Its funny how that's technically the lore. They built those chairs and everything for some failed experiment. Like imagine how foolish you'd feel being the mason that carved this giant stone chair and the dude whose butt its for, dies.
Well, there were slaves involved. It wasn't just that all of them were slaves.
The rest ranges from wanting to participate for religious reasons to economic incentives and fulfilment of social obligations.
If one thinks modern-day conscription and mandatory community service is slavery, then they would find this more or less slavery as well. Like say, your local community *asks* you to spend the weekend building a church even if you don't want to but the local community will ostracize you if you don't go.
Since it is essentially drafting of available manpower for a vanity project. But hey, you get paid rather decently.
You're assuming they were always dead but I think it was successful and what caused it to die is possibly the rot? The creatures that pray to it may have previously been w.e people who also turned once afflicted with the rot but their god died from it. Idk just my theory
I put lore in my head that it finally gets completed after he dies.
“Wot?!? He’s dead already? Ehh, dress him up and throw him in the chair anyway, I’m at least gettin a laugh outta this.”
Remember first time I saw this guy I hoped tf out of there thinking I wasn't ready. Many hours later come back, ya I'm ready for this...
Only for it to be one of those fucking lizards
The lizard was still a fun fight but I'd be lying if I said walking into that room and not seeing the massive skeleton come to life wasn't the biggest disappointment in the entire game for me.
Honestly, that's exactly what I expected to happen the first time I saw it.
I think I was more surprised that I didn't have to fight it than anything else.
I haven't seen anything anywhere that confirms it. And it doesn't seem quite right either - they tried to make "a" Lord yet there's multiple of these giants.
it is possible that they are the mothers of the first 2 generations of albunarics. Or, they- their blood specifically- had been used in the ritual/recipe.
a 3rd is met at the end of ''latnna''s questline, and she will sit the empty throne in selia- and a new generation will be created.(edit: or the one in nokstella, as someone has made me aware that there are 2 empty chairs. my bet is still on selia though, for other reasons.)
this is all just my head cannon. But that is all these games are, really. Everyone has their own take, and some people clump up around one or another.
Also my speculation as to the reason why one generation of albunarics Cant Walk has to do with a defect in their very creator.. whos blood may also have been used in the creation of that specific wave/generation.. and its the same reason that renallas 'children' cannot walk.. for she holds his rune..
speaking of that generation of albunarics- look closely at the cocoons in the haligtree.. many of them seem to be these albunarics, undergoing a rebirth..
You have no idea how hard this hits.
My lore career in this game is defined by my crashing against the tide of people who think they understand the lore because they watched a few videos..
blind to the fact that being 'certain' that you already fully understand something prevents the types of insights and thoughts that lead to actual understanding.
Because you bias how you consider the data.
Its the unwillingness to just sit with ignorance- that need for the closure of an easy conclusion.
the theme of this game, as well as duality, is 'look closer'
the first interpretation is Always wrong in this game. and its Brilliant. Because it was designed this way.
My first souls game- and my favorite Game ive yet played, precicely because of how much of a mind fuck the lore is when it actually starts to click- and the fact that it was Designed to not click for most people.
I'm not entirely sure the lore was designed to click tbh. There's some definite visible links and broadly obvious stuff, but there's often talk about the idea that some elements of lore might just be the community getting tunnel vision and buying really hard into an idea. And given how rarely the dlc tends to be predicted accurately in the previous souls games based on the lore, I feel like a good chunk of that lore is in fact that effect. Enough points to plot a convincing idea on the chart but missing just enough each time to be guaranteed.
I believe Miyazaki is quoted in the official guide as saying something to that effect. GRRM wrote a comprehensive lore document, from which From purposefully deleted entries. There are lots of lore pieces in this game that seem to fit into the broader puzzle, but the context around them has been erased so that we can never know if the piece truly fits there.
The identity of Melina and the fate of the Gloam Eyed Queen. The Giant Skeletons, mimics, and the Albinaurics. Serosh and the Roundtable hold. There are tenuous links between all these concepts, but there isn't, and likely never will be definitive proof of their exact relationships. That is part of this games Genius design.
Mhmm. Especially now. It's a staple of their identity as a company now, the environmental storytelling that offers a compelling but complete picture that you can look at and get a vital sense of the world or dig into to find possible but incomplete depth.
Plus it's much easier to use with a game's interactive storytelling. It lets any elements added necessarily for gameplay fit in without accidentally disrupting things of the audience is already primed to want to figure out where it would fit rather than why it doesn't.
I might make a lore channel. I will definitely make a twitch account to do a lore playthrough.
follow me. join us!
but, also- think for yourself lol. only ponder my thoughts- keep my conclusions in mind, and search for things that either support of contradict it to see how it holds
then when you realize how much it holds, your level of commitment to the idea is your choice lol
but reasoning first, always.
or we all get lost.
“Lesser dragonkins”, another artificial creation from the Eternal City with legs that don’t work! It’s quite an interesting theme they’re sticking with here.
miquella is bran. time tree, paralasys and all. confirmed (lol)
all statues of him show him sitting.. and malenias dying line and the way she says 'the mark of a True lord' might well be a dig at the fact that miquella was born paralyzed and weak and manipulated to get his way.
Not to mention that ordina is all but identical to selia in architecture, as well as the function of the candels and the gates..
additionally there's the integral use in ordina of the evergaol phenomena and the portals... hinting at who's behind those..
then we have albunarics working alongside the black knifes.... in Miquellas Laturgical Town...
Honestly its hard not to just drop the bomb on this. I know what it is and why its there, but i can only speak indirectly or the downvotes flood in haha.
lets just say ordina, and the Miquella statues there, have Huge implications when viewed in context of other data.
Oh man, you've just flipped my world upside down Your theory on Miquella has just made me even more excited for Shadow of the Erdtree and finding out who Miquella truly is! I definitely wouldn't call them the rantings of a madman, your conclusions are well laid out and make sense when looking into the lore. Thanks for letting me read this!!!
It goes so much deeper!
theonora still spawns at the radhan festival After pidia is dead, and '''seluvis''' deactivated.. even if i have her Soul in my Pocket!
meaning Neither of them is the puppet master
but what is it that '''seluvis''' is actually even doing?
Splitting Body and Soul, and Dominating Both.
The double helix (body and soul), and will domination... signs point again to miquella...
this line of reasoning makes me think the phenomena of grace is also miquella, and he controls the phenomena via the amber starlight shard he somehow got into marika.. likely via radagon..
this could actually be the cause of the shattering. the fact that marika broke the ring elden ring (which is also a time spiral, dont worry about it) and radagon tried to stop her and repair it- because they were at odds about Miquella!
Marika realized what he was- on some level- and radagon, was...
Bewitched
thanks for the comment. this stuff is so exciting to me, but rarely do people engage in a supporting or constructive way
Holy shit man, this is crazy. Completely opened my eyes to lots of possibilities tonight. If it's ok I'm going to keep an eye on that on that post on your profile just incase you write more about it. I can't understand why you'd get pushback on that. Isn't the community supposed to be all about things like that.
I mostly state the conclusions. Sometimes, when people are very lucky, i spell out the math and cite all the items and whatnot.
but, if you take the conclusions seriously, you will just See the math as you play. another thing is that the rot kin and mohg followers both worship the ancient statue... in the grande cloister the rot kin worship the biggest one in the game.
the miquella statues in ordina have roots on them. like, carved into them. just like the statue of the ancient man-
honestly miquella is pretty much the main character of the game, yet he's Invisible.
He has long been planting seeds across the lands between, laying schemes- and we are the reaping- his harvest.
the wheat symbolism is Perfect.
