the sign of the "Oh Mother" gesture in Mesmer's shadow keep. This emote is a clue to the truth, and it actually leads us all the way down here to where the "Oh Mother" gesture can be found. This dire place is called Bonnie Village. And a phantom at the "Whipping Hut" here elaborates on just who the shamans were. Or rather, the value they had. He states, "For pity's sake, your place is in the jar. Nigh's sainthood itself awaits you within. For shamans like you, this is your lot. Life were you accorded for this alone." So the shamans, in the words of their abusers at least, were accorded life for a singular purpose. And that was to be stuffed inside of jars with others. A nearby whip, bestrewn with rotting, misshapen teeth, elaborates on how and why it was used on the shamans. For one, it states that the pain it inflicts was used to encourage their obedience. But additionally, it says that as their wounds ripen, they grow inflamed and ooze pus. And the flesh of shamans was said to meld harmoniously with others. So it is that the shamans stuffed into jars become this living amalgam of beings. Presumably with the flayed shaman herself at the fore. So now we know what happened to the shamans. They were whipped into submission and forced inside of jars. We know a little bit of the why as well. Apparently it was done so that they could become saints. But the next question I want to answer is who? Who did this to them? Well, it was the horn scent. The caterpillar mask, worn by horn scent himself, reveals that it was a ritual implement of the greater potentates of Bonnie Village. Which is this very village where we just discussed the evidence of the shaman's abuse. It goes on to state that the mask was used to ward off thoughts of impurity, doubt, temptation and other wickedness one is vulnerable to while absorbed in divine ritual. And man, if you need to ward off thoughts of doubt and wickedness while you're stuffing flayed people inside of jars, maybe what you're doing is just straight up wrong. I'm starting to understand why Marika purged the realm of shadow with fire. It's as Leta says. They were never saints. They just happened to be on the losing side of a war. But if this mask wasn't proof enough of the horn scent being responsible, look at Bellarat Jail. It's below Bellarat itself, which was the settlement of the horn scent, and to this day the innards and the shamans remain. With the shamans offering their prayers to the innards of the great jars, such that they might be reborn one day into sainthood. But what is sainthood? Well, it's never explained directly. I do have some ideas, but they might have to wait for another video. What we do know is that the horn scent were obsessed with invoking divinity, and forcing the shamans to achieve sainthood was likely one facet of that. So, it's the horn scent that we need to discuss next. The horn scent are an extremely ritualistic people, with swaths of their culture devoted to spiritual research and invoking the divine. And one of the most sacred things to them is the crucible, which they have to thank for their tangled horns, which are considered an evolutionary gift. If you didn't know, the crucible has been long established as this primordial form of the Erdtree, a blending of life that became the Erdtree's primal vital energies. And apparently, it originated in the place that became the realm of shadow. This becomes quite clear thanks to Devonia, who is the longest serving of the crucible knights. According to her helmet, she quested in search of the crucible's origin, and departed from the lands of the Erdtree alone. Another item we can find that's a clue for the crucible is Spira, an incantation for a spiral of light. The spiral, it says, is a normalized crucible current that, one day, will form a column that stretches to the gods. Maybe it's no coincidence that the White Tower of Bellarat is a spiral, nor that it culminates in a divine gateway that is a column of the dead stretching to the gods. There's also trees that include the dead, but I digress, I'm getting off topic. Back to Marika, because at some point it seems Marika rose to prominence within, or adjacent to, this Hornsent culture. We can kind of infer this because Hornsent refer to Marika's eventual purge as a betrayal. And something can only really be a betrayal if you were aligned with them in the first place, right? So, the Hornsent were aware of Marika, and likely her Erdtree as well, before what they call the betrayal. But how? How did Marika rise to such power in their homeland, where she was presumably a shaman, one of those subjugated? Well, before there was this betrayal, there was a seduction, from which gold arose, and I think the fingers had a hand in it. "I fear that you have borne witness to the whole of it. The conceits, the hypocrisy of the world built upon the Erdtree. The follies of men. Their bitter suffering. Is there no hope for redemption? The answer, sadly, is clear. There never was any hope. There were each of them defective, unhinged from the start. Marika herself, and the fingers that guided her. And this is what troubles me. No matter our efforts, if the roots are rotten, then we have little recourse." "Emir is the High Priest of Manus Meta, a Cathedral of the Hand to the East. Once he instructed Relana herself in the Sorcerous Arts, but eventually he would come to abandon this allegiance to the Moon, stating that the Moon was merely the closest of the Celestians. The Moon was the Celestians. And nothing more. "I am a Glintstone Sorcerer. We study the stars, and examine the life therein. Are you familiar with our findings?" "Long ago, we began as Stardust, born of a great rupture far across the skies. We, too, are children of the greater will. Is that not divine? Is that not sublime? And yet, none can fathom its implications. Its utter brilliance." "In the ruins of this land, and beneath Manus Meta itself, are the echoes of