Up until last week, we didn't know much about
the DLC. In fact, we knew (NIHIL) But now we know that the DLC entrance is here in Mohgwyn
Palace before Miquella's withered arm. I think it could be important to understand the
circumstances of Miquella's death here at the hands of Mohg. So let's dive in. As the age
of the Erdtree began, Mohg was born of the Union between Queen Marika and Lord Godfrey. Godfrey
was the first Elden Lord, and as such, Mohg is one of the oldest demigods alongside his siblings
who were Morgott and Godwyn. Mohg and Morgott were twins. Born together and born as Omen, placing
them in stark contrast to their brother Godwyn, who was the golden child, so to speak. Omen,
like Mohg and Morgott, on the other hand, were considered to be cursed. But what are the Omen?
Skip this chapter if you've heard it all before. But I think The Omen are born by chance, sprouting
these grotesque horns that are vestiges of the primordial crucible. So what is the crucible? The
crucible is a melting pot of life that existed before the Erdtree and its energies are actually
what became the Erdtree. It's here that there was this blending of many creatures, physiological
aspects like feathers, tail, knot, scale, fang and horn. What's truly noteworthy about these aspects
is that they would sometimes come to grow on creatures that weren't supposed to have them. For
example, kill a deer or sheep or even an ancestral follower in the Lands Between. And there's a
tiny chance that you'll receive a budding horn, which I think are not unlike the horns of the
Omen. The budding horn reads "This horn began to sprout on a beast that typically bears no
horn. Perhaps it is a vestige of the primordial crucible." According to the Crucible talismans.
There was a time when these aspects like horns were once considered signifiers of the divine. And
that makes some sense because these aspects stem from the crucible which did become the Erdtree. So
why wouldn't they be considered holy? And so it's during this time that we have to assume that the
ancient warriors known as the Crucible Knights, were knighted, serving Lord Godfrey and fighting
with many aspects of the crucible, including horn, tail, breath and even wing. But fast forward to
the current age and the Crucible Knights are lost, scattered all over the Lands Between fighting for
different causes or for no cause at all. That's because Queen Marika's Golden Order abandoned
them. The Crucible Gantlets reveal that "in time, the strength shown by these knights and even their
appearance came to be looked upon with scorn for having such close resemblance to chaos." This
matches a wider trend in Marika's Golden Order, where things were moving away from chaos and
the crucible and even the Erdtree and towards fundamentalism instead, as the age of the Erdtree
progressed, but the Crucible Knights got off easy All things considered. Take these creatures, for
example. Previously, they were seen as divine for having aspects of the crucible at birth. But
eventually they came to be called misbegotten instead. A word that really sends the vibe that
these were now seen as contemptible creatures bearing ill gotten gains. The misbegotten
became seen as impure, a fact revealed by the Spirit Ashes of Perfumer Tricia, who was
a healer who dedicated her efforts to treating misbegotten and The Omen as well. The Omen and the
Misbegotten certainly needed treatment, as many of them suffered these grievous wounds as a result
of their horns being cut off. Those responsible for these wounds in particular were the Omen
killers, a sect of Leyndell butchers, who had full authority to hunt the Omen and amputate the
horns. So, in my opinion, the tradition of cutting off omen horns would have begun because horns are
the offending part of The Omen as they represent their link to the primordial crucible, which is
something that became this accursed concept. And omen do bear more aspects of the crucible than
just horns. Mohg has a set of wings just like the Misbegotten and Morgott might as well, though the
only really raked in his animation files. Instead, Morgott has a tale just like The Crucible Knights.
All that said, the defining aspect of The Omen are definitely the horns. That and their brute
strength were enough to label them as omen, distinct from the Misbegotten, but still by
chance. Though many Omen were apparently born directly from the Erdtree's royal line, two of the
darkest items in the game are The Omen Bairn and the Regal Omen Bairn. The word bairn means child,
and these items are dolls, their fetishes that were fashioned to memorialize Omen children who
are dead or who might as well be. The Omen Bairn's description reads "Omen babies have all their
horns excised, causing most to perish," and those that survive live alongside those memorialized
by the Regal Omen Bairn, which reads "Omen Babies born of royalty do not have their horns excised,
but instead are kept underground. Unbeknownst to anyone imprisoned for eternity." So some
concessions were made for omen as opposed to the misbegotten. Two Omen children Mohg and Morgott
were, after all, a part of the Golden Lineage, So the royal omens weren't mutilated as long
as their horns were out of mind and out of sight. And speaking of sight, a horn seems to be
responsible for Mohg literally being half blind, as it has grown relentlessly into his eye socket.
Incidentally, there's a bit of a trend with blind characters in Elden Ring and in other Fromsoftware
games as well, and it's that those blinded are ironically able to see what sighted folk cannot.
