I think Iji is a puppet. Look at his death pose - it's the same as the other puppets but we were less likely to recognize it due to Iji's frame. How that comes into play with the rest of the events is a mystery to me otherwise though. I don't think Iji orchestrated the assassination - I think it's more likely that he knew something that we as a viewer or third party don't know. Hoping more gets explained in the DLC. That being said, I liked the video! Gave me some more things to think about and I didn't notice the different origins of the black and red flame in this context. Good point out!

I mean that’s better than being an off brand 40K dreadnaught, aka being a mangled corpse barely being held alive via advanced life support

The dragon dancer from the dlc kinda looks like that capricorn you spoke of. Supposedly it drops a Talisman that boosts “storm damage” as well. Maybe some of these persisting questions will be answered in the DLC, but even if not I think this video was an exceptional overview of what we see of the Banished Knights in game. I’m sated.

I know this game lore more deeply than one should for someone too unskilled to play the game. I never understood why we encounter a Baleful Shadow and defeated it BUT STILL Blaidd is at the Three Sisters. It’s obvious there’s something going on and that I think Iji intended to keep Blaidd safe from Ranni and himself in case he really got mad. It wasn’t the case. He sounds so remorseful. I think you have a great case if Iji, a giant, decided to go by using the Blackflame, as it was a known mark of a traitor within the Firemonks

This game makes me feel like im Indiana Jones trying to put all these lore puzzle pieces together.

Can I get a drink with those vocal fries? Great video, I like it.

I always thought that banished knight was mourning and praying for one of his fallen storm hawks.

Very insteresting as always (and good music choice)

Huge bearded guy statue is like Moses with his tablet, carrying a. Prophecy

Im 100% convinced the Divine Towers were used to "disconnect" the Land of Shadow from the Lands Between, so the DLC map basically. The info we have on the DLC says that the Land of Shadow used to be a part of the Lands between, but was "physically disconnected" from the lands between. It also says the Land of Shadow is "veiled" or "cloaked" in a way, so hidden basically, which would explain the cloud in the middle of that big empty space. Which would again suggest the Divine towers, which just so happen to perfectly circle around that empty space, were used to "disconnect" the land of shadow by marika. And as a little bonus, when the game was about to release, Miyazaki said the game would take roughly 30 hours to complete. A clear understatement. This time he said the Map size would be roughly the size of Limgrave. If you look at the big empty space in the middle of the map, its just a bit bigger than Limgrave, it would perfectly fit as the size of the DLC area, if we account for another understatement regarding "roughly the same size as Limgrave"

Despite being a light-roller and not really being able to make much use for it, the unaltered Banished Knight set is maybe the dopest looking armor set in the game. That scarf is incredible. There's another question though - why is Stormveil Castle exclusively patrolled by Banished Knights and Exiles, and not Godrick's soldiers? It's almost like he doesn't trust his own men to guard him, and would rather rely on Banished Knight mercenaries.

I AM SO GLAD I FOUND THIS CHANNEL

I believe Farum Azula is a moving place. It may've once been located above Liurnia, from where it might've moved Southeast to Limgrave. The destruction of FA may've increased over time, and the trail of pieces indicates this direction. Right above Limgrave a lot of pieces fell down. The East of Weeping Peninsula was struck several times, and Caelid was struck once. This would imply that FA moved to the ocean east of the WP and around Caelid until it arrived in the far East of the map. This is one of several possibilities if the moving place hypothesis is true. The direction may be reversed instead. Either way we can't tell where FA was initially located.

Another thing, the older augmentation surgery is still available since is cheaper than newer ones.

