Elden Ring Lore | Hidden Stories

foreign is a game that is jam-packed with grand narratives powerful themes and Larger than Life characters many of which we have tackled in long-form content on this channel yet the lands between aren't just a stage for these events to play out on they are a lived-in place and beneath the notice of gods and heroes there are smaller stories hidden Tales of murder crime schemes and heroism that are told through environmental and indirect storytelling this is something that from software has always done well in their games not only telling us the story through item descriptions but showing us it through scenes and enemy placement and Elden ring is no different in that regard and this lore video we are going to take a closer look at the lands between and analyze some of these micro stories as I feel it adds some breadth and realism to the lore of the greater macro narratives but before we get started guys remember that if you like Elden ring lore then consider subscribing to the channel and liking this video Zio storm recently did an interesting video on the Mana soles the cathedral found in Moonlight altar where he tries to uncover the potential answers as to what this Cathedral is all about as an interesting discussion and it really got me interested in the Moonlight altar in general so Props to Zio for starting this conversation because it is easy to just ignore this as another area with random ruins across it in this region there are four main sites of Interest the Cathedral of Mana Celeste the moon folk runes the lunar estate runes and the three sister statues so let us try and uncover this Mystery by trying to determine who once lived here and what happened here as iostorm points out the Cathedral of Mana Celeste is itself in the same style as the Church of vows a building constructed by the carrions and thus I do not think it is revolutionary to say that this cathedral was also built by the carrions as an aside we will return to the connections to the Eternal City statues later on let us talk about the carry-ins then and why this whole region Moonlight altar has some strong connections and allusions to them firstly as xiaostorm States in his video this part of Leonia is situated on the western side which the map says has strong connections to the carrions which makes sense given that carrier Manor is also on the western side so it just plays into the western side being associated with the carrions the history of the carrions is really interesting and is something I have discussed her degree in my Ranny lore video already but before we discuss the carrions let us also discuss something else that's really interesting today's sponsor surf shark today's video is brought to you by surf shark who have been kind enough to offer small town viewers an incredible deal surfsharkvpn can be used to keep your personal data accounts and connections safe with one single account usable on unlimited devices in my opinion surfshark's dashboard and interface 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from astrologers as is mentioned in the description of the carrion preceptor set which reads large hat with the movements of the Stars drawn on the inside of the brim worn by the magic preceptors who served the carrion Royals Glenstone Sorcerers are the descendants of astrologers a fact that the carrians remain aware of even if their fate has long been severed from the stars and we know that the astrologers Were Once a community that lived on the mountain top of the Giants alongside the Giants in peace thanks to the description of the sword of Knight and Flame hence the Stargazer runes that we can find up on the mountain top of the Giants which presumably were the settlements of these astrologers it makes sense that a more primitive astrologer culture would want to live as high as possible in the mountaintops as if being higher makes them closer to the sky and as close as possible to the stars that they are studying and given these item descriptions I've always assumed and speculated that the Sorcerers of real lucaria and the carrians themselves are all descended from these Mountain dwelling astrologers who eventually must have come down to the lowlands of Leonia which of course makes sense given the abundance of glintstone in this region Glenstone becoming the main medium for studying the Stars replacing the old style astrology and if you'd like a video that looks more in depth at glintstone and the connections to the Stars I'd recommend my Cosmos video and my primeval current lore videos the connection of the carrions to these astrologers becomes very clear when you look at the Stargazer heirloom in which ranala herself is described as an astrologer it reads the following the young astrologer gazed at the night sky as she walked she had always chased the Stars every step of her journey then she met the full moon and in time the astrologer became a queen so prior to this renala was also an astrologer and we do find the Hallmarks of astrology at Moonlight altar such as the same astrological basin things that we see in the mountain tops of the Giants and at carrier Manor however it was her association with the Moon that transformed her into the full moon Queen and raised the prominence of her family the full extent of this rise is something we learn of via her remembrance which reads in her youth Ronaldo was a prominent champion who Charmed The Academy with her lunar magic becoming its Master she also led the Glenstone Knights and established the house of carrier as royalty the Moon is responsible for Ronaldo's ascendance and it is suggested that this was a really new form of magic with of course the glintstone Sorcerers of real lucaria been focused on Glenstone magic and its connection to the Stars indeed lunar magic is described as heterodox in the description of the lazuli conspectus Crone and no doubt Ronaldo was able to charm the academy and establish her family as royalty due to this newfound and unique power I would therefore say it is pretty fair to assume that the lunar estate and the moon folk settlement has to be associated with ranala and her family for me that is the very basics of what Moonlight alter is the place in which Ronaldo first met her Moon and then where she established her power base initially of course that is complete conjecture but given how clearly we can see the full moon and rani's Dark Moon here isn't a stretch to say that the Moonlight altar is the place in which Ronaldo first made her full moon and probably where renala took Rani to meet her Moon something we learn of via rani's Darkmoon item description there is clearly a strong connection to the cosmic here the moons are closer