The secret story behind the Crucible

foreign [Music] [Music] the abyss Watchers of Dark Souls 3 are the stuff of Legend and we mean that literally the legend of their patron saint Knight Artorias from Dark Souls 1 motivates their entire existence as an undead Legion dedicated to ceaselessly battling the abyss they have deliberately modeled themselves off of The Legend of Artorias they behave with the unwavering dedication to fighting the abyss that they believe Artorias did they have codified their dedication to Abyss hunting by making a pact of drinking Wolf's blood honoring artorias's loyal wolf Sif their symbol that of a gauntlet of Swords plunged into the ground is modeled after the image of artorias's grave except what they couldn't have known across the vast distance of time between them is that artorias's Legend is of course a lie Artorias was corrupted by the abyss he didn't slay Madness and save dusk we did that image of The Gauntlet of Swords far from being a symbol of artorias's Honor it's actually the product of grave robbers trying to pillage his Monumental grave and being cut down by Sif and that Monumental grave isn't even his actual grave it's a cenotath what the abyss Watchers couldn't have known but we do is that artorius died a corrupted broken man and his grave was a simple grave with the delicate flower laid on the sight of his death by one of his last remaining friends the reason the abyss Watchers don't know any of this is of course Legend the legend of Artorias sprouted grew and branched after his death Legend has a funny way of doing that Legends are produced and changed for all sorts of reasons to protect one's honor to serve political purposes or to develop a unifying mythology of a people funny then that Artorias is the Latin name of Arthur a perfect example of this process King Arthur the legendary and destined King of the britons who defended his people against sex and invasions ruled over a chivalrous and righteous era and searched for the Holy Grail is a legend created adapted and evolved over time by many people to serve many purposes not the least of which is to develop a unifying mythology for the British people a character from their shared history to Rally around that Arthur if he even existed almost certainly did not actually perform any of these Deeds is besides the point the legend has power unto itself so powerful are such legends that it is often quite difficult to retrospectively ascertain the truth of what actually happened in artorias's case we can know because we were present and actually played a role in the Inception of the legend in Elden ring there is no figure more legendary than that of Godfrey the first Elden Lord the legend is straightforward and Powerful that of a warrior of unmatched strength who becomes a righteous ruler through suppression of his aggression but if we want to look past the legend towards something more like the truth we have to just like we did for Artorias uncover more about the origin of his story but how can we do this if all the documentary evidence is contaminated with Godfrey's Legend well as it happens tucked into an inconspicuous Ash covered corner of Langdale sits a building that stands apart from the rest clearly dating to an earlier age than the surrounding architecture indicating a site of particular importance to the city's Grand history once inside a vague disorienting Deja Vu washes over the player and once on the second floor the full realization hits the hippocampus kicks into gear and we realize that not only have we been here before but actually many times this abandoned old manner is the round table hold our Hub our safe place fromsoft had pulled this trick before of course in bloodborne's abandoned old workshop and just as in that game the secrets held within Elden Ring's fortified manner revealed deep Mysteries of the origin of one of its major characters what the Roundtable hold reveals about Godfrey's Legend will change what you thought you knew about him this is the story of a band of Warriors its indomitable leader and the Inception of Lane Del's golden age [Music] before we discuss the Fortified manner let's briefly put it into its context that of broader Lane delt we'll discuss the full Inspirations of Lane Dell's connection with real world Byzantine history in a future episode and in fact we've already touched upon some of the Orthodox Inspirations for perfumers and sacred terrorisms but for now let's just say that the grand golden architecture of Langdale with its golden domes ornate arches and Roman Victory columns is a combination of high Roman think Queen's bed chamber and the Roman Pantheon and New Roman that is to say Byzantine architecture in fact it's likely modeled off an idealized version of Constantinople like the Vikings description of what they termed mikla guard meaning the great City that we quoted in our very first episode quote we knew not whether we were in Heaven Nor on Earth for on Earth there is no such Splendor or such beauty and we are at a loss how to describe it we only know that God dwells there among men and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations for we cannot forget that beauty end quote some even think that the Mythic Asgard is based on Norse descriptions of Constantinople and certainly one can see the resemblance with the golden city of Langdale the peak architecture of Langdale from America's bed chamber to the Earth tree Sanctuary are truly awe-inspiring Feats the to match the unimaginable Splendor of their sacred tree so this makes it all the more intriguing then that amidst the architectural Grandeur of Lane Dell we have the Fortified manner which so clearly stands apart from the rest of the city its architectural Inspirations are somewhat diverse but most