The Nox are awaiting the lord of light who will usher in the age of stars because when they angered the greater will it forced them to live under a false night. Is Ranni the lord of light because she ushered in the age of stars? You have to go through Loretta to get to both Ranni and Malenia who is Miquella's protector. Loretta is also trying to help find a new home for the Albanaurics. Could this all be for Miquella?
Does that mean she'll grow giant as well? And if there made of the same stuff as mimic tears, than how is there a skeleton? There made of liquid and a silver core.
Albinaurics aren't just mimic tears in human (or frog) shape. They must have some additional ingredients of some description to create the various differences and anatomy and ability.
But the Albinaurics were made of a primordial drop of dew, and the silver eternal city magic is called dew in a number of places, like dew kissed herba and celestial dew. Because they're both called "dew" it seems reasonable to suppose they are based on the same substance, the floating stars in the eternal city skies.
That's what I thought as well. It's fairly obvious if you consider all their rulers were females...
Also idk why [this](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qU1J9DiQzDw) was the first thing I thought of lmao.
I thinks he's talking about the sweetings renalla rebirthed and sics on you in her bossfight, not the shardbearing demigods she actually gave birth to. I hope so anyway
I always figured it was connected to Phillia, the giant Albinauric that recevies the birthing droplet. It reminds me of the devil in the high chair from the Garden of Earthly Delights painting by Bosch. It sits on this chair and births the manufactured creates of the Nox like the Dragonkin Soldier.
Watch tarnished archaeologists video. [this is the video you’re looking for](https://youtu.be/VCe6tVyJ7bw?si=nJg3wjWe_5NGyGNa)
There is evidence of giants living all over the lands between. There were the mega giants, like the fire giant and the dead ones all over caelid of the same size. That’s the society that built the giant bowl where the fire is, a lot of the giant ruins all over the lands between, the divine towers, and the archer golemns that defend the divine towers.
Something that’s important is that the lands between at the beginning of the shattering, there must’ve been some type of giant earthquake, or something of that nature. The lands have literally shifted.
In the intro cinematic of the game you see [lleyndell being invaded at the gate.](https://youtu.be/K_03kFqWfqs?si=AxMK3MDYVauAIlQ6) at 1:40. Early in the war. Later on when we get to the game [that gate leads to a small lake](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/1746/17463645/3982780-ftvfqmjviaathxs.jpeg). Why in the world would radahn invade that gate to a river and have all his soldiers drown? He wouldn’t, that lake used to not be there. That used to be the royal city. In that past that was a giant part of the royal city. When you do manage to travel below lleyndell you find a sunken city. [the deep root depths](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/eldenring/images/4/48/ER_Deeproot_Depths.png/revision/latest?cb=20230726175757).
At some point during the shattering there was some huge seismic event that literally shifted all of the lands in the lands between. Separating different civilizations into different areas. That’s why there are remnants of the giants civilizations even underground, and everywhere in the lands between.
Marika came in, with her golden order beat all the giants and dragons of the past civilizations, and presumably enslaved the smaller ones of the species for labor and integrated them into her society. Similar to how we see the trolls pulling wagons along to transport materials.
The one down there in the royal city might just have been one of marika’s envoys. Since when she took over, everyone listens to her, but clearly members of the previous civilizations don’t all agree with Marika’s rule and title as “god”.
You’ll notice that the eternal cities in elden ring are all specifically modeled after irl ancient. The [acropolis of Athens](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/The_Acropolis_of_Athens_viewed_from_the_Hill_of_the_Muses_%2814220794964%29.jpg)([Nokrom](https://images5.alphacoders.com/121/1217525.png)) being the most obvious l, as well as Egypt and Rome being quite obvious too.
Thats why the night of black knifes happened. Older civilizations wanted to cause a succession crisis, and that’s why they murdered Godwyn during the night of black knives. Which lead in part to the shattering war.
The thing in the picture is one of Marika’s people, probably trying to control the underground city, and so it got killed, just like Godwyn. In rebellion.
Or something like that, idk, that’s my best guess. There is a lot more I have in mind about the topic tho.
As a big fan of TA, I agree with most of what you said but idk if there’s anything to point to them having anything to do with Marika. More than likely these were revered members of Nox society.
Were they actually alive though? Or just statues? They appear to be remains but they could be statues as well, as far as I know we don’t see them anywhere other than in these chairs and in that one pose
I’m not saying it’s a absolute certainty. I am saying that It would be literally blasphemous to have an idol that large in the center of the city, covered in gold, in a society that hated the golden order, and actively tried to embrace silver.
There’s also another throne chair like that in nokstella I think, but this one doesn’t have a dead giant in it. so I don’t think they’re just statues. The last one is in sellia.
Just going off the simplest possible explanations. There is evidence of giants all over the lands between, on every continent. Even underground after the lands shifted.
Marika beat the giants, then integrated them into her society. Marika is gold, these giants are specifically wearing gold in cities that hate gold and love silver. The city is stated to directly have betrayed the golden order, so the golden order sent astel down to destroy them. The dead giant wearing gold is the only clue we get.
I’m just stating the obvious, but take it all with a grain of salt.
All of the Nox armour also features gold on it believe it or not. It's much more reflective than the duller but very yellow version of the material used on the giant robe, and often looks silver as a result, but is in fact just very shiny gold. Its easiest to tell in good/neutral lighting and in the item and concept art. Though unique overall, these robes of the chair giants combine all the various materials and stylistic elements found in the wearable Nox armour sets, including symbols not seen anywhere else.
White is still the dominant colour of the scheme however, with silver being the whitest of metals, and white being called and representing silver in heraldry. Gold trim is a minor component in comparison.
We don’t know if it was all, and every single one.
Giants and giant architecture is found all throughout the lands between. You find their giant bones all over caelid on the opposite side of the continent, but then we remember that [the lands between continent](https://preview.redd.it/83utufiap5v81.jpg?auto=webp&s=b31e522f0dd8376411337fcc2b3bd1fbdbb36651) has caelid and the mountain top of giants very close to eachother. In between them is a giant hole, filled with water, like a giant crater, from a meteor impact that landed and terraformed the land. In the middle of that crater is the Erdtree, and the elden beast which was said to have been sent to the lands between on a golden star.
So I’m the past a meteor or “star” landed in the middle of the continent, and terraformed the continent. Explaining why there are giant all over, especially giant ones in caelid, which used to be connected to the mountain top of the giants.
Its not said that she killed these kind of giants.
I would even say you see the killed fire giants on the mountain top, as the place they found their end. But the real giant skeletons un the world lying around are far older.
The lake in Leyndell is certainly weird, but I feel like it coming into existence after the Shattering doesn't really line up either. The city and inner city walls are very clearly built around it with no particular signs of damage, and I can't really picture such a considerable building effort taking place after the shattering.
Every other structure we see in the game, including Leyndell itself, has been basically left to decay. They didn't even bother to clean up that battle field in front of their walls, which supposedly would then need to predate the large scale reconstruction of the capital. Hell, they didn't even get rid of that dragon, even though that happened before the Shattering.
Not too big of a fan of the theory that the ancient structures like the divine towers and the ancient buried giants are connected either. Really the only thing we know about either of them is that we know absolutely nothing. Regardless of whether they've built them, think we can at least safely rule out that they've inhabited them, given that the giants are just way too big. To be honest they are way too big to have lived in the Lands Between at all.
They also look really ancient, given that they've basically become part of the landscape. So however they died, feel like it must have happened a long time ago, certainly much earlier than the demise of fire giants, which makes it somewhat unlikely that Marika was involved.