and brighter despite Moonlight altar not being that much higher than other places in the world indeed blue streaks Mark the sky as if the stars themselves are so close that they constantly fall and Scar the sky here and yet we cannot see these marks from below the altar or the area surrounding it meaning there is some special significance to the Moonlight altar in particular that's all leaves me with no doubt that this is where renala and Rani made their moons both of which we can still see clearly in the sky at the same time but only from this location so this brings us to the lunar estate and the moon Fork ruins both locations found on Moonlight altar the former lunar estate I would suggest of the estate of the carrions for those unaware the term estate is usually used to describe a large property owned by usually a noble or aristocratic family indeed I myself grew up near the estate of a local Scottish Laird and likewise I would assume the term estate in lunar estate has been chosen precisely to indicate that a noble lunar family once lived here and owned the land clearly the carrions perhaps this was the original estate of the carrions when Ronaldo was first rising to prominence or perhaps this is their oldest day as a carrion family that were Nobles but not yet royalty and became known as the lunar estate when Ronaldo became associated with the moon and perhaps later they would establish carrier Manor carrier Manor commands a better location to rule over leernia as it is lowered down and commands a better view over real licaria and the rest of Leonia and perhaps they even coincided with the collapse of the central lands the map of Leonia West makes it clear that the lands in Leonia are collapsing or Sinking and indeed the Visual Evidence of for example Academy town and in general the land surrounding the raila carrier Academy suggests that there was once land that stood higher maybe at level with raila carriers Academy but it has all Fallen away into a lake such a collapse and making the general region much lower would have left the Moonlight altar fairly isolated and thus carrier manner would be a more logistically sound location for the new royal family of this land and thus we already have one potential explanation as to why these lands are now abandoned and in ruin whereas carrier Manor is more well maintained aside from this Ronaldo would later become more closely tied to the archery royal family and people via her marriage to Radigan and thus she may have over time began to distance herself from her Moon and original lunar estate with carrier Manor again commanding a more notable possession closer to the gate of the Altus Plateau but this is all just my conjecture and speculation I would also suggest that the moon folk ruins are the ruins of a people who lived within carriers former estate and sphere of influence seeing the carrions as their liege Lord overall I see this Moonlight altar as a former power base of the carrion family that was later abandoned for multiple reasons including War the collapse of the land and changing priorities amongst the royal family let us now talk about the Cathedral of Mana soles and what its function was and why it was built obviously as we have said it carries the same carrying architectural style that the Church of vows does and given it is also found any carrion parabase it was clearly built by the carrions that ruled from this region as for the name many people have long debated this Mana Celeste is Latin and people have translated it different ways in short it either means Heavenly hand hand of God or the head in hand and of course this could be a reference to the two fingers found directly below the cathedral or it could be referenced to the Moon that lies directly above the cathedral the cathedral itself is shattered and spread throughout these ruined fragments or Starlight shards and this has led many to conclude two different things one that some kind of Starfall shattered the cathedral too that the fingers themselves came from the Stars crashing into the Earth like a meteor and causing the hole in the floor of the church while I agree that the cathedral was most likely damaged by Starfall given we've already suggested that this place Moonlight alter is somehow closer to the cosmos I'm not entirely convinced that the fingers have come from space though there is some Merit to the argument firstly as Zio storm points out in his video the hole that is supposedly the comet creator that the fingers came down on isn't a straight shot down to the cave where we find the fingers in fact it is quite a winding passage that runs quite far horizontally before we come to the cave where the fingers are located and unfortunately we just don't know much about the fingers to determine how they come to be in the first place do they just manifest when they are needed do they grow out of the ground or do they have different ways they can come about these fingers do look slightly different from the others that we see and I do it meant that the blue coloring could be hinting to some Cosmic source for these particular fingers however they came to be I would argue that the fingers arrival into this cave predates the cathedral itself and that they are coming didn't smash the cathedral roof instead I suggest that the term and name of the cathedral Mana Celeste is indicating that the cathedral was built on top of the two fingers the hand of God Rani would later come to despise her connection to the fingers but perhaps at the time when she first became imperian it was a cause of celebration for her and her family after all one of their own had just been chosen for impairing status a potential God for the next era would this not be worthy of celebration in building a huge Cathedral honoring the hand of God that had passed this judgment and I think there's plenty of evidence that Rani was alive while the carrions were still inhabiting this region of moonlight altar the first and most obvious one being that Rani is obviously familiar with this region as she travels here to savor her connection with her own two fingers and given they are her two fingers would it not make sense that they would manifest in the region that she lived but there is further evidence that she was around when this area was occupied by the carrions and the followers and that brings us to the three sister statues found on Moonlight altar as I had discussed in my Ranny lore video I'd speculated that there were once three daughters of renala Rani and Renault represented by their respective Rises and The Three Sisters area of carrier Manor and a third unnamed sister whose Terror would later be claimed and renamed by salivus so if we have the three