that greater truth that Ymir glimpsed. This is Meta herself, the Mother of Fingers." "Her Remembrance reads, the Mother of all two Fingers and Finger Creepers was, in turn, a magnificently gleaming daughter of the greater will, and the first shooting star to fall upon the lands between." "You might recall, the Elden Ring and the Elden Beast made landfall in the lands between upon a star as well." "But Meta came even before that." "So it was that this Mother birthed the Fingers, communing with and receiving signs from the greater will, who occupied the great beyond." "But at some point Meta became broken, abandoned, and no sign has come through ever since." "Do you recall what I said? That Marika and the Fingers that guided her were unsound from the start?" "Well, the truth lies deeper still. It is their mother who is damaged and unhinged. The Fingers are but unripe children. Victims in their own right." "It's not clear when Meta was broken, abandoned, but I assume it was before Marika started taking the guidance of the Fingers, since Ymir states that the Fingers were unsound from the start. Thus, the greater will's guidance is outdated at the very least, and has been for all of Marika's reign." "That's a pretty big revelation." "Incidentally, Placidusax was also Elden Lord before Marika, and he was abandoned by his god as well, so maybe things became broken around that time?" "Lots of speculation to be had there." "At any rate, abandonment by the greater will, or no, Marika took up the power of the Elden Ring that the Fingers offered for her own reasons, and the abandoned Fingers spread the glory of the greater will through her, and she through them." "Another important item on this topic is the ancient seed talismans that can be found, which depict the two fingers around an erd tree seed. They had a hand in the birth of the erd tree." All this while, the Fingers claimed to be envoys for the greater will, but that's a lie. The greater will is gone. The Fingers are alone, operating on outdated guidance. This is something that many characters suspected, but most characters in Elden Ring assumed that this happened around the time the Elden Ring was shattered. It's a revelation that the Fingers have been broken for a really long time. And so, the Tarnished 2 is alone, following this guidance of grace that now likely only belongs to Marika herself, if anyone. And Marika might have played friendly with the Horn-Scent for a time, but eventually she had what was surely vengeance, when the Horn-Scent were purged, subjugated, and betrayed. The realm of shadow became this disconnected domain of death, and the shadow tree that looms high became the realm's symbol of abandonment. Not grace. Before she left, Marika bathed the village of her home in gold, placing a small illusory tree that restores the health of those nearby. She did this knowing full well that there was no one left to heal. Then she left, never to return. Not even for her son, who she left behind to endlessly enact her subjugation of the realm of shadow. So, next, let's talk about Mesmer, the Impaler. As anticipated, Mesmer is entirely loyal to his mother, who is Queen Marika. His armor reveals that, on his mother's wishes, Mesmer made himself a symbol of fear, undertaking the cleansing crusade she desired. And, in the end, all those stripped of the grace of gold would perish. In the embrace of Mesmer's flame. To this end, he had his black knights, fire knights, and common infantry. Not to mention the carrion forces who followed R'Elanna into war on Mesmer's behalf. So it was that the Horn-Scent were purged in a war without end. A phantom at Castle Ensus bemoans: "O Marika, I beg, embrace your child, and give us a sign. How long must this holy war stretch on?" But Marika never returned, testing their faith. One phantom even raises the possibility that Mesmer himself has been abandoned. And he has. The final straw for him is when you, a tarnished who would become Elden Lord, arrives at the end. The end of the war arrives at his doorstep. "I will not suffer. A lord devoid of light." "No mother forgives me." "No mother forgives me." "No mother forgives me." "No one of my sins." "No mother forgives me." "No, no." "No." Soon tarnished. Wilt thou be taken in the jaws of the abyssal serpent shorn of light? Like his siblings, Mesmer was born cursed. In fact, the game likens his curse to Melanus, who is heavily implied to be his younger sister. Mesmer too, it is said, bore a vision of fire. We learn this from the item Mesmer's Kindling, which describes the fire that endlessly burns within him, a dark thing eaten away at by a wicked serpent. His remembrance elaborates on this serpent, stating, a malevolent snake writhed within Mesmer. And so his very mother plucked out his eye and put in its place a seal of grace. So I was wrong about this eye. It wasn't the slitted eye of dragon communion. Instead, it was Marika's seal of grace, holding back something terrible. The description continues to state that, even with this seal in place, Marika's fear compelled her to secret away her child within the realm of shadow, hidden away, keeping company with the original sin, and a hatred that would not be confined. There's so much more to say about this base serpent and the dark fire. There's so much more to say about Mesmer. We even learn from Gaius's remembrance that Mesmer was an older brother to Redan, meaning Mesmer's birth, and thus the birth of Melina as well, likely would have arrived much earlier in the timeline. And there's a ton of curiosities with Mesmer's knights as well, some of whom were loyal, some who were disloyal, and some of whom occupied this space of reluctance in between. But those stories are better off in other videos. In the interest of moving on, there is one last thing I want to talk about with Mesmer, and it's that in the cut dialogue, Mesmer notes that Mikula has spoken of us to him. And indeed, we do know