'Astel, Naturalborn of the Void' Explained | Elden Ring Lore

[@neku2741]

Radahn was beating the shit out of us while holding back a falling star, inflicted by scarlet rot and driven mad. Dude's a Badass through and through

[@theonewhoismany8072]

He was keeping the constellations in stasis after a crushing victory.All stars being beings like Astel.

[@Pink_Maggit]

Also he was using gravitational magic to keep him from crushing his beloved horse Leonard.

[@bigchungus6827]

@@theonewhoismany8072 Strictly speaking no. The majority are presumably the fallingstar beast you encounter multiple times. Astel was said to have been an emissary of the Greater Will sent upon Nokron for their crime of creating a blade that could kill the Fingers?

[@A_Black_Sheep94]

@@bigchungus6827 Well maybe. There are atleast 2 Astels one in the lake of rot and one in the consecrated snowfield deep in a mine. It could have been another astel, though probably not because there isn't one where the meteorite impacted but neither is there a falling star beast either. It could simply be just an actual meteorite.

[@joshaqy]

Its why I wonder how some people think Malenia is anywhere near Radahn's power. Dude was fighting space and still got a stalemate with her.

[@threesofthree6100]

So a quick note on the Greater Will. The Greater Will is stated to be an Outer God, with others being the Frenzied Flame, the Formless Mother that Mohg worships, the Outer God worshipped by the Ancient Dragons, the god of the Scarlet Rot, and the Dark Moon. No idea if the Greater Will actually sent Astel or not, but it has directly sent another Star to the Lands Between once before, that being the Elden Beast. So not only is Elden Ring a high fantasy story, it's also a cosmic horror. The more you know.

[@clayton2843]

It reminds me of the Gnostic Cosmology, only more heavy metal.

[@azrieldalusong5042]

I'm so glad cosmic horror getting attention again. It's underrated ever since

[@durpypig1731]

so elden ring really is the culmination of all fromsofts previous works, the cosmic horror being bloodborne

[@Yakay672]

There is also the outer god of the scarlet rot, the dark moon outer god, and there is also a reference to a dragon outer god in the Dragonlord Placidusax remembrance description

[@Chris3s]

@@Yakay672 what mentions the outer gods of dark moon and scarlet rot? Also what is the full moon? (since there is a full moon and a dark moon)

[@SharkyShocker]

An interesting bit of dialogue from Sellen's Questline, that I think may relate to this: After buying enough spells from her: "Our art draws upon the powers embedded in glintstone. But what is the nature of such power? Glintstone is the amber of the cosmos. Golden amber contains the remnants of ancient life, and houses its vitality, while glintstone contains residual life, and thus the vitality of the stars. It should not be forgotten, that glintstone sorcery is the study of the stars, and the life therein." And to add onto this, when she's speaking on why she was expelled it was "for attempting to restore the primeval current of glintstone sorcery." Meanwhile if we look at Rannala, what do we see her holding? An Amber Egg of some kind. It could very well be that the eternal cities looked too deeply into Glintstone Sorcery and into its primeval routes, to the point of being a possible threat to the Greater Will and as such being mostly destroyed/imprisoned underground... how could they possibly create a threat which rivals what is essentially a god? By creating their own. Astel was not a punishment. Astel was likely summoned by the Glintstone Sorcerers in the eternal city, though brought down as a meteor in this case. The residual life and vitality of the stars. But as a result of summoning a Greater Being, the Greater Will banished the eternal cities(city) as their punishment. Letting this "New God" which they brought forth corrupt them as time passed with no escape. There's honestly a whole rabbit hole here in regards to different sorceries. Full Moon vs. Dark Moon which is talked about in the Ranni Questline. It's definitely a whole thing, but I've made this long enough. Edit: Last tidbit which I found interesting. Collapsing Stars is a Sorcery which quote from a young Radahn "I thank you for your tutelage, for now I can challenge the stars". Follow this with Gravity Well, another Sorcery which states "A gravitational technique studied by the young Radahn. His master was an Alabaster Lord with skin of stone." Which means that Radahn was taught by one of the individuals who rose after Astel fell from the sky. Which like... WHAT?!? Bonus Sorceries: *Comet Azur:* "Fires a tremendous comet in a torrent akin to the distant starry expanse, the place said to be the origin of glintstone... ...When Azur glimpsed into the primeval current, he saw darkness. He was left both bewitched and fearful of the abyss." Meanwhile, there's "Astel, Naturalborn of the Void" *Eternal Darkness:* "Originally a lost sorcery of the Eternal City; the despair that brought about its ruin made manifest." Note: When it talks about this sorcery it specifically says that this is what brought about its ruin made manifest. Implying it was their own doing that brought their downfall. *Founding Rain of Stars:* "Thought to be the founding glintstone sorcery. The glimpse of the primeval current that the astrologer saw became real, and the stars' amber rained down on this land." It being the oldest of sorceries and the absolute basics of the primeval current, really does push the idea that the basis of Primeval Sorcery is bringing down the stars(or meteors in this case). *Meteorite:* "...used by a great white king with stone skin... ...It is said that, in the Eternal City, now lost in ruin underground, meteorites held the same import as stars." Makes you wonder. If meteors have the same import as stars do, then the idea that Glintstone being the vitality of the stars and Astel coming down as a meteor because of it is sounding less and less crazy. *Meteorite of Astel:* "A manifestation of the power with which Astel leveled the Eternal City." Kind of speaks for itself. *Night Maiden's Mist:* "Below Sellia, the Eternal City of Nokron sleeps. This sorcery originates from the maiden of that place." A little extra for those curious. Sellia is full of sorcerers, but they were also assassins. This being said, this implies there's a connection between the two. Though who this maiden is, is still a mystery to me. *Stars of Ruin:* "When Lusat glimpsed into the primeval current, he beheld the final moments of a great star cluster, and upon seeing it, he too was broken." At this point I wonder to myself now, what are stars? I've just been assuming that it's good ol' celestial bodies... but what if it's like, actually celestial bodies? The "final moments of a great star cluster" being the last moments for a cluster of celestial eggs which then born monstrosities. *Briar's of Sin:* "The Academy reviles this sorcery, which draws its power from faith." While it doesn't have to do with primeval magic, it should be note that there appears to be some bad blood in regards to Faith and Sorcery being used together. *Carian Retaliation:* "This was the Carian royal family's secret means to prepare against the disloyalty of the academy. The moon and stars would one day go their separate ways." The moon being a key symbol of the Carian royal family, they had an inkling the stars would win out in the end... Primeval Sorcery. There's also the mage Lusat who you are asked to find by Sellen. You'll find that many of the Raya Lucaria sorceries related to the stars(Star Shower, Stars of Ruin, Glintstone Stars) were founded by him. There's the Sellen Hideaway, which is where you'll find Lusat's body. And where is this body near? A boss fight which has 3 Crystalians. The Crystalians are known for using many high level Sorceries, and there is very much some connection to the eternal cities. Yet what should also be focused on is their connection with the Carian Royal Family. Such as with the spell Magical Downpour: "Said to have been taught by the Crystalians to mark the swearing of the old concord." Where the Crystalians and the Carian Royal Family obviously have some history between the two... Furthermore with Shattering Crystal: "The Crystalians are inorganic beings, yet they live. They cleave close to the ideals of the primeval current, and as such, they are revered guests of the sorcerers." further implies how their magic is related to primeval sorceries. To those who actually went ahead and read all of this. Well done, and I hope maybe this was interesting to you.