sisters represented at carrier Manor it is fitting therefore that we find three statues of female figures at Moonlight altar as well as a red wolf of Radigan rani's father that guards these statues it does suggest that Ranny and the Three Sisters in general were born at a time when Moonlight altar was still relevant and thus these statues were built to honor them this of course speculation on my part but the fact there are three female statues here and we have the three sisters mentioned at carrier Manor I don't think it's a coincidence and for me the red rule for Radigan could suggest that these statues are contemporary with Ronaldo's marriage to Radigan and there is further evidence of that that this region was inhabited at the time that Radigan was married to Ronaldo and thus the age that Rani could have been born to the two of them we've already discussed that the Cathedral of manisles was built in the same architectural style as the Church of vows a building that was meant to memorialize and house the marriage of Ronaldo and Radigan we know it was specifically built for this because Mariel says that it is built to hold the view of both of the centers of power the Earth tree Andrea lucaria which you can see from the church of vows so it's built specifically for this ceremony in a specific spot where both of these monuments can be seen the joining of two houses and thus if the cathedral shares this same architectural style we can date it to ranala and radigan's marriage and therefore rani's Birth by extension and thus ultimately I race my case on Mana Celeste being built to honor ranny's emparion status and honor the two fingers that sits below it and potentially this gives another reason that it could have been abandoned if Rani grew sick of her two fingers and disillusioned with them she'd obviously want to be as far away as possible from them with that said let us talk about one final other point of interest regarding the Moonlight Altar and that is the way in which it illustrates the connection between the carrions and the Eternal cities and credit to tarnished archaeologist who is the first person who made me aware of the significance of these statues with the sword that can be found in carrion structures in Knox Stella and on the Saints Bridge in Lim grave it is hard to confirm whether the Eternal cities were literally moved from the surface to below or if they were built from scratch after the knocked people were banished underground and ultimately that discussion is kind of irrelevant for this discussion but if you do want to see a good video that dissects the possibility that all these cities literally sat on the surface and were pushed below then I would recommend tarnished archaeologists video on the Eternal Empire regardless of what you believe in that respect what is clear is that the knocks of existed underground for a long time and lo and behold there is a connecting path from Moonlight altar to Knox Stella the Eternal City indeed this is how we access the Moonlight altar in the first place by passing through Knox Taylor and past Estelle's Den so we do need to ask why does this passage all the way to an eternal City exist from Moonlight altar for me speculatively it is proof that there is a link between these two cultures the carins and the nox exchanging ideas and their cultures and this would explain why we see not seen statues in both the Cathedral of manicelles and the Church of vows it goes even further in the Church of vows where Celestial Dew is used at its main font a font which played a role in Radigan and Ronaldo's wedding so in noxian import playing a role in a marriage between the earth tree and the moon and given the ideals between the knocks and the karians having certain overlaps and rani's extensive knowledge of their hidden treasure the Finger Slayer blade isn't hard to imagine the Karens and the nox having a connection to one another so let us wrap up what I have to say about the Moonlight altar in general I think this was once the center of carrion power consisting of the lunar estate of the carrion family and the moon Fork people who served ranala and the moon Rani and her sisters were born during this period and they were celebrated with the three sister statues that we see on Moonlight altar best place also had a special connection to the Moon is where Ronaldo first communed with the moon and it is where she led Rani by the hand to meet her Dark Moon and this is why both moons simultaneously appear in the sky the Cathedral of marasales would then be built when Rani was chosen as emperion it is a building that celebrates the hand of God that elevated the carrions to new heights I would also argue that the Carrington Knox had a rapport building a pathway between the two cultures this area would eventually follow of relevance however being supplanted by the carrier Manor for a number of reasons there's the two Wars of Leonia that could have damaged this region there's the falling away of the Landscapes which would have isolated this region and there is the fact that Rani may not have wanted to be next to her two fingers anymore ultimately it is all speculation but I would love to hear your thoughts on the Moonlight altar in the comments below when we come to liernia we are met with one of the most breathtaking Vistas in the entire game and of course the star of that Vesta is the Academy of real Lucario making it clear to us that this is our ultimate destination in the region just by visuals alone luckily for us a former member of the academy is nearby to give us the entail on how to gain access to the academy and of course I'm referring to Tops after they declared they wouldn't interfere with the shattering The Academy cast repelling seals on the East Gate leading to the capital and the south gate leading here as you might have guessed the seals are still active making entry to the academy impossible without a glintstone key why not find yourself a glintstone key without one you can't pass through the academy and you'll never reach the archery Capital real akaria is sealed and only those with a glintstone key are able to pierce the seals that barrier its entrances with that in mind let us read the item description for the glintstone key itself it reads the following key to the seals binding both gates to the academy of realicaria a Glenstone key will remember its user meaning once used it can never be passed on to another the academy does not welcome the indolent obviously there's some pretty fascinating lore found here firstly the key will only function for its original user everyone has to have their own key meaning you can't get a used key to your pal the key also says that the academy does not