For example, in Elden Ring it was the exiled prophets who accurately foresaw the Flame of Ruin
burning down the Erdtree, and it was the guilty, their eyes gouged by thorns, who glimpsed an Outer
God in the darkness. There are lots of examples. So I guess coincidentally or not, Mohg, half
blind and wounded, eventually did come to stand before an Outer God of his own as well, and he met
her deep underground. This outer God was called the Formless Mother and the Mother of Truth, a
fitting choice for The Omen, whose true mother had abandoned him we've talked about outer gods
in other videos. But long story short, that these cosmic Lovecraftian entities that are at once
extremely powerful but also strangely limited in how they could influence events in the Lands
Between instead of getting involved directly, they will often commune through envoys or
vessels. And in the case of the Formless Mother, her subject of communion, one of them at least,
was Mohg. The Blood Boon incantation describes Mohg's meeting with this outer god. It reads
"The Mother of Truth craves wounds. When Mohg stood before her deep underground, his accursed
blood erupted with fire and he was besotted with the defilement that he was born into." The text
also describes what happens when you cast this incantation. You "thrust your arm into the body of
the Formless Mother, then scatter the bloodflame to set the area ablaze." So there's a lot to break
down with this one description. But let's start with the fact that this outer god is at once both
the Formless Mother and the Mother of Truth. So what exactly do these titles mean? Let's start
with the Formless Mother, because I feel like that title is easier to rationalize. She is likely
"formless" because Liquid blood is her essence. And incidentally, the word formless is also used
to describe the Dragon Communion seal in Elden Ring, which is also made of blood. But let's cast
our net beyond Elden ring to Bloodborne, where an extremely relevant parallel to the Formless Mother
exists in the character of Formless Oedon, which is also an outer god of sorts. The Oedon Caryll
Rune states that "blood is the essence of the formless great one" Oedon. And while I absolutely
think that the universe is of Bloodborne and Elden Ring are separate, I'm confident that Fromsoftware
are reusing a concept from Bloodborne here in Elden Ring. So it is that I'm confident that blood
is also the essence of the Formless Mother. That said, the Formless Mother still has a body of
sorts. We thrust our arm cross dimensionally into it when we cast Bloodboon and when we rip our arms
out, we scatter not just blood, but blood flame. Thus, while I think the Formless Mother absolutely
has an affinity for any blood, I think her essence is more accurately blood flame. And she's not the
only outer god with a flame of her own. The Fell God has giants flame. Death has black flame
and ghost flame. Frenzy has Frenzy Flame. And you could even theorize that the Greater Will
has the golden fire that spews from the mouth of the Elden Beast and Placidusax. So flame is
commonly a sign of an outer god's essence. And I think the Formless Mother is no different with
a blood flame that continues to threaten rupture on those afflicted long after it touches their
flesh. The Formless Mother's other title is The Mother of Truth, and this title is a lot harder to
interpret. The Mother of Truth... What truth? The only character that we know of that the Mother
of Truth has appeared before, is Mohg. So we're kind of forced to judge her character through
his. And while I guess it's possible that the Mother of Truth venerates the absolute truth, a
broader truth, the fact that she chooses to act through Mohg is at least a little bit telling. We
know that she bestows power upon accursed blood, and I think this preference for accursed blood
might be a part of the truth that she represents. I think she might prefer to act through those who
are unfairly cursed. Like The Omen, like Mohg, and I say unfairly cursed because that's kind
of what curses are always in fromsoftware games. Curses are always the domain of the gods, and
they're always delivered pretty heavy handedly. Take Dark Souls, for example, where Gwyn, a
god, refused to relinquish his age of fire, opting instead to curse humanity with undeath.
So that they might fuel his fire until the world turns to ash. Pretty over the top, right? And
Queen Marika is actually very similar to Gwyn in that she's a God who arrogantly thinks her order
is perfect to the point where she'll do anything to try and preserve it. Her hubris is alluded to
in the Mending Rune of Perfect Order description, which states that "the current imperfection of
the Golden Order or instability of ideology, can be blamed upon the fickleness of the gods no
better than men." And it's the same hubris that led to the scorn of the Crucible and I think the
curse upon The Omen as well. To make things even more unfair for the Omen. Their curse appears
to largely be one of perception. Ff hate. The Omen Bairn description conflates these two things
and speaks from the perspective of an Omen child who pleads "Please don't hate me, or curse me.
Please." I also think this notion of curses being unfair is explored further in the Dung Eaters
questline where the Dung Eater goes around defiling others and spreading the Omen curse. He
calls this defilement his cursed blessing because if he defiles everyone, in the end everyone will
be cursed and therefore no one will be. Thus, in his ending, a sort of cursed justice is
restored to the world. Elden Ring has this consistent theme where characters turn their
curse into their strength. And I think the Dung Eater and Mohg are perfect examples of that.
And this is just my theory, but I think the Mother of Truth might bestow power upon the
accursed, because the truth is that curses of the gods are unfairly given. There should be
nothing wrong with being born with omen horns, Right? It's just this genetic trait, a vestige
of the primordial crucible that was once even considered divine. But thanks to the Golden Order,
these creatures are now considered omens instead, So I'd like to argue that this unfairness is why
the Mother of Truth bestows power upon accursed blood. But of course, this is just my theory, and
I welcome any challenges to it in the comments. I think challenging each other respectfully is how
we can get a bit closer to the truth. Speaking of, I saw arguments ages ago that stated that the
Formless Mother is responsible for the curse of the Omen. But I'd like to challenge that idea. I'm
not sure it can be correct. For one, it's stated that Mohg first stood before the Formless Mother
underground, and he was only down here because he was already banished here for being omen. So he
must have been omen before this meeting. What's more, when he did stand before her, it's stated
that his accursed blood erupted with fire. Thus, his blood was already accursed when it erupted
with fire. Finally, it says Mohg was besotted with the defilement that he was born into. Thus, he
was born omen, like all of the other Omen children born to be shunned in a wretched mire underground.
But I think there's a reason that people argue that the Formless Mother created The Omen. And
I think one of the arguments is that Morgott, Mohg's brother, also has blood flame attacks just
like his brother. So I think people reason that blood flame is therefore synonymous with having
accursed blood and that all omen have it. But that's not true because only Mohg and Morgott
seem to have blood that was set ablaze. It's clear Mohg's was set ablaze in item descriptions,
and it's clear Morgott weaponized his own flaming blood by recanting it. But no other omen fight
with blood flame. So I reckon they both received this blood flame from the Formless Mother. I think
the Formless Mother appeared before not just Mohg, but Morgott as well, even though that's never
mentioned. Only difference was Mohg embraced this power and Morgott spurned it. Indeed, Morgott
only uses blood flame against us in his boss fight as a last resort. Morgott's blood flame became a
curses sword that reads "Weapon of shifting hue used by Morgott, The Omen King. The accursed
blood that Morgott recanted and sealed away, reformed into this blade." For him to have this
I think, proves that it wasn't just Mohg that was approached by the Formless Mother. It was
Morgott as well. They were both underground, assumedly sealed in the same place after all.