[@alvercaine8893]

Even more than the video man

[@sprainedfloral1247]

This was interesting for sure, thanks for the post! I'm so interested by everything with Radahn especially, the fact that he was holding back/'challenging' the stars and that meteor seems to intersect with everything. With his tutor being an Alabaster, did that influence why he wanted to challenge the stars - does he want revenge on the stars? Also, where does Malenia come in to all this, and the outer god of her scarlet rot?? The more I think about all this stuff the more questions are raised than answers lol

[@Akrilloth]

Like, holy shit, what the hell is the lore of this game gonna be? At first, i was unsure what a DLC of this game would even cover, but the amount of hidden lore in this game ascertains that we are FAR from done with elden ring.

[@SharkyShocker]

Additional Edit: (Spoilers for actual end game) Just finished the game. Astel and the Elden Beast have A LOT of similarities. I believe I said about how the Eternal City may have been trying to create another Greater Will, which doesn't exactly make sense. Instead, they were probably trying to bring forth another creature of similar strength and origin to the Elden Beast. "It is said that long ago, the Greater Will sent a golden star bearing a beast into the Lands Between, which would later become the Elden Ring." - Random Quote from its Wiki "It was the vassal beast of the Greater Will and living incarnation of the concept of Order." - Elden Remembrance So, perhaps the "Greater Will" isn't the only one of its kind. Mayhaps Astel was meant to be the vassal of another force in the world(Another force similar to the Greater Will), and so the Eternal City was punished for trying to oppose the Greater Will. HMMMMMMMMM

[@KaroxNightshade]

Crystalians can also be found hanging out in the overworld in the area after Astel, in the southwest section. There's just some massive crystals and the Crystalians are chilling there. Considering that place is very connected to the Carians what with it being the Lunar Estate's ruins and the Moonfolk ruins (Both of which sound very connected to the family that worships the moon). Also, this is purely a fun connection I made, but the Cathedral of Manus Celes has a really neat name. My favorite bit is [Man]us Celes(tial?), so I like to call it the "Cathedral of Celestial Men" which makes sense with Caria, but y'know.

[@NightDocs]

I never made the connection that Radhan was actually holding BACK the falling star that crashed after you kill him and now I gotta re-examine what I thought I knew lol

[@Foneio]

Blaidd says it after the fight if you talk to him

[@Izzy-mp4xi]

I thought that radahn summoned the star shower with gravity magic and when Blaidd says "I can't believe he was holding all that back" I thought it was his final attack and he just missed lol

[@NightDocs]

@@Foneio lol ya I missed it. For some reason I assumed Radhan made it happen from beyond the grave as some kind of spirit vengeance

[@camomoose1078]

@@NightDocs I understood he was holding back that meteorite, but i thought he was tasked to do it by the fingers or some other higher power to fuck with ranni. Guess hes a good guy after all.

[@lu.k2239]

Sellen said it too

[@iEGeek]

Those ants with deformed heads actually exist in nature. They’re called turtle ants and the guards that guard the door have heads that are flattened and used as doors. :D

[@adambielen8996]

Nature be weird yo.

[@Tulip_bip]

imagine just coming home from work and going through your door made of two people with really big flat heads

[@shmillbe3390]

Or their just super major ants, most ant colony's have them, their just the big daddy soldiers

[@shhlimmy]

@@shmillbe3390 nah

[@AFlyingCoconut]

I was coming to say this, then found your comment :D Funnily enough, I only ever found one of the Door-Ants in Elden Ring, and true to it's real-life counterpart, it was positioned with it's head blocking the entrance to a tunnel :D

[@ORLY911]

When it comes to Mohg, that feels like he occupied a vacant ruin rather than made that area, in a last ditch effort to establish his own power structure out from the eyes of the Fingers, he is an Omen thus shunned by the golden order. he feels very after the fact, like a mad scientist taking up an old castle.

[@coolina21]

Yeah, apparently he’s trying to grow Miquella into godhood, and have him be a ruler but it hasn’t worked. He definitely has his own agenda

[@vaclavsoukup7302]

@Charles Hastings It’s an Outer God (like the Greater Will) known as "the Formless Mother" or "Mother of Truth".

[@dugglebay3483]

The greater will may be a 'will' or ruler of the planet that we're on, foreign wills may have tried several times to invade this planet, perhaps because their resources were insufficient or there is something that they want specific to the lands between.