that Mikula did come through this shadow keep, divesting himself at the crosses all the while. Which brings us to our next topic. Saint Trina. Each cross of Mikula is a piece of himself, marked with his great rune. Arms, an eye, flesh. But there's a couple of crosses in particular, that I remember as a part of what was an extremely chilling moment. As you progress along the coast, towards the fissure, you notice that Mikula has divested himself of his doubt and vacillation. Without these things, he was free, it seems, to abandon something that was very dear to him. And inside the fissure, at what is perhaps the deepest part of the land in the realm of shadow, we realize that Mikula has actually divested himself of his love. A phantom says, Kindly Mikula, I see you've thrown away something you should not have, under any circumstances. How will you salvation offer to those who cannot be saved, when you could not even save your other self? His other self, his love, his fate, was Saint Trina. So to Mikula, who was one of Marica's kin, having a second self is nothing new, really. We've now even learned from the shamans, that their flesh melds harmoniously with others, after all. Actually, the fact that Saint Trina was able to be discarded, might even suggest that, Radigan, could have become divested, from Marica, in a similar way. But Mikula's other half was truly special, and she was renowned for granting peaceful sleep to many in the lands between, which I imagine would have been very much appreciated, in this land that's filled with the weary undead. So, Saint Trina naturally had many followers, and perhaps at the fore was Tiollier, whose obsession with Saint Trina returns almost immediately, when Mikula's enchantment finally breaks. I'm feeling rather lost, haunted by memories, of Saint Trina, her visage, her sen, the lure of velvety sleep. Would kindly Mikula chase me, for falling for Saint Trina, while knowing that she was the discarded half? The problem is, I simply cannot help it. I would sacrifice everything, just to gaze upon her, one last time. Saint Trina is below, defended by a putrescent knight, who is basically, tainted flesh, once given eternal rest, that, now serves Saint Trina. Die enough times, to Saint Trina's nectar, and, you will hear her words. Make, Mikula, stop. Don't turn the poor thing, into a god. Godhood would be, Mikula's prison. A cage, divinity, is beyond, saving. You must, kill, Mikula. Grant him, forgiveness. All of this, makes you realize, that, if godhood, really would be, Mikula's cage, as Saint Trina believes, then, it really might have been, Marika's cage, as well. It echoes, what the saw seals, suggested, long ago. That, solemn duty, weighs upon, the one beholden. Not unlike, a, gnawing curse, from which, there is no deliverance. In the end, Marika's cage, divinity, is, likely a part, of why, she shattered the olden ring. And so, Mikula's divinity, would, surely come, at a cost, to him. He, would essentially, be sacrificing himself, to, bring about, that gentle age, in the name of, everybody who, would fall, under his enchantment. And, this enchantment, is a tendency, that Mikula regains, when, he returns, in full force, as a god. Because, once charmed, by Mikula, a circlet, of light, adorns your head. And, according to, the description, of the circlet, of light, which, you receive, after Mikula's defeat, this, enchanting circlet, would have been, the, foundation of, Mikula's, age of compassion. Not, the elden ring. Presumably, in his age, all, would be charmed. But, Mikula found one, that would refuse, to be embraced. You, no wonder, as, one god, and one king consort, is all the world needs. And, you're the chosen elden lord, of a different age. Whatever ending, that may be, for you. So, naturally, you would have refused, to be embraced. Thank you for watching, and thank you for listening to me, even with my, nasally, covert voice. Sorry about that. Before I go, Displate currently have, a limited time sale, for, 27% off your first Displate, and, 37% off, for any Displates, after that. And, you'll get that deal, just by clicking the link below. I've commissioned a new design, to celebrate, Shadow of the Ode Tree. This one is called, Eclipse, and, it's this gorgeous, black and white, illustration, commissioned, from Nico Delort. This one has a lot of, easter eggs and, references, hidden within it. How many can you find? And, if you're looking to pick up, a few more Displates, to make use of that discount, check out my other, store offerings as well. I love commissioning, these designs, and, Displates are honestly, great, convenient products, that just, make any space, more interesting. So, check that out. And, again, Please subscribe, for more, Shadow of the Ode Tree lore, because I've, really barely scratched the surface, here today. I really had to restrain myself, from going deeper, into all of these topics, in the interest of, providing a, concise overview, of, all of the lore, and, I didn't even cover all of the lore, it was still tough. Honestly, the most fascinating content, is yet to come. I still want to talk about, how, Bale, the new dragon, in the DLC, is, actually, the father of the drakes, and how, he had a war, with, placidusax. I wish I had time, to talk about, the abyssal forest, and, Midrash Mance, which, the horn sent, locked away. And then, there's Godwin, whose, story, we can actually, say, has come, to a, conclusive end, just by virtue, of, the lack, of new information, we've received, on him. There's, so much more, to every single thing, I've talked about today, and, I encourage you, to go through, the item descriptions, and, seek these answers, yourself, if you're interested, because, ideally, you know, I, won't be, the only source, of information, that you go through. Support, other creators, think critically, about, all of the content, you consume. But, thank you for watching, mine, and, I look forward, to exploring, all of this, with you, in the months to come. Look for another, upload soon. Cheers guys. you Thank you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/voilatest/V.mp3: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SouthBridgeAI/llm-transcription-study/97baf4b20a7b2fbcf69a1d6db86c6d48221f5f25/comparisons/voilatest/V.mp3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/voilatest/V_noiseremoved.mp3: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SouthBridgeAI/llm-transcription-study/97baf4b20a7b2fbcf69a1d6db86c6d48221f5f25/comparisons/voilatest/V_noiseremoved.mp3 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/voilatest/assemblyai.