So I think both of them had their accursed blood set aflame. I think the Mother of Truth,
like so many other outer gods, attempted to influence a demigod. And I think they failed
with Morgott, but succeeded with Mohg. In the end, both Mohg and Morgott weaponised their trauma.
For Mohg, We can look at the Cursed Blood Pot, for example, which you "throw at enemies to douse
them in accursed blood, causing someone's spirits to assail them with a rabid fervor." A childhood
memory of the Lord of Blood. It's basically saying that Mohg remembers being attacked for his
accursed blood as a child, and considering the blood specifically motivates spirits to attack.
It might be referencing Mohg's experience of being haunted by evil spirits. According to the
Omensmirk mask. Evil spirits haunt the Omen in their nightmares. So with this cursed blood pot
now, Mohg could give others a similar experience. The Mother of Truth craves wounds. She desires
bloodshed. Swarm of Flies, Bloodboon, Bloodflame. Everything to do with her is designed to let the
blood flow. So the Mother of Truth's base desires are quite simple. But does she want more? Where
do her goals end? And where do Mohg's begin? Well, beyond specifically wanting to empower the
accursed and beyond craving bloodshed, the Mother of Truth doesn't seem to want much. Take
Mohg's sacred spear, for example. It's called an "instrument of communion with an outer God." And
all it seems to do is pierce the Formless Mother coating the blade in her blood flame. That's it.
That's the communion. What's more, this sacred spear is a design that will come to symbolize his
dynasty, not the Formless Mother's dynasty. Mohg's Dynasty. The Formless Mother might enable this,
but at the end of the day, she is behind Mohg's dynasty, But she's not the face of it. So the most
you could say, I think, is that she has ambition, Yes, but she's not interested in being this god
That's worshiped. I think that's very fitting for an outer god, actually. Instead, it's Mohg's
ambition that we should talk about. And it's Mohg's ambition that led him to leave the sewers
long ago. Probably as soon as he could overpower the shackles that bound him here. This battle
you have down here with Mohg is actually with an omen illusion, not unlike the fight that you
have with Morgott's illusion. Omen Have this ability to conjure illusions. We can sort of infer
that from the soundtrack, which calls them omen illusions. Morgott uses his illusion to hinder
the tarnished. His is pretty easy to understand, but it's kind of hard to understand why Mohg's
illusion is down here in the sewers. Mohg's true location is a bit of a mystery, so maybe he
put the illusion here to throw trackers off the scent and sort of pretend that he was still in the
sewers. Or did he leave it here to prevent access to the Frenzied flame because his brother Morgott
does something similar down here. After all, this illusion of Mohg might even be conjured up
by Morgott, because I just noticed that it seems to erupt into golden particles when it's defeated.
Still, it's impossible to know for sure. Anyway, Nearby you can find an Omen Shackle. These
shackles have lost most of their power now. And indeed, Mohg has long escaped the sewers. And
not even the all-knowing knows where to find him. But he's here somewhere underneath the land of
Caelid, a so-called "Lord of Blood" who rules in the ruins of an ancient civilization, which
he has decided will be the seat of his coming dynasty. This place is drenched in blood, swarming
with Mohg's servants, and the crumbling palace itself is awash with the Formless Mother's blood
flame. But it was not always this way. The map of Mohgwyn Palace reads "In the lightless depths lies
the cave of an ancient civilization. It is here, Mohg, The Lord of Blood, is building his palace to
be the seat of his coming dynasty named Mohgwyn." So this ancient civilization existed long before
Mohg. What was this place? This ancient dynasty isn't given a name, but everything here should
look very familiar. The underground woodland evokes the one found in Siofra. The statues depict
the same bearded figure as the statues in Uld and Uhl. These are the remains of an ancient dynasty
that can be found all over the Lands Between. And Mohg has very intentionally started to build his
dynasty on the remains of their own. Mohg calling his rule a dynasty is intentionally evocative of
the ancient dynasty. We know about this ancient dynasty because of the Oracle bubbles, which
are the sorceries of the claymen who served as priests in the ancient dynasty. The description
goes on to state the claymen searched for lost oracles within their bubbles. and theres a whole
video to be had on this topic, So I won't go too deep into this for now. Especially since their
culture doesn't really seem relevant to Mohg at all. Because I don't think Mohg is intent on
reviving the old dynasty or continuing it. Rather, item descriptions stress that his is a new dynasty
and if there's anything from the old dynasty that he does use, like the architectural remains of the
palace or even possibly the antiquated Latin that he speaks, I feel he might be trying to evoke
the old dynasty because he might have envied how widespread the old dynasty was. And I think he
wants his dynasty to have this heir of legitimacy, something it sorely lacks at the moment. Mohg's
new dynasty is very different from the old. The Swarm of Flies Incantation sums it up well and
reads "the new palace of the Lord of Blood lies in a swamp of festering blood." These flies can be
cast as a blood oath incantation, which are spells directly linked to Mohg's own power. But aside
from the incantation, these flies also spawn from the blood tainted excrement that you can loot in
this area, which contain "dense colonies of tiny eggs of unknown but assuredly revolting origin."
The roped fly pot elaborates, stating "the maggots found in waste feed on blood and turn into vicious
flies that are pitiably short lived. Their fangs inflicts countless lacerations on the victim
while the grating sound of their wings assails their sanity." And specifically, these flies
spawn from the excrement of carnivorous beasts, of which there are now many in the new dynasty,
all festering with these bloody pustules and being even tougher than their kin on the surface.