[@ironstar183]

Cool take 🤙🤙

[@rigs9801]

i was just about to comment the same - Mohg definitely seems like an interloper here, just like the three Crucible knights.

[@BigGator5]

I approve. You should do more Elden Ring and other lore from Dark Souls like games.

[@stfnknbb]

Agreed!

[@mkv2718]

While I can agree with the former, do we really need MORE dark souls lore vids? It’s kinda been done to death at this point, don’t ya think?

[@Blankportion]

@@mkv2718 nope. More ER lore please! Great Job!

[@sthxdnn1]

I mean this video seems to have tanked for his channel lol

[@lordcorporal4247]

I also approve. Great stuff

[@Brickfrog427]

Okay, so a big thing that could be behind the Silver Tears of the Eternal City is the Alchemic myth of the Rebis. A magnum opus project of an alchemist, it combines the male and female aspects into a new form, the divine hermaphrodite. This absolutely fits the idea of Marika and Radagon, so it may be that Marika's family origins are tied to the Eternal City. Maybe.

[@SilhouetteOADM]

I got a few "as above so below" inclinations as I was reading through some descriptions, thank you for making the rebis reference! I can't wait to see what other subtle hints we can find!

[@azeria1]

No marika came from outside the lands between she is a numen the black knife assassins are also numen and also all women for some reason

[@coatguy2990]

If you explain it like that, it would actually confirm the theory of the great will being mad about nokrons attempt at god creation since Marika and Radagon were the “natural” equivalent of the eternal city’s attempt to create an “artificial” god.

[@azeria1]

@DoogManGuy if you kill the queen ants in the deeproot place they drop numen runes the black knife assassin's armour also mentions how they numens and the hammer you get by using the elden beast remembrance also mentions them

[@azeria1]

@DoogManGuy they is one thing the lore never really answers though like why are all the numen women why are they trying to kill rani even they she was the one that stole the rune of death fragments I thought they were allies maybe rani two fragments were stolen instead of just one I hope we get to go to the numen home country in a dlc and find out more about them and why they tried to kill the Demi gods we get they ring leader in an evergjail but don’t really get lore from it

[@servalkorion686]

Mohg arrived in the eternal city long after bc he's a part of the golden linage but what is interesting is Mohg has been into contact with an outer god called the Formless Mother. I wonder if that outer god has anything to do with the downfall of the city

[@meyes1098]

Based on how gods are depicted in most human mythologies, you're probably correct. The Nox might have been praying to this other god, the formless mother, and now the high wills, which is the main thing gods hate the most in human mythologies, so a prime reason to punish them.

[@bbfan84]

Mhog is part of Merika's first Borns she's twins with The other guy he stole Mellicha for his own gains to make him into a proper candidate to replace Merika sense you have to be born from one person to qualify to get control of the elden ring sense Radagon and Merika are the same entity their children also are born of 1 God making them candidates except they don't possess a shadow

[@joshuabaker784]

That’s true I remember reading somewhere in mohgs lore that he was enraptured by the implied ‘blood’ he found “far beneath the ground.” I wonder if the formless mother: far god, Was below the ground, even before nox was banished there. Than is it the blood god that shaped the pests? And did she create the scarlet rot? Than what is scarlet rot?

[@FishAndKid]

@@bbfan84 That's not right. Ranni was also an emperyan (candidate to take over for Marika), but she was born of Radagon and Renalla.

[@RojirigoD]

@@FishAndKid Maybe is just semantics, Renalla is not demigod, neither a god, so on Ranni case is just 1 god with 1 not god, so it counts like "born of 1 God" rule.

[@vadim6656]

So is it safe to say that general radhan was holding back more stars from crashing into the land betweens to prevent more of these cosmic horrors from coming? Possble that radhan knew what had happened to the eternal cities and wanted to save the lands from their destruction? Just a thought. I am so fascinated with radhan and astel and the other cosmic monstrosities

[@dekwii9704]

Why malenia is fighting radhan?

[@will2brown50]

@@dekwii9704 they both want control of the elden ring + malenia is the vassal of a different outer god whilst Radahn isn't any god's vassal

[@Malisteen]

Not sure why Radahn stilled the stars, maybe to prevent the rebellious Carian nobility from drawing power & predictions from their movements? But as for why Melania attacked him, iirc the movement of moons and/or stars was related to Miquela's work with the needles & the Haligtree, so Radahn stilling the heavens was probably the reason Miquela's cures for himself and his sister remained incomplete. Nothing less would really explain why Melania would leave her brother undefended to go fight another demigod.

[@nxvh9062]

@@will2brown50 Malenia's actually not really in service to a god either, both herself and her brother sought to become gods themselves, and got really quite close.

[@will2brown50]

@@nxvh9062 well she actually did become a god and then got spawn killed by the tarnished

[@Lucas-st1xq]

Due to architecture disparity, we can say that there were at least 2 different civilizations, the Nokron/Nokstella (black/purple/gray buildings), and the Uhl Dinasty ruins (egypt-like architecture)

[@laserbeastman7447]

Thing to note, the weird enemies in the Grand Cloister are called Prawns, and they are associated with Malenia, Goddess of Rot. You can also find them in Caelid around the Swamp of Aeonia, and around the roots of the Haligtree. The thing that links these areas is the presence of the scarlet rot and the prawns' worship/cultivation of it, so I'm not sure if they have any direct relation to Astel.

[@laserbeastman7447]

On another note, I just remembered that there's a talisman called Kindred of Rot's Exultation that depicts a Prawn, and has as part of its description "Rot for the scarlet goddess. O scarlet blossoms, flourish in distant lands, and return to us, the unwanted children."

[@briancong12345]

That would suggest a connection between Astel and Malenia's patron Outer God, the Outer God of Scarlet Rot, which would make sense given Astel's location, though it doesn't explain the gravity magic, which is notably absent in the other mobs and skills involving the Haligtree faction, who all seem to prefer incantations.

