Elden Ring - Ambitious failures

When the Land of Shadow was veiled from the world, many things were hidden with it. The Finger Ruins and the Lamprey that prowl them are troubling enigmas, fitting together strange aspects of the nature of the Fingers.
Song used: Twilight Realm - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

[@ZullietheWitch]

The material data for the scraps that cover the lower bodies of the Lampreys is labeled as "Fablic" and "Fablic_Blood", for the dark and light versions respectively, so it seems like it may be intended as bits of clothing, but it's not entirely certain, especially with how fleshy the Blood version looks ingame. Further muddying things though, it looks much more rough on the dark ones, almost like reptile skin if it is organic, but could easily be taken for coarse cloth as well.

[@wyattcensored9361]

If the nostrums are essentially lamprey eggs, does that mean the lampreys could possibly be related to albinaurics in a way, both being artificially created?

[@Ripenoli]

I feel like the wriggling within could refer more to what we see happen with Count Ymir and the Finger Robe. The robe description states "The front is open, exposing the squirming fingers beneath"

[@adityakarmakar3763]

Is it actually called Fablic with a b or is that your own misspelling?

[@ZullietheWitch]

@@adityakarmakar3763 It's "Fablic" verbatim. The internal labels were most likely written by the developers, not the localizers, so it's common for things like this to happen.

[@TriforceWisdom64]

​@@adityakarmakar3763That'd be the Japanese L/R thing. The names in the files are often written in English by Japanese speakers.

[@ADistantWail]

Imagine you live in a world where you can partake in dragon communion and turn into a cool dragon-man or wyrm, but instead, you decide you'd rather turn into a giant finger.

[@thorveim1174]

To be fair, said fingers are basically seen as direct envoys of god and can commune with it directly. On that regard its no wonder some would strive for that.

[@ADistantWail]

@thorveim1174 That's what the Greater Will wants you to believe, but in truth, it's an elaborate joke they made up to see if people would actually do it.

[@mauceleste7001]

To be fair dragons are stupid and ugly and they suck I would rather become the gold tinged excrement

[@arridueldes9843]

@@ADistantWail Only explanation I have is that its easier to obtain a Finger Nostrum than kill a dragon, thus laziness.

[@BigHatLoganGaming]

Kid named finger meme returns

[@CeresArda]

When the Lampreys' eyes glow from having extra runes, they look terrifying The first time I saw the glowing eyes, I realized it had 8 eyes lol

[@djbeema]

Same

[@BlueishLegoBrick]

Same

[@archercraft1018]

I thought they were nostrils😢

[@mcalaru]

Yeah, made a lot of screenshots! Nice detail

[@allanclarke9595]

Oh that's what the glowing eyed enemies mean

[@yetanotherbassdude]

I feel like "disturbingly literal" is basically Miyazaki's entire design philosophy

[@enricomarelli2022]

On point

[@ColonelCosmology]

@@enricomarelli2022two fingers being a literal set of fingers, eyes on the inside being indicative of eldritch truth… yeah, I’d say you’re right

[@avillahanya]

“Insight” and it’s literally eyes on your brain

[@grovestreetballaa3279]

I'll never forget playing ER at launch and reading in game about the "Two fingers" thinking it was some kind of religious inner circle then getting jumpscared by a literal pair of gnarly fingers

[@SorowFame]

@@grovestreetballaa3279I started as a Confessor so I was assuming it’d be related to them, like the secret leaders of the organisation dedicated to furthering the cause of the Greater Will from the shadows. Nope, just big fingers apparently.

[@aloeera]

the Fingerprint Nostrums actually look pretty similar to Lamprey eggs, so you might not be that far off!

[@terriblelizardnbtapioles5279]

and the OG alien ship was called the Nostromo

[@Endonae]

They also look like beans.

[@adrianburvall1495]

It also looks kinda similar to the face of Metyr

[@LordSevla]

@@terriblelizardnbtapioles5279 Nostromo was a human ship in the Alien movie, the ship with parasitic aliens inside was the "Derelict".

[@terriblelizardnbtapioles5279]

@@LordSevla i was refereing to the human ship, as it is the main set of the whole movie

[@gmattano]

They are the players that took the message "Try finger, but hole" a bit too seriously.

[@evanseifert8858]

Top-tier comment.

[@HanabiraKage]

Every time someone leaves a "Try finger, but hole" message a new Lamprey is born.

[@TheActualMrLink]

They took a fingerprint nostrum as a suppository…

[@enderaceofspades8579]

I both love and hate the Finger Ruins. Love because the ruins look so alien and surreal. It's as if you've stumbled upon something truly ancient, primordial even. Like, you're not supposed to be here, but you can't look away now. Hate because it's hard to soak it all in with Lamprey's constantly attacking you. The ruins look empty even up close, but these bastards are lurking around every corner waiting to ruin your day.

[@eyn2402]

I was very much excited to roam aimlessly in the ruins for a bit on my first dlc run. The moment I got sniped from across the screen with a snare I put on assassin's gambit and just ran straight for the bell on my next runs.

[@jacktheripper7935]

@@eyn2402 It's what I did directly lmao (me smart), worked perfectly.

[@eyn2402]

@@jacktheripper7935here’s a theory, the reason why enemies ignore you when use that AoW is not that they can’t see you, it’s that they’re so disturbed of a tarnished repeatedly cutting themselves that they only attack when you get close out of self-preservation.

[@hobojoe9717]

I also dislike those locations because there really is nothing in them except the bells. I wish there were some other good items you could find that made them worth exploring.