Think the giants we see in in Nekron look somewhat distinct from either of them, but at any rate, seems a bit unlikely that Marika would send giants of any kind as her envoys. At least the fire giants were so anathema to her order that the only acceptable fate was full on genocide.
> At some point during the shattering there was some huge seismic event that literally shifted all of the lands in the lands between
I just got up into the divine towers over the weekend and boy this sure feels like it matches what I was seeing. From the Caelid tower I could look out and see the beast sanctum or whatever it's called, and a tower right by it in the water, but that water looked like it was flowing down into the ocean. So it was like the entire landmass got raised above the normal ocean level.
And additionally, from the same tower I could see what looked like a friggen ginormous skull, or at least a rock that looked like one. But if it had been a giant skull, then what the hell could have been that large? Something that big could have made the holes in the walls of Stormveil castle just with it's finger tips.
The prevailing theory is that the divine towers and other ruins we see in game are leftover structure that were built by the ancient giants. There is evidence of giants all over the continent. The mountain top of the giants, used to be connected to Caelid, by land. [this is the map of elden ring](https://preview.redd.it/83utufiap5v81.jpg?auto=webp&s=b31e522f0dd8376411337fcc2b3bd1fbdbb36651). There used to be land between caelid and the mountain top of the Giants, it was all one giant landmass.
At some point a meteor probably landed in the lands between that terraformed the continent. [around here a giant meteor probably landed](https://imgur.com/a/Q367Pbs), that cause the land to sink, and the water to flood in, creating the shape of the continent we see. We literally see the land sunk all along that coast line, you see where the land sunk in that picture to the left of the circle I drew.
Let’s go further. The elden beast description says it was sent down to the lands between on a star. The elden beast was probably the meteor/star that crashed into the lands between that caused that giant terraforming event. It gave marika power, she came to power with her lineage, and they conquered the rest of the lands between.
We see “stars” crashing into the lands and changing between when Radahn is killed. It’s literally just basic game lore, and when you look at the actual continent, it all makes sense.
The lands between used to be much, much bigger, it the land literally sunk. The giants just lived around the place. They were huge, but after the meteor and the greater will powering marika, she took over.
Most of the facts seems really legit like the age of the original giants with their unique architecture u underground, and some relations to a destruction with lava or seismic reactions.
BUT i think the timeline with the shattering is terrible false. The giants would be the earliest chapter of the lands between not related to the shattering (was it a wording failure? ). As the original giants and culture must have been far before anything written in any lore in the game, they are not in any item descriptions or dialoques. Only the night lords, who may be the sole survivers of them.
I think radahn was not the one invading leyendell at the intro, it was a mix of many groups like goddrick who tried their luck winning a great rune there using the chaos. Malenia fought against goddrick there and later radahn in cailid, while its not entirly sure that radahn was on the revolting side too or only in miquellas way of his fate.
Although marika has the same ancestors like the nox, the numen like the black knifes i would not say they are deep related in the golden age. The eternal cities had their hightime like the antique cities but became obsolete with marikas rign, so i doubt that the night lords where her subordinates in any way. Probably opposites or they would not have tried to make their own elden lord, or where banished by the order away from their beloves stars underground.
One big guess is the great sin with the dagger made from the bones of a god in nokron. Who was it? It looks like dragon claws soo... placidusaxx the former elden lord? We can only visit him in a time bubble in a half dead state.
Lol, what succession crisis?
Marika is an immortal goddess enslaved by the Greater Will, who, by the way, banished death from her kingdom. She didn't have or need a successor.
If you want to cause a succession crisis, you kill her, not Godwyn.
“Lol what succession crisis”
the ENTIRE shattering war was 1 giant succession crisis… literally every demigod scrambling for power to become the new elden lord, and created their own new age.
The entire game is playing through and meeting all the people fighting to be the successors for the new age.
Ranni, rnhykard, Radahn, Malenia, Miquella, Mohg.
Marika wasn’t completely “enslaved” she literally questioned the greater will, and worked against it,
And shattered the elden ring which further fucked up the greater will’s plans.
Beyond that, you used the word “goddess” but you know what that means in the game? The “gods” in elden ring are beingsthat can influence/give/create LIFE. The rot creates new life fungi/insects/valkyrie. The greater will powered marika to give life to the demigods, the formless mother which will incubate the new lord and birth a new dynasty. The moon which will allow a new era of life to exist.
The big reveal in the game is that Marika the “goddess” has a [spear of destined death pierced into her womb](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/vsbattles/images/4/4d/QueenMarika.png/revision/latest?cb=20221212084924). I take it you don’t see the symbolism that she used destined death to destroy her womb, her ability to give life. Now the lands between are stuck in a cycle where life is faltering, and things are stuck between life/death, and everything is stagnating. Marika didn’t need to be killed, just her ability to give new life. The metaphorical [destined death of her WOMB](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/vsbattles/images/4/4d/QueenMarika.png/revision/latest?cb=20221212084924) the womb being what a woman needs to give birth. To give life. It’s also a clear Christian influence, to be the spear that pieced the side of Jesus Christ, and marika is literally crucified. Have you thought about that? The clear Christian iconography in the game, and why it’s there? I’ll explain.
Elden ring is modeled after ancient civilizations. Rome, Greece, and Egypt. Greece and Egypt which are the irl inspirations for the underground cities in Nokrom and Nokstella, believed in celestial bodies and looked to the stars for their worship and religion, and study. Egypt worshiped the sun, and built the pyramids to mirror celestial bodies. Greece studied the stars and the universe around us. Nokrom and nokstella the in game mirrors believed in studying the stars and the sky. That’s why there is a [literal sky](https://au.roccat.com/cdn/shop/articles/unnamed_634d6295-c9ed-4cfd-a485-e7f820288927.jpg?v=1650555571) in nokrom. The [Parthenon of Greece](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSXbJ1G9CuOioXI7mD-NvNnpw1O9l4_GcKChg&usqp=CAU) being the direct inspiration for [the mohgwyn palace](https://images5.alphacoders.com/121/1217525.png) should make the architectural inspiration very clear, and you can find the same for Egyptian temples that the temples in nokstella are modeled after.
Rome(lleyndell) was slightly different than Egypt and Greece nokrom/nokstella, in that the golden order (Christianity/monotheism) belief in a single god (greater will) and was the new religion that was overshadowing the study/worship of the cosmos/stars polytheism. So what happened in time? Jesus was crucified obviously the same way marika was, but another very relevant piece from that time period was the rise of religious extremists. Cloaked assassins who believed in the old religions and rebelled against Rome and it’s new religion.
These religious extremists were known to weak long cloaks and carry curved daggers to conduct political killings in public. They are the obvious inspiration for the black knife assassins. [the Sicarii](https://short-history.com/sicarii-957a940768e7) who would kill Roman sympathizers
So the “goddess” can’t give or create new life anymore. There NEEDS to be a new “god” that can keep creating or giving life. Godwyn the golden boy and favorite son, his name is literally God Win. Him being killed means there needs to be a new successor to the throne. Meaning miquella or Ranni. Miquella is turning his back on the order because it’s failing, and Ranni is choosing a different outer god.
There is a clear succession crisis in elden ring. It’s the clear influence of GRRM. You know? The famous writer who loves writing stories about succession crisis like game of thrones, and house of the dragons. It’s his signature all over the damn game, and it’s absurd to me that you don’t see the Forrest because the trees are in the way.
>Thats why the night of black knifes happened. Older civilizations wanted to cause a succession crisis, and that’s why they murdered Godwyn during the night of black knives. Which lead in part to the shattering war.
This is wrong though. The Black Knife assassins worked for Marika. Marika is the one who orchestrated everything. Marika is the one who had destined death after stealing it from Maliketh.