welcome the indolent and this is where the elitist mindset of the academy comes into play indolent essentially means lazy and we know that the academy had very exacting standards for those who are allowed to study there a system that is Illustrated through their glintstone Crown system the item description for the Glenstone Crown reads the following one of the Glenstone crowns bestowed upon realicaria Scholars whose Pursuits were deemed Worthy so the crown is a symbol a symbol of a sorcerer who is deemed worthy enough to stand in the halls of the academies and of course the different versions of these crones designate The Chosen School of study a subject and of itself for another video those that are deemed not talented enough not worthy are denied a crown and denied a place at the Academy as a result tops doesn't seem to have been kicked out the academy per se however rather he claims to have popped out of the academy only to find himself locked out after the academy went into lockdown and sealed its entrances nonetheless if we examine his treatment at the Academy it is a great illustration of the elitism and intellectual snobbery present at the Academy however tops describes himself as a bluntstone I.E someone too dim to study there the tops barrier spell the culmination of tops's study does imply that he was basically laughed out of the academy for being too stupid as it reads the following the lifelong pursuit of tops the bluntstone future Generations will learn they will know the foolishness of the sneering Sorcerers who ridiculed this Theory little realizing that it was in fact a discovery worthy of a new conspectives of the academy so they were ultimately wrong but because they thought he was too dumb to study there because of his heterodox study he was essentially kicked out denied a crown of his own when in fact it should have been worthy of a new Crown altogether but we do get further examples of dropouts via the Swift Glenstone Shard item description which reads those Unworthy of the stone Crown typically end their brief journey into sorcery here so those Unworthy of the stone Crown those that are only capable of the most basic Magics aren't seen as worth the time or worthy of a stone crown and further study only the best and those above average will do this Academy and indeed we do meet these dropouts throughout the game these are the noble wandering sorcerer enemies that we Face throughout the lands between in the various mobs the noble sorcerer ashes read the following Spirit of a nobleman who once asked to be given a place at raila carrier to learn Glenstone sorceries his talents were insufficient to be worthy of dawning the stone crown and he is only capable of using the most rudimentary sorcery again confirming that these dropouts are those capable of only using lower level spells Unworthy of the stone Crown any place at Rio Lucario the hierarchy is so prominent and so affecting that those who fail as Sorcerers may even be relegated to a life in the mines as they shatter Earth spell reads the following a stone Digger sorcery used by the Glenstone miners of the crystal tunnel at the Academy use of this sorcery was a stigma that marked out failed Scholars and indeed we see these miners all throughout the lands between these miners who are condemned to a pretty horrible life of being affected by the glintstone that they mine the term stigma and the sneering described in tops's barrier really give us this idea of this real culture of snobbery and intellectualism that those who are not worthy who don't meet the high bar of sorcery just simply aren't worth it at all and their only use is to either be kicked out or to be used as Miners and this ties back to the idea of the Glenstone Keys access to real lucaria is closely guarded an elitist establishment that not just anyone can get access to and thus it makes sense that an unused glintstone key would be worth a fortune thus we come to the point in the game where we must receive error key the natural course for most first-time players is that they will come to the entrance of the academy via the sunken Academy town and at that stage they will find tops's word to be true the gates are barred there is a seal and we have no key meaning we cannot enter the academy yet right in front of this gate there is a body and on this body we find a map called meeting place map which reads the following the manic came from surely desired one the sole means of gaining entry into the academy a glintstone key so we can see what we have found here as directions to a meeting spot a meeting spot where a deal for a valuable Glenstone key is going to go down the owner of this map clearly had not gained access to realicaria legitimately and thus wanted to buy their way in however when we make our way to the point on the map we are met with quite the scene small ragley Devourer and a collection of corpses in his den one of these corpses has the item that we seek and any great attention to detail their specific corpse the one with a glintstone key is one of a glintstone sorcerer in the Robes of real carrier and a glintstone crown of an accepted Sorcerer of real Lucario to me the picture is clear this was a black market back alley deal set up between the man we find outside real Aquarius Gates and this glintstone sorcerer clearly the latter is the supplier an accepted Sorcerer of relicaria an Insider who is able to procure a glintstone key as we have clearly established each key is one use and so a blank key would be worth a pretty penny for those who cannot gain access legitimately for those who aren't worthy of the stone or for those who are simply wanting to rob the place and aren't a sorcerer their only chance to gain entry would to be purchasing it from an Insider from an accepted railicarian Sorcerer And this is why I appreciate that the corpse holding the Glenstone key isn't just a placeholder corpse like we see in some areas this is specifically a real licarian sorcerer the only person who could have possibly procured a glintstone key from the inside again from Source attention to detail is just next level obviously this deal ends in disaster we know from smyrag's glintstone breath that he was a Devourer of sorcerers and thus it is clear that when the sorcerer went to the meeting point to sell the key smirag descended upon them and killed them meaning there is a shiny new key for us if we defeat the Dragon sadly for the original owner of the map they died outside the gates of railakaria denied entrance by smarag and they can do nothing but stare wistfully at its sealed Gates the forces of laying down are probably lore wise and aesthetically my favorite fighting force in the game the Langdale Soldier