[@laserbeastman7447]

@@briancong12345 The other thing to note is the lack of any rot-themed terrain in Astel's arena, and his lack of rot-themed abilities. My guess is that the rot happened after the fact, since it seems to be rooted mainly in Caelid and the Haligtree, and possibly ran underground from Aeonia or through the mountain to southern Liurnia.

[@thorveim1174]

Prawns don't have real ties to Malenia: they just happen to worship the scarlet rot, and as such can be found anywhere the rot is. And don't think Astel has any tie to rot. His arena is very, VERY far away from the lake of rot, its just far downstream from it, so far the water is clear there. Astel or other star creatures may have something to do with ants though, seeing the big centipede/moth things with a head like Astel's and the same gravity magic hand around ant nests

[@laserbeastman7447]

@@thorveim1174 Sry, I wasn't trying to imply that the prawns are direct servants of Malenia, just that they are related. The prawns clearly venerate her in some way, at least based on the Rot's Exultation talisman's description, unless I'm missing some contradicting piece of information.

[@carternorton2682]

This is definitely some content I would like to see. Souls games are so interesting lore wise

[@villelepoaho4105]

There is another bossfight with Astel, this time it's called "Astel, Stars of Darkness". It drops a meteorite spell that says the following: "A manifestation of the power with which Astel leveled the Eternal City". I have no idea if that helps anyone, but I just thought it was interesting that there even is a second Astel fight in the game.

[@retroicdescent]

That spell description and Astel's second title makes it sound sinister and foreboding as opposed to Naturalborn of the Void, which to me evokes curiosity and mysticism. Either way, once you face Astel you know its not something to be trifled with.

[@canaldecasta]

I want a good non-meta reason for why we fight Astel twice :/

[@SuperScoops]

@@canaldecasta Astel isn't the name of a character, it's the name of it's species. Similar to the Fallenstar Beasts.

[@JingleHellTV]

@@canaldecasta one being, many incarnations, it's literally a multiversal being, born of every kind of stellar event. Has that one attack where it poofs out of existence, appears in every direction. That's my very uneducated guess.

[@rodrigomanzo777]

i think Astel fell from the sky, regardless of the Greater Will, what the greater will did after was just adding insult to injury, the description says clearly that both cities predated the erd tree and the Golden order (and probably at some late point in the Age of the Crucible, and after the first nameless Eternal City), Actually It seems that There's a feud between Radahn and his family as he is holding the stars from moving, something essential to Ranni's fate unfolding and Nokron truth "resurfacing"

[@Ganondorf98]

Actually, the shield headed ant is not a deformity. That's the real life ant that lives to protect the entrance to the ant hive by using its head as an impenetrable door to keep out the dangers of the outside world. Another ant will feed this guardian ant so that it doesn't have to move.

[@sad_knight1827]

Bro, you should make this a staple series of the channel. Love your stuff man

[@thefreshestslice4105]

Elden Ring is just tearing through my completely unrelated subscription list of completely different channels. Love to see it.

[@Yakay672]

My question is how does Astel tie into the scarlet rot? I don’t think From would literally put the Lake of Rot, one of 3 major locations in the game that are themed around the scarlet rot, the other two being Caelid and Miquella’s Halitree, and the story of those places is clearly based around the scarlet rot. You also find those creepy centipede men things worshiping in all 3 areas. You also find the scorpion stinger dagger in the lake of rot that says it was crafted by heretics using a relic from a sealed outer god. I don’t think Astel is that outer god but I just refuse to believe that there would be this random scarlet rot themed location right on top of where Astel is and have there be no connection between them

[@bbfan84]

Remember the demigods are always at odds with each other you see that in their lands they all attacked each other one way or the other the rot lake is there from an attempt from Melania to get Ranni's rune but sense she shed her body she also shed her rune

[@zigmus00A]

Since the Great Will has no qualms screwing people over it's possible that Astel was once its envoy but was then betrayed once it performed its duty. It might just be further coincidence but there's another Astel located in the snowfields next to the Halig Tree and Gowry himself is either speaking for or is an avatar of something else related to the Rot.

[@Lazypackmule]

The treasure inside the grand cloister is one of Astel's stingers, corrupted by rot It's safe to say they are separate

[@Yakay672]

​@@Lazypackmule See I thought that the scorpion stinger might have been crafted from Astel but I am not 100% convinced. The item description says it was crafted from the relic of a sealed outer god, and to me, Astel does definitely not seem like an outer god. The Blue Dancer charm item says that an ancient warrior sealed away an ancient god of rot, so I think the scorpion stinger was somehow made from something left behind by that sealed outer god and not from Astel

[@alejandroantoniovaladezuva4504]

But you can inflict scarlet rot to Astel, whereas Malenia is resistant to rot damage, implying there’s no connection between the two. It was probably sealed under the rot or it just so happened to eventually appear above it

[@hunterwaguespack3963]

This might be a weird one, but if your gonna do more Elden ring lore I would like to suggest a video on Godrick. I just find his obsession with grafting and turning himself into that monster very interesting

[@vaultboy3706]

Because even a part of the golden lineage (being a child of Godfrey and Marika) he was born weak and frail. Hence he sought to find strength through grafting, specifically tarnished limbs, because the tarnished are descendants of Godfrey. Basically he just wanted to prove himself that he is worthy.

[@miqvPL]

Ikea man. Assembled without instructions. Meaning he's not complete, but he will never stop at building himself anyway

[@azeria1]

@@vaultboy3706 Godfrey is also grafted as his beast is attached to him they's also that other boss Godefroy in the golden lineage jail presumably meant to show grafting has been apart of they family line for awhile but Godfrey grafted to make him self more calm and less bloodthirsty while godrick and Godefroy do it to become stronger missing the point

[@vaultboy3706]

@@azeria1 Since when was it stated that his beast is grafted? Grafting in Elden ring is basically attaching your body with limbs of corpses. Serosh can act in his own will and it is pretty much alive and can probably separate himself from Godfrey as shown in the cutscenes. He's more like a spirit or a jojo stand. That's not what grafting does.

