№ 1 — Who Asked?
I fought every runebear in Elden Ring so that you don't have to.
There were 21 in total, it was awful, but one of them was worth killing, and two of them were actually very unique.
See, everyone who plays Elden Ring fights these things once or twice, and then just ignores them for the rest of their playthrough, rightfully so.
Most of them just look like the one I'm fighting now. Some of them have an absurd amount of health, some are covered in snow, some are asleep, some wait in ambush, but overall, their movesets and behaviour are largely the same.
Except for one found here, south of the Deep Siofra Well in Caelidand one found here, southeast of the Inner Consecrated Snowfield
These two have ragged, unkempt fur, which I think suggests that they're more feral than the others. And it shows, because their moveset has all of the usual BS, but it also includes a skyward dive attack, and an AoE roar.
Not only that, but their health and defence is just through the roof, especially this one in the snowfield, which is basically an endgame field boss.
It also just happens to be the only bloody runebear that's actually worth killing.
You can find it here, buried in the snow as a wandering noble, it's actually a mimic tear, and if you somehow overcome it, you'll receive a Larval tear, which you can use to respec your character.
№ 2 — Radahn's Swords
While in Caelid, did you ever notice these piles of weapons that litter its battlefields?
These, I think, help to convey the sheer scale of the battle where Malenia fought Radahn, and they're mostly found in these sections of Caelid.
Here, where Malenia experienced her first scarlet bloom, and here, near Redmane Castle, in the arena that I believe Radahn fled to after succumbing to the rot.
We talked really in depth about Caelid's lore in this video, and it's obvious in retrospect, but a lot of you guys pointed out that there are actually curved greatswords among this pile of weapons, and they look almost identical to Radahn's starscourge greatswords, suggesting that some of his soldiers actually wielded similar swords to their lord.
№ 3 — Gravity Crests
Another curious thing about Radahn's swords is the inscription they bear, which is, fittingly, the same symbol that gravity spells have.
The swords actually reference this, stating that Radahn earned considerable renown as the starscourge in his youth, and it is said that it was during this time that he engraved the Gravity Crest upon these blades.
But what's really cool is that this Gravity Crest is likely inspired by real world models of magnetic forces, which mark north and south magnetic poles.
These curved lines are likely the resulting field lines, that measure the strength and direction of magnetic fields, which results in a graph that looks a lot like the Gravity Crest.
Considering gravity spells do pertain to the push and pull of cosmic forces, I can see the connection.
Though, diving any deeper into this topic makes my brain hurt, so I'll stop here.
№ 4 — Scourge Of Astel
Radahn initially learned this gravity magic so that he could ride his scrawny horse, despite his immense size. Then, he furthered his knowledge in order to confront the falling stars, and seal the fate in the night sky.
So, naturally, Radahn displays this incredible mastery over gravity magic in our fight with him, even managing to manifest as a giant meteor, and devastate anything in his path.
But the big thing we're missing from Radahn's story, is why he went this far.
Why did he have to conquer the stars?
And to be honest, I've always felt like we're missing something from this topic.
Take, for example, the Sword Gravestone in Selia.
It states that Radahn alone holds Selia secure.
Then, consider the Starscourge Heirloom.
It states that Radahn confronted the falling stars.
It almost sounds as if the stars were a threat in some way, right?
As if Radahn was taking defensive measures in conquering the stars, rather than taking the offensive initiative.
And there's a piece of content that might just explain why the story is presented this way.
So, in one of Zullie's videos, she presents evidence that Astel, the malformed star boss, might have actually been a part of your fight with Radahn.
This is because Astel actually has a cut animation that shows them descending from the sky, covering this enormous amount of distance in the process, and crashing to the ground with the same fiery VFX that Radahn himself uses.
And while the fiery VFX is missing from this descent, Zullie notes that the animation does include fiery sound effects, making the meteor comparison even more valid.
So imagine you've just defeated Radahn's first phase, and he disappears from the arena.
Demigod defeated, the stars are free.
Suddenly, a fiery meteor comes rushing towards you, narrowly misses, and then unfurls to reveal Astel, phase two of Radahn's fight, and the very thing that Radahn himself was holding back from the world.
That's how I imagine it playing out, at least.