ashes tells that they are a force known for their defensive fighting actions a fact exemplified by their Knights and their High Shields not only are they well-armed and well-trained but there are certain nights like Dragon Knight Kristoff who are further bolstered by the power of Dragon Cult incantations with their Knights Dragon Cult tree Sentinels and Margaret that fell they are a force to be reckoned with the force of Landell that we see today must be an evolution or descendant of those who face down Grand sacks and the dragons two of the greatest factories of the shattering are attributed to Lyndale the first and second offenses of lindel in which they successfully defended the capital from warring demigods and Dragon Knight Kristoff himself defeated godofroy a demigod no mean feat yet despite my passion for Lane Dale's fighting force they aren't infallible like Game of Thrones no faction is all-powerful and Langdale certainly suffered their fair share of setbacks they were held to a stalemate by the carrion knights in the first and second leonian Wars despite the carrion Knights being greatly outnumbered a fact we learn of from the carrion knight's sword it also seems that Langdale forces assaulted Mount gilmir and volcano Manor as we can see Siege towers and Lane Dale flags and broken Lindale forces resorting to cannibalism and falling victim to frenzy on the fractured slopes of Mount gilmir it is plain to see that this battle did not go the way for the Langdale forces but the sword Memorial on the mountain makes the toll of this battle and its depravity even clearer as it reads the assault on volcano Manor the squalid the sick the Blasphemous a wretched unending war with no glory a brittle war in which both sides of the conflict died in the mud with Lindale survivors left completely broken and dying in the mud of Mount gilmir and this brings us to another disaster that the Lyndale forces faced and the subject of this segment of the video sea water cave which is found along sea water river a superheated river that runs along one of the lower reaches of Mount Gilmore sea water cave is just one of many caves found in Alden ring but it is a cave that tells a fascinating story that begins right outside its entrance the first thing you will notice is that there is a lookout a soldier and when we kill them and get inside we can see why there is a look out here there is a unit of layingdale soldiers hiding out in this cave complete with campfire and supplies the lookout outside now makes a bit more sense this guard this century is making sure no one finds their hiding spot and in particular is no doubt looking out for the forces that left them in this broken State another detail that I like here is that the soldiers are only sitting in the porch of this cave because Beyond this point and deeper into seed water cave there is a dangerous location filled with Miranda flowers poisoned bogs Servants of rot and the Kindred and thus they are merely Sheltering in the only safe part of the cave and I find the extreme contrast between these two sections of the cave to be truly fascinating each tell their own story but why are these soldiers hiding and what is the sanctuary looking out for well this is why I really like sea water cave in particular because it plays into the greater Narrative of this region if we follow the river further up we reach sea water Terminus and there is a narrative unfolding here is Fort laid a fort that was once a stronghold of Lane Dell as we can tell from the library of the dead soldiers here but it has now been completely overrun by the forces of the fire monks of all people the lane Dale Soldier has been slaughtered to a man and a fire monk prelate has taken command of the fort many question why this has happened Shirley Lane Dale and the fire monks are allies given the fire monks were established by the former queen of Lane Dale Marika yet I would argue that it makes perfect sense given what we know of the fire monks and their purpose the fire monks have left their Mountain Top bases and have essentially invaded the lowlands of landel and liernia for a specific purpose this is something we learn of via the monks flame blade which reads the monks came to the land of leernia in pursuit of a fugitive who stole their fire the fire monks were constituted to keep the flame of Ruin confined and protect its fire from outside elements Edan is the thief that they are searching for who has now been imprisoned in an Ever jail of all places and we learn it as a Dan that they are looking for thanks to the item that he drops the flame of the failed God which reads argonanthe the chief guardian of the flame had kept this incantation a well-kept secret until it was stolen by Adan the fail God still lurks within the fire Giants one side note before we go any further I like how Adan has a hodgepodge of fire monk pre-lit armor as if he was disguising himself as one so that he could Nick this spell from argument fee this is why there's such a strong presence of monks in liernia they are hot on the trail of this thief indeed a dance evergel is in leernia so they're on the right track to them their mission is far more important than such basic ideas like territory and allies the flame needs to be confined and the fire monks see themselves as the only ones worthy and capable of guarding and using its secrets so to me what happens at Fort laid is an extension of this the fire monks have come down with a heavy hand nothing is more important than the recovery of this spell and they have clearly sacked this fort in their fervor to recover their stolen spell perhaps they believed Adan was once held here or passed through here or perhaps the fort merely stopped their advance or perhaps they just needed a base of operations for the commander of this recovery Mission the prelate Either Way Fort laid and its Garrison were just unfortunately caught in the wrong end of the fire Monk's ire and just down the river from this massacre of leandale forces as a holdout of Lane Dale forces with any random cave to me this explains the presence of Langdale soldiers in an otherwise rot-filled cave these are survivors from the slaughter of Fort laid that just lies around the river bend clearly these soldiers fled and are now hiding out this is why there is a century here and no wonder the scene at Fort Lee does pretty hellish and having witnessed the massacre of their comrades by Fire Thorn and blade I too would be hiding out in a cave one enemy that really terrified me on my first playthrough were the giant dogs of caled from the moment you see them and the crows I just turned around and noped out of there and didn't return until I was way too over leveled I know