[@StoniTheOni]

I hate the ruins because the areas felt very empty compared to the rest of the DLC. Maybe I glossed right over some things, but I feel like I went through those areas pretty thoroughly and it's not much to them

[@something-g99]

One thing is for certain, they suck. Miyazaki woke up and chose violence when he gave them the fastest homing spell that paralyses you instantly.

[@jacktheripper7935]

Spam the assassin gambit AOW when you enter the ruins, sneak into the ruins while being far enough from them and they aren't a problem anymore.

[@HellecticMojo]

​@@jacktheripper7935yes, just dedicate an entire AOW to just walk around

[@lordofshades9852]

Or use Torrent, the other lampsreys can't grab you if you're on your back ​@jacktheripper7935

[@indestructiblemadness8531]

After they threw me of my horse, the attack didnt stun me at least

[@shalashaskaseven4841]

@@HellecticMojoYou can literally throw it on a unupgraded dagger. Your weight restriction shouldn’t be that tight

[@MagusLay]

I like how each pair of eyes seems to have a different emotion. From bottom to top, it looks like tired, angry, indifferent, and joyous.

[@SophisticatedGoat222]

It's probably coincidence, but it could be related to what some cultures consider to be the four ranges of human emotion; sadness, anger, contentment, and joy.

[@mauauauauaua14]

@@SophisticatedGoat222 noh mask!

[@spacefaringyoshi]

I'm surprised Miquella's quest had nothing to do with the Fingers considering how Ranni showed how close Fingers control the lives of their respective Empyreans.

[@Trideastros]

I think it's kinda weird, we know that marika and ranni both had fingers which assigned shadowbound beasts to them, both of them discard them (marika seemingly out of convinience and ranni to protect herself) and theres even a beast that tries to stop us in nokron. Yet we never hear anything finger-related for malenia or miquella, maybe they were already irrelevant at this point. I mean its not like they were the ones that imprisoned marika.

[@Hank_JW]

Thinking back to Ranni and the great lengths she had to go to in order to shed her Empyrean flesh without dying, it becomes even more remarkable that Miquella was seemingly able to divest himself of his body at will once he made it to the Land of Shadow.

[@arditlika9388]

Fingers are basically glorified clergy, so it's not surprising Miquella has nothing to do with them, because they lost interest in the twins to succeed Marika.

[@eyn2402]

@@Hank_JW the guy took out his eyes at the coast, does he just jedi-force his way through the lands afterwards? That said, they did go to great lengths in their own way, with the haligtree, Mohg’s abduction, and then going to the LoS. Probably helped that he had Malenia on his side and his powers to “resist outer god’s influences”. Can’t suggest anything for flesh discarding though, chalk it up to plot-hole for now.

[@sobrii9492]

Considering that we can see in the base game that twin demigods share a divine tower (Morgott's and Mogh's Great Runes are both activated at the Divine Tower of East Altus), it's likely that Miquella's Great Rune would have been activated at the Isolated Divine Tower (had he not cast it off in the Land of Shadow), which is where the player activates Malenia's Rune. We can infer then that Miquella's Two Fingers might be the same as Malenia's, and if that's true, it's likely the dead one at the Isolated Divine Tower, the same as all the other demigods save for Ranni, whose Two Fingers are the only other living Two Fingers aside from the Roundtable Hold Fingers we ever see, if I recall correctly. At least, we can see it immediately after Ranni kills it, meaning it was alive up until the end of her questline.

[@RamixTheRed]

I love the contrast between the thumbnail text and the titles on these videos

[@uhoh7545]

This NPC is named "Buddy"

[@MrFrenzyBox]

Its like two titles

[@Zarroxius]

They’re sometimes slightly more comedic like the good old ‘This dog does 11,640 damage per second’

[@RamixTheRed]

SHE CHANGED THE THUMBNAIL NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@skiburc2252]

​@@zaidlacksalastname4905 these are far from click bait my friend

[@WayneByNumbers]

Couldn't resist the Alien chestburster reference, could you? These noodles certainly look the part

[@Gidrah]

Honestly every time I see them I think of a Xenomorph. The small ones started fleshy and became darker as they grew as well.

[@RobOngrui]

IMO - this looks a complete alien reference. Maybe the Lamprey are what results from them having a human host. Maybe, whatever was in those eggs, changes depending on the host, just like a xenomorph.

[@ymotle]

@@RobOngrui yeap, virus needed to control everyone as fast as posible to have time to hatch an adapt acordly DS3 had that beautiful decrepit pantheon of putrid loonytoons

[@NWolfsson]

I personally interpreted the Nostrum's "causes something to wriggle within" to be indicative that Ymir was taking those. That doesn't exclude that people not fated to become a new Mother would turn into Lamprey, to be fair.

[@bubblinebee]

This! The description of Ymir's robes also mention that they conceal an 'abundance of squirming'.

[@NWolfsson]

@@bubblinebee (and if you alter them, you get the "Mother of Fingers" version with the fingers reaching out ;) )

[@Demokaze]

Ymir talks about the implications of humans also being the children of the greater will when you ask him about glintstone sorceries and I interpreted the description of the nostum as it forcing an awakening of something rooted within the genes causing a regression or evolution (depending on how you see it). As the nostrum is not something you find to be an egg that hatches a parasite inside you, it's a medicine you craft from materials.

[@scienceme9794]

@@Demokaze Definitely a regression, or are you blaspheming the truth of the sacred Law of Regression?