So, yeah, not a great place. And yet many disenfranchised beings still seem to choose to
reside here. Soaking in the festering blood swamp. Which brings us to the Albinaurics here. In a way,
the Albinaurics themselves have accursed blood. Not unlike The Omen. The Albinauric Bloodclot
reads "Albinaurics are lifeforms made by human hands. Thus many believe them to live impure
lives untouched by the Erdtree's grace." Now, this is just my own speculation, but we know that
the Formless Mother bestows power upon a cursed blood. So do you think maybe it's fitting that of
all the creatures in this blood soaked land, many of the Albinaurics have found a way to weaponize
the blood. I think they've accepted Mohg's tainted blood quite well. The Red Albinaurics stand apart
from their silver kin, who sit dejectedly upon the cliff face. The red ones patrol the area and
fight with attacks that are actually unique from every other Albinauric in the game. Even their
model is a little bit unique beyond just being red. Look at their heads and you'll see these
tiny little omen horns sprouting. Personally, I believe this is because they've been soaking in
blood. Specifically, I think they've been tainted by Mohgs omen blood. We know from the seedbed
curse icon and the dung eater questline that it's possible to spread omen horns, or at least
that horns are an aspect of a defilement that can be spread. So I think that explains why they're
sprouting horns here. And there is also evidence that reveals Mohg was attempting to share his
accursed blood with others. This leads us to Varre and the war surgeons who were abducted by Mohg,
who wanted to see if they could tame the accursed blood as you enter the Mohgwyn Palace Grounds.
Three white robed invaders assail you, one after the other. These are the nameless White Masks and
the kind of have fascinating lore to speak of. The White Masks wear the War Surgeon Gown, which marks
them as war surgeons who were effectively mercy killers. The dagger talisman elaborates, stating
that "the white garbed field surgeons come to the aid of friend and foe alike, by dealing a final
deadly thrust to spare them from the prolonged agony of a mortal wound." So their name is
a bit misleading as there isn't really any surgery occurring here that could save someone's
life. Their favored weapon is the Miséricorde, a dagger with a name that translates to mercy. And
it reads" Dagger favored by military physicians in white. medicine is mercy, and mercy upon the
battlefield is ruthless." The White Mask's weapon is found in a storage quarter of Stormveil and the
Talisman is found in Volcano Manor. So it's kind of difficult to say which faction they served, if
any. After all, they delivered death equally to friend and foe, so they were probably a common
sight on the battlefields of the shattering, regardless of their allegiance. Their choice
of white clothing is curious as well. In war, white is the color of truce, which is appropriate
for these somewhat neutral characters. And incidentally, I think white also shows bloodstains
a lot more starkly. And maybe that's why the color was chosen as well. These characters definitely
got their hands dirty as they delivered their mercy, but constantly delivering mercy would
eventually cause them to turn depraved. The dagger talisman ends with the line, "a sense of mercy
is a catalyst for bloodlust," and the weapon, warns one, to "beware the killers clothed as men
of compassion." So the war surgeons inevitably developed this taste for blood, and it was
this very fact that eventually led to them being targeted and abducted by Mohg. The war
surgeon gown reads "of the surgeons that were abducted by the Lord of Blood. None were able to
tame the accursed blood. None but Varre. That is; though he was an exception" therefore the war
surgeons, These nameless white masks that assail you in Mohgwyn Palace, ended up here because
they were unexpectedly abducted by the Lord of Blood. This reveals that Mohg was searching
for potentates who might be able to control the accursed blood that he had been graced with.
It's more proof that he was looking to share his accursed blood with others and considering
these surgeons now invade on behalf of Mohg, it seems clear that they were happy on some
level to have this new violent outlet for their bloodlust. Though only one of their number
actually manages to tame the accursed blood as Mohg desired. And that's Varre. But what does that
really mean? To tame the accursed blood? Well, earlier we speculated that the Albinaurics are
growing horns because they've been doused not just in blood, but in Mohg's accursed omen blood. And
I really do think that there's a lot of evidence that Mohg is trying to find worthy recipients
who can tame his essence. Because instead of the phrase tame the accursed blood, the original
Japanese actually says something a bit closer to accept the accursed blood. Which brings me to this
interaction with Varre, where he gives you a wound and you accept what is assumedly Mohg's noble
blood. "Give me your finger. This noble blood will be an immutable badge of honor. Once it settles
inside of you. good heavens. Clench your teeth or something." The bloody finger item, which is your
finger, I might add, reads Glistening blood has been siphoned into the nail of this finger. Its
sickly pale skin feels nothing now, but the nail still aches with the sweetest pain. "Never forget
that feeling of agony, for it is what binds you to luminary Mohg. to all of us." And with a fresh
infusion of this accursed, noble blood, you can invade other tarnished and sate your bloodlust
materializing out of blood in other worlds, just like Mohg does. But that's not the only way
that you can invade with what is assumedly Mohg's blood. You can also do so with a festering bloody
finger. These are consumable items and their not your finger This time. And three of them are given
to you by Varre and he gives them to you as a test of sorts. "I have a gift for you. Something fit
only for the wise. A means for circumventing the draw of the Two Fingers. Give it a try, won't
you?" Varre is hoping that you'll use these to fuel a blood lust of your own, thereby distracting
you from the allure of the Two Fingers. Who have other plans for you as a tarnished. And
if you prove this blood lust to Varre, you'll be inducted into the order and you'll have
blood infused into you. Perhaps as he and other war surgeons once received. "I knew it from the
very start. You have a taste for noble blood" as opposed to the bloody finger. You can receive
these consumable, festering bloody fingers are blackened with blood congestion. And if you look
closely, what look like omen horns appear to be writhing at the end, reinforcing the idea again,
that it's Mohg's accursed blood that had been injected into these fingers before they were cut
off. The description goes on to state that these festering fingers "have been chopped off rather
unceremoniously." The lack of ceremony indicates a measure of disappointment with the owner of
these fingers, I think. And that's why I think these fingers once belonged to other inductees.
Just like the nameless war surgeons who failed to accept the infusion of Mohg's blood. Note
this dialogue from Varre. If you deny him, "you will die nameless without ceremony." So the
nameless war surgeons are likely also those whose fingers were unceremoniously chopped off It seems.