[@azeria1]

@@vaultboy3706 I'm not sure since in his boss fight Godfrey kills it which if he could remove it he probably would of done that instead

[@clayton2843]

I don't think there's proof yet that the Greater Will punished the Eternal Cities with Astel, I think so far it's just as likely the eternal cities were exiled for contacting the Void, for allying themselves with it. Thus, Astel and the void may not be instruments of the greater will, but in opposition to it.

[@samuellelli6933]

I got this same vibe too... I feel like Astel wasn't sent by the Greater Will to punish the ancient civilization; but rather, it was them who contacted the Void, got excommunicated by the Greater Will for doing so, and ultimately annihilated by their own arrogance through Astel, an emissary of the Void.

[@eternal7912]

@@samuellelli6933 I definitely like this more than Astel being sent by the Greater Will. Cause that tells me there could be and probably are bigger fish than the Greater Will.

[@alexmac851]

@@eternal7912 The Greater Will is an Outer God in Elden ring and we already have confirmation of at least 2 others. So..

[@nicholasoriani9196]

Astel being sent by the Greater Will also doesn’t work when you consider the context of how light and dark are portrayed in the game; the Golden Order, Erdtree and Greater Will are all associated with a brilliant glowing gold color, and Astel is specifically the Naturalborn of the *Void*. It doesn’t really make sense for what appears to be a light-based Outer God to have control over a creature of pure darkness.

[@wr5488]

@@alexmac851 Frenzied Flame, Mother of Truth, God of Rot, God of the Darkmoon, the Dragonlord's unnamed God and a few others! Although theres some heavy hints a few of them are the same thing. Like Mother of Truth and Frenzied Flame might be one thing.

[@redmenace1570]

Yeah this is probably the best lore video out so far for elden ring. We'd love more deep dives like this. Ive been trying to cobble together info on the three fingers and the frenzied flame.

[@landenx]

You’re one of the first to do these deep dives into lore/speculation! Great video, definitely would be nice to see the lore of other bosses or characters explored!

[@kitsu5013]

Now this is an unexpected but welcomed surprise. Here's to more lore vids.

[@dominicbeller8700]

Nice video! Very well done. I would say, in regards to Scarlett Rot/Lake of Rot, it’s heavily implied all the rot that’s in the Lands Between is because of Melania. Maybe Melania had gone looking for Astel or they spent time in close proximity. Who knows! As a Souls fans since Demon Souls, I gotta say Elden Ring might have the richest lore yet. Love to see so many new people getting into it

[@meyes1098]

It also has the best delivery of the lore. There's little "left to interpretation", as opposed to ds1,2,3 where the lore is super lazy and there's so much "left for interpretation".

[@Lucas-st1xq]

@@meyes1098 honestly Ive felt too that, at least in DS3, they went too over the top with the interpretative lore, it was beyond annoying how many things didnt make sense. 1 and 2 were okay

[@thedunk3715]

Out of all topics I didn't expect Eck to cover Soulsborne lore.

[@tristansylvester1079]

I love your sci-fi content, and would never want you to change the focus of this channel. But seeing your take on popular topics like elden ring lore is great!

[@legion4902]

The lake of rot being scarlet rot, may have been a way to keep Astel in, as the scarlet rot is of Malenia's domain.

[@yuomovaeh3028]

Is there a direct connection between Malenia and The Lake of Rot? I havent found anything yet

[@thepreacher7399]

@@yuomovaeh3028 Malenia is the cause of the scarlet rot to begin with, so there has to be a connection of some sort. Even if it is just that it spread and took over the previous lake.

[@yuomovaeh3028]

@@thepreacher7399 yea i thought so but I just didn't find any more specifics

[@thepreacher7399]

@@yuomovaeh3028 Me neither man.

[@CustomStoryGatherers]

I might have a theory about scarlet rot. This video claims that before Astel, the lake was a nice one. But once Astel descended upon the Eternal city, it was transformed into the lake of rot. So rot might have been another punishment by the greater will that came with Astel. Why? Well I theorize it was to punish Marika and her descents from casting the death rune out of the Elden Ring, so being are immortal in the lands between. Which is a deformity of the greater will. Like the sins of the Nox. So when Astel came, it punished the sins of the Nox with Astel and the sins of Marika and the demi-gods with rot for altering the Elden Ring. Melania just happened to maybe become patient 0 with rot. Maybe it was intentionally that the greater will wanted Melania to be infested as the first victim. As she was the only match for Radahn, that was holding back another comet, and withholding the punishment of the greater will in the land between.

[@yrael32]

Seen other lore videos re this. You might want to look into Ranni's questline, she's the Lunar Princess. Also an Empyrean, a being capable of replacing Marika. The mimics (which are also related to the Albinaurics) are their attemptto either create a new body for Ranni or create a consort for her. Which you become if you complete her questline. The Nox are also related to the Night of the Black Knives as there are some indications that they're the ones who carried out Godwyn's assasination by order of Ranni.

[@ThirtykNinetyfour94]

One nitpick, Mohg came after Nokron. He's the Brother of Morgott and both of them came after Marika rose to power.

[@maniacalmurderer4123]

Another note about Astel that supports him being old. When killing bosses you would usually get the “ great enemy defeated” or “enemy defeated” Astel’s is “legend defeated” suggesting he’s way older they any boss we’ve encountered

[@just_me1232]

Love the elden ring content man pleas keep it coming!!!

[@anthonygorman94]

What a refreshing departure from what I normally expect from this channel! Keep up the amazing work!

[@belldrop7365]

Surprised this video never mentioned the Finger Slayer Blade's description when it's one of the most important key items in the city itself. As the name suggest, it's for slaying fingers. And, the fingers, aka the greater will is what sent Astel down on the city.