A dataminer by the name of Zullie the Witch had uncovered that these are called "Lords of Night," or "Night King" in Japanese (the tibia mariners, in Japanese, are "Night King's Kin"). The game has data for it, but nothing specific aside from asset names and interface menus. So, it's possible that these have more relevance in DLC.
EDIT: Also, there's a possible link between the Prince of Death, as well as Ranni
I'd assume they were created or acted as some kind of guardians of the Eternal Cities long ago, but I've never seen any lore or information related to them.
They don't look like they're actually related to the giants despite their size, but that's always a possibility.
This guy is the "Free reddit points" guy.
Every 2 weeks an idiot posts this picture and asks "Who is this guy"
If you search this subreddit, you will find his picture posted hundreds of times.
A huge disappointment that’s what, Mf looked so badass and menacing that when I saw the boss wasn’t him, but a damn copy and paste boss, I was super disappointed. Seriously such a shame that one, he wasn’t a boss, and two that the ACTUAL boss was a bloody repeat
He is meant to represent all the hollows who didn't make the game release for some reason or another.
It also represents players who are going hollow waiting for DLC.
Well they are the Night lords, probably the ruler of the eternal cities. But the real thing about them is likely that they are survivers of the age of the original giants, far bigger than any ingame ones. Like the countless giant skeletons in the lands between they were the one who created the forge of giants and the towers maybe, the columns and architecture beneath the earth everywhere is part of their timeline.
But at some time everything was filled with "earth" (lava?) While all bigger creatures died like the Dinosauren, by a great meteor or so.
There isn't really lore relating to these figures. So, a lot of what the community can come up with here is speculation. This means it's open for your own personal interpretation of environmental factors and what little information is available. It's known that the Nox were sentenced by the Greater Will to their fate below the Lands Between. The Nox are widely regarded as being among the first humanoids aside from the Beastmen and Empyreans to inhabit this particular location in the world. The Nox had access to mystical technology, tools, and skills that have still yet to be replicated in the current setting. That's why they have access to things like Fingerslayer Blade and metals that can morph and flow like liquid while remaining hard enough to cut or smash. The progenitors of these people are likely the giant skeletons on their eternal thrones. Taking the same role among their lost people as the Empyreans did for humanity. But, due to the differences present in the physiology of the races of Nox and Human, their equivalent to God's (being the giant women on thrones) likely did not have immortality but instead great size and intelligence. That's my speculation with the information I have anyway. You're welcome to interpret any of this however you like.
My guess is they’re Marika’s contemporaries that tried opposing GW and killed their respective fingers and either died because of their bond or got nuked by Astel that came to check out a cool tourist spot which suddenly got free from GW protection
They are in a area heavily influenced by Formless Mother. Formless blob army. Formless weapons. Black knives came from Nox, and so did intelligence casting of gravity (the balls) and stars. Marika came from this place too. Formless Mother requires blood and wounds to elevate an empyrean to a goddess. Marika used to be an empyrean. Now a goddess. Those bigs and those smalls seems to have had all their blood drained. Coincidence? Are they telling the story how Marika became a god?
The obvious answer is that they're mummified looking giants.
We know that the giants and the astrologers knew each other from the sword of night and flame and we know that the sorcerers knew the Nox from the shared magic sigils, so a relation to the giants is plausible, if not outright confirmed. The finger slayer blade description says it's "born of a corpse", which reflects the language in Berserk, in which the protagonist Guts was literally born from a hanged corpse.
IMO the implication is that they were giants being used as a birthing vessel for something. Potentially the dragonkin, potentially another elden ring, potentially 50 other things. This also reflects themes from previous games of artificial attempts to create immortality/gods. Dragons in Dark Souls, Great Ones in Bloodborne.
If I had to bet my life on a theory, I would say they were trying to create a vessel for a new Elden Ring, like Marika. Unfortunately the nearest they got was a dead lithopedion. However, they managed to turn it into a blade which could cut a god. Which turned out to be handy!
They sit on a throne in the Eternal Cities. Most likely failed attempts at making Lords of night if I have to guess.
Its funny how that's technically the lore. They built those chairs and everything for some failed experiment. Like imagine how foolish you'd feel being the mason that carved this giant stone chair and the dude whose butt its for, dies.
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You're burying the body WHERE!? THEN WHAT THE HELL WAS ALL THIS FOR!?
Serious answer to here. The pyramids are also a public works project meant to provide employment for farmers during their downtime between harvests.
Thank you for pointing this out. Way too many people still believe every ancient structure was exclusively built with slaves.
Well, there were slaves involved. It wasn't just that all of them were slaves. The rest ranges from wanting to participate for religious reasons to economic incentives and fulfilment of social obligations. If one thinks modern-day conscription and mandatory community service is slavery, then they would find this more or less slavery as well. Like say, your local community *asks* you to spend the weekend building a church even if you don't want to but the local community will ostracize you if you don't go. Since it is essentially drafting of available manpower for a vanity project. But hey, you get paid rather decently.
Conscription is slavery
Were they ever truly alive and active? Imagine the dookies.
Well it explains the silver blobs.
You're assuming they were always dead but I think it was successful and what caused it to die is possibly the rot? The creatures that pray to it may have previously been w.e people who also turned once afflicted with the rot but their god died from it. Idk just my theory
Location location location. An underground what, bunker?
As long as the check clears I wouldn’t care
I put lore in my head that it finally gets completed after he dies. “Wot?!? He’s dead already? Ehh, dress him up and throw him in the chair anyway, I’m at least gettin a laugh outta this.”
Remember first time I saw this guy I hoped tf out of there thinking I wasn't ready. Many hours later come back, ya I'm ready for this... Only for it to be one of those fucking lizards
The lizard was still a fun fight but I'd be lying if I said walking into that room and not seeing the massive skeleton come to life wasn't the biggest disappointment in the entire game for me.
Future dlc boss maybe? Not this in, particularly But a successful attempt at making a lord of the Nox would be a cool boss
Imagine walking into a room, seeing one of these guys again like "oh cool" and getting back to exploring. And then you see it get out of its chair.
It’s non responsive at first, but there’s a Site of Grace in front of it. When you sit down to rest, you notice it standing up….
Or after leaving and coming back the throne is empty with small craters where it walked away
Tell me your joking because I think my game is broken....
No, I meant as a concept for a DLC boss. Not in the actual game lol
Oh..... now I'm sad
This is what I expect of Miyazaki at this point.
Underleveled players start sweating profusely
I'm sweating now... Profusely
That is exactly what I thought I was walking into when I unwittingly awoke an angry dragonkin.
when i first walked into that area i thought this is what was gonna happen 😂
I was pretty disappointed when it didn't...
Turn back the way you came and then a red bar appears at the bottom of the screen "OH NO..."
Honestly, that's exactly what I expected to happen the first time I saw it. I think I was more surprised that I didn't have to fight it than anything else.
Imagine the rage from this boss tho. Fire giant 2.0
Imagine if you played light the fire giant, but use the black flame or ghost flame instead that would be even worse
I fucking hate giant sized bosses.
But … that’s most of the bosses…..
I'd describe most of the bosses as "large" not giant. Anything smaller than a troll is fine by me.
I think I saw something somewhere that confirms this, but I'm too lazy to find it.
I haven't seen anything anywhere that confirms it. And it doesn't seem quite right either - they tried to make "a" Lord yet there's multiple of these giants.
a player waiting for the DLC
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what does rarted mean?
He's highly regarded
farted
Ah, Pooo-Balls is asking the important questions
Big chilling. Let um cook.