They're a warning of what could happen to you if you listen to Varre's speech, which is enticing
in its splendor but full of deadly consequence. Despite this harsh treatment of his subjects,
Mohg is different to the Two Fingers, according to Varre at least. And one of the key differences
apparently is love. In his dialogue, Varre laments that the Two Fingers have no love for the
Tarnished, but Mohg does, He says. incidentally, the Tarnished are kind of related to Mohg via
Godfrey In a way. We're all of the same bloodline, So I guess it is true that we are at least
somewhat alike, Varre really is very loyal Mohg. And indeed amongst all the war surgeons, Varre is
actually the only one that's capable of incanting bloodflame blade. The spell that coats his weapon
with what we know is the essence of the Formless Mother. Varre has been granted strength beyond any
other character in Mohg's dynasty, it seems, and Varre is no doubt eventually very disappointed in
you when you teleport to the palace early before the new dynasty has even begun. This is what leads
to an optional confrontation with Varre and his death. "Oh... Luminary Mohg Please grant the
strength you promised. I have given everything" you can teleport to Mohgwyn Palace early with the
Pure Blood Knights medal, which is something Varre gives you If you prove yourself to him. "I've
gone out of my way to provide one to you. But you mustn't use it just yet. The meeting must wait
until the Mohgwyn Dynasty commences. Luminary Mohg yet slumbers beside the divinity." Now that
we've been inducted, we start to see Mohg's Luminary Vision and can learn how Mohgwyn Dynasty
is supposed to come about. The Lord of Blood's exultation Talisman explains Reading "Render up
your offerings of blood to your Lord. Drench my consort's chamber. slake his cocoons thirst. His
awakening shall herald the dawn of our dynasty." So he's specifically saying that others should
make offerings to Miquella. And I think the ones he's telling to make the offerings would be his
bloody fingers. By invading and killing I think we might just be making offerings of others. And
I think also these offerings would be made by the sanguine nobles who are just as aggressive as
the bloody fingers are If you find them out in the open world. for example, this is one of many
sanguine nobles and you fight them here at the Rose Church in Liurnia. It's likely named after
the Blood Rose, which is an item deeply related to all things bloody. And the building itself is
a sort of parish. It's a church that operates in a foreign land. And it's no coincidence that it's
here that Varre attempts to recruit you. In fact, the enemy inside the church is supposedly a
recruiter as well, although I kind of question their recruiting techniques. The sanguine noble
hood is" worn by nobles who serve the Lord of Blood" and Reeds, "known to strike from pools of
blood. These assassins are missionaries come to share the gospel of accursed blood." just like
the red Albinaurics, the sanguine nobles have started to grow omen horns, and their rank
seems to exceed that of the Albinaurics As can be inferred by the Noble in Mohgwyn Palace,
who stands before a crowd of Ablinaurics. Again, rather than being true omen, I think this is
another instance where being infused with Mohg's accursed blood has led to their horns growing a
cursed blessing as The Dung Eater would say. The robes go on to read "The grand metallic pattern on
the shoulder is a signifier of the noble rank they intend to claim upon the advent of the new dynasty
they are working to install," and their weapons are designed to "rip the flesh with sickening
efficacy," suggesting that they really are working to install this new dynasty via the blood loss of
others. Making offerings for Miquella's cocoon. And again, I think the bloody fingers are the same
way. Yura calls the bloody fingers "tarnished held in thrall by excess blood zealots who stalk their
own." "If it isn't Nerijus, the bloody finger. The end is nigh for you." Yura is familiar with many
such bloody fingers. None more so than Eleanora, who is the one he loves. And she's the one who
he considers to be the deadliest bloody finger of all. I'm dying to see "Eleanora violent bloody
finger." In the end, though, Eleanora kills Yara here at the Second Church of Marika. And this
church is interesting because despite being a church of Marika, there's clearly been an attempt
by Mohg's adherence to usurp it. Note the blood roses, the sanguine noble who appears here, the
hound here festering with blood. And of course, Eleanora herself. Eleanora is one of Mohg's bloody
fingers, the most dangerous of them all if Yura is to be believed. Perhaps it's for this reason that
Mohg might have entrusted her with the purifying crystal tear an item that can nullify the effect
of Mohg's right of blood attack. Either that or she has somehow procured this purifying crystal
here because she has a secret plan to attack Mohg. You could definitely speculate in that direction
as well. I think if you wanted to. Eleanora wields a twin Naginata a weapon that's forged in the land
of Reeds, which is a place "locked in civil war that has become alienated from the culture of
its neighbors. Little Wonder. It is said that the entire nation has succumbed to blood soaked
madness." It's on this note that I'd again like to return to the description of formless Oedon
in Bloodborne, specifically the part that says "both Oedon and Oedon's inadvertent worshippers
surreptitiously seek the precious blood." Earlier, we established that Oedon and the Formless
Mother clearly have some overlap, and I speculate that this overlap could extend to Oedon's
inadvertent worshippers as well. Inadvertent means unintentional or accidental worship, In
this context. and I think that the Formless Mother might have many, many children because I
think you can make a good case for her having many inadvertent worshippers of her own. After all,
the blood soaked madness of the Land of Reeds has led more than one of their number directly
to Mohg, introducing Okina, who is a demon of a swordsman. His blood lust led him into combat with
Mohg himself, and his sword tells of this story, stating, When Mohg, the Lord of Blood, first
felt Okina's sword and madness upon his flesh, he had a proposal to offer Okina the life of a
demon whose thirst would never go unsated. So it was that Okina became a bloody finger of Mohg,
cutting down his enemies with rivers of blood, a cursed sword which has felled countless men.
Weapons like these are really powerful when paired with the Lord of Blood's exaltation Talisman,
which gives you an attack boost if blood loss is triggered in the vicinity. And one amazing little
detail is that this captain of Godrick actually gets the attack power buff whenever there's blood
loss nearby, hinting that he's actually carrying the Lord of Blood's Exaltation talisman and that
he is thus and adherent of Mohg. The weapon art he uses, Bloody Slash, also suggests as much, as
it is a "blood oath skill granted by the Lord of Blood." So it seems this Stormveil captain has
either defected or is secretly loyal to Mohg, or he has a dual allegiance. I love that it's
left open to your interpretation. The talisman itself is dropped by Esgar, a priest of blood
found in the catacombs below. Leyndell, the same place where Mohg first met the Mother of Truth.