clearly model Norman style British castles such as Windsor Castle or Conway Castle the identifying features are the mixture of circular but predominantly Square Towers granulated rooftops the relative position of the towers and the keep and the style of Masonry one can even see most of these features replicated on the manor Tower Shield an old emblem of the manor we're going to ignore for now the Beast Crest carved into the arcade as it will be the subject of an upcoming mini episode overall it is an impressive but eminently more practical design its purpose being clearly defensive rather than Grand Civic opulence there are other castles in game that are of the same style like castlemorne Castle soul and even stormvale Castle though the latter has been subsequently modified the Fortified manner is also in a way walled off within the city made deliberately separate and this wall around the manor is architecturally consistent with the rest of Lane Dell but not with the manor meaning it was built by the same people who built the main city of Langdale if we take a look at the map we can see this corner of the city is clearly set apart from the rest with a partially circumferential wall delineating it the Fortified Manor Coliseum and divine Bridge all belong to a separate architectural stratum which appears to predate the main city based on this alone we would propose that the Fortified manner is from an older era of the city likely near its founding before all of the golden Splendor of the peak stratum was built but to develop this possibility further we need to analyze the interior of the manor and as it is quite dense we'll need to catalog the evidence systematically in order to have any chance of understanding it starting from the entrance to the first floor we immediately have an interesting feature an old wooden door which is carved with the symbol of a tree above which we see a lintel with a scene of women carrying jugs this of course is evocative of the libation statues presumably pouring out sacred tear sap seen in various religious structures throughout the lands between but we'll leave that for the next episode moving into the Great Hall we have banners of both golden lineage which we know to be Suraj as well as of the banished Knights something it shares with only Stormville Castle throughout the Great Hall as well as the upper and lower levels we have evidence that this place was once a banished night Barracks from their arsenal of weapons in storage to their distinctive suits of armor on display we also have various paintings of America in the air tree as well as the tree of yashai depiction we know so well how about the statues then well here's where things get really interesting first let's look at the archery night statues which are clearly of the peak Lane Del era as we can see them lining the Roman Victory style Columns of the Main Avenue of the city representing the victory of the herd tree and its Champions over its many enemies but there's another statue in the Great Hall one which is found all throughout the lands between in ancient structures such as the Divine Tower Bridges the ancient underbelly of Stormville Castle and even the Eternal City of Knox Stella for now we'll just call these statues the Saints in reference to their only named appearance on the Saints Bridge in limkroof clearly this is no word tree symbol if it is found in the Divine Tower Bridges and even in knock Stella [Laughter] it is here that we need to introduce a concept that we'll call iconographic stratigraphy because without it it is completely impossible to understand the Fortified manner much less the game in general we don't actually know if that's a real term but if it isn't it should be you see when coming across areas which have been inhabited and in use over long stretches of time often the same building will be repurposed icons and statues will be modified and replaced to reflect the New Order this gives us a way to peer back into the multiple phases of use of a single place [Music] take for example the famous Agia Sophia which was built as a Byzantine Church by the emperor Justinian 1500 years ago but is today a Muslim Mosque if one were to walk into the agya Sofia today the initial impression would simply be that of a mosque with the impressive minarets surrounding it seen long before approach and inside the beautiful Islamic art as well as Arabic script and yet it Bears the unmistakable evidence of its origin as a Byzantine Church from the architectural design to the Byzantine mosaics which had been painted over but are slowly being uncovered on the upper floors in the apps where the Christian altar used to sit is a mifra which faces the direction of Mecca flanked by ornate candlesticks brought by Suleiman the Magnificent but up above it one can still see the Byzantine mosaics of the Virgin Mary and Jesus foreign or better yet take the Athenian Parthenon which after it became Christian and then Muslim after conquest by the ottoman Turks still retained its statues of Athena parthenos and the other Olympian gods but had additional symbols added representing the New Order usually the statues of the old order aren't simply replaced wholesale but they are modified or repurposed so it is possible based on iconographic stratigraphy to reconstruct the multiple periods of usage of a single location and one of the many things that makes fromsoft so absolutely brilliant in their world creation is that they frequently incorporate this phenomenon into their designs if you think about it you probably have already noticed this Dark Souls 3's Cathedral of the deep has a statue of the deacons placed conspicuously in front of the original Statue Of The Crying woman telling a clear story of a cathedral that once practiced a