[@DeepRest420]

I never considered they used to be human, or at least may have hatched out of them. That's pretty interesting, but it doesn't change the fact that these guys and their stupid finger spell made me angrier than anything in the DLC.

[@ConstrictorDevlin]

have you tried just sneaking around them? they didnt give me much grief when i avoided the central path, since only some of them cast the paralyzing spell

[@nguyentandung42]

Assassins gambit is a pretty good ash of war for convenience man. Try it out

[@eyn2402]

I’ve found the dual-wielding horned warrior enemies to be the most irritating thing in the dlc. Fine, we’re supposed to be at endgame status at this point, but quick attacks AND high poise? Granted it’s attacks have less “single hit” damage than the other variant but still.

[@SaHaRaSquad]

@@eyn2402 I think even those aren't as bad as the stronger horned enemies on the way to the last boss. I've never seen them flinch despite their massive health pool, even five heavy jump attacks with a greathammer didn't stagger them.

[@eyn2402]

@@SaHaRaSquad running past them is always a viable solution, until the moment they tag me with an attack. “You wanted my attention and oh my attention you shall receive”.

[@gumbosuave]

There's a real Prometheus vibe to The Finger Ruins. I love it and it wouldn't be far fetched for Miyazaki to have a spot in his heart for the Alien franchise.

[@doom7850]

So while looking at the map of SOTE, I noticed that from the position of jagged peak, the two finger ruins look a bit like the death pose of the two fingers. Drawing the shape between them with the “palm” as bayles crater, it’s very similar. Then someone showed me an image where the entire shadow realm island looks like a hand grasping. The upper finger ruins are the pinky, the lower one is the thumb, cathedral of manus metyr is the ring, abyssal ruins is apparently being grasped, cerulean coast (and by extension st trina) and jagged peak are outside of the hand

[@TheAntlionGuard]

if you look at the entire sote map from above it looks like a buff chicken with one giant arm

[@Nurix09]

​@@TheAntlionGuardGreater Will is giant chicken with one buff arm confirmed?!?!?!??

[@apophisstr6719]

@@Nurix09 So Elden Ring is actually one giant KFC advert????

[@maybemablemaples2144]

​@@apophisstr6719 chimkin nuggies

[@Fuogor]

@@TheAntlionGuard Related to Trogdor perhaps?

[@SnacxAttac]

The Finger Ruins nails cosmic horror to a T imo, the whole time I explored the area I had a deep feeling in my gut that said "I shouldn't be here."

[@dumbsterdives]

and nothing intensifies that feeling more than getting sniped with that stun spell out of nowhere and having one of the lampreys teleport over to try to chew your head off

[@breezierchip8355]

Something that only really dawned on me post-playthrough was how quick I went through the Finger Ruins. I very, VERY much did not want to be there. Honestly, I'd have loved to seen a more eldritch/cosmic horror focus in the DLC, rather than the fallout of Messmer's Crusade or Miquella's plans. Lore-Wise, Metyr makes sense as a final boss, though it's hard to balance the intentional scarcity of something like the finger ruins in a larger themed area. Honestly, I wish Ymir and the Finger Ruins were given a legacy dungeon of some sort, or at least a few Finger-Creature minibosses. A big Lamprey crawling through the water sounds like a horrifying visual, or if the chestburster theory is to be believed, seeing one 'fresh' could be equally disturbing.

[@evanseifert8858]

You feel like you shouldn't be there because the devs forgot to finish the area.

[@HanabiraKage]

I've never liked the hands (fingercreepers), so just visiting the beach right before the first finger ruin had me wanting to turn back already.

[@eviltoad746]

That's why I laugh at the people who complain about the lack of loot in the area. Like, it's about the fucking _atmosphere_ of the place. Put yourself in your character's shoes. You see this kinda shit, you're not gonna be like "oh hey I wonder if there's any swords for me in there" you're gonna be like "how can I get in and out of here as quickly as possible without attracting the attention of the hand demons?" But alas, people don't seem to appreciate good atmosphere anymore, even though an immaculately atmospheric world is what originally brought DeS and DS1 so much love

[@Nightmare-pj4fg]

The dlc giving us far more about a relationship between the greater will and water/ the ocean is so fascinating. We fight both Metyr and the Elden Beast in a Rom- esc lake, and Elden Beast is aquatic. Then there are these things. Plus it being revealed that the golden magic we’re used to isn’t actually that of the greater will, or at least not the only kind, that it has magic that is much closer to sorcery, the worship of any kind of outer celestial body like the moon, which illustrates it’s supposedly true visage much more, being the literal vastness of the cosmos or something like that, just adds a ton more Lovecraftian brownie points. It’s difficult to tell, but of course this could also just be magic unrelated to the greater will. The finger sorceries can be interpreted as resulting from trying to communicate with the greater will through sorcery, the study of celestial bodies, WITHOUT intervention from the two fingers or Metyr, as Ymir implied as being his purpose, while the golden order incantations, etc, can reflect the Elden beast and fingers influence on crucible Magics. Two stars sent for different purposes to the lands between, yet both resemble fingers, one much more than the other admittedly, and both are aquatic. So the Greater Will can be either a giant finger monster, or perhaps as its name implies, the finger aspect can me metaphorical, it literally putting its imprint on things, representing its will, being that of some unknowable eldritch being in the deep ocean of the cosmos.

[@alyseleem2692]

It's both. Heresy is but a contrivance; all things can be conjoined. Miriel knew what really went on all along.

[@PlatinumAltaria]

I think incantations and sorceries just come from two different directions; sorceries come direct from outer space and incantations come from within the minds of sentient creatures.