He wears the robes of an adherent of Mohg, except for his great hood, which reads "a burial shroud
of sorts for those who discover at long last the truth they sought." I think this could be hinting
that Esgar found the Mother of Truth here below, but it's hard to say for sure. Speaking of which,
it's unclear if Mohg has ever shared the fact that he communes with the Formless Mother at all. Most
worship of her appears to be really indirect and bloodshed for the sake of bloodshed seems reason
enough for her and those that perform it as well. Perhaps it's for this reason that the all-knowing
casts doubt on Mohg's title, calling him the "so-called Lord of Blood." "so that's where the
so-called Lord of Blood was hiding himself." Perhaps this lack of clarity about Mohg's rule
is why even item descriptions cast doubt on Mohg, Who is "the reigning and high rank of the coming
dynasty of Mohgwyn. Or perhaps a raving lunatic" After all, can blood offerings really lead to
the awakening of Miquella? The Remembrance of the Blood Lord Does state that "no matter how
much of his bloody bedchamber he tried to share, he received no response from the young Empyrean."
But Mohg needs Miquella to awaken because Mohg doesn't just want to be a ruler. He wants
legitimacy in the eyes of the world. And since Miquella is an Empyrean eligible to be the God
of this world, he could give Mohgwyn a legitimacy that might match even the Golden Order, which is
structured in a similar way. It has a Lord and a God at the forefront. So it's time to finally
talk about Miquella. For if he does awaken, then it's very likely that this will lead to
the coming dynasty named Mohgwyn and whatever nightmares that may bring whatever nightmares
that may bring is an extremely ominous line, especially considering Miquella has a dreaming
alter ego. So to explain that quickly. Like many other characters in the game, Miquella has a
duality to his character. On one hand you have Miquella, the unalloyed who helped his sister
resist the effects of the Scarlet Rot, who grew a home for the low and the meek, and who is cursed
with eternal youth. But then, on the other hand, Miquella is also Saint Trina, a mysterious
character that has powers relating to sleep and dreams. The symbol of their faith is this
trina's lily, which "dulls the senses, preventing agitation." And it's no coincidence that this
lily is shaped just like Miquella's Lily, for the nascent Miquella is saint Trina, or they're
moonlighting as them in their dreams, so to speak. And whatever Saint Trina has been doing, it's
made a really good impression on a great many people. The Lands Between is a pretty harrowing
place after all, and to get relief it seems, some people have turned to Saint Trina whose
lilies helps them get away from it all. Priests of Saint Trina also exist crafting sleep arrows
to spread their teachings. "The sweet oblivion of sleep can become quite the habit." Another such
item is the sleep pot, which says "like a lullaby or a quagmire. Its light purple haze irresistibly
draws its victims down into sleep. Sweet dreams." Incidentally, the word lullaby brings to mind
another piece of cut content to do with Miquella. Where the red-eyed merchants were once taught the
song that they play in their tomb by a mysterious figure and fittingly, Saint Trina's full cut name
is Saint Trina of the Cradle Song, which connects them to the merchant's song. In cut Merchant
dialogue It's stated that the one who sang for them now sings no longer. The singer is missing,
just like Saint Trina, because the one who sang was Saint Trina. And we don't really have to just
rely on cut content to tell us of that fact. An item called Fervor's Cookbook suggests that Saint
Trina is missing, as well as it is "a record of crafting techniques left by a man who was utterly
captivated by Saint Trina. He continued the search for her in his slumber." So he was searching
for her because Saint Trina went missing. Also, Saint Trina's Sword reads "Saint Trina is an
enigmatic figure. Some say she is a comely young girl. Others are sure he a boy. The only certainty
is that their appearance was a sudden as their disappearance." So Saint Trina went missing and
returning to cut dialogue We also learn about a character called Rhico, a cut NPC who claims to be
Miquella's humble servant and who we believe finds Miquella's body at Mohg's palace. Here, Rhico
states "Finally I have found it. Saint Trina's... No, Lord Miquella's cadaver. I have partaken
of untold secrets such that I may aid you, O Lord. So, please, I hope you welcome your humble
servant, Rhico, into your dream. The world of your heart." So Rico believed that he was finally going
to be able to aid Miquella and enter his dream now that he'd found him in the physical world before
the DLC trailer was revealed. I would have said, Yeah, I reckon the DLC will take us to Miquella's
dream world. It sounds like the perfect place for DLC, right? But now with the recent trailer,
it can't be that simple because the interviews featured in my DLC video make it quite clear
that Miquella's cadaver will instead take us to the Land of Shadow, a place that was once
physically a part of the Lands Between before it was veiled and obscured by Queen Marika.
In that video, we speculated that the Land of Shadow might be a place where the dead go. We
speculated that it might be a kind of afterlife, or at least it might have once been a sort of
afterlife before the Erdtree sort of took over that role. We reason this because Miquella is
said to have divested himself of his flesh to get there. The poem reads, "It was to this land that
Miquella departed, divesting himself of his flesh, his strength, his lineage of all things golden."
Of course, we don't yet know the true nature of the Land of Shadow, but it is kind of fitting
for Saint Trina, of all people, to have died to arrive in this place. Because death in Elden
Ring has long been linked to sleep. For example, when Rogier succumbs to deathroot. He says this.