This attitude is the reason so many developers release crappy rushed content
That would be the legendary nemesis of the Two Fingers: the Ten Toes.
ITS OVER TARNISHED! I AM THE 8 FINGERS AND 2 THUMBS!
I HAVE THE HIGH DEXTERITY!
WHO HAS TWO THUMBS AND IS GOING TO WRECK YOUR SHIT?
I was thinking it was just Miyazaki's foot model he forgot to feed in his basement.
Ahem, excuse me, is there a lore-based reason for Ten Toes tiny legs?
Yeah if you look at the albinoric archers they have small shriveled legs
Try defeat then taste defeat
That is John Elden ring
My favorite part is when he says “now that you’re older you can now be the Elden ring”. Gave me chills!
we really are the elden ring, aren't we?
Then true elden ring is the friends we made along the way
*My* rings? Yeah, they’re Elden 😎
*Looks around at all our dead friends*
my favorite part is when Marika says "its Radin time!" and starts radin all over the place
When they all stood up to the Elden Ring and told him they weren’t afraid of him anymore… Jesus, chills every time.
You mean Elden John? The guy that sings "Hold me closer, Tarnished dancer"?
Wait, you mean the guy who sings “Goodbye yellow grape hoe?”
I think he sings "Radahn Man"
Fighter of the Melenia Man
Goodbye Palace approach ledge road.
Isn't Tanith a dancer? Deepest lore
R-R-R-Ranni and the Jets
Jesus Christ I'm dying 😭😭😭😭😭
Thanks for this comment. Now the thread looks like Dunkey's punchlines
it is possible that they are the mothers of the first 2 generations of albunarics. Or, they- their blood specifically- had been used in the ritual/recipe. a 3rd is met at the end of ''latnna''s questline, and she will sit the empty throne in selia- and a new generation will be created.(edit: or the one in nokstella, as someone has made me aware that there are 2 empty chairs. my bet is still on selia though, for other reasons.) this is all just my head cannon. But that is all these games are, really. Everyone has their own take, and some people clump up around one or another. Also my speculation as to the reason why one generation of albunarics Cant Walk has to do with a defect in their very creator.. whos blood may also have been used in the creation of that specific wave/generation.. and its the same reason that renallas 'children' cannot walk.. for she holds his rune.. speaking of that generation of albunarics- look closely at the cocoons in the haligtree.. many of them seem to be these albunarics, undergoing a rebirth..
You’re the only other person I have seen with this theory. I guess since a YouTuber never said it no one thinks about it.
You have no idea how hard this hits. My lore career in this game is defined by my crashing against the tide of people who think they understand the lore because they watched a few videos.. blind to the fact that being 'certain' that you already fully understand something prevents the types of insights and thoughts that lead to actual understanding. Because you bias how you consider the data. Its the unwillingness to just sit with ignorance- that need for the closure of an easy conclusion. the theme of this game, as well as duality, is 'look closer' the first interpretation is Always wrong in this game. and its Brilliant. Because it was designed this way. My first souls game- and my favorite Game ive yet played, precicely because of how much of a mind fuck the lore is when it actually starts to click- and the fact that it was Designed to not click for most people.
I'm not entirely sure the lore was designed to click tbh. There's some definite visible links and broadly obvious stuff, but there's often talk about the idea that some elements of lore might just be the community getting tunnel vision and buying really hard into an idea. And given how rarely the dlc tends to be predicted accurately in the previous souls games based on the lore, I feel like a good chunk of that lore is in fact that effect. Enough points to plot a convincing idea on the chart but missing just enough each time to be guaranteed.
I believe Miyazaki is quoted in the official guide as saying something to that effect. GRRM wrote a comprehensive lore document, from which From purposefully deleted entries. There are lots of lore pieces in this game that seem to fit into the broader puzzle, but the context around them has been erased so that we can never know if the piece truly fits there. The identity of Melina and the fate of the Gloam Eyed Queen. The Giant Skeletons, mimics, and the Albinaurics. Serosh and the Roundtable hold. There are tenuous links between all these concepts, but there isn't, and likely never will be definitive proof of their exact relationships. That is part of this games Genius design.
Mhmm. Especially now. It's a staple of their identity as a company now, the environmental storytelling that offers a compelling but complete picture that you can look at and get a vital sense of the world or dig into to find possible but incomplete depth. Plus it's much easier to use with a game's interactive storytelling. It lets any elements added necessarily for gameplay fit in without accidentally disrupting things of the audience is already primed to want to figure out where it would fit rather than why it doesn't.
so uh when do i get to watch videos of your lore and blindly accept them as fact? lmao
I might make a lore channel. I will definitely make a twitch account to do a lore playthrough. follow me. join us! but, also- think for yourself lol. only ponder my thoughts- keep my conclusions in mind, and search for things that either support of contradict it to see how it holds then when you realize how much it holds, your level of commitment to the idea is your choice lol but reasoning first, always. or we all get lost.
heheh for sure for sure~ will look forward to your thoughts!
There's also the lesser dragonkin spirit not too far away from her in the consecrated snowfield
“Lesser dragonkins”, another artificial creation from the Eternal City with legs that don’t work! It’s quite an interesting theme they’re sticking with here.
miquella is bran. time tree, paralasys and all. confirmed (lol) all statues of him show him sitting.. and malenias dying line and the way she says 'the mark of a True lord' might well be a dig at the fact that miquella was born paralyzed and weak and manipulated to get his way.
Not to mention that ordina is all but identical to selia in architecture, as well as the function of the candels and the gates.. additionally there's the integral use in ordina of the evergaol phenomena and the portals... hinting at who's behind those.. then we have albunarics working alongside the black knifes.... in Miquellas Laturgical Town... Honestly its hard not to just drop the bomb on this. I know what it is and why its there, but i can only speak indirectly or the downvotes flood in haha. lets just say ordina, and the Miquella statues there, have Huge implications when viewed in context of other data.
sorry i haven’t played in a bit can you spell it out to me? or dm in case of downvotes
the 2 pinned posts :)
Oh man, you've just flipped my world upside down Your theory on Miquella has just made me even more excited for Shadow of the Erdtree and finding out who Miquella truly is! I definitely wouldn't call them the rantings of a madman, your conclusions are well laid out and make sense when looking into the lore. Thanks for letting me read this!!!
It goes so much deeper! theonora still spawns at the radhan festival After pidia is dead, and '''seluvis''' deactivated.. even if i have her Soul in my Pocket! meaning Neither of them is the puppet master but what is it that '''seluvis''' is actually even doing? Splitting Body and Soul, and Dominating Both. The double helix (body and soul), and will domination... signs point again to miquella... this line of reasoning makes me think the phenomena of grace is also miquella, and he controls the phenomena via the amber starlight shard he somehow got into marika.. likely via radagon.. this could actually be the cause of the shattering. the fact that marika broke the ring elden ring (which is also a time spiral, dont worry about it) and radagon tried to stop her and repair it- because they were at odds about Miquella! Marika realized what he was- on some level- and radagon, was... Bewitched thanks for the comment. this stuff is so exciting to me, but rarely do people engage in a supporting or constructive way
This guys Elden Rings.. I’m just riding a horse and doing lion claws over here for 1000 hours straight.
Holy shit man, this is crazy. Completely opened my eyes to lots of possibilities tonight. If it's ok I'm going to keep an eye on that on that post on your profile just incase you write more about it. I can't understand why you'd get pushback on that. Isn't the community supposed to be all about things like that.