[@Dinoman972]

I think you're more or less correct about the finger sorceries: the Glinting Nail item states that, at least in the case of the Glintstone Nail spells, they were created specifically to imitate the lampreys' abilities, not necessarily because of faith in the Greater Will. Which in turn makes me doubt that the lampreys are themselves byproducts of human interference like Zullie suggests. Also, don't forget about the existence of Holy Water Pots. Though those were seemingly created by the Golden Order to hunt the undead, not necessarily with the Elden Beast's involvement.

[@Sir_Crow]

What if the whole finger idea is meant to be that the Greater Will is impossibly massive, with many fingers?

[@themaniae4803]

Not only. Water in Elden Ring (Taken from Bloodborne as a concept) has always been linked to the spiritual and astral plane and the afterlife. Elden Beast? On some water. Loretta's spirit? On some water. The nightmare of Godwyn? On putrid water. The remembrace/spirit of Rennala? A giant ocean with a Moon. Crucible, Erdtree and Order incantations, and now Spiral, comes from the same origin, and now, as Metyr and Elden Beast comes from the same thing, we can say Greater Will, like Souls from Dark Souls and The Old One from Demon Souls, is the same source of Spells and Incantations. For GW aspect... for how little we know about her, probably it's a big middle finger. Jokes aside, i don't think GW has an aspect we can understand, more and more alien and divine than Elden Beast and Metyr.

[@pilotmanpaul]

I'm so early Bayle and Placidusax still has their limbs and wings intact.

[@rookie9028]

Good pun

[@Akrilloth]

So early Metyr hasn't been dumped by the greater will yet.

[@spartacus778]

*CURSE YOU BAYLE*

[@eyn2402]

So early that- what do you mean I need to go in the jar?

[@yodoleheehoo90]

​@@eyn2402 ooh no, that's so cruel😂

[@neojb1989]

They also have incredible aim for that fricken binding spell.

[@DanielFerreira-ez8qd]

That spell is homing, that's why.

[@dumbsterdives]

yeah, its an alternate version of the homing shot the giant fingercreepers use that travels way faster and directly impacts instead of being a delayed burst

[@ALLMINDmercenarysupportsystem]

They have 8 eyes. They'd better be good shots!

[@Majoraspersona]

The lampreys are also yet another example of all the marine life that permeates Elden Ring. Interesting how it's a fish this time, and not a crustacean though...

[@bartendingcrow6497]

Holy fuck, does that make the Elden beast something akin to an Prokaryote? Something that came from the oldest knowing thing (The cosmos) And death flame being ancient is kept in line with the VERY SAME fish motif... (Godwyn) Then the crucible... oh my god you making me think, ow. thank you.

[@drcookie2717]

The appearance of lampreys and the shape of fingers ruins made me think these ruins were lake created by something falling from space and creating a crater, the water then receded after an untold number of years but the organisms inside had already changed under the fingers influence. The plant and mushrooms also were altered to be more fingers like some sort of carcinisation but with fingers.

[@Broomer52]

The Greater Will arrived on the planet through a cosmic event and striking the earth. Many assumed it was the Elden Beats but it may instead be the daughter of the Greater Will who would birth Fingers to commune with mortals on her fathers behalf. Her name is Metyr which is very close to Meteor. The Nox created a weapon that could kill the Fingers which may play a part in these ruins and may have severely hurt Metyr. which has many potential consequences including the struggle of communicating with the Greater Will. In Japan Water is both a symbol of Corruption and Purification depending on the context, stagnant water in particular being a source of corruption.

[@Nurix09]

Remembrance of the Mother of Fingers The mother of all Two Fingers and Fingercreepers was in turn a magnificently gleaming daughter of the Greater Will, and the first shooting star to fall upon the Lands Between. Something did indeed fall from space.

[@Sinhsseax]

@@Nurix09 Spinning that further, what if the Elden Beast crashlanded in the Hinterlands Finger Ruins (due to the more golden Coloration) while Metyr hit the Finger ruins beside the peak, which are more blue in color. If the theory about the color of the lampreys by Zullie is also correct, that would line up, since the black ones are mostly where I think Metyr hit and would be older and black for that reason.

[@IngeniousNinja]

@@Sinhsseax Yeah, the "north ruins = EB and south = Metyr" is my take too, the third ruins are uniquely not on the surface and instead on that undergound... mound? so it may just be forming as a result of Metyr having moved under there

[@riotguards]

There's always room for one massive fingers that poked the craters into existence, they're within the range and angle a hand would make if it were to do so.

[@loomingmoon4682]

The Finger Ruins are some of the most artistically interesting vistas I've ever seen in a game, or maybe just ever

[@ahriik]

The latter possible explanation for their existence is my favorite. The first time I saw these guys, along with their otherworldly landscape of the finger ruins, all I could think about was xenomorphs. Finger creepers look like facehuggers too!

[@Somedude72]

They look nothing like xenos imo

[@Balance-dt7jr]

They look like skinny mini elden beasts.

[@brandonw3499]

"Ahh the finger ruins you say? I Gwynevere shall make pilgrimage there at once to decipher the meaning of the place. "

[@alepenagorbe9135]

Given the slightly Geiger-esque aesthetic of the finger ruins, I feel like the Lampreys growing from inside their hosts is very likely

[@bobisuncanny2760]

1:17 Somehow the real life counterpart is creepier

[@JuDo_KiCkEr]

The nostrum item is interesting. It's like a tape worm egg. They used to be sold in I think the 1920s as a fat loss wonder pill when it was actually a tape worm that would hatch in you and ate everything you ate so you wouldn't get fat

[@Powersd451]

Tape worms and lampreys are also both long thin parasites that attach to the host with their heads

[@Punishthefalse]

Well, it did work as advertised...