I watched all the more popular channels, you had information in here none of them mentioned. A ton. Please give us more of your takes

Lmao, that intro is so rad. Absolutely spot on impression of 90s conspiracy shows

At the back of the Bestial Sanctum, you can fall down and get the Cinquadea dagger. Where that item lies directly lines up with angle of the bridge in Farum Azula, so I beleive Faram Azula once was slighty Northwest if the bestial sanctum, and lower down in a valley. Also, now that the DLC is coming out, I think Faram Azula was intentionally moved far to the east, so that the other areas of Shadow of the Erdtree could be concealed by a veil that drapes from the six divine towers. I also think wormfaces, the Gloameyed queen, and godskins originally come from this veiled land.

Banished knights will always be my favorite knights in elden ring ive always felt like the unaltered set was like a coat a higher ranking knight would wear

The reason Godfrey's Throne room artstyle inside Stormveil and his Axe having similar features to Farum Azula's artstyle and weaponry is becase those both were previous NOT Godfrey's. They were Serrosh's. The Throne itself is a later addition to the castle probably, it shows a Tree of Jesse with people being literally born from the Tree (a later innovation of the Golden Order), but the motiffs on the ground are older, they indeed fit with Farum Azula and the Beastmen society. Serrosh also has a 5-fingered Mace, the Beastclaw Greathammer, dedicated to him, and to the 5 Fingers as a Symbol of intellect once granted to the Beastmen. Serrosh's personal Axe (now Godfrey's broken Axe) also has the same exact style of carvings/symbols on the axe-blade as the Beastman weapons, and the same texture/sheen of metal. Serrosh is the Lion depicted in and on Roundtable Hold, Castle Morne and Stormveil, Serrosh's relief is also found right behind Godfrey's statue in the Throne room, he is eclipsed by it. This shows that Godfrey's statue was a later addition, when the Lord of the castle changed. This is also a common practice in medieval times. Serrosh is a Lord of Beasts, most likely Stormveil was his castle originally, and Serrosh served the Storm Lord, as his Lion Motiff is literally everywhere, and even in other castles with similar archtiecture to the others of this era, Morne, Sol, Roundtable, etc, albeit the golden embellishments that make Stormveil unique are a later development, when Gold was used to signify the new Order, and Godfrey made this place his home. Conclusion: Serrosh was defeated by Godfrey, but was later taken on as a war-counselor by him, Godfrey did this to gain more power, instead of staying in permanent war with Serrosh, and the Banished Knights who were also tied to the Storm Lord/Storm Hawk, he conquered and took them in his Order under Marika, making allies from previous enemies. Their weaponry and banners are also all over the castles of this era, and Stormveil. We also know where Godfrey's original axe was, it's now stuck in the Table in the Roundtable, and it has an oxidized bronze (green) coloration, so this has been there for quite some time, the nearby swords in the table were the Crucible Knight's previous weapons, this table marks the moment in time when Godfrey became Elden Lord, and he then took Serrosh as a war counselor. As this castle, the Roundtable Hold, was also previously not his, but under Serrosh's command.

On the matter of "The Golden Line" I think if you've seen TA's videos on this, by now we know that, at least past a certain point, the only way people were born, including the royalty, was directly from the Erdtree in a very literal way, since Marika supplanted Destined Death, she essentially cut off the people from the spirit world and forced the world into a cycle of rebirth and erdtree burial. Thus, any number of demigods could have been born of the Tree. The reason some NPC's still refer to actual blood-relation is because this system of Erdtree burial and rebirth was only employed AFTER Destined Death was sealed, which is in itself not the actual start of Marika's story as Empyrean, but merely the start of the (2nd) era of the Golden Order. We know that the first Era of the Golden Order somewht overlapped with the last Era of the Great Tree, this would be the Crucible Era, the transition age, when Marika became Queen, natural reproduction still existed.

On the Elden Beast/Meteorite Arrival I think if you look at the early concept map of Elden Ring, there is a HUGE crater right in the middle of the map, that today is a sea, the central sea that is completely empty. The six Divine Towers also surround this location, and a simple inspection of the architecture would indicate the Divine Towers are of the same stratum as the Forge of Giants and typical Giant architecture, the Divine Towers also have meteoric rock in them, and the sigil of the Fel God. It's clear that several meteors have hit the lands in between, and it's hard to say which one actually brought the Elden Beast here. I for one think that the "crumbling" of Farum Azula atleast in some capacity has also been happening even in recent times, since we can see Farum Azula ruins ON TOP of the pre-existing Golden Road connecting major cities, including connecting Eternal Cities that are now underground. They themselves were also buried by another, previous event, also by gravity magic.