It would have really driven home the idea that Radahn was preventing these falling star beasts from making planetfall, and it's a really compelling theory as to why Radahn might have acted as the star scourge in the first place.
Now, obviously it's cut content, and it can't really be considered canon, and I personally think that Radahn's motivations can still be more complex than just being limited to this defensive action, but perhaps this explains why the lore is so vague on this topic, almost as if the obvious explanation was removed from the game.
№ 5 — When Faced With The Rot
But speaking of Radahn, and his wars, so this character is the knight Jerren, who served as a commander in General Radahn's wars, and he has this very curious line of dialogue to say about Iji, who was the blacksmith for the Carian royal family.
... bit of a haughty sort strange fella when I knew him, and funny thing his swords were all blunt as stone, but not one of them decayed when faced with a Scarlet Rot
We learn three fascinating things from this dialogue.
First, that Iji, Carian royal blacksmith, actually made weapons for some of Radahn's forces, who eventually came into contact with the Scarlet Rot.
Second, we learn that not one of these weapons decayed.
That's quite the achievement, as Scarlet Rot is an incredibly corrosive force, even Malenia's knights needed to have their weapons consecrated in order to ward it off.
The only downside of Iji's weapons is that, apparently, they were blunt as stone.
Seems odd that they'd be used at all, but I guess we just have to take that quote at face value.
What's very interesting here though, is that next to Iji, we can actually see a greatsword, which is a weapon that you can actually loot for yourself, suggesting that it might have been one of his weapons that made it all the way there.
Not only that, but the greatsword is actually a recurring reference, placed in many of FromSoftware's games, and it's this homage to the greatsword that's wielded by Guts from Berserk.
A weapon that is, and I quote, massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough.
It was much too big to be called a sword.
Indeed, it was like a heap of raw iron.
So, I wonder, are these greatswords what is referring to when he talks about Eegee's blunt weapons? Maybe.
№ 6 — What Lies Below?
For number 6, the Liurnia maps all read as follows.
The majority of Liurnia, known for its vast forests and ever-present fog, is sinking into a lake.
But why is it sinking into the lake?
The map says it was known for its vast forests and ever-present fog, but it doesn't say it was known for its marshes or swampland, so surely it wasn't always like this?
What's more, did the Order of Raya Lucaria, with all of their collective intellect, really think to build their academy and surrounding town on a swamp?
Is it possible they were that short-sighted?
I don't think so.
And as for why the land is sinking, I feel like there might be two options.
Either this environmental change could have been sudden, and caused by the shattering, with water maybe spewing down from the north from the Altus Plateau, or maybe the place was always watery, but perhaps something else has caused the land to soften from below.
So take a look at your map, and you'll notice that the Lake of Rot is actually directly below Liurnia.
What's more, if you look up from the Lake of Rot, you can actually see a giant glintstone crystal peeking through the roof, which I think confirms that FromSoftware did in fact consider the upper and lower alignment of these two places.
The academy relies upon this glintstone, that they built their entire academy on top of, so in order to claim it, maybe they simply looked past the land's poor foundations, or something like that.
But anyway, the Lake of Rot is seething, it's constantly steaming and filling the air with its pollution, so I feel like it's a fair theory to think this could have slowly eroded the land above over time, causing Liurnia to maybe sink into the lake.
Special thanks to Quelaag, for bringing this up to me ages ago.
But what do you think?
№ 7 — What A Relief...
Speaking of environmental analysis, two months ago, someone on reddit discovered these reliefs, etched onto pillars at Miqella's Haligtree.
They then attempted to extrapolate meaning from them.
Fair enough.
The floral design at the lower end, they claimed, depicted Malenia's first, second and third blooms, from which the Rot Goddess emerged.
Continuing up, we see an enclosed owl, supposedly representing sublime slumber, enjoyed by Micola, who is in the womb, only to emerge in this elder state, having quelled the curse of eternal childhood.
So this post received over 2,000 updutes, and a lot of people clearly took a liking to the theory...
until someone pointed out that these pillars are also found in Path of Exile, a different game.
Meaning that Path of Exile and Elden Ring clearly exist within the same universe...
or that FromSoftware bought this asset from a public asset library in order to save time and money.
Yeah, no, it's probably that second one, actually.