[@bluegum6438]

To add to that, it's more gross than just the tapeworm eats your food. They eat blood from your gut lining, they don't care about food. You lose weight because the tapeworm is sucking your blood constantly.

[@Sorrowdusk]

The people who bought them KNEW exactly what they were buying. (And it's more like 30 years before then. Back in the good ol days of Tobacco Smoke Enemas and Dr. Young's Ideal Rectal Dilators)

[@ColtonGamingTV]

Can't tell you how many times I got caught by the lampreys paralyzing attack only to be munched on by a lamprey.

[@TriforceWisdom64]

I stood still and let them all get me one after another. They take long enough to move that I kept thinking it was over, only for one more to appear just in time to whiff their grab. I was cracking up.

[@ColtonGamingTV]

@@TriforceWisdom64 lol

[@Somedude72]

If you’re on torrent it’ll knock you off him and make you lay on the ground and the lamprey can’t grab you

[@ColtonGamingTV]

@@Somedude72 Yeah, but with my luck I get hit again as soon as I get and get grabbed anyway. Also, suck at dodging the spell so it is skill issue on my part.

[@reaperofthings]

I got so annoyed in my second DLC run to get the last few Remembrance weapons I needed that I pulled out Jolan and Anna, only for the Lampreys to not teleport over for their grab when I got hit by the binding spell. I don’t know if that’s intentional, but I’m never entering the Finger Ruins without some Spirit Ash bodyguards again

[@bedoboipdf]

Zullie is the type of person to give a _flawless_ theory about something in game, _way too real_ that might as well have the devs confirm it to be true themselves, only for her to end the video with a "but idk there's no way to be sure fr"

[@HRZN_YT]

The eight eyes immediately reminded me of The Channelers from Dark Souls

[@SomeScruffian]

It's fitting the outcome of wishing to become a finger is destroying your humanity to become a lamprey - only a parasite would latch onto a greater being in hopes of acquiring a measly portion of it's strength.

[@Sorrowdusk]

☝️🧐 AND what of those wishing to become a God?

[@SomeScruffian]

@@Sorrowdusk >spend whole dlc detaching from oneself in order to become god >latches onto a greater being during his phase 2 in hopes of using his strength >miquella is a jawless fish >radahn and mohg were parasitized on and deserved more diginity in death than becoming carrion for a twink swiftie fan

[@MythicMagus]

I remember entering the finger ruins for the first time. It was an amazing feeling entering such an alien place. That's one of the best things about the DLC honestly. Every area is so different.

[@AR-bj5et]

What annoys me most about the finger lore is that the two fingers and the finger creepers look nothing alike at all, no one made the assumption that they were connected because they’re both so different. Creepers have long nails and larger ones wear rings somehow, the two fingers have cilia while the creepers don’t, they’re both different colours etc. more annoyingly Metyr, the mother of both, doesn’t look like either! She’s the only one who has fingerprints in her design while creepers and two fingers distinctly don’t, but the three fingers which also have fingerprints is the only one completely unrelated to all three? Idk, it’s a bit of a mess, they could have had a bit more connecting them visually

[@hi-i-am-atan]

is there something that hints at or confirms that the three fingers are wholly unrelated to the finger family? from what i know, it seems completely feasible that the three fingers were an aberrant child of metyr, whose deformity lead to it being rejected and thus it turned to the frenzied flame and became its vassal. connects p. well with the overall theme of the finger questline, with the mistakes of a mother carrying down to her children and leading to far greater consequences than anyone can deal with

[@jeffd830-i8q]

yes agreed the finger lore was a bit of a letdown, but the fact that fingercreepers share their origin bummed me out the most.

[@AR-bj5et]

@@hi-i-am-atan It's plausible but I feel like some kind of connection would be mentioned somewhere if there was one but Metyr's remembrance specifying only two fingers and creepers so I don't think so

[@eyn2402]

Could’ve at least put in some exaggerated fingerprint lines that could only be seen when you kill the fingercreepers, that could have fueled some interesting theories back in the day.

[@MitridatedCarbon]

​@@hi-i-am-atan they might be related cause we find eyes touched by the three fingers in Midra's manse and there we also find fragments of finger ruins so they might have been created in midras' manse to create a lord of frenzy.

[@Underscore-Lord]

Wish we got more finger sorceries

[@I_am_a_cat_]

More sorcery in general. Everything is faith :( More Godwyn woulda been the best tho

[@BLAM5980]

@@I_am_a_cat_ Godwyn is dead.

[@mezeporta]

​@@BLAM5980Not just dead. GIGA dead

[@kingkh001]

@@mezeportaundead, so there's possibility for more

[@BigHatLoganGaming]

​@@BLAM5980only in soul

[@beckaroo_buck]

the lampreys are so unnerving to me, my skin crawls just looking at them. insightful video !

[@Drakuma35]

The pale ones’ pink/red color scheme is very similar to the mushrooms, so maybe the mushrooms themselves are the source of the parasites? The lampreys don’t really look fungal but it could be a possibility

[@ashencometmom5291]

the finger ruins are probably my favorite lore drop in the DLC. their existence provides a couple of answers and approximately a metric fuckton of new questions

[@quint3ssent1a]

We already knew the gods in ER are aliens, so that finger ruins probably were their drop zone or something.