I'm not sure we should interpret the cut marks on the Fingers by Ranni as an actual equivalent to Godwyn or Ranni's flesh cursemarks, the first was made with the Fingerslayer Blade, the latter with Black Knives. Might just be Ranni having spite for the Fingers and intentionally mocking them while killing them with this kind of design, but i doubt she intended anything less than the complete murder of the Fingers. The Fingerslayer Blade itself is very different than the Black Knife, it has a more similar twin-helix design to the Sacred Relic Sword. This suggests the Fingerslayer Blade itself is the result, or was used to succesfully kill something before, probably another pair of Fingers, which is what prompted the severe punishment and banishment of the Nox (at that time Numen) civilizations underground. While we don't know when this event would have taken place, i suspect it was long before Destined Death was removed from the world, so any instance of death at that time would have been permanent, hence the body of the victim becomes a relic.

At this point i'm thinking the real origin of Banished Knights, or atleast their roots are from the Great Tree era, and their supreme commander (or atleast a notable faction among them) was the Storm Lord, wether or not that was Placidusaxx, Placidusaxx was the Elden Lord of this era anyway. Which means they potentially date even further back than Crucible Knights, or maybe Crucible Knights were an upgraded troop, since the Crucible Era is more of an intermediary stage, after the Great Tree was cut down and the competition between sprouts (and the Golden Erdtree sprout) started. And we know Godfrey's personal warband was comprised of Crucible Knights, their old gear and Godfrey's old Axe are in the table of the Roundtable. But the Banished Knights themselves definetly seem to have been merely conquered and co-opted by Godfrey, made to serve the new Order that took over their homes, their heraldic symbols also pop up in Volcano Manor, indicating this Manor used to be owned by completely different people unlike today's snake-worshippers. It also fits right in with Godfrey co-opting former adversaries into his own troops, like he did with Serrosh.

im pretty sure the lake of rot is in its state because it is a stagnant lake that the runoff from the Haligtree gathers in; pretty sure it had nothing to do with any old practices. also Diallos has a Numen soul... which is hilarious due to his self doubt.

i love your intro so much

You forgot the symbol of Godfrey at castle sol

When you mentioned penal colonies, I immediately thought about the ships on the coast of radahns boss area. Boats were commonly areas made for storing prisoners.

I would like you to dive down these rabbit holes you claimed are beyond the scope of this video, please. Please make long form videos giving me all the answers to all the questions about all the lore. Thank you. 😂🤣 But seriously, though. Utterly brilliant video. I love it. Please Moar sir, please. 🙏🥺🙏🥺🙏🥹🙏🥹

Loving these vids, keep it up!

For context, the Armored Core series has a running project across universes known most commonly as Human Plus. Those who undergo Human Plus augmentation typically do it to get rid of their debt or willingly to make themselves better at their jobs (specifically AC piloting and bodyguarding). They are more often than not stripped of their original identity and are marked with a designation (In the original Armored Core, it was Rebel-String of numbers.) Early-gen augmentation from VI seems to follow the same principles as Human Plus augmentation from other Armored Core universes. Leos Klein, the villain of Armored Core 2, is 92, but it sounds like he's in his late 30s through the entire game, thanks to his augmentation. Cryosleep is also implied to exist during the Allmind ending of Fires of Rubicon, and in the Armored Core Light Novel, we see a woman who underwent Human Plus augmentation, which left her looking like a young woman unable to age, so while 621 might be chronologically old, we have no reason to believe they'd look or move like a geezer. P.S. About the aging mercenary who's to be the trigger, it was Sulla who was Allmind's first pick before 621 came along; she planned on having Sulla bond with Ayre. Iguazu is definitely young. Coral has been rediscovered for the last few years, the game heavily implies that the RLF has been trading B.A.W.S. Coral in exchange for weapons and AC parts. The coral used in Iguazu's augmentation was most likely obtained in the black market after B.A.W.S. sold it.