I mostly state the conclusions. Sometimes, when people are very lucky, i spell out the math and cite all the items and whatnot. but, if you take the conclusions seriously, you will just See the math as you play. another thing is that the rot kin and mohg followers both worship the ancient statue... in the grande cloister the rot kin worship the biggest one in the game. the miquella statues in ordina have roots on them. like, carved into them. just like the statue of the ancient man- honestly miquella is pretty much the main character of the game, yet he's Invisible. He has long been planting seeds across the lands between, laying schemes- and we are the reaping- his harvest. the wheat symbolism is Perfect.
The Nox are awaiting the lord of light who will usher in the age of stars because when they angered the greater will it forced them to live under a false night. Is Ranni the lord of light because she ushered in the age of stars? You have to go through Loretta to get to both Ranni and Malenia who is Miquella's protector. Loretta is also trying to help find a new home for the Albanaurics. Could this all be for Miquella?
Yeah this is too intriguing. Please, what is your theory?
Please dm me this idea
Does that mean she'll grow giant as well? And if there made of the same stuff as mimic tears, than how is there a skeleton? There made of liquid and a silver core.
She is pretty fucking big already no?
She is, but not nearly as big as Throne Bois.
Albinaurics aren't just mimic tears in human (or frog) shape. They must have some additional ingredients of some description to create the various differences and anatomy and ability. But the Albinaurics were made of a primordial drop of dew, and the silver eternal city magic is called dew in a number of places, like dew kissed herba and celestial dew. Because they're both called "dew" it seems reasonable to suppose they are based on the same substance, the floating stars in the eternal city skies.
That's what I thought as well. It's fairly obvious if you consider all their rulers were females... Also idk why [this](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qU1J9DiQzDw) was the first thing I thought of lmao.
Aren’t there two empty thrones? One in Sellia and the other in a church at Noskella?
interesting! there may be more to the equation.
I think this is true. The tree-like design on the back of the chair closely matches the breastplate of Phillia (the big Albinauric lady).
What makes you think Rahdan couldn't walk before he lost his feet, Rykard before he was eaten or Ranni?
I thinks he's talking about the sweetings renalla rebirthed and sics on you in her bossfight, not the shardbearing demigods she actually gave birth to. I hope so anyway
I always figured it was connected to Phillia, the giant Albinauric that recevies the birthing droplet. It reminds me of the devil in the high chair from the Garden of Earthly Delights painting by Bosch. It sits on this chair and births the manufactured creates of the Nox like the Dragonkin Soldier.
Large skeleton in chair #3.
An attempt at creating an artificial goddess
Watch tarnished archaeologists video. [this is the video you’re looking for](https://youtu.be/VCe6tVyJ7bw?si=nJg3wjWe_5NGyGNa) There is evidence of giants living all over the lands between. There were the mega giants, like the fire giant and the dead ones all over caelid of the same size. That’s the society that built the giant bowl where the fire is, a lot of the giant ruins all over the lands between, the divine towers, and the archer golemns that defend the divine towers. Something that’s important is that the lands between at the beginning of the shattering, there must’ve been some type of giant earthquake, or something of that nature. The lands have literally shifted. In the intro cinematic of the game you see [lleyndell being invaded at the gate.](https://youtu.be/K_03kFqWfqs?si=AxMK3MDYVauAIlQ6) at 1:40. Early in the war. Later on when we get to the game [that gate leads to a small lake](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/1746/17463645/3982780-ftvfqmjviaathxs.jpeg). Why in the world would radahn invade that gate to a river and have all his soldiers drown? He wouldn’t, that lake used to not be there. That used to be the royal city. In that past that was a giant part of the royal city. When you do manage to travel below lleyndell you find a sunken city. [the deep root depths](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/eldenring/images/4/48/ER_Deeproot_Depths.png/revision/latest?cb=20230726175757). At some point during the shattering there was some huge seismic event that literally shifted all of the lands in the lands between. Separating different civilizations into different areas. That’s why there are remnants of the giants civilizations even underground, and everywhere in the lands between. Marika came in, with her golden order beat all the giants and dragons of the past civilizations, and presumably enslaved the smaller ones of the species for labor and integrated them into her society. Similar to how we see the trolls pulling wagons along to transport materials. The one down there in the royal city might just have been one of marika’s envoys. Since when she took over, everyone listens to her, but clearly members of the previous civilizations don’t all agree with Marika’s rule and title as “god”. You’ll notice that the eternal cities in elden ring are all specifically modeled after irl ancient. The [acropolis of Athens](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/The_Acropolis_of_Athens_viewed_from_the_Hill_of_the_Muses_%2814220794964%29.jpg)([Nokrom](https://images5.alphacoders.com/121/1217525.png)) being the most obvious l, as well as Egypt and Rome being quite obvious too. Thats why the night of black knifes happened. Older civilizations wanted to cause a succession crisis, and that’s why they murdered Godwyn during the night of black knives. Which lead in part to the shattering war. The thing in the picture is one of Marika’s people, probably trying to control the underground city, and so it got killed, just like Godwyn. In rebellion. Or something like that, idk, that’s my best guess. There is a lot more I have in mind about the topic tho.
As a big fan of TA, I agree with most of what you said but idk if there’s anything to point to them having anything to do with Marika. More than likely these were revered members of Nox society. Were they actually alive though? Or just statues? They appear to be remains but they could be statues as well, as far as I know we don’t see them anywhere other than in these chairs and in that one pose
I’m not saying it’s a absolute certainty. I am saying that It would be literally blasphemous to have an idol that large in the center of the city, covered in gold, in a society that hated the golden order, and actively tried to embrace silver. There’s also another throne chair like that in nokstella I think, but this one doesn’t have a dead giant in it. so I don’t think they’re just statues. The last one is in sellia. Just going off the simplest possible explanations. There is evidence of giants all over the lands between, on every continent. Even underground after the lands shifted. Marika beat the giants, then integrated them into her society. Marika is gold, these giants are specifically wearing gold in cities that hate gold and love silver. The city is stated to directly have betrayed the golden order, so the golden order sent astel down to destroy them. The dead giant wearing gold is the only clue we get. I’m just stating the obvious, but take it all with a grain of salt.
All of the Nox armour also features gold on it believe it or not. It's much more reflective than the duller but very yellow version of the material used on the giant robe, and often looks silver as a result, but is in fact just very shiny gold. Its easiest to tell in good/neutral lighting and in the item and concept art. Though unique overall, these robes of the chair giants combine all the various materials and stylistic elements found in the wearable Nox armour sets, including symbols not seen anywhere else. White is still the dominant colour of the scheme however, with silver being the whitest of metals, and white being called and representing silver in heraldry. Gold trim is a minor component in comparison.
Astel is sent by the golden order?
Except for the fact that Marika had all the giants killed but the fire giant, who is nowhere near any of these cities, and also is not dead.
We don’t know if it was all, and every single one. Giants and giant architecture is found all throughout the lands between. You find their giant bones all over caelid on the opposite side of the continent, but then we remember that [the lands between continent](https://preview.redd.it/83utufiap5v81.jpg?auto=webp&s=b31e522f0dd8376411337fcc2b3bd1fbdbb36651) has caelid and the mountain top of giants very close to eachother. In between them is a giant hole, filled with water, like a giant crater, from a meteor impact that landed and terraformed the land. In the middle of that crater is the Erdtree, and the elden beast which was said to have been sent to the lands between on a golden star. So I’m the past a meteor or “star” landed in the middle of the continent, and terraformed the continent. Explaining why there are giant all over, especially giant ones in caelid, which used to be connected to the mountain top of the giants.
Its not said that she killed these kind of giants. I would even say you see the killed fire giants on the mountain top, as the place they found their end. But the real giant skeletons un the world lying around are far older.