[@loadishstone]

Agreed. Its actually pretty rare that FS (probably due to Martin though) just blatantly explains the origin of a creature like that but it still leaves so much room to ponder!

[@KissyKaede]

Those egg-like structures found at the finger ruins are a real life geological phenomenon. They are spherical geological concretions formed by sediments of different hardness interacting with the water table, or something like that. I'm not a geologist, I just know that I've seen these in real life.

[@Ansuzhelmaz]

I love watching Zullie & Bonfire for these types of showcases of mobs, bosses etc Really cool to see

[@shoutykenneth5115]

I knew we'd get some cool shit when Miyazaki finally got around to watching alien.

[@Sorrowdusk]

😮 WHAT happens when Miyazaki finally watches *Event Horizon* and then *Cube* ? (Or does Hideo Kojima need to watch those??)

[@OscarGreenworth]

My friend got hit with one of those beams that stuns you and then EVERY one of those things came out of the portal at once.

[@atlasprime6193]

The two Finger Ruins and Abyssal Woods are the biggest disappointment that gave the illusion of how big the map is when in reality they’re really small. The dragon mountain almost came close to join the list as well, but the traversal and lead up to the boss fight saved it, acting as a great gauntlet challenge. As for the disappointing areas, the Finger Ruins really have nothing to do or collect except blowing the bell, lore study, and duplicating remembrance. Same goes for the Abyssal Woods, but that area felt like more work was put into and acted as a testing ground for a gameplay in a future installment or different souls game. I really love the haunting/horror element they put into the area, with your only advantage is to use stealth, or the alternative is being able to parry to kill the frenzied enemy.

[@sussusamogus2647]

The existence of lampreys makes me think that ancient dragons are beastmen that underwent a process to become like fingers. It would explain why beastmen were given intelligence by the greater will, as well as the connection between wolves and the fingers with the shadow bound beasts. It also explains why dragons and beastmen are so close and why depictions of dragons sometimes give them heads that look like dogs. The big thing for me is the god devouring serpent having hands like the fingercreepers. That can’t just be a coincidence, especially when the devourer’s sceptor shows the serpent coiled around the sceptor in a similar way to how Metyr’s tail is coiled.

[@falgalhutkinsmarzcal3962]

Furthering my keratin theory, not only do the Lamprey cast Fingernail sorceries (and fingernails are made of keratin), but Lamprey teeth are actually hollow structures made of keratin in the real world. It should be noted that in vers 1.00 the flavor text for Celestial Dew refers to it as a Nostrum, too, though I cannot remember the wording. It is interesting that they changed it. It is also interesting that the Lamprey spit out poisonous fluid full of writhing leech-like worms.

[@thefunkyfish5640]

You've gotta appreciate how Lanpreys are already horrifyifn enough to look at that From only had to throw and limbs and extra eyes on them to make an enemy that is as horrifying in appearance as many of their most effective designs

[@hamsterdoom360]

It's settled. We're gonna need another DLC to explain this one.

[@rwberger6]

I want a dlc to explain the gloam eyed queen and godskins. I do not buy into the theory that Melina is the gloam eyed queen (because then how would she be a rival to marika?), rather I think she is part of the trend of Marika's bloodline being cursed to have features of her enamies.

[@eyn2402]

Really though, imagine if they dropped another trailer out of nowhere. Think of all the hype that makes, like my man, when you gonna stop.

[@pumpy2728]

@@rwberger6 Melina is Marikas daughter, stated in Messmers Flame Item Description

[@lou.pcanway247]

The 2 shots back to back of the human curled on the ground followed by the lamprey legiitimely made me sad. Also it's the second video in a raw were I think the visual are so on point. You do such a good job.

[@halkiierid4084]

In real life, there are some areas (like the Great Lakes in North America) where invasive lampreys are a serious ecological issue. I wonder if that was an intentional reference - an otherworldly creature wreaking havoc on the balance of things.

[@grimjhaixus]

When I walk around that cliff edge my brain said "Someone read the comment about Try Fingers but hole and made a level of it. Ah, and here are the tapeworms."

[@Mene0]

0:17 very poetic, Zullie

[@Neptunequeen42]

I love all the effort you always put into staging little scenes and visuals with the models. It must be fun to have the tools to play with elden ring creatures like action figures.

[@Sinhsseax]

2:45 This. What if it's evidence of the Finger Ruins being the places where Metyr and the Elden Beast respectively hit the Lands Between? The Hinterlands Finger Ruin has gold spots and the one beside the Peak has blue. And if we say, that the Lampreys beside the peak are older that would align with that spot being older since Metyr arrived first.

[@eyn2402]

Also, I don’t know if this has any bearing but the one on the cerulean coast is pretty close to Midra’s mansion, you know, maychaostaketheworld.

[@Sinhsseax]

@@eyn2402 True, another person in the comment section mentioned the possibility of something falling from the hut beside the ruins down into the Abyssal forest. In that same comment he also said, that he was finding stone fingers and finger eggs under the tarps in the manse.

[@eyn2402]

@@Sinhsseax damn, didn’t even know that. Time for a 4th run. With summons this time.

[@BigHatLoganGaming]

Then explain the finger ruin metyr resides in under the church?

[@eviltoad746]

I did wonder about the different colors within the ruins. Hell I kept placing down markers on those spots on the map to see if there was some kinda glowy stuff there lol

[@goldie1573]

those stone eggs around the finger ruins are one of my favorite environmental designs.