"Lately I feel I'm on the precipice of falling into a deep fathomless slumber and I have an
inkling it could spell trouble for you." Somehow, Rogier is almost hinting that he might be a
threat in some realm beyond sleep. And he's kind of right, because later we do find Rogier or
a part of his vitality, at least, which has been weaponized by Fia. We do this inside of Godwyn's
deathbed dream, a phrase that obviously has sleep connotations as well. So I wonder, with death
being so linked to sleep, could Miquella have planned this death in his own slumber so that he
could travel to the Land of Shadow? One piece of evidence for Miquella's death being a sort
of deep sleep, could be the slumbering egg, which is an owl egg that will never hatch. Prized
as a symbol of the most sublime slumber, The egg is this powerful parallel to the situation with
Miquella's cocoon. Miquella's cocoon was taken by Mohg before it was ready to hatch. Just so this
egg is looted from killing an owl and thus is also taken before it was ready to hatch, perhaps before
it was even ready to be born. The owl inside will never hatch. It's essentially dead. And this
egg's description reminds us that this state of death is the most sublime slumber There is. So
I conclude that there's a strong parallel between the slumbering egg and Miquella's Cocoon, touching
the arm that extends out of the cocoon will bring us to the Land of Shadow, where Miquella traveled
long before us. As per the IGN interview, Miyazaki states that players will be following
in Miquella's footsteps in the same way that they followed the blessings of the sites of Greece in
the Lands Between. And of course, the player is not the only who is curious about Miquella. There
are several other characters in the world and NPCs who have been following Miquella as well, and the
player will encounter them on their journey in the Land of Shadow. And they will make new friends and
enemies, we hope. Fittingly, Miquella does have many followers. So does Saint Trina. And while no
one seems to know for sure where they disappeared to, it is rumored. Gideon's dialogue reveals that
he suspected Miquella was with the Lord of Blood. And there's even a phantom in the consecrated snow
field who points towards Mohgwyn Palace's waygate. And they died knowing exactly who took Miquella
as well. And then, of course, there's Rhico, that cut content character who senses their master
needs their aid. Indeed, Saint Trina and Miquella seem to live on beyond the death of their flesh.
And while the Land of Shadow might not literally be the dream world that many expected it to be,
there is evidence that Saint Trina's presence has been felt here. For example. This is Saint
Trina's Lily in the base game. It looks a bit sad, right? It only has a tiny hint of purple left.
So this is why I wonder could this lily in the background be a true lily of Saint Trina. It does
appear to be more whole, and it appears in a sort of quagmire of sleep here. There's that signature
purple sleep hue, and there's a masked character who is slumbering in this place. Incidentally,
another thing I missed was that you can actually spy some lilies in the background of this fight as
well. So perhaps this boss linked to Saint Trina. But I digress. Miquella's actions are becoming
clearer to us, but that still leaves Mohg. First up. How did Mohg manage to abduct Miquella? Well,
earlier we talked about how Mohg abducted the war surgeons, presumably to test the accursed blood
on them. So already Mohg has a bit of a history of abduction. And if he can materialize from
blood anywhere, like this cutscene suggests, and like his sanguine nobles and bloody fingers seem
able to do, well that would certainly explain how abducting Miquella was relatively easy for him,
especially if Malenia was away fighting Radahn at the time. So during Miquella's abduction, he was
ripped out of the tree. There's clearly a large gap here in the tree like woman's form, almost
as if this figure was pregnant with Miquella and indeed Miquella sits atop a giant pelvis bone in
Mohg's palace, showing just how wholesale he was ripped from the Haligtree itself. The Mother of
Truth desires a wound. Indeed. So we know what happened. But why? Why did Mohg think abducting
Miquella was a good idea? going to get demonetized for that one. Mohg believed Miquella could have
transitioned from Empyrean to god, maybe even Miquella believed that he could. And I think Mohg
wanted to take advantage of this process and take advantage of the new god that would soon rise. The
Remembrance of the Blood Lord reads, "wishing to raise Miquella to full godhood, Mohg wished to
become His consort, taking the role of Monarch. But no matter how much of his bloody bedchamber
he tried to share, he received no response from the young Empyrean." The wording of Bedchamber is
appropriate considering Mohg is trying to consort with Miquella and become his Lord, So to speak.
And it being a bloody bedchamber is appropriate too. As items state that Mohg slumbers beside the
divinity and the cutscene seems to be suggesting that Mohg slumbers inside of Miquella's blood.
Also, it's very fitting that they use the word slumber here. "Dearest Miquella, you must abide
alone a while." So if Mohg becomes his consort, then Mohg will become a lord of sorts. Not unlike
the dynamic with the Elden Lord that has existed throughout history, where they become consort to
their god. But the real question that remains is how exactly does Miquella become a god in this
situation? Considering Miquella's positioning in the womb of this giant tree like woman, it's
easy to assume that what he was attempting was a sort of rebirth. Here And this brings me back to
Rhico's dialogue, the final part, where he says, Indeed, I beg you, Grant my wish, that when you
transcend from Empyrean to god, allow me a place by your side. I wonder what if the cocoon was
part of this transition? It reminds me a lot of Berserk which Miyazaki is endlessly inspired by.
And spoiler alert if you haven't yet seen it, but a certain character here also achieves a similar
transition inside an egg, turning from human to a god of sorts. To become a part of the Godhand in
this moment and achieve his dream, Griffith has to make a sacrifice, and in the end he chooses to
betray his companions, branding them and sealing their fate. In my Miquella video, we draw a
few parallels between Miquella and Griffith, and if Miquella is inspired by Griffith as much
as I think, then that could be quite concerning as there is a part of Malenia's storyline as well
that also seems to be setting up some betrayal to come, although that is of course just speculation.
This is probably a good time to talk about the fact that Miquella does have some very ominous
overtones to their character. For starters, Saint Trina has an adult form and it's a one eyed
creature with this spooky mass of elevated hair that is carved upon Saint Trina's torch. What's
more, remember Saint Trina's Sleep fog draws others down into sleep against their will. Sleep
is a weapon. St Trina's sword makes that even more clear, as does cut content, which states The Saint
of the Cradle song has become the very symbol of lost repose and the feeble of heart were Powerless
to resist her kindness even upon the battlefield. So in cut content, at least, the Saint of the
Cradle song actually fought in certain wars with kindness. So that description mentions Saint
Trina's weaponized kindness, and so does this line from the trailer. "Pure and radiant, he wields
love to shrive Clean the hearts of men. There is nothing more terrifying." Malenia also calls
Miquella the most fearsome Empyrean of all. And lastly, the common soldiers of the Haligtree
discovered a bitter truth as they awaited their Lord's return to the Haligtree. They discovered
that Miquella's sacred light would trigger them to self-destruct in their final moments. But
even so, they remained loyal. And I quote, May the flesh of our deaths guide Miquella's return.