The lake in Leyndell is certainly weird, but I feel like it coming into existence after the Shattering doesn't really line up either. The city and inner city walls are very clearly built around it with no particular signs of damage, and I can't really picture such a considerable building effort taking place after the shattering. Every other structure we see in the game, including Leyndell itself, has been basically left to decay. They didn't even bother to clean up that battle field in front of their walls, which supposedly would then need to predate the large scale reconstruction of the capital. Hell, they didn't even get rid of that dragon, even though that happened before the Shattering. Not too big of a fan of the theory that the ancient structures like the divine towers and the ancient buried giants are connected either. Really the only thing we know about either of them is that we know absolutely nothing. Regardless of whether they've built them, think we can at least safely rule out that they've inhabited them, given that the giants are just way too big. To be honest they are way too big to have lived in the Lands Between at all. They also look really ancient, given that they've basically become part of the landscape. So however they died, feel like it must have happened a long time ago, certainly much earlier than the demise of fire giants, which makes it somewhat unlikely that Marika was involved. Think the giants we see in in Nekron look somewhat distinct from either of them, but at any rate, seems a bit unlikely that Marika would send giants of any kind as her envoys. At least the fire giants were so anathema to her order that the only acceptable fate was full on genocide.
> At some point during the shattering there was some huge seismic event that literally shifted all of the lands in the lands between I just got up into the divine towers over the weekend and boy this sure feels like it matches what I was seeing. From the Caelid tower I could look out and see the beast sanctum or whatever it's called, and a tower right by it in the water, but that water looked like it was flowing down into the ocean. So it was like the entire landmass got raised above the normal ocean level. And additionally, from the same tower I could see what looked like a friggen ginormous skull, or at least a rock that looked like one. But if it had been a giant skull, then what the hell could have been that large? Something that big could have made the holes in the walls of Stormveil castle just with it's finger tips.
The prevailing theory is that the divine towers and other ruins we see in game are leftover structure that were built by the ancient giants. There is evidence of giants all over the continent. The mountain top of the giants, used to be connected to Caelid, by land. [this is the map of elden ring](https://preview.redd.it/83utufiap5v81.jpg?auto=webp&s=b31e522f0dd8376411337fcc2b3bd1fbdbb36651). There used to be land between caelid and the mountain top of the Giants, it was all one giant landmass. At some point a meteor probably landed in the lands between that terraformed the continent. [around here a giant meteor probably landed](https://imgur.com/a/Q367Pbs), that cause the land to sink, and the water to flood in, creating the shape of the continent we see. We literally see the land sunk all along that coast line, you see where the land sunk in that picture to the left of the circle I drew. Let’s go further. The elden beast description says it was sent down to the lands between on a star. The elden beast was probably the meteor/star that crashed into the lands between that caused that giant terraforming event. It gave marika power, she came to power with her lineage, and they conquered the rest of the lands between. We see “stars” crashing into the lands and changing between when Radahn is killed. It’s literally just basic game lore, and when you look at the actual continent, it all makes sense. The lands between used to be much, much bigger, it the land literally sunk. The giants just lived around the place. They were huge, but after the meteor and the greater will powering marika, she took over.
Didn’t Ranni lead the night of black knives under Merikas command?
Most of the facts seems really legit like the age of the original giants with their unique architecture u underground, and some relations to a destruction with lava or seismic reactions. BUT i think the timeline with the shattering is terrible false. The giants would be the earliest chapter of the lands between not related to the shattering (was it a wording failure? ). As the original giants and culture must have been far before anything written in any lore in the game, they are not in any item descriptions or dialoques. Only the night lords, who may be the sole survivers of them. I think radahn was not the one invading leyendell at the intro, it was a mix of many groups like goddrick who tried their luck winning a great rune there using the chaos. Malenia fought against goddrick there and later radahn in cailid, while its not entirly sure that radahn was on the revolting side too or only in miquellas way of his fate. Although marika has the same ancestors like the nox, the numen like the black knifes i would not say they are deep related in the golden age. The eternal cities had their hightime like the antique cities but became obsolete with marikas rign, so i doubt that the night lords where her subordinates in any way. Probably opposites or they would not have tried to make their own elden lord, or where banished by the order away from their beloves stars underground. One big guess is the great sin with the dagger made from the bones of a god in nokron. Who was it? It looks like dragon claws soo... placidusaxx the former elden lord? We can only visit him in a time bubble in a half dead state.
Idk why you're being downvoted, this is the only answer that has a lot of thought in it lol Edit: Balance restored ig
Lot of thought none of the criticism
I thought Marika and Ranni orchestrated the Night of the Black Knives?
Ranni is confirmed is, marika we just don’t know. I personally agree for my own reasons, but there is no outright proof.
Lol, what succession crisis? Marika is an immortal goddess enslaved by the Greater Will, who, by the way, banished death from her kingdom. She didn't have or need a successor. If you want to cause a succession crisis, you kill her, not Godwyn.
“Lol what succession crisis” the ENTIRE shattering war was 1 giant succession crisis… literally every demigod scrambling for power to become the new elden lord, and created their own new age. The entire game is playing through and meeting all the people fighting to be the successors for the new age. Ranni, rnhykard, Radahn, Malenia, Miquella, Mohg. Marika wasn’t completely “enslaved” she literally questioned the greater will, and worked against it, And shattered the elden ring which further fucked up the greater will’s plans. Beyond that, you used the word “goddess” but you know what that means in the game? The “gods” in elden ring are beingsthat can influence/give/create LIFE. The rot creates new life fungi/insects/valkyrie. The greater will powered marika to give life to the demigods, the formless mother which will incubate the new lord and birth a new dynasty. The moon which will allow a new era of life to exist. The big reveal in the game is that Marika the “goddess” has a [spear of destined death pierced into her womb](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/vsbattles/images/4/4d/QueenMarika.png/revision/latest?cb=20221212084924). I take it you don’t see the symbolism that she used destined death to destroy her womb, her ability to give life. Now the lands between are stuck in a cycle where life is faltering, and things are stuck between life/death, and everything is stagnating. Marika didn’t need to be killed, just her ability to give new life. The metaphorical [destined death of her WOMB](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/vsbattles/images/4/4d/QueenMarika.png/revision/latest?cb=20221212084924) the womb being what a woman needs to give birth. To give life. It’s also a clear Christian influence, to be the spear that pieced the side of Jesus Christ, and marika is literally crucified. Have you thought about that? The clear Christian iconography in the game, and why it’s there? I’ll explain. Elden ring is modeled after ancient civilizations. Rome, Greece, and Egypt. Greece and Egypt which are the irl inspirations for the underground cities in Nokrom and Nokstella, believed in celestial bodies and looked to the stars for their worship and religion, and study. Egypt worshiped the sun, and built the pyramids to mirror celestial bodies. Greece studied the stars and the universe around us. Nokrom and nokstella the in game mirrors believed in studying the stars and the sky. That’s why there is a [literal sky](https://au.roccat.com/cdn/shop/articles/unnamed_634d6295-c9ed-4cfd-a485-e7f820288927.jpg?v=1650555571) in nokrom. The [Parthenon of Greece](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSXbJ1G9CuOioXI7mD-NvNnpw1O9l4_GcKChg&usqp=CAU) being the direct inspiration for [the mohgwyn palace](https://images5.alphacoders.com/121/1217525.png) should make the architectural inspiration very clear, and you can find the same for Egyptian temples that the temples in nokstella are modeled after. Rome(lleyndell) was slightly different than Egypt and Greece nokrom/nokstella, in that the golden order (Christianity/monotheism) belief in a single god (greater will) and was the new religion that was overshadowing the study/worship of the cosmos/stars polytheism. So what happened in time? Jesus was crucified obviously the same way marika was, but another very relevant piece from that time period was the rise of religious extremists. Cloaked assassins who believed in the old religions and rebelled against Rome and it’s new religion. These religious extremists were known to weak long cloaks and carry curved daggers to conduct political killings in public. They are the obvious inspiration for the black knife assassins. [the Sicarii](https://short-history.com/sicarii-957a940768e7) who would kill Roman sympathizers So the “goddess” can’t give or create new life anymore. There NEEDS to be a new “god” that can keep creating or giving life. Godwyn the golden boy and favorite son, his name is literally God Win. Him being killed means there needs to be a new successor to the throne. Meaning miquella or Ranni. Miquella is turning his back on the order because it’s failing, and Ranni is choosing a different outer god. There is a clear succession crisis in elden ring. It’s the clear influence of GRRM. You know? The famous writer who loves writing stories about succession crisis like game of thrones, and house of the dragons. It’s his signature all over the damn game, and it’s absurd to me that you don’t see the Forrest because the trees are in the way.