I got my first numen rune and it says the numen are of the same stock as that of miqella idk for sure but it was one of the big ones but never heard of em so i came here

I also think it’s very important for us to pay attention to the dynamic of what is happening between Ranni and her faithful subjects and why, because this has all happened before. Marika did this all, too.

I think the godskin nobles are actively seeking out the tune of death. The source of their power. I think when we find Iji dead along with the black knife assassins, those black knife assassins having died trying to defend Ranni and her movement because she would be the empyrean to bring about the age of stars. But the godskin nobles are attempting to bring back the age that they originate from as well as their cloak eyed Queen. But first they must seek out the source of her power. The tune of death. When they see that Ranni’s corpse is marked with the tune of death, they learn that whomever killed Ranni did so with destined death. So they literally guard her tower. They guard the divine tower in Caelid seeking out their Queen and the weapon she once wielded. Finally, they are found in farum azula either because that was their Queen’s seat of power and so they’ve always been up there, or because they suspect destined death may still be hidden there somewhere, as that may be the very place that Maliketh wrested it from the cloak eyed Queen to begin with or possibly both of these reasons. But basically, I believe it was the godskin nobles who killed the black knife assassins. I believe that they could not defeat Blaidd and fled. But they killed ijii and many of the assassins. That’s just my theory. I definitely don’t think Ijii had anything to do with the black flames, nor do I think the black knife assassins did. (Note to readers: forgive the typos. I wrote this from my mobile and it autocorrected a lot that I can’t be bothered to go back and fix on a phone, but it should be obvious what I meant when these instances occurred. 🤭)

Why is the site of grace next to Greyll called "Bridge to Farum"? What's the structure behind the Bestial Sanctum for?

Late AF comment but i think i figured out the lineage issue you outlined here, and it is simply that you aren't born from the erdtree but rebirthed, thus your original birth was natural, thus bloodline related. This would go in line with Marika's queen of life theme and would explain quite a few other conundrums. Like say why everyone is apparently undead looking, as the rebirthing ritual has ended as the erdtree burials.

theres also some soft implication (at least i think so) that walter and 621 were around for the fires of ibis, tho the story trailer seemingly taking place “just before” the game may disprove that

great video, just one nitpick, when iguazu says that freak actually did it I think he’s referring to rusty actually landing the shot on the iceworm with the railgun

havent seen another else point it out but the time given until the fires of ibis, 47 hours 2 minutes 16 seconds, in nagai’s 4th log, 2 minutes 16 seconds is dangerously close to 621. C4 is 3 and 4, added equals 7. 47216.

I think its cool that Elden Ring suggest the moons to be somewhat guarding and giving us power to fight the outer gods. Just like our moon tries to protects us from asteroids & comets from hitting the Earth.

I think the rune of death and destined death, while being the same thing have two different functions. One function being the rune as part of the elden ring. I think it's function in the ER is essentially to tie the body and spirit together so that when the body or spirit is killed the other one inherently also passes on. And as Destined death it is required to kill the spirit of gods and demigods. (I think what makes them as powerful as they are is that their spirits are made functionally immortal and only destined death, either wielded directly, or in the actual sense of them dying as their fate is capable of killing them) Maliketh wielded the black blade and the demigods he slew would all esentially be soulless like Godwyn. The cursemark at the beginning of the night of the black knives was meant to kill godwyn fully. Possibly to show the golden order that removing the rune does not protect them from fully dying and if Marika did have something to do with it having her son suffer in such a way (which was a result of Ranni's conspiracy to slay her body) would send her to the shattering. I think the seperation of soul and body is important to explain why the tarnished is able to slay the demi gods but requires the rune to kill the elden beast and fully burn the erdtree. The demigods body (through the power of their soul) is also immune in some way to being killed but one caveat that their body has which their soul does not is that the body can be slain by people that live without a fate of their own i.e. the tarnished. I believe the soul living on while the body is slain has simething to do with the powers of the great runes but I've not come to any real conclusions so far about that so thanks for reading my schizo rant lol