[@permanentdetour]

Love to see that you're covering Elden ring topics and branching off to more games. Keep up the great content!

[@joshuaarnett762]

So a few things as I understand them. The "Stone Soldiers" aren't Alabaster lords, they're Clay Men. Literally just covered in Clay. Alabaster and Onyx lords have stone skin, and are their own thing. The Greater Will has limited power over the void, as Radahn had to learn gravity magic to hold the meteors at bay, and it came from space, as apparently the Erd Tree fell from space, or at least isn't originally from the Lands between Space is seemingly mostly hostile, as of the three types of space creatures we've seen, two are hostile: Naturalborns and Falling Star beasts are hostile, the Lords were apparently able to meld into the empire. There are multiple entities/god's on the Will's level, it didn't originally control the stars, it explicitly overturned the order of the cosmos. The only other named one I've seen so far is the Formless Mother Mogh worships.

[@Popeyethesailorsman]

Theres also a snake diety rykkard worships, the moon diety ranni worships, and there are theories that destined death (the thing behind the cursemark of death), and the fire diety behind the frenzied flame ending also exist, its almost like its own pantheon of hinduism lmao with there being multiple gods but everyone choosing one to worship

[@joshuaarnett762]

@@Popeyethesailorsman I thought destined death was tied to the Rune of Death? Haven't seen the others yet

[@joelharrison4654]

@@Popeyethesailorsman also the entity that the fire giants worship

[@tyveroxumabopril2606]

I think there was also an Outer God of Rot that was partially sealed inside of Malenia (possibly by Miquella in an attempt to free both of them from the Greater Will's influence). Gowry seems to be an avatar or servant of that God, as he is immortal and refers to Millicent and Malenia as kin after seemingly implanting Rot into them/string-pulling them toward blossoming into scarlet flowers.

[@thorveim1174]

I feel like falligstar beasts and naturalborn have the same origins. Seeing as they both have these antlion mandibles and the same large forehead eyeball

[@ReapersPlug]

I’m pretty happy you of all people started doing lore breakdowns for this game you’re definitely my favorite at this stuff and I’d love to hear you talk about the “heroes” of the roundtable it’s just insanely mysterious and intriguing to me.

[@cackmed120]

An interesting bit is that the Greater Will is refrenced as an Outer God, indicating that there are other such beings around.

[@20thcentury_toy]

There are several actually, the frenzied flame is another

[@BlackGrailKiara]

We know of a few, such as the Formless Mother, the god of rot, the frenzied flame, etc

[@NoConsequenc3]

@@BlackGrailKiara and the Dark Moon

[@20thcentury_toy]

@@NoConsequenc3 even though it's not stated as one it probably could be

[@lakeofrot4198]

I'm loving all this Elden Ring lore. Everyone has a different take on everything. It's pretty interesting. I love the flail you get from it.

[@ChaosofMindZX]

I would love if the dlc explored more of the star beasts like we find their home

[@cocoabeans5792]

I want to see more of godwyn and his story, or maybe a boss fight with the prince of death.

[@androssthered1157]

Absolutely loving Elden Ring and your first lore video on it. There isn't enough spoken in game about the story around and I for one would love to hear more about it.

[@calebcentek9583]

Iam really looking forward to Vaati's findings on Astel, but this was very intresting.

[@MrValidusLupus]

I like this. I feel like there's only so much more Halo/Star Wars lore you can break down at this point after so many years of doing it. Continuing to branch out, especially with Elden Ring, is an excellent idea. Especially with your format. It feels like we're investigating together instead of you telling us a story. Nothing against Vaatividya. This videos are also good. But this is good.

[@TallShepherd]

Great video Eck! One small thing, the Clay-men (those stone skinned men you mentioned) are actually separate from the Alabaster / Onyx Lords, the Clayman Ashes tell us that "they are warped remains of priests who searched for revelation in service of the ancient dynasty", it makes it sound like these are part of the original populations of the ECs too. Can't wait to hear you talk more about Elden Ring!

[@apomk2]

I believe that "ancient dynasty" refers to the Mohgwyn Dynasty, i.e. Mogh. The architecture of Moghwyn Palace and the Uhl Palace ruins is also quite distinct from the one in the Eternal City, so I believe they're remnants of a different civilization that might have settled down there at a later point in time.

[@TallShepherd]

@@apomk2 That's interesting, I thought the Mohgwyn Dynasty was only just being established (when Mohg stole Miquella) but it was built on the ruins of the ancient dynasty the claymen were part of? I only say that because Mohg serves the Formless Mother but the Claymen seem to chill with Astel (or a variant of Astel) who I don't believe is connected to the Formless Mother? I might be wrong but that's how I interpreted it!

[@TallShepherd]

@@apomk2 But you are right, the architecture is very different

[@apomk2]

@@TallShepherd Good question, honestly the whole zone is a bit confusing. The word "dynasty" could very well be a red herring here, but don't remember it being mentioned anywhere else other than in relation to Mogh or the Clay men, which coincidentally happen to occupy the same zone. AFAIR you don't encounter any clay men within the actual Nox zones, they only seem to hang around the more Greco Roman Uhl-Type ruins. So I'd wager that either those ruins and the clay man aren't that old and might have actually have been built by Mogh (though the mention of "ancient dynasties" still wouldn't quite fit) or maybe Mogh just adopted the whole schtick from the former inhabitants of those ruins. Maybe they too worshipped the formless mother. But it still would seem to me like they were distinct from the Nox. Wish there was bit more info on that zone, but so far haven't really found much.

[@datzfatz2368]

@@apomk2 i mean we know for a fact that Mogh is Morgotts Brother (and Miquella is also one of their siblings) so they cant have been down there for that long

[@RoostaTeetha]

Didn't expect to see you cover Elden Ring. With how huge the community has grown, I especially look forward to seeing what you will do.