[@GODZILLAmonsoon]

Khezu jumpscare at the end there

[@luketfer]

I'm surprised you didn't mention how there is a possibility that these are a 'reuse' of an idea from Demon's Souls. In the cut content area, one of the enemies was a Leech/Lamprey type enemy that (obviously) went completely unused. This, to me, seems like Fromsoft adding some polish to the idea as Elden Ring seems to be the "we finally made a lot of cut content actually work" game like the Trolls and Blaidd being reworks of the Yetis and wolf men from the same area.

[@Bitsbug]

I think it's also valuable to mention that the Lamprey's four sets of eyes seem to embody different emotions. The second to bottom set are clearly angry, the top set almost joyous, and the bottom set restful or tired. I'm unsure what kind of significance that could have at the moment, though.

[@zegreatpumpkinani9161]

They're baby Khezus! Love the end screen btw, funni worm screeching

[@Yharim_The_Impaler]

The only thing I dislike about the Lamprey’s is the stun missile sorcery they can cast from miles away threat you just never hear until you’ve been jumpscared and held in place. Especially when you get nibbled on right after by the pink ones in the Dheo ruins. But now with the potential theory that they grow inside hosts like Xenomorph’s adds to the terror factor.

[@GGPlex_]

When I was going through the Lands of Shadow, it felt less like fighting through another map, and more like playing the Utility Room. Cliff faces going up higher than you can see, huge structures seemingly useless now. A frightening beauty.

[@thethree6622]

I don't usually complain too much but o was shocked when such a big area had absolutely nothing in it.

[@wastely]

For fucking real

[@varsoonhks3211]

Besides the unique enemies, plants, quest location and reward, as well as the area being wholly unique from anything in the base game? Yeah, there need to be at least four treasure chests and six enemy types in any area for it to be worth experiencing!

[@Azzabackam]

​@varsoonhks3211 you know what they meant, smarty pants. Yes, there's some unique content and a striking visual style to the area. But, what do you do there? Fight the Lampreys, which are annoying as fuck. Ring the bell. That's it.

[@31Moth13]

I'm fine with it since it exists as a big lore setpiece. Something like Charo's Hidden Grave annoys me more even though it has more stuff in it.

[@StealJoe69420]

The finger ruins are extremely creative and impressive areas where you spend a whopping 2 minutes in. There should have been more than just slightly annoying enemies and some weird crafting material you're not using anyway. Like at least a minor boss you have to defeat before you can ring the bell.

[@unbreakablelag]

Could also be a mind flayer situation, the host is subsumed by a parasite.

[@isaackane4931]

I just wish the fingerprint ruins weren't so empty. It's quite the harrowing sight to see them from a distance. Then you finally explore it a realize it's nothing but the visual, bell, and that BS mortar attack. Then you realize, "Oh, so much of the DLC map is just wasted space."

[@ConflictedCrisis]

the rocky finger shaped growths and the practice of attempting to become like fingers makes me think the hornsent have finger-y growths.

[@namleist]

Don't never buy no shroom from the Land of Shadow bro, bro. I went up there at 11 o'clock last night trynna get me some mushroom. Bro, I smoked that shit, woke up, my motherfucking eye was right here and my 7 other eyes are right here.

[@Suimega]

The things that "wriggle within" may just as well be fingers, just like countless fingers were wriggling under Ymir's robe as he attempted to become a mother. The lampreys echoes this nicely - which to me may be the reason why they were picked as the de facto mobs of the finger ruins.

[@TheDarkMagik]

Try finger, but hole

[@krodmandoon3479]

You don't have the right!

[@capt_howdy]

In my headcanon, the land in these areas look like that because it's like little trenches that were formed from all the fingers/longboys slithering around like snakes.

[@KazaiTV]

The Mushroom Theory was right all along.

[@Ziostorm]

🍄

[@DanielFerreira-ez8qd]

​@@Ziostorm You madman

[@bigball7741]

@@Ziostormyooooo

[@worldlinezero4783]

Dammit, I hate when the mushroom guys are right

[@HellspawnPaintedStone]

I don't comment on youtube much, but I absolutely love watching this content, Zullie- it is so nostalgic and enthralling to listen to my favorite Zelda tracks while watching your videos. Keep it up, man, you're a legend.

[@commaJim]

I love the finger ruins! But the Lampreys... Hell no.

[@Boamere]

I was under the impression they were cosmic bottom feeders. Since the majority of lamprey species are bottom feeders themselves. And Miyazaki loves the concept of a lesser being that feeds on the waste of cosmic deities somehow being more ascended than an ordinary human (like in bloodborne), which could explain their intelligence. There is a lot stuff about wanting to transform into a finger, but could this not explain count Ymir’s transformation instead? He literally has fingers bursting from inside his stomach

[@unironicallylikesranger7122]

Been doing some none data digging and have found stone fingers and finger eggs under the yellow tarps in Midras manse past the second illusory wall. After exploring the nearby ruins of Rhea, I think it’s possible that the eggs fell there from the finger weavers hut beneath the dragon corpse, as the hut is on a cliff that overlooks the area of tangled roots behind the manse. I’m still not sure if this is how the untouchables or Midra were exposed to frenzy, but it seems like a likely origin for the three fingers

[@colorpg152]

or the frenzy is from elsewhere but corrupted a finger, its at least to me that nanaya brought the flame to the manse, it could be flame of frenzy isn't related to fingers at all

[@aztecserpent5525]

I honestly felt like the finger motif kinda disappeared towards the end of the base game. Like yes, we had the two fingers and the three fingers, but other than that there was nothing tying the concept back to the main story. The idea that people can (or think they can) physically *become* these creatures adds an entirely new, incredibly uncomfortable aspect

[@Sorrowdusk]

It's bizarrely comforting to think they used to be people, instead of believing they never were.