that many others have an experience that is very much like this and this is a testament to their incredible visual design there's something so intimidating but also so wrong in the way that they are disproportioned and it makes you want to stay away from them the lore on these beasts is pretty threadbearer and when I say threadbear I mean non-existent but that hasn't stopped us from speculating on it the most obvious theory of course relates to them being creatures that have been afflicted by the Scarlet raw that has flooded the environment of caled since the Battle of Ionia as I've said their bodies and shape look a little bit wrong as if it is a symptom of rot that over time has led to giantism hence their disproportionate head size and this could also explain the crows that are found in Caleb as well and despite their malforms both of these beings thrive in this region despite it being a region of death they are clearly Scavenging and eating as if they have been afflicted by and become part of this very ecosystem indeed some suggest that the dogs are actually related to the crows devolved versions of them or that they have evolved into the crows one way or the other I'm not really sure where set on this type of lore Theory but it is worth mentioning because I think it's quite a prominent one but I think what is clear is that the dogs and crows are essentially scavengers now and a point that is well made by the honored madman in their deep dive on the crows is that the crows are found in three areas three areas associated with death again reinforcing the fact that these are scavenger creatures and if you're looking for a more detailed look on the crows I will link honored madman's video below the dogs are also found in two of these same areas the mountaintops of the Giants and Caleb it makes sense for the crows to be on the mountain tops as they can fly and they simply could have migrated from the caled region for a new carrion as there are plenty of corpses in this region given that this is where the battle of the fire Giants took place but how and why are the dogs here well I believe the answer specifically lies around their necks because while this area may seem like a random hodgepodge of late game enemies and indeed I thought the same from software still doesn't stop with the details because there is one specific model of dog that is used here and that is the variant with the colors around their neck every single one of these large dog enemies that you've found on the mountaintops of the Giants do have the collars around their neck and go ahead and check if you don't believe me whereas in caled where they are marauding killing everything and clashing with the red means they are the ones without the colors except there is one dog and Caleb that has a collar the one by Gary Shack it in fact does not attack him and stands there like a guard dog which leads us to conclude that this particular dog has been trained and colored by Gary which shouldn't be a surprise giving Gary is so in tune with the rot and Associated life forms again from software are telling us a story with the placement of these dogs most of the dogs in Caleb are running wild and don't have collars but this particular dog is sitting like a good boy with a collar around its neck and if we return to the mountain tops of the Giants like I said every single dog in this region isn't the colorless version it is the colored ones and so to me the story being told here is clear these are dogs that have been captured and trained by the fire monks and exported here to act as guard beasts ultimately the fire monks are to contain the flame of Ruin would it not make sense to have some worthy guard dogs to protect the flame of ruin this would also explain the lava slugs that we find following around the camps of the fire monks in Mount gilmir and liernia they too must have been taken from their natural habitat of Mount gilmir and put to work as trained beasts alongside the dogs that we found in the mountaintops of the Giants all this just makes me wish that we could somehow train our own good boy when you first encounter the demi-humans and Elden ring you'd be forgiven for thinking they are just another enemy that you couldn't possibly reason with that is until you meet Bach and there are other hints that people humans can actually work alongside their demi-human cousins in past videos I have touted that one of the best areas in the game for environmental storytelling is Mount gilmir from the shattered battlefields and the cannibalism to the implicit cruelty of volcano Manor town and one of the stories in this particular segment is no different if you pass through seed water Terminus and over a lava runoff you will find an alternate slope that can take you out the mountain as an alternate route from the bridge from Altus plateau and on these very slopes an interesting narrative is playing out and it is up to us to work out what happened here as it is not directly mentioned anywhere at the top of their slope is a small Hamlet called hermit Village and as you can clearly see things are not going well here the original human inhabitants have been slaughtered and the places overrun with demi-humans no doubt the perpetrators of said Slaughter and it's quite a large Clan at that with Chieftains and a demi human Queen but why is this just a very surface level enemy placement and a basic story of Demi humans killing humans well there is a very interesting story here as I'm sure many are aware as there seems to be a specific reason why the Demi humans are here and most notably and most interestingly there are relicarian Sorcerers who seem to be assessing and fighting alongside these demi-humans so what is going on well for now let us segue into one of the best sources for demi-human lore the great Kenneth height when we first enter Lim grave a interesting scene that many players will see on their first journey is a pitched battle between godric's men and demi-humans and yet we get a very different perspective on demi-humans when we undertake one of our first quests and that is helping Kenneth hate Kenneth hate tasks us with taking back his fort Kenneth height rejects the authority of godric why indeed it is a foul fate for a land to be without a ruler one must be found with haste but not that awful godric but a true and stalwart lord of the proper lineage to take the reins of lim grave and that seems to be why a godric knight leading a force of godric soldiers have captured Fort height once we take back the fort by killing godric's men and his mate Kenneth says the following right then time for me to head to the fort I've much to do I'll have to re-establish communication with the demi-humans