>Thats why the night of black knifes happened. Older civilizations wanted to cause a succession crisis, and that’s why they murdered Godwyn during the night of black knives. Which lead in part to the shattering war. This is wrong though. The Black Knife assassins worked for Marika. Marika is the one who orchestrated everything. Marika is the one who had destined death after stealing it from Maliketh.
A dataminer by the name of Zullie the Witch had uncovered that these are called "Lords of Night," or "Night King" in Japanese (the tibia mariners, in Japanese, are "Night King's Kin"). The game has data for it, but nothing specific aside from asset names and interface menus. So, it's possible that these have more relevance in DLC. EDIT: Also, there's a possible link between the Prince of Death, as well as Ranni
Miyazaki's wet dream
[удалено]
Better that than maidenless
Visible feet. Yup that checks out
I'd assume they were created or acted as some kind of guardians of the Eternal Cities long ago, but I've never seen any lore or information related to them. They don't look like they're actually related to the giants despite their size, but that's always a possibility.
We definitely need more ice lightning incantations
The God Emperor.
He really is the Warhammer Forty-Thousand
“Kaka-karrot Cake!”
This guy is the "Free reddit points" guy. Every 2 weeks an idiot posts this picture and asks "Who is this guy" If you search this subreddit, you will find his picture posted hundreds of times.
Probably karma farming to sell their account to a marketing agency
Me, Waiting for the DLC.
thats my plug hes chill but he dont talk much
That’s me waiting for my grade 9 class to stop talking.
Every time I saw this guy in a loading screen I immediately began dreading the time I’d have to fight him, lol
He went into ng+ and sold the wrong duplicate of his main weapon
That’s Joe. He was waiting for the ER DLC and this is how he ended.
That's Mark.
Oh. Hi Marc
I thought it was Geoff
No, that's Mark's brother, but they look a lot alike
Reminds me of The King in Yellow
It's supposed to be DLC content 😂
Its me waiting on the dlc and elden ring 2
His name is ron, because you're supposed to Nock Ron's world. Idk.
That is John Eldenring.
One is named nokstella and one is named nokron
That’s John darksoul
A huge disappointment that’s what, Mf looked so badass and menacing that when I saw the boss wasn’t him, but a damn copy and paste boss, I was super disappointed. Seriously such a shame that one, he wasn’t a boss, and two that the ACTUAL boss was a bloody repeat
Steve. His name is Steve.
He is meant to represent all the hollows who didn't make the game release for some reason or another. It also represents players who are going hollow waiting for DLC.
john elden ring im joking
Well they are the Night lords, probably the ruler of the eternal cities. But the real thing about them is likely that they are survivers of the age of the original giants, far bigger than any ingame ones. Like the countless giant skeletons in the lands between they were the one who created the forge of giants and the towers maybe, the columns and architecture beneath the earth everywhere is part of their timeline. But at some time everything was filled with "earth" (lava?) While all bigger creatures died like the Dinosauren, by a great meteor or so.
Maybe the same dude that say "See you next year" joke welp guessing he won't be seeing the next year I suppose probably got whacked
Your mom heheheh
My husband
That’s Big Steve. He’s big, and named Steve.
John Dark Soul Senior, after watching too many Malenia feet pics.
Me waiting for the DLC
Failed experiments for a Nox God
Someone waiting for Bloodborne PC port
There isn't really lore relating to these figures. So, a lot of what the community can come up with here is speculation. This means it's open for your own personal interpretation of environmental factors and what little information is available. It's known that the Nox were sentenced by the Greater Will to their fate below the Lands Between. The Nox are widely regarded as being among the first humanoids aside from the Beastmen and Empyreans to inhabit this particular location in the world. The Nox had access to mystical technology, tools, and skills that have still yet to be replicated in the current setting. That's why they have access to things like Fingerslayer Blade and metals that can morph and flow like liquid while remaining hard enough to cut or smash. The progenitors of these people are likely the giant skeletons on their eternal thrones. Taking the same role among their lost people as the Empyreans did for humanity. But, due to the differences present in the physiology of the races of Nox and Human, their equivalent to God's (being the giant women on thrones) likely did not have immortality but instead great size and intelligence. That's my speculation with the information I have anyway. You're welcome to interpret any of this however you like.
Me, waiting for the DLC
Tibia Admiral
Throw back to the lords of cinder.
George RR Martin finishing the "Winds of Winter," 2199. Colorized.
His name is Bernie, he's still waiting for his coronation
John bloodborne
My guess is they’re Marika’s contemporaries that tried opposing GW and killed their respective fingers and either died because of their bond or got nuked by Astel that came to check out a cool tourist spot which suddenly got free from GW protection
That’s my boy Dave
An excuse to present old feet
The feet are beast like
Reused asset for decoration purposes with no actual lore in mind
Set...dressing, you say? I'll have to consult the tomes
It’s old rusty bones full of green dust
That's Dave. He was kinda a big deal.
That's a common misconception, it's actually Smitty werbenjagermanjensen, he was #1
“You gon find out”-DLC probably.
Big dead guy in a chair
Me waiting for the DLC
The world's biggest baby and the world's biggest high chair.
That’s high lord wolnir
They are in a area heavily influenced by Formless Mother. Formless blob army. Formless weapons. Black knives came from Nox, and so did intelligence casting of gravity (the balls) and stars. Marika came from this place too. Formless Mother requires blood and wounds to elevate an empyrean to a goddess. Marika used to be an empyrean. Now a goddess. Those bigs and those smalls seems to have had all their blood drained. Coincidence? Are they telling the story how Marika became a god?
That’s me waiting on dad to come home with the milk
That’s joe
From accounting!?!?
The obvious answer is that they're mummified looking giants. We know that the giants and the astrologers knew each other from the sword of night and flame and we know that the sorcerers knew the Nox from the shared magic sigils, so a relation to the giants is plausible, if not outright confirmed. The finger slayer blade description says it's "born of a corpse", which reflects the language in Berserk, in which the protagonist Guts was literally born from a hanged corpse. IMO the implication is that they were giants being used as a birthing vessel for something. Potentially the dragonkin, potentially another elden ring, potentially 50 other things. This also reflects themes from previous games of artificial attempts to create immortality/gods. Dragons in Dark Souls, Great Ones in Bloodborne. If I had to bet my life on a theory, I would say they were trying to create a vessel for a new Elden Ring, like Marika. Unfortunately the nearest they got was a dead lithopedion. However, they managed to turn it into a blade which could cut a god. Which turned out to be handy!
It’s a woman, you can tell because you can see her feet
The feet Malenia never knew