So in conclusion, it's for these reasons that I'm a bit concerned about this scary dreaming demigod
and about the nightmares that might be incurred by Mohg's ritual with him inside the cocoon. A
part of me wonders if the Formless Mother was supposed to be a part of Miquella's ascension to
God. Considering the ritual happening in Mohgwyn Palace, that would fit because a few gods we see
in Elden Ring do have an outer god as a patron of sorts. Malenia has the Outer God of Rot, and she
is destined to become the Goddess of Rot. Marika becomes a vessel for the Elden ring, and she
is the God of the Greater Will, who is almost certainly an outer god as well. So all of that
sort of answers how Miquella might become a god as best we can. Considering how abstract the game
is with these terms. My next question is though did Miquella foresee any of this happening? The
bewitching branch is an item that can pierce a foe and turn them into a temporary ally. And it
reads. "The Empyrean Miquella is loved by many people. Indeed, he has learned very well how to
compel such affection." The wording here is kind of sinister, right? The fact that Miquella is
capable of consciously compelling affection in order to get what he wants is very manipulative.
And if Miquella is capable of masterminding others affections. Who's to say he hasn't done the same
with Mohg? Mohg's Infatuation with Miquella is very obvious and very cursed, Considering
Miquella's eternal youth and the fact that Miquella is technically Mohg's half brother.
Again, I'm reminded of this scene with Griffith from Berserk, where Griffith spends a night with a
powerful, perverted older man for money, which he needs to achieve his own goals. The man, Gennon,
is obsessed with Griffith. But to Griffith, Gennon is nothing more than a stone lying on
the side of the path he walks. And Griffith eventually discards him as such. In my Miquella
video, we talked about just how much overlap there is between the characters of Miquella and
Griffith. And so I just can't shake the feeling that Miquella might be using Mohg here. But if
that's true, why, what would Miquella stand to gain from masterminding this entire situation
where he ends up dead and defiled? Before the DLC trailer dropped I had imagined that Miquella's
arm would take us into Miquella's dream world, and so I thought that Miquella might stand to benefit
or suffer thanks to Mohg's actions upon his slumbering form. I thought he might have even been
co-opting the Formless Mother for his ascension into a god. But now, from what we understand about
the DLC trailer, the Land of Shadow is a place distinct from Miquella. So the answer becomes
different. We know Miquella divested himself of his flesh and grace to get here, so it's harder
to imagine that the bloody rituals happening in Mohgwyn are having any effect on Miquella's self.
Mohg really might not be getting any response from Miquella. For good reason. So I'm going to present
one new theory on why Miquella might benefit from being here. Based on the information we have
from the DLC trailer and it's this. So we know Miquella divested himself of his flesh before
reaching the Land of Shadow. Right. And we know that he also divested himself of his grace To
get here, he divested himself of his lineage, of all things golden. Divesting yourself of your
flesh is hard enough, but divesting yourself of your grace is also difficult. Ranni has difficulty
with this in her questline she divests herself of her flesh finally. But even then, she's still
linked to the Two Fingers and has to kill them to be freed completely. So what if Mohg instrumental
not just to the process of Miquella dying, but the process of Miquella losing his grace as
well? What if by being doused in accursed blood, Miquella was defiled to the point that Grace left
him fully? We know that those doused in Mohg's accursed blood start to grow Omen horns and the
Omen are graceless. And we know that being defiled is something that many people in the Lands Between
fear. The Dung Eater Is proof of that. We talked earlier about how they defiled people and how
those people are terrified of what this means for them And their rebirth. So it is that I think that
Miquella might have wanted to die in this manner, to fall into this state of sublime slumber and
also to be defiled to the point where Grace leaves him. But that's just a theory. And of course,
we don't have all of the pieces of the story yet. And I think it's impossible to say for sure
which direction his story will go. I think this state of speculation is very much exactly where
Fromsoftware wants us to be at this point. Even the all-knowing doesn't know what's going on here.
"So Miquella was with the Lord of Blood after all. That is some fine intelligence. Indeed. While I
wonder what comes next, if he continues this long within the cocoon, all will be well. But perhaps
it will be safer to destroy it. Miquella is The one thing that remains a mystery to me." So, what
do you think? Did Miquella anticipate being taken from the Haligtree? Will he be affected
by the Lord of Blood's machinations? Mohg certainly believes so. In fact, Mohg believes
this even beyond the very moment of his death. "I can see it as clear as day. The coming of a
dynasty. Mohgwyn." Before I go, let me tell you a little story about a game that was scheduled
to release on June 21st. So this is Enotria, A souls like title inspired by Italian folklore
and history, which gives it an extremely unique vibe. For example, this is Quinta, the game's
opening area rendered gorgeously in Unreal Engine five here. I love the verticality in these
scenes. I think there's going to be so much level design they can play with there. And I was very
excited to explore this Mediterranean world. But then Elden Ring announced its DLC for the same
day as their release. Oof! Luckily, however, I've heard they're announcing a new release date soon.
Now, I don't usually take soulslike sponsorships unless it's something I've played and loved, but
since the devs for this game weren't strict on what I had to say here, I decided to take this
one because they're clearly happy for their product to speak for itself and I think that kind
of confidence is awesome. Their gameplay trailer mentions huge skill trees, spells buffs, passives
and a special type of equipment called masks, which are at the center point of each loadout.
They've also said that they've spent a lot of time getting the motion capture for animations
right, which is potentially the most important thing for a soulslike for me. And the gameplay
system also builds in something called Chainable Parries, which reminds me a lot of Sekiro,
which I love. So if you like what you see, consider following some of their pages or even
pre-ordering. You can learn more over at Enotria the last song slash preorder Or you can click
the links in the description. Thanks guys.