particular worship but has now been replaced by the worship of Aldrich his deacons and their corrupted vision of the deep likewise in Dark Souls 3's high wall of lothric a single statue of a beheading Knight has been replaced by the statue of young prince lothric an incredibly important transition point in that City's history it's no coincidence that this specific statue becomes the flashpoint for the rebellion of the Angelic Knights we only know that it's been replaced because in the Timeless Vortex of the drag key we can see the plaza and its statue in its original form so we know fromsoft uses this technique as part of their brilliant storytelling and with that idea in mind let's return to the Fortified manner all that those banners of sarash paintings America and other superficial items tell us about is the most recent period of usage since these are the easiest items to replace if you move into a new house you're going to take down the paintings of the prior owners so here we see the most recent era of the manor is clearly centered on our tree America and golden lineage worship no surprises there but unfortunately it doesn't tell us much about its original usage how about the statues then well here's where things get interesting first let's take a look at the Saint statues the pedestals upon which they sit have a characteristic Clover design with a shield in the center we can see this same design on all of the Divine Tower Bridges indicating these pedestals are from this era and the saint statues themselves are found all throughout the lands between in places such as the Divine Tower Bridges beneath stormvale castle and even in the Eternal City of Knox Stella if we look at the Earth during nights however they appear to have duplicated pedestals perhaps indicating the original Statue that once rested upon this pedestal has been replaced more importantly as we previously mentioned these same statues lie in the Main Avenue of the city on Victory columns clearly associating them with the iconographic peak of Lane Del while interesting this is far from conclusive evidence but let's at least entertain the idea that the Fortified manner aka the round table hold has gone through at least two phases of usage one initially characterized by the saint statues and another characterized by the more common icons of archery and golden lineage worship for simplicity's sake we'll just call these the Saints era and the Earth tree era this dichotomy would certainly be consistent with the architectural features of the Roundtable hold which seemed to be much older and predate the architecture of peak landel operating under this notion let's analyze the other entrance to the Fortified manner the elevator from the Divine Bridge from the Divine Bridge we can immediately see the iconographic elements consistent with that earlier Saint stratum the saint statues are everywhere as is the Clover and shield emblem we mentioned on the pedestal there is also an intricately carved Rock relief with the same tree depiction that we've seen carved into the door to the manor across the way we can see the Coliseum which shares this same tree relief if you're wondering why we have been avoiding calling it an archery depiction it's because well it isn't more on that in the next episode but for now we'll just say that if you compare this relief to the common stone relief depictions of the earth tree say on America's bed chamber or the archery sanctuary it looks nothing alike so they are distinct sacred trees and this one appears to be the older one moving from the bridge towards the elevator we can see a clear Junction or transition point between the architectural style of the defined Tower Bridge which is high Roman in nature with its elaborate ionic capitals and Corinthian columns and the masonry of the manor which as we've established is basically a Norman fort on the elevator ride down and in the adjacent Courtyard we can see the saint statues again and again and in the courtyard they appear once again on their original pedestals the saint and tree stratum definitely appears to predate the archery stratum while the Fortified manner wasn't built at exactly the same time as the Divine Bridge it is clearly built by people who share the same faith and symbolism people of the same culture but perhaps at a different time this would explain one of our very first observations that the Fortified manner along with the coliseum in the Divine Tower Bridge seemed to be in a walled off older part of Langdale it is likely that the round table hold or as it was then known the Fortified manner was built as a defensive Gate fort protecting and controlling access to the Divine Tower the founding of landel as we know it came much later now on to the second floor which houses the round table itself as we enter past the Nook where huge would sit to the left in via's room we see paintings of Godfrey America grism in sensors and tree of yishai woodwork all superficial features of the most recent golden linear engineered tree Centric stratum like the banners we mentioned in the Great Hall these don't tell us much about anything before the most recent era in the throne room across the way however in addition to an Elden Throne only one of three in game we can see Hawk statues carved High into the walls ornate chairs for a small Council carved with Hawk symbols and that same tree relief depiction we've mentioned several times characteristic of the older stratum this is exactly the iconographic combination we see in Stormville and here is our first major discovery of the Fortified manner which resolves the following apparent conundrum if we have evidence that the Fortified manner was from an older time than that of peak Lane Del to what Empire did it belong well when this