I like that someone in the comments claims that this situation came about because of apophenia, which was a good word to learn, because it is a word that refers to the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things, and it's so easy to be guilty of this when analysing FromSoftware's lore.
You'll come up with a theory, and before long, you're looking for any evidence that proves your theory and strokes your ego, rather than looking at all of the evidence objectively as you should.
It reminds me of this video I made a while back, where I argued that all of the Soulsborne games were canonically connected to each other, as in all their stories bled into one another and told one big story.
And in that video, I was really clear that that video was just for fun.
And I was very clear that I was purposefully cherry picking arguments in order to support my theories.
And yet, still, a lot of people in the comments bought into the idea and started to actually believe that the games were connected.
So that video now serves as a very good example, a warning, that it is very easy to be misled by someone if they're speaking with confidence on a topic that you are not completely familiar with. Anyway, back to the reliefs.
I'm not saying that all architectural analysis of Elden Ring is invalid.
It's not.
A lot of Elden Ring's architecture is probably handcrafted with intent, and you could even argue that the public assets that FromSoftware do use were chosen because they align perfectly with Elden Ring's lore.
But I do think it's naive to think that every single thing in FromSoftware's games are handcrafted with intent, and I do think it's important to remember how easy it is to be misled.
№ 8 — Out On A Limb
Speaking of which, this next secret also deserves a healthy dose of scepticism.
So as they were fighting Godric, user JackNewbie555 noticed that while Godric's right leg is a mess of flesh, his left leg is armoured, and it's this left leg that Godrick uses to summon stormwinds for his attacks.
Most importantly, they argue that this leg looks suspiciously similar to Commander Niall, someone who summons storms with a stamp of their foot as well.
So how likely is it really that Godrick took Niall's leg and bolted it onto his own body?
Well, unlike the previous secret, I actually think this one has a lot of merit.
Let me explain.
So, Commander Niall is a veteran general of Sol, a lone survivor who commanded spirits to defend his long past master.
But apart from that description, we actually know very little about him and his allegiances, and the same goes for Commander O'Neil, who is another veteran boss of similar design.
But what's relevant to us here is Niall's prosthetic leg, and its description, which reads:
Bladed prosthetic leg, wreathed with the power of lightning. Commander Niall, veteran of Castle Sol, offered this prosthesis in exchange for the lives of defeated knights held prisoner.
As I was reading this, something immediately stuck out to me.
Why does it say that Niall offered this prosthesis?
That doesn't make sense.
How could he have offered up a prosthetic leg that he actually uses in his fight?
So, I went to our trusty translator, Lokey, who reveals that the Japanese text actually just says «that leg», meaning «the» true description is probably more like, Commander Niall offered his leg in exchange for the lives of defeated knights held prisoner.
Godrick and Godefroy too, for that matter, are the only major players in Elden Ring that I can think of who would actually be happy to receive the offering of a leg as payment for something, and Niall and O'Neil are both missing legs, which could explain both Godrick and Godefroy's possession of them.
So, I think it's a great theory.
There could easily have been a situation where Godrick or Godefroy held Niall's knights prisoner, leading to the offering of a powerful limb in exchange for their safe return.
The best counter-evidence to this theory, though, is that Godrick and Godefroy are actually using right legs as left legs here.
But, as pointed out by some others in the comments, this probably wasn't a dealbreaker for Godrick or Godefroy.
And at the very least, if you don't like this theory, I think that this could easily be the leg of any banished knight as well, who were a class of warriors who mastered storms, and who could have passed that mastery over to the grafted.
№ 9 — The Red Hood
Of all the characters in Elden Ring, Roderica is the one who was the most personally affected by the grafting, for she ventured to Lands Between, from across the sea, only to barely escape with her own life.
According to her crimson hood, Roderica is expatriated royalty from another land, and received this cloak as a gift, which made it somewhat easier for her to be sent on her way.
She can be seen wearing it in your first few encounters with her, but she soon takes it off.
Why is that?
Well, a great lore creator, Miss Chalice, proposes that this moment marks the point where Roderica puts aside her past, and starts to carve a different path for herself.
She puts aside the red hood that marked her as royalty to be protected, and takes her future into her own hands, becoming a spirit tuner at the Roundtable hold instead.
I love this theory.