what's that look you don't believe me well under the Earth tree co-mingling with the Demi humans is made possible even the vulgar shall not be left behind under the rule of true order which is why I Kenneth height next in line is the rightful ruler of lim grave have sworn to uphold it just you watch my friend just you watch so right here from Kenneth we get hints that demi-humans are more than beasts and cooperation with them is entirely possible indeed it seems as though Kenneth height actually uses them as his soldiers and they were the ones actually Manning his fort when we approach Fort height a ghost outside laments the scattering of the demi-humans and their loss of leadership indeed demi-humans are all over their region surrounding the fort and they are attacking anyone at well maybe even attacking cars as some of the environmental details seems to suggest the Ghost says they wax Roth seeming that they have lost control and gone into a rage since the loss of their mother as the Ghost says we know from the demi-human hint that we can get from one of the nomadic Merchants that demi-humans essentially scatter when they lose their leadership and lo and behold inside of Fort height there is a dead demi-human Queen no doubt the mother that the ghost was referring to and the body's position inside suggests that it was once stationed here and that the godric Knight came here and slaughtered it leading the demi-human Defenders to scatter to the winds and if there are any doubts that it was demi-humans that were Manning this on behalf of Kenneth those doubts should be washed away when we returned to the Fort later and find it manned by demi-humans who do not attack us and they are under Kenneth's command who is now at the top of the fort now with this relationship in mind let us return to the hermit Village on Mount gilmir that we were discussing before among the demi-humans there are Sorcerers of Rio lucaria there's even one scene that is so placed that looks as though one of these Sorcerers is teaching or reading to the demi-humans but the main concentration of these Sorcerers are the ones that are found around the demi-human queen Maggie these Sorcerers are clearly aligned to Maggie they don't attack her and indeed they attack us when we start the battle with Maggie it's clear that these Sorcerers are the ones that have taught Queen Maggie in sorceries because the sorceries that she use have the schedule of real licaria when she casts this isn't just random enemy placement this is a full-blown alliance between these Sorcerers and queen Maggie but why why have these Sorcerers align themselves with a whole demi-human clan and their Queen well I would argue that they are looking for something or someone and needs a muscle as nearby is the powerful primeval sorcerer Azure right next to the boss fight in fact and clearly these Sorcerers wanted Azure and his power and thus I would suggest they have recruited Maggie and her tribe as muscle and in exchange they have been teaching Maggie and her people sorcery however despite slaughtering an entire Village for their prize they still remain here as we know Azura isn't forthcoming to just anyone with his power and he is far beyond hurting or reasoning with and so we smash Maggie and her allies and take his power for our self but nonetheless this remains another fascinating example of demi-human and human cooperation an alliance for Mutual benefit there are so many parts of the Lord to love an Elden ring and one of the regions I really love for lore implications is the consecrated snow field and what it represents it is the entrance to mikola's realm being called the consecrated snow fields gives it a holy feeling in essence this is an asylum for the unwelcome for those who don't fit within the realm of Grace but it's also a path of pilgrimage for those who want to make it to mikala's Healing Tree this is why we find albanorex Miss begotten and even black knife assassins hiding out in these lands one of the best illustrations of the Asylum that can be found in these lands is in the cave of the forlorn one of my favorite dungeons in the entire game especially from an aesthetic point of view from the dragon corpse in the entrance to the AC and see-through floor that shows the jellyfish in the levels below but this cave does also tell a story and isn't just a hodgepodge of random filler enemies starting with the name itself the forlorn forlorn according to Oxford languages means pitifully sad abandoned or lonely and for further context I reached out to translator Loki author of the Abyssal archive they had the following to say on forlorn and its translation in Japanese the Cave of the forlorn is more accurately a place to go cave now the term place to go is a bit loaded and basically it means forlorn in the negative you have no place to go no people to rely on no connections alone adrift Etc so the idea seems to be that this cave is the one place the Miss begotten can rely on for shelter they are alone in this cold cruel world so thanks to Loki for adding that additional context as to what this cave represents and the pretty pitiful state of the Miss begotten in the greater lands between the mess begotten's current place in Golden order Society is essentially encapsulated by the scale and further talismans aspects of their bodies of course and these talismans read the following a Vestige of The Crucible of primordial Life Born partially of devolution it was considered a signifier of the Divine in ancient times but is now increasingly disdained as an impurity as civilization has advanced the mess begotten are relics of an age-long past life gone wild illustrated by their various growths vestigial tales and wings compared to the ideals of regression and convergence espoused by the golden order the idealizes an idea of regression towards the mean I.E a uniformity of life hence the Miss begotten are enslaved they are seen as lesser we see them enslaved at Castle mourn although they do eventually Rebel Vasa is no surprise that large quantities of mass begotten have found themselves a home in the lands of mikhilar who is described by the sacred Crone helmet as a protector of the meek indeed within the Cave of the forlorn there is a collection of Nicholas lilies throughout it which does seem to imply that the influence of mikla is very much present in this cave and thus they can find Sanctuary here this is all fairly self-explanatory and surface level but what isn't self-explanatory is the leader of this particular group of Miss begotten the mess begotten Crusader who has a unique variant of the mess begotten Warrior that wields the legendary weapon the golden order Greatsword now this is a very odd situation