[@williamfryer8460]

On the map one is speckled with yellow dots symbolizing faith while the other is blue for intelligence. Also the faith one is the one in the shadow of Shaman village as well as having sleeping Lampreys. The blue one is where finger creepers are born and to me symbolizes the shift from faith to intelligence and the coming age of stars at the ending of the Golden Order.

[@michaelsoftelbows]

Time to finger some maidens, then edge.

[@ma4685]

While watching this video i couldn't stop thinking about another character that undergoes a finger related transformation: Ymir, he is obsessed with becoming a finger mother like Metyr, the High Priest Robes description says: "Conceals the abundance of squirming beneath." implying some connection to what the Fingerprint Nostrum says to do. There's also some implications about glint stone sorcerers like Ymir being related to the ruins since he says that ringing the bells will have your fate guided by the stars and you can buy the lampreys incantations from him. Fascinating, yet leaves me with more questions than answers.

[@mokadelic4037]

So Lampreys are basically Xenomorphs?

[@Khawlidor]

They are one of the more freakier enemies in the game they place you in some binding spell and gives you the most insane hickey known to the Lands Between.

[@jimbo_13]

Ambitious Failure? The next Fromsoft boss named after me!

[@naaags]

Elden ring was always my favorite Spy Kids spinoff content

[@realkingofantarctica]

These titles are getting a little bit _too_ relatable.

[@Joyful_Traitor]

There is something that I just noticed that also tie the Lampreys to the hand enemies, the large hands (like the one near the Road of Iniquity Site of Grace) can shoot a beam, it is the same as the beam some of the leeches shoot you with that bind you. But that might have been added to their attacks with the DLC.

[@chaosjace1]

I think they may be related to the 'worm faces' in the base game. They have similar structures, and attacks (the vomit and the grab attack specifically). The worm faces also have 'worms' that drop out of their faces, but in the fight with Metyr she also casts off 'worms' which are more likely FINGERS- since that's the entire theme of the boss. Maybe the worm faces failed their transformation, or gave up? Or maybe this IS the end result of the transformation.

[@ZonicCeasor]

The finger revelations of the DLC were among some of my favorite lore bits getting answers. I loved the looks of the ruins, and Ymir’s questline.

[@codeine69]

I'm sure this connection has been made but the finger ruin site from an aerial perspective is literally the symbol of the gloam eye queen

[@chrisdaughen5257]

I think another thing you need to consider is their faces look like the wormfaces without the worms. Which makes you think if the "worms" they spit up are actually failed fingers. What if omen/hornsent's horns are also messed up fingers?

[@thetyrantin]

Interesting how each pair of eyes seem to be showing a different emotion: from happiness at the top, to contentness, anger and tiredness/sleeping at the bottom. This can be best seen during scene at 2:08

[@ykim9820]

It's interesting how the Fingerprint Nostrum is effectively a 'mental' counterpart to the 'physical' Dragon Communion Flesh consumable. It's like the Lampreys are the 'Finger Communion' equivalent to Dragon Communion, which makes it a shame we don't have a Finger-themed transformation like with the Rock/Priestess Heart.

[@MuffinCapBackBlue]

Man, I'm just imagining how utterly terrifying some of the creatures from these fromsoft games would be if they existed in our world. Just the thought of a semi-sentient Lamprey that is twice the size of a human roaming around in a forest is so unsettling.

[@saxophoneswan3293]

I just realized that there are two ruins above ground and one hidden below. Just like how the two fingers are common, but the three fingers are hidden below the capital.

[@tannerjohnson6436]

Also, "More eyes in your head = ascended knowledge" theme in Bloodborne could carry over to this theory of them being humans attempting ascension to fingerhood, in addition to the solid japanese eight eyes pun.

[@sketchywest1176]

I wish there were some more details on those "egg" shaped things around the ruins. Specifically, enough detail to tell if those actually are supposed to be eggs or if they're just the tips of more finger stones poking out of the ground.

[@Vimyis]

I immediately started coming up with a lot of the same ideas when I went through the first finger ruins, and was kind of hoping you'd make a video on it! Very cool details on the lamprey biology and Japanese wordplay

[@Eyes4Brains]

The shape of the eyes and brain sucking grab are reminiscent of Illythids. And the whole lamprey design looks eerily similar to the third eye of umbilical cords in bloodborne. Fitting that the finger mimics nearby are considered stillborn of the two fingers.

[@luansh55]

The music that you use on your videos make me feel in a way that i can’t describe, its so eery and i love it

[@telerobotic]

The Legend of Zelda series has excellent composition! This one from Twilight Princess iirc

[@hiddenshadow2105]

2:08 I just realized that each pair of eyes of Lamprey has a different emotive expression.

[@Bones_]

I subscribe to the Nostrum = lamprey egg theory, makes a whole lot of sense and multiple things seem to allude to it, rather than it just being a conclusion drawn from one bit of info

[@rethall2308]

An interesting parallel I thought of while exploring the ruins was the concepts of nuclear graveyard warning sites, designed to work after a potential apocalypse, depicting completely shut areas filled with distressing things such as spikes and such that even a potentially illiterate, post-nuclear apocalypse person could understand.

[@slimesoliloquy]

I feel like the landscape is literally two giant fingerprint that grasp the land of shadow