I’m glad you enjoyed, I have another video on the original sin that covers a lot of these questions! In short I think that yes, Marika did come into contact with the Elden Ring through the divine gate, based on the terminology of gold and shadow being born. I don’t think she necessarily betrayed the greater will, but more that the fingers guiding her were a poor link to the GW, leading to the flawed nature of the golden order. Also erdtree is fundamentally linked to the crucible, so the fact they view the crucible negatively is another contradiction.

Thanks! I have some issues with that theory, namely: for the Erdtree to burn, the rune of death must be unsealed. There is no evidence we see in game that this has ever occurred before, and actually a lot of evidence that it hasn’t (e.g every finger reader considering it unthinkable, or Maliketh being alive) I also think there are other explanations for the ash in Leyndell . We see similar ash in Enir Ilim, which is a part of Belurat that was not burned in Messmers flame (we see in the trailer that it was already sealed by shadow during the crusade). It seems to come from the divine gate, which has gone from more flesh-like to more ash/stone like. I could see something similar happening to the erdtree. Basically it also “dried up” similar to the divine gate due to a lack of bodies, and therefore produced some ash. A more simple explanation is that the ash is from the multiple sieges on leyndell. One thing I will note is that Bernahl’s maiden is specifically stated to have sacrificed herself to the flame, but he abandoned his journey before facing Maliketh. So this still doesn’t work with the “previous cycles of erdtree burns” theory, as when Melina sacrifices herself, it doesn’t produce any ash until the rune of death is fully unleashed. Anyway sorry for the long response but those are my thoughts hahaha.

@Stormking66324 This is FromSoft lore, long responses are appreciated!

I just looked at the asset and compared it to a bunch of other languages in game, and I can now confidently say... I have no clue lol. Seems to be the only example of it from what I've seen.

@Stormking66324 Huh, maybe it is a language invented my Miquella? He is supposed to be a prodigy after all.

@@NotableNine591 Yeah I considered that! It could also be related to the blind swordsman, who seems to be a pretty ancient being and so it would make sense if he used a unique language.

That’s interesting! The fact we see Hebrew on the “banished” knight shield could be something, although they don’t seem to be a particularly persecuted group so maybe not?

@@Stormking66324 I think they were indeed persecuted since they have a ton of links to the hornsent, for example, Commander Gaius' arena is littered with a ton of broken Banished Knight armor pieces, their armors also feature a twisted horn in their right shoulder and their commanders use storm, freeze and lighting attacks just like the dancing lions

Oh and the rune of death the assassin's used wasn't Godwyn's because it was used on Ranni at the same time.

Come to think of it, there's one more example of the Elden Ring script, that being the Elden Beast's "Elden Ring" attack. BonfireVN has a great video highlighting it

@@parallellines2568 Thanks friend, I doubt I would have even started if it wasn’t for you and the others!

Also the white bark is the bark from birch trees that appear in areas of erdtree influence, such as the entirety of leyndell and around the minor erdtrees

That's cool! Where in Leyndell do you see the same asset as the top of the map marker structures?

@@Stormking66324 I unfortunately don't have access to elden ring to refresh my memory but off the top of my head there should be a baby you can find on the base of the statues directly outside the door to the misbegotten area in leyndell. If i remember correctly there should be more instances of it but that's what I remember it definitely being

Also along the sides of the map marker should be a motif that's found around leyndell as well but I don't remember an exact location location to find it

@@xavierlivingston4458 Thanks I’ll take a look!

@@vasylpark2149 Just looked it up and yeah it totally does!

@Stormking66324 Miyazaki is a giant nerd and has referenced several mtg cards before in Elden Ring, so its not surprising he references phyrexian, but very cool if he did. Some of the Magic the Gathering inspirations found in Elden Ring

@@dgalloway107 Interesting, maybe both languages originate from the ancient dynasty then… would explain why they’re both so widespread.

The "white tree bark" is paper birch a common place for the writing down of information during the middle ages. They even found the 800 year old math homework and doodles of a boy called Onfim written in the stuff.