room was initially used it was part of the Stormville not Langdale Empire it belongs to what we'll just call the kingdom of the saint and tree after their icons in Stormville we see exactly this combination of Norman architectural features Old Stone tree reliefs Hawk heraldry and statues and even banished Knight paraphernalia the same that we see in the Fortified manner whatever period in history this was and whoever ruled over it the Fortified Manner and Stormville Castle both belong to it this will be the major topic of our next episode in this throne room we also find the coded sword which explains what the round table hold became in its later years as it reads quote Champions would gather at the round table hold in days long past when their two fingers were masters of oration their flesh Yet full of vigor end quote even this era however is long past but why was this place so important to Godfrey and the tarnished in the first place what significance did it hold to them such that they would choose this corner of Langdale to be their sacred meeting place to answer that let's take a look finally at the round table itself which appears to be a kind of Sword Memorial of sorts but of Unknown Origin on the table there is a symbol of the Eritrean Crucible incantations not the later more refined archery symbol dating the table to the earliest times of the earth tree or the time of The Crucible throughout the rooms gathered haphazardly in the little niches built into the stone we can see all the weapons used by subsequent tarnished from greatswords to axes to Claymores clearly these are from the most recent Roundtable hold era when it was used as a Gathering Place for tarnish champions but on the round table itself the swords are unique are not otherwise seen in game and appear to be bronze with a root-like design growing out of their hilts indicative of a much older period as we've briefly touched upon in our Forum Azula analysis bronze weapons are indicative of an older culture than the iron weapons seen throughout the rest of the game The Roots growing from their healths indicates an ancient tree warship and interestingly there is one weapon that stands apart from the rest a giant bronze ax which again is unique and not seen anywhere else in game as this is not a public display the symbolism of this scene must have some meaning to those who would sit at this table to us the overall impression given is of a memorial to an ax-wielding warlord and his inner guard who laid down their arms together and commemorated the event with this table if this is true this can be no one other than Godfrey or rather horrolu it seems that this was the ax he used before he took the mantle of Elden Lord and the ax that came with it which is said explicitly to be a symbol of his vow to conduct himself as a lord and so the hilt of the ax points towards the adjacent room the throne room his first throne room as Eldon Lord this table commemorates the moment that horalu became god-free and his Warriors became Knights the swords in the table even bear a rough resemblance to The Crucible knight swords and as we mentioned the herd tree slash Crucible symbol is carved into the table though we can't know for sure the scene seems to be telling us that the knights who laid down their arms became God for his inner guard now known only as The Crucible Knights at this point it's unavoidable to discuss the legend of King Arthur [Music] it is a Round Table after all the most famous item along with the magical sword Excalibur that's associated with King Arthur the most common depictions of Arthur's Roundtable including the quote original round table which was ultimately shown to be a 14th century fake have a similar motif of the swords pointing towards the center of the table symbolizing The Vow that Arthur and his Knights took often they even have a Celtic cross carved into their Center much the same way that The Crucible symbol is carved into Godfrey's Roundtable rather than pulling his destined sword out of his Stone like Arthur's Excalibur Godfrey and his Knights do the inverse and plunge their weapons into the bronze table of course Godfrey's Roundtable like the famous Arthurian equivalent indicates an egalitarian component to his relationship with his innermost Circle as there is no head of the Knights of the Round Table but this image is clearly at odds with the throne and small Council set up in the adjacent room these Warriors evidently gave up their relatively communal ways for the power and hierarchy of Empire and speaking of Arthur much of Godfrey's Arc May owe inspiration to Arthur's Legend the very first mention of Arthur was actually not to that of a king but rather a warrior with unmatched battle prowess just like Godfrey Godfrey and Arthur's signature weapons are both famously broken in battle like Godfrey in the later romantic Tales Arthur is ultimately undone and deposed as the result of A Love Affair between his Queen Guinevere and his best Lieutenant The Dashing Lancelot Echoes of America and radagon abound even the tarnishing may be inspired by Arthurian Legend as both Godfrey and Arthur are driven into Exile across the sea only to one day return to save his people so the round table signifies the moment that Godfrey and his Knights took the vow to usher in the New Age the age of The Crucible and ultimately the age of the archery but this room has more to tell us still in the statues dotting the perimeter there are the archery Knights of course which we've seen before but there are also several distinct statues which depict a man cultivating a single Branch with a Golden Flower like the Christian cross which is merely a partial symbol of the full scene of Jesus's crucifixion this symbol can only be understood by seeing its full