an interesting thing id like to point out is farum azula. We know that Malikith banished himself to the area so that no one could steal destined death again, and that the godskin duo is there in pursuit of him. i think the crucible knight and draconic tree sentinel were brought with maliketh to serve as extra defense, however i dont think the same is true of the banished knights. Considering they are characterized with the worship of dragons (their lightning abilities, the flames they can produce, etc) i think that they are there in pursuit of dragon communion. the vibe i had gotten was that whichever clan they did belong too, it spanned the entirety of the lands between, with different provinces having different banners as a way of distinguishing them. This clan partook in dragon communion and may have been some of the first magma wyrms to exist. when the golden order rose however, the majority of them were pushed into stormveil castle, with all that exists of them elsewhere being either ghosts or solitary soldiers.

I find the baished knights the most interesting. I'm pretty sure they are Draconian's (the dragon humans) and it would explain all the dragon imagery on their armor. Considering they are part dragon (assuming what ive heard is true) plus there is evidence to support it. Such as their strength the carry their things, the dragon imagery on their armor, their models under the armor, and the spells they use.

With death being bound.. it kind of made The Lands Between a type of hell though didn’t it? Every living thing in this world is miserable and suffering, yet can’t truly die. 😮

I just want to say that this is a cool theory and i havent heard anyone else make it!

Considering Gen 4 augmentation operates using coral to interface with machines, namely the armored cores, the only times 621 could have reasonably augmented is shortly before the events of the game, or before the fires of ibis and were put into stasis in order to keep 621 alive and to maintain the coral in their body. Ayre making contact also explains why over the course of the game, 621 is hinted at being more lively and is able to move enough to enter jailbreak, because Ayre is literally powering 621's augmentations

Personally I'm under the belief that 621 can be anything we want to think they are because we don't know much about them but I think 621 at some point after getting their augmentations was cryogenically frozen input into like a storage inventory for a Time before being adopted by Handler Walter Reason being the story trailer for the game has 621 in a body bag of some kind and was going through some kind of process getting prepped for Handler Walter what the scientists in the trailer pacifically saying "you're helping me cleaning out my inventory" which means this scientist person had 621 for quite some time Also in that trailer you can see Coral being pumped into 621 during the trailer suggesting that Coral is still out there but maybe in small quantities outside of Rubicon what's my also explained how iguazu was able to get Gen 4 augmentation granted it's also suggested that his augmentations we're not done properly which is why he couldn't really make contact like 621 can and said all he heard was painful static Also Iguazu brains up a comment after doing the damn mission where you meet him for the first time saying " you were the only warm body they can find " which can support the idea that cryogenic freezing is a practice One last thing because I know this comment is quite long but another character who seems to defy the laws of Aging is Carla that the game suggest that she looks much younger than she supposed to be since she was a adult around the time the fires of Ibis happened I believe she also went under cryogenic freezing for a Time which is why she looks younger than she supposed to Again I'm not saying 621 is Young because we don't know how old they were before being cryogenically frozen if that is what happened but that could help the idea of 621 being young despite being technically quite old

not neccesarily, you could have been in stasis a long time and be physically young, or could have undergone an older process cuz black market.

In the ice worm mission snail is talking about rusty. Rusty did the bare minimum

Zulla in the JP dub sounds considerably older than his English VA.

Even if there was a form of cryostasis, just like Aang from Last Airbender, your body is still aging. 621 would still, regardless, be an elderly person despite their appearance.