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | Voila. In view, a humble watermelon victorin, cast vicariously victim and villain by the necessitudes of people. This visage no more veneer, no veneer of vanity, is the vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. 2 | 3 | However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified. It is vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguardian vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and vulcarious violated coalition. The only verdict is vengeance. 4 | 5 | A vindictor, held as voting not me for the value and veracity of such, shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, the vesicios of verbiage, theirs most verbose. So let me simply add that it is my very good honour to meet you, and you may call me beaming. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/voilatest/flash-002-noise-removed.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | Voilà! In view, a humble, waddle-billing, veteran, classed by careless souls, both victim and villain, as a vicious criminal. This is far, no more than that. No more than that of vanity. It's a vestige of the vox populi. Now, victims vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands beatified. And his garbed, benevolent, vein-o-and-grey-birling, barren, bandaged face and vouchsafed, the violently vicious and perfidious violation of volition. 2 | 3 | Your only verdict is vengeance, even death. A held is voted, not to me, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilance and the virtuous. Verily, this is the city of verbs. It bears most of the bows. So let me simply add that it is my very good honor to meet you, and you may call me, Beeny. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/voilatest/flash-002-with-fixing.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | Voila! In view, a humble, wordy villain, vanquished by careless words, both victim and villain are deceased. This is all. No more than that. No more than that. Vanity is a vestige of the vox populi. Now, victims vanish. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands verified, and his garnered goods—vain or grand, burn and be gone in pyres—and vouchsafed in the violently vicious and precarious violation of the coalition. The only verdict is vengeance. Even death held is voted, not to me, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilance and the virtuous. Verily, this discourse is verbose; thus, most verbose. So let me simply add that it is my very good honor to meet you. And you may call me...Beany. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/voilatest/flash-002.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | Voilá! In view of a humble, water-bedding, bed linen, passed by careless, both victim and villain, I assert to be. This is ours, no more than that. No more than that of vanity. This a vestige of the vox populi, now defunct, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands verified, and his bold avenging quickness, veino and vehicular, booming bang and vice, and bouts saving the violently vicious and vulgar carriage violating the politician. He only wreaked his vengeance even death held as voted, not to me, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilance and the virtuous. Verily, this is the city's oath of verbiage. There's most of a boast. So let me simply add that it is my very good honor to meet you. And you may call me, Beanie. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/voilatest/original.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/voilatest/whisper-turbo-noise-removed.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | 2 | Voila! In view, a humble water-balloon veteran cast by characters, both veteran and villain, by the necessities of people. This visage, no more venere of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vilified, and has vowed to be equipped with vain and virulent vermin vanguard and vice, and vouchsaving the violently vicious and precarious violative volition. The only verdict is vengeance. Even Decker held his vox, not vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, the sitios of the abeas, there's most verbose. So let me simply add that it is my very good honour to meet you. And you may call me... ...Be-me. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /comparisons/voilatest/whisper-turbo.txt: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | Voilá! In view of a humble, water-bedding, bed linen, passed by careless, both victim and villain, I assert to be. This is ours, no more than that. No more than that of vanity. This a vestige of the vox populi, now defunct, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands verified, and his bold avenging quickness, veino and vehicular, booming bang and vice, and bouts saving the violently vicious and vulgar carriage violating the politician. He only wreaked his vengeance even death held as voted, not to me, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilance and the virtuous. Verily, this is the city's oath of verbiage. There's most of a boast. So let me simply add that it is my very good honor to meet you. And you may call me, Beanie. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------