For more insights like this, be sure to check out Chalice's content on YouTube, or TikTok. I've been meaning to shout her out for a while.
№ 10 — Irina's Rejection
Another creator I want to shout out again is Leviathan, who points out that Irina is actually capable of casting Rejection.
I had no idea.
Leviathan argues that this is the single weakest attack in the entirety of Elden Ring, and you should check out his video on the topic, because this is actually a part of a longer video where he finds out if this weakest attack is capable of one-shotting you.
№ 11 — Marika's Madness
Comes to us from user TypicalPainter7052, who discovered that it's actually possible to use Marika's Mischief in order to fool the Eye of Madness in Liurnia, and evade detection.
I mean, it might take you a while to get past it, but good to know, I guess.
№ 12 — Elemer The Ascetic
These videos have always been a great way for me to tell you about all of the disparate things in the world of Elden Ring that I couldn't otherwise fit into other videos, and only recently I realised that there's actually a character in the game that might just hate this idea of teaching and learning, and that's Elemer of the Briar.
We've talked a lot about Elemer before, and already uncovered a lot of his lore.
He hails from the land of Eochaid, which is a land of proudly solitary ascetics, and he was sentenced to death for the crime of murdering numerous instructors and merchants.
But what's always bothered me about his story is why he wanted to kill these instructors and merchants.
Why does he make such a spectacle of collecting their bellbearings and depriving you of their items and their teachings?
Well, finally I think I might have an answer.
So the Briar Greatshield makes it clear that Elemer originates from Eochaid, which, again, is a land of proudly solitary ascetics. To be ascetic is to deprive oneself of all forms of indulgence. It's synonymous with living a solitary life.
So what if Elemer looks down upon merchants and instructors, people who share items and knowledge, because he thinks the world would be better off without them?
He is a proud ascetic, after all, so maybe he's projecting that asceticism upon the world by depriving everyone else of their items and their teachings, which he looks down upon, forcing everyone to rely on themselves and nothing else.
I would never call this theory absolute fact, but I think it might just be the best explanation we have in the absence of any other.
№ 13 — Radagon's Got Hands
In Roundtable Hold, there are paintings of many important characters, like Radagon, which can be found here.
But did you notice that he's actually T-posing in this painting?
Down here are his hands, and while they look a bit off, because you literally can't see any of his arm, I guess it's to show that his arms are absolutely straight out to the sides.
And this is important to his character, because Radagon was a very prominent golden order fundamentalist, and this portrait makes it clear that no one does the fundamentalist pose better than him.
№ 14 — Lessons From The Bloodstain
The gesture for golden order totality can be done manually if you discover it during Goldmask's questline, and it will also be performed whenever you cast incantations of the golden order fundamentalists, many of which help you to kill those associated with death, like the Deathbirds.
Which is really just an excuse for me to segue into my next secret, which revolves around the mausoleum knights, soldiers with wing-shaped ornaments on their backs to evoke the deathbirds.
A so-called self-inflicted curse that ties the spirits of these loyal knights to the land, having willingly beheaded themselves so that they may serve their masters in death.
But did you know that this piece of armour actually has a bloodstain running down its back?
This is an amazing detail that references the fact that these knights were beheaded.
Credit to user Shadowbrakes who pointed this out a long time ago.
№ 15 — Malenia's Third Bloom
For the final secret, let's return to Caelid and Malenia, partly because I need an excuse to shout out this incredible piece of character art created by Maurine Negreira's[www.instagram.com] .
This was inspired by a section in my recent lore video on Malenia, where I speculated that she might have a rebirth to come, even after the player defeats her in game.
And since the rot god has a supposed connection to a great scorpion, Maurine speculates that this could be the result.
But what I really want to point out here, was that in that lore video, you guys actually noticed a piece of cut Malenia dialogue that I missed.
Is this... my first... defeat? Bravely fought, sir. But remember... One day, the scarlet bloom will flower again.
This reads similarly to Rykard's line, where he proclaims after the fight that «a serpent never dies».
So while of course, we can't be certain about how this cut dialogue was originally planned to be used, it does seem to be another piece of evidence that indicates Malenia might rise again.
But other than recommending that Caelid lore video again, I think that's all I have to say for now.
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3006733096
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