depiction the full depiction is shown elsewhere throughout the Empire notably on the Imperial Road leading to the Grand lift of ductus in the stormvale throne room and elsewhere in Langdale whatever this statue represents it must have been of the utmost importance to the followers of Godfrey when interpreted together the message of these statues in full form and simplified is clear from the many branches the many possibilities a single Golden One representing the eritry and the golden lineage has been selected regular listeners of the channel will not find it surprising that the concept of lineage and descent as in the tree of yeshai is depicted with arboreal metaphor but it's even much more specific than that you see these statues don't appear to be depicting a normal tree the morphology is actually that of multiple distinct stems which are sprouting in competition rather than branching in a regular pattern as a tree does with a spatially periodic pattern visually it Bears resemblance to the siluria's tree spear which is said to be modeled after the form of The Crucible the inspiration for these statues visually and metaphorically seems to be in the process of root or crown re-sprouting whereby a tree after it is stressed or even filled will produce multiple Sprouts from its lower trunk or roots this process is so consistent that it can be exploited in a process called copsing during which trees are periodically filled at the base of their trunk and subsequent Roots spring up from the stump after a period of a few years the tree has regrown and the process can be repeated to keep harvesting Timber this is a natural process that trees use to ensure their survival after some destructive event like a forest fire the statues in Lane Dell appear to be depicting exactly this phase of the process many competing routes sprouting early after the cataclysm which destroyed the trunk of the tree and a character cultivating the one Sprout which will eventually become the golden nerd tree after all we are told quote in the beginning everything was in opposition to the herd tree end quote the eritry was born one of many but in the end only it perseveres you could say that the initial statue depicts the earlier form the primordial form of the archery when it was only one of the many root Sprouts of a prior great tree here in the room where Godfrey became Eldon Lord and his Knights became Crucible knights we see a glimpse of the refinement of the archery from its primordial form The Crucible if we take a closer look this is what is shown in soluria's tree and on her helm with the characteristic chaotic branching pattern and from a bird's eyes view the roots sprouting from a destroyed trunk would look like a mass of branches growing from a central circle precisely what is shown on The Crucible night set the form of The Crucible is that of many root Sprouts that emerge after the trunk of the tree has been destroyed of which the Earth tree is the sole survivor as for its function and the great tree that preceded it those discussions will have to wait until part two of this analysis [Music] so let's summarize what we've learned thus far the Fortified manner was built before the rest of Langdale and seems to have been built specifically as a Gateway Fort controlling access to the Divine Tower Bridge during this time Godfrey and his Warriors trade in their bronze weapons for the weapons of their new Reign a moment memorialized in the round table itself at some point the Roundtable hold becomes a Gathering Place for tarnished Warriors a term which of course has no meaning until the end of Godfrey's reign it's iconography in its initial phase the saint phase is clearly that of an older era one which reveres a particular tree a tree that is not the Earth tree and shares elements with storm Bales iconography later on the iconography shifts to focusing on America and the Earth tree with a transition phase that emphasized the root growth of The Crucible far from being some unknown tribal Warrior as his Legend would suggest it would seem Godfrey was part of a vast Empire an outsider who took advantage of that prior Empire's collapse invading and adopting their ways even the names of the two named Crucible Knights soluria and ordovis share names with tribes at the edge of the Roman Empire in Britain after all the real Arthur if he existed was not the Arthur of Legend whose chivalrous exploits have echoed through history no that Arthur was a legend invented many centuries later by those same Normans that brought all those castles to Britain the real Arthur was a local Warrior on the edge of civilization who after the Roman Empire receded and left Britain to fend for itself established his own kingdom like Godfrey Arthur created his own kingdom owing much culturally to the one that had preceded it but also striking out in New Directions and cultivating new faiths like Godfrey Arthur's Legend looms large over his historical story but it wasn't all Legend there was someone who at least inspired the legend and in 1998 a stone was uncovered near tintengol Castle dating to roughly the 6th Century A.D inscribed with the name ortognu nobody knows for sure but some think this name derives from the Celtic words for knowing and bear meaning it could be a tribal name or tognu meaning wise bear perhaps just as horalu became Godfrey or tognu the wise bear became Arthur in the next episode we'll explore this Empire of the great tree which preceded Godfrey's rise his role and America's role in the aftermath of its collapse and the ever mysterious Crucible [Music]

Channel: The Tarnished Archaeologist

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Id: syzMebGy7HA

Length: 34min 38sec (2078 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 12 2022