[@OffensiveGen]

Not only was Radhan affected by scarlet rot when you fought him, but he was also holding back a meteorite. Really makes you wonder how strong he ACTUALLY was

[@shockd1220]

ecks always has the exact videos of whatever im interested in with extremely high quality. love your channel man fr

[@deedoubs]

I feel like there's a big gap here in why there is this massive scarlet rot lake underneath Raya Lucaria which has no rot on the surface while there is nothing of the sort underneath Caelid but there's scarlet rot all over that place. It seems to imply the scarlet rot predates the queen who allegedly used it to destroy Caelid. Also worth noting: You fight boss versions of Nox Swordstress and Nox priest in Sellia, so the town of Sellia (not to mention this is where most stuff relating to gravity magic is roughly located) is somehow tied to the forgotten cities (and Nox itself has a latin root in night). On the subject of the Eternal Cities you also have the Siofra River area and its crazy number of ancient viking ghosts who show up again in Raya Lucaria above the location of the second Eternal City.

[@Lucas-st1xq]

yeah it seemed to me that Malenia doesn't seem to be the true source, but more like she was made to be a potential rot goddess, something that was worshipped way before her

[@classicmicroscopy9398]

Such a great lore video! Especially from having never covered Fromsoftware games which have notoriously complex lore. Mad respect!

[@SupahBro535]

This is a pleasant surprise

[@Jcornman24]

Keep up the Elden ring lore. I try to follow it as much as I can as I play but having it put together is much more helpful

[@POINDXTRMUSIC]

Yay! More Elden Ring content please! Also, i think their punishment has to do with Ranni

[@lukerafa5344]

I wonder in her rejection to the role of queen and empyrean was within the timeline if the fall of these cities, no idea how old she is or the cities

[@venepskeuten9206]

Not sure about that. The nox are said to be pre-erdtree and likely was their downfall as well. Ranni as an empyrian is part of the golden lineage and the lineage is post-erdtree. Now i'm gonna do a big spoiler here regarding one of the endings: The nox are supposedly waiting for a "lord of the stars" and in ranni's ending she kickstarts "the age of the stars" (or something similar) as elden lord. This makes me suspect that perhaps she is the one the nox were waiting for.

[@lukerafa5344]

@@venepskeuten9206 yeah I suspected something like this, havent finished the game but I have finished rannis questline and she seemed to be serving the old ways of the world before the erd tree era, I wonder if there was an entity that was the power controlling the star era, Im not quite sure what the golden will is, if it is an entity or not, but if im not mistaken its what gave queen marika her position and powers as we know it, so I wonder if there was an entity behind renna and the stars, also like rykards snake entity, seems to be these bigger picture entities trying to control the world through different demi gods

[@simpelmaareffectief]

Hey, i just wanted to say that i love the fact that youre making a video (hopefully videos) on elden ring. I have always been a massive fan of both star wars and the soulsborne series so seeing one of you videos about something i never thought youd make a video about blew my mind

[@ghastlybespoke9541]

id love to see you talk about scarlet rot and where it came from considering it seems like it appeared relativley recenty and is in multiple areas of the map

[@brandenbermudez2412]

This makes me so happy. Thank you.

[@thezestfall1st107]

Something that might be worth pointing out, there is a second Astel in the consecrated snow field

[@RyleyStorm]

This is something I always hoped you would do. You are a legend my fammo.

[@TastyGamingQc]

My theory: When the star fell from the sky many beings followed their descent. That is when the Starfallen beasts arose and coincidentally (not really) the Erdtree and the Greater-Will. After eons Nokstella was about to make a great discovery…or maybe they already had, either way their discoveries related to the cosmos angered or maybe scared the Elden beast. Which sent Astel and Aster to sunk the city to the ground using meteorites. It is my current theory that the Elden beast is a cosmic horror. Same as Astel and Aster. They came to the lands between when the meteorite shower hit the land. It then created the Erdtree to focus all the lands energy currents to itself. Which may even explain the drop in power levels regarding Glintstone magic as the primeval current was being disturbed.

[@esurio2631]

Would absolutely love to see more Elden Ring videos. There’s so much interesting lore that still hidden, can’t wait to see more.

[@BaronSterling]

Alright, now do the lore on Astel, Stars of Darkness. It seems so weird to me for there to be _two_ Astels, given how large of an impact the first one had on the world.

[@matiasluukkanen7718]

It seems obvious that Astel is a word derived from greek word Stella (star in greek) and Aster (star in Latin) Then the Two Astels we meet in the game are not names of individuals, but names of race. Astels, which are born from the stars. Their names are Natural-born and Star of Darkness.

[@joshaqy]

I would also second that. They seem more like a cosmic species like the cthulu starspawn or the elder things.

[@freshlymemed5680]

@@matiasluukkanen7718 They are definitely a species. We see similar looking creatures in other areas. They're called Malformed Stars, and I'm guessing the Astel's are the fully grown version as Malformed Stars have no wings and sort of act like a pupa/cocoon by hanging itself upside down on ceilings.

[@bretthaddon5175]

I loved all your earlier videos, really glad you're getting into Elden ring can't wait for the next one

[@DigiPen92]

#AskEck What if the Grand Inquisitor that we saw from the Obi-Wan Kenobi Trailer that wasn't the real Grand Inquisitor, but turns out to be the Con Artist impersonating the real Grand Inquisitor since we saw him doesn't have the same head structure as the Pau'an species had? What are your thoughts on how this "Con Artist Impersonating Grand Inquisitor Theory" would turned out if it's possible in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series?

[@soidz4569]

Really happy to see you taking the risk to go out of your way to do Elden Ring lore! I love it.

[@AgentMcWaffles]

Yes please I’ve been looking for lore videos cuz I get so sidetracked playing that I forget to check descriptions

[@drewtombz4737]

some of the best ER lore content on youtube so far. subscribed in hopes of more - well done sir!