and as one that has been often discussed and written off in the community how did this particular Miss begotten get their hands on radigan's legendary weapon is this just a lazy placeholder for this weapon well let us discuss the possibilities here as I find the discussion an interesting one and the fact that this Miss begotten has been animated with unique animations for this sword suggesting me that it isn't maybe as lazy as many people think let us start by looking at the sword description itself which reads great sword made of light modeled after the Elden ring itself forged by King consort Radigan to proudly symbolize the tenets of the golden order telltale signs betrayed that this was once the great sword bequeathed to him by his first wife Ronaldo it is a well agreed upon fact in the community that this word was most likely the full moon Greatsword as the Darkmoon Greatsword the one we received when we are engaged to Rani describes the fact that these swords are a long-held tradition by the carrians where they give their spouse a version of a moon sword and so when we compare the description of the Darkmoon Greatsword to that of the golden order Greatsword we can assume that this sword was originally a full moon sword that ranala gave to her consort yet in time when Radigan developed his ideas and then became Elden Lord he would modify their sword to represent the golden order and all this just reinforces how unlikely it is for a simple Miss begotten to get their hands on this legendary and prized weapon well firstly the Miss begotten have a history of stealing legendary swords like magpies almost there are three legendary swords that are claimed from one of these Miss begotten Warriors at the slaughter of morne Castle the leader of this particular Revolution claims the storied sword of mourn the grafted Greatsword and no doubt this was a symbol of their Authority as the strongest amongst the most begotten here and it seems as though the Miss begotten of redmien is the one that's in possession of the ruined Greatsword so we can imagine the Miss begotten having more primitive culture where the biggest and strongest among them are granted the greatest prizes and weapons Lake and Warren in Lane Dell we likewise witness Miss begotten killing humans on the outskirts of the city so perhaps at the fall of the golden order the mess begotten of layendale also revolted and one among their number looted the golden order Greatsword this is probably the easiest and most comfortable answer but let us go a little deeper most of these lion Miss begotten the big ones are referred to as Miss begotten Warriors when we fight them in other boss fights like the one with the Crystal Knight at Red main castle and the one with perfumer Tricia and both of these boss battles their name appears on the bar as Miss begotten Warrior specifically and yet in this case the one that we find in the cave of the forlorn is specifically referred to as a Miss begotten Crusader the term Crusader means the following according to Oxford languages a person who campaigns vigorously for political social or religious change a campaigner so perhaps there's more to this particular Miss begotten that this particular Miss begotten has led a group of his people to safety perhaps upon looting this sword the Miss begotten found a purpose and this became his crusade to lead his people out of the Mainland and into the safety of the consecrated snow field that could be its Crusade however there is a more slightly out there possibility was this Miss begotten a crusader of the golden order wife ain't interesting is that in the other two instances of Miss begotten that hold legendary swords the one that has the ruined Great Sword and the one that has the morne sword the Miss begotten is not modeled wielding it nor do they have any unique moves but the mess begotten Crusader is actually wielding The Sword in its fight with us and has unique animations where activates the established order weaponar essentially a golden order incantation by performing these signature gestures of the golden order this is a specialist weapon that requires faith for it to use so is it possible that this Miss begotten was actually trained to wield this weapon and that it had the faith and belief to do so could it be that this mess begotten Crusader was once used and employed by Radigan essentially a slave Knight that Radigan was sick on his enemies and it was only upon the collapse of the golden order that this Crusader abandoned Lane Del and led its people to a safer land I again referred this element of the translation to Loki who translates Miss begotten Crusader is something closer to a paladin or holy Nate and if it was once a paladin for the golden order this would explain how the Miss begotten wields the sword so deftly even being able to use Golden order incantations and gestures at the end of the day the established order weapon art is just a function in a game to us but in lore in game surely your character has to have the faith and understanding of incantations to wield this weaponar ultimately it's all just speculation but I do think there is more to this Miss begotten Crusader let me know your thoughts in the comments below and what you believe the story to be here so thanks guys that is my first look at some of these smaller and more hidden environmental Tales of Elden ring from software has always been excellent at this sort of environmental detail and I've wanted to discuss my love for this storytelling for a long time the alliance between are not just a big empty World in my opinion and I've really only scratched the surface of this type of Storytelling let me know what your discoveries below if you found any of these hidden stories that you like I understand this was a little different from my usual type of video and next video we will be returning to the usual long-form content but until next time guys let me know your thoughts below remember to subscribe and like the video and until next time I will see you around the fire in seed water cave it's your turn for Lookout take care and have a wonderful evening

Channel: SmoughTown

Views: 159,719

Keywords: elden ring lore, elden ring, elden ring story, elden ring gameplay, lore, explained, elden ring lore explained, elden ring endings explained, golden order, erdtree, elden ring story explained, elden ring explained, demi human, demi humans, moonlight altar, manus celes, two fingers, caelid, carians, rennala, renala, ranni, renna, three sisters, liurnia, academy of raya lucaria, the shattering, leyndell, misbegotten, misbegotten crusader

Id: T5w7j_o0yKQ

Length: 62min 33sec (3753 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 20 2023