People can die in the Lands Between. It's only the demigods that cannot with the removal of Destined Death, and the Tarnished because of the Guidance of Grace.

​@@N0UKAyep, the demigod's we don't see properly reforming after dieing in the base game are Radahn, Melania, & Mohg Radahn's body is being forced to remain dead after Alexander consumes it (the main reason for alexander's massive power boost) Melania is cocooned within the scarlet bloom that appears in her arena And we find out what happened to Mohg's body in the DLC

What happens to others is they do die, but are consumed by the Erdtree and a new copy emerges. It is not the same person. So Marika is instead placing a copy of the original person in a jar. Maybe still cruel but it is not the original person.

Placidusax did not have the elden ring during marikas ascension, idk where you got that

​@@parallellines2568The timeline we're working with implies that Placidusax was Elden Lord just before Marika's ascension. To make that work, the next thing we need to explain is when and how he lost that status. His god "fled," but what does that mean? Did they just leave the Elden Ring behind, or did it fly away to the Divine Gate somehow?

@@TriforceWisdom64 well, my head cannon is that Marika is the god who fled. She ascended to the divine gate and became a god, then she went to Farum Azula and became the consort of Placidusax, receiving the Ring from the "Nebula Dragon". Later, when Baile attacked, Marika fled with the Elden Ring. There is nowhere that says Marika received the Ring when she became a god. Edit: Ranni "From Torrent former master" she give us 3 wolfs... Go see the statue on Maliketh's arena. Is Interesting...

@@parallellines2568 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 that is the most basic Lore😆 Tell me where does it say that Marika ascended to divinity with the power of the Ring? 😂 Edit: I quote "Before the Erdtree, Placidusax ruled as the Elden Lord" 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

@GabrielGomez-b9k not to burst your obnoxiously large bubble but there's a clear power vacuum between the fall of farum azula and the rise of the golden order, are you dense? And since when did elden lords hold the elden ring, that's like if Godfrey had the elden ring. Get real.

I’d say he doesn’t come back for the same reason Miquella doesn’t need the rune of death to cast off his empyrean flesh, it’s due to the nature of the realm of shadow. Alternatively it could also be due to the abyssal serpent.

DON’T EAT THE SOYLENT GOLD

Very good point! Honestly, I think you're right and that bit of speculation was wrong in this case. I do think specific destined deaths exist, because Marika was stated to have only removed her's and the demigod's deaths from the Elden Ring, but the fact that this shard killed multiple nameless demigods (plus technically Ranni as well) indicates it probably wasn't a specific shard.

@Stormking66324 Do you remember at all what item or dialogue states that Marika specifically removed the deaths of the Demigods? Because when Death was removed all beings became immortal(in the eleven sense, where one does not die from age, but can die from being murdered), which is why so many people in the Lands Between are so old and decrepit.

@@mechamahou8467 I actually got that from the interview with Miyazaki himself I reference in the video, but it is confirmed by the fact that the demigods remain alive in a weakened form until you unleash the rune of death (e.g. Morgott). I agree that sealing the rune of death does have this "elven" affect on all beings as you described (possibly through grace). It's just that in addition to this Marika made the demigods completely unable to die.

@@Stormking66324 Aw man I remember that interview now! It's very easy to forget for me that many interviews had lore that actually never made it in-game, but is considered canon regardless. I'm so used to scouring vague item descriptions haha.

@@briancompau1694 I’ve also wondered that, and have had a few different interpretations, including the one you just mentioned! My current theory is that they were separated right from the start, as with Marika’s rise gold arose, but so too was shadow born. Marika still has access to this realm through her veil, and can let people enter/exit. Messmer was only sent in to purge the hornsent after the liurnian wars, but before radagon left rennala, as otherwise rellana would not have followed Messmer. This explains the lack of hornsent influence on the golden order, while also allowing Messmer to have been an “older brother” to Rahdan and friends with Gaius.

Messmer’s curse definitely plays a role in this topic, but I decided to leave that for a future video so I could do it justice.