[@arcxcc]

i remember subbing to you for your voice, not really caring for the actual content of the script. i fall asleep to your videos lol. its so exciting to see an elden ring video from you; i love fromsoft lore videos

[@leif4698]

Another thing worth noting is that there are TWO Astels in the world. One in the Grand Cloister and another in the Yelough Anix Tunnel in the Consecrated Snowfield. And one of his attacks also summons other Astels (even though they may just be clones). So it's safe to say that Astel is CLEARLY not a unique beast, and there are multiple of them out there. Which is even scarier because who knows what other giant things they destroyed?

[@UrbanLeche]

What a pleasant surprise this video is, id love more from you!

[@dusk_and_dawn2187]

Please, keep the Elden Ring content up, big fan of yours and the game!

[@DilectiAkai]

Didn’t expect Elden Ring. All the more, praise the gorgeous video!

[@Whoareyoucalling]

Great video. One thing I thing for certain is falling star beasts are the juvenile version of astel ( I will refer to them all as natrualborns ). Same mandibles, eye in the top of there skull, and the control of gravity. I came to this conclusion as they seem to have the same life cycle as the hellgrammite and the Dobson fly as both stages are eerily similar.

[@Martian2607]

You have me sold, I’m definitely down for more elden ring lore

[@noahday3540]

so cool how you were able to piece so much together by discovery and item description

[@dillonbija9592]

Astel has my heart. Just that design and the starry sky in a vast cave setting, I love it!

[@mordredstein9553]

I see this thing move and I immediately shouted "THAT'S A FREAKING AMYGDALA!"

[@dracorex426]

Also there's an entire floating city that blew up, which is where a lot of the stuff that fell from the sky came from.

[@greymemory]

Totally pulled me in. Nice work! Please do more I enjoyed your content overall!

[@monkebrainedfish3130]

Thank you for making videos about Elden ring, love your Star Wars/Halo content btw

[@wilreed8478]

Let's Goooo!! This is what I'm talking about, awesome video. More Elden Ring Lore/Content please

[@topdeckhelix8450]

Beautiful video, loved your halo lore but I haven’t watched you in a while. Keep up the Elden ring videos and you’ll have a loyal viewer back for sure!

[@TheBeardedPickle]

I love Eck covering elden ring I need more, also love to see you wearing the exact same gear and weapons as I use it’s like watching my own gameplay.

[@BozzMander]

This is an excellent video. Your content lends itself very well to the expansive lore of Elden Ring. Keep up the great work!

[@alexwall5483]

Keep it up! I’d love to see more lore videos!!!!!

[@raendymion3149]

I wasn't expecting that kind of video... But I'm very happy with it. I just finished that whole section after Ranni's quest, and Astel was a fucking pain... Yeah I play melee. Great video! I hope you'll do some other videos like that!

[@nathanroyster1324]

Radahn was preventing that falling star from hitting to stop Ranni from defying the greater will and killing her 2 fingers. Whether or not he's good or bad depends on what side you're on

[@miqvPL]

Nice research Eck, good amount of observations and speculations

[@MeatSnax]

Really liked this video, sometimes I'll lose focus for half a second in a DS or ER lore video and be completely lost, but this was very easy to follow. Maybe it's because I just finished these parts of the game but hopefully you'll stick with the ER lore :)

[@insulince]

Unfound makes such great music. Good vid!

[@Zyguard_101]

I’d love to see more Elden ring videos, honestly I’ve been searching for lore type videos lol

[@Frankzoar]

Going through the comments section fills me with joy. So many people going over ideas, theories, and conferring with one another to unravel the mysteries of this wonderful universe we’ve been exploring. God, I freaking love this game. Great video!

[@nealbryner9181]

This is really well done. Keep up the good work!

[@kaosukun02]

Looking for Elden Ring lore video I'm glad I found this channel :3

[@Pablojunior2006]

This is the coolest and freakish design of a boss I have seen. I wondered throughout the fight while he kicked my ass "what is his lore?" Because his arena and his unnatural design would make u think he's the creator of everything right. Great video bro

[@mook2234]

Really enjoyed this video, hope you continue to cover more Elden ring lore

[@spartimarti9208]

i like to think that radahn was holding back the stars because Astel was trying to summon more of his kind.

[@thomas.02]

As someone who hasnt played the game nor watched any gameplay videos all of this is fascinating but at the same time quite overwhelming and requires a good stretch to the imagination

[@razzy9172]

Can't expect vaativitdya to do all the work

[@tenminutes4876]

I love this. Elden ring lore is what I need from you ❤️

[@Raven-fr3ki]

I do feel like the whole “took away their sky” has to do with the city becoming sunken underground, but the weird part is radahn, why were there more meteors? I’d imagine that astel was sent maybe by the outer god that ruled the dragons, and upon the eternal city being sunken, the god sent more assaults, to release astel to wreak havoc on marika’s lands between which Radhan held in place

[@higorbotelho3483]

Awesome video! I'd love to see elden ring lore around here! One thing though, i don't believe the Greater Will sent Astel to the eternal city. Nokron people were astrologers and their power was drawn from the starts. When the Greater Will banished them underground they have lost their sky and could no longer study during the age of the Erdtree. So they started seeking other ways eventually learning gravity magic - if they couldn't reach the starts, then maybe they could bring the stars to them by controlling gravity. I do believe Astel was one of the things they unknowingly attracted to the lands between through gravity - they caused the meteor to fall themselves and brought their own ruin. Astel is one of the beings the Greater Will fears the most as it interferes with the natural order of things - so much that Radahn holds the entire galaxy still to prevent him from escaping and other similar beings from landing into the lands between once more. Also, the Noks were already banished deep underground. That was already their punishment, The Greater Will did not have to do anything else, let alone land an extremely dangerous outer world being in the lands between.

[@TheHonoredMadman]

The eternal city was manufacturing finger killing weapons so they sent an astel down as punishment. Radahn may have been protecting sellia as it was a nox built town where he learned his sorcery from an alabaster lord