Elden Ring - Lore in the Lands Between (Spoilers) | Video Essay

[@MissingCollectible]

A few things that aren't in the video: 1. Godrick - I had Godrick under the Golden Lineage for so long. It wasn't until NG+ that I finally removed him as a child of Godfrey/Marika when I heard this line - "But remember one thing. The demigods are each and all the direct offspring of Queen Marika. Godrick the Grafted was but a distant relation... The runt of the litter, his divine blood sorely diluted" 2. Ranni - It still bothers me that Ranni is considered an Empyrean. It seems like there's more to the story there. The working theory was that Ranni was born from the egg Rennala cradles (and is born of just Radagon) but we could never prove it. 3. Melina - Melina is a bit of a mystery to me, unfortunately. I like to think it's as simple as Marika created her to guide someone through the Erdtree and end her struggle with Radagon. But for some reason if feels like there should be something more there (or at least one more hint that this is the case). 4. If your favorite bit of lore isn't "Radahn learned gravity magic so he could still bro out with his horse", I don't even know what to say to you.

[@Revelation40000]

Interestingly, it is outright stated that a certain group of numen were ordered by the Two Fingers to kill Godwyn. A cut dialogue has Melina mention "her other half", (At least I think it is cut), could she be tool of Marika/Marika herself?

[@jdragodon7113]

the second one, I also thought of that. that's why maybe Ranella was so obsessed with rebirth. Before the fight started, there were dozens of crawling children in the room, might be her failed attempts.

[@callmegino]

If you complete Millicent's sidequests when she fights her 4 sisters, a couple of them don the same outfit and hairstyle as Melina. Which made me think that Melina could be a lost sister/clone of Millicent/Malenia.

[@sieveign]

@@jdragodon7113 those are the students of the academy, they were locked in there with her after the shattering

[@miceatah9359]

@@jdragodon7113 isnt rennala and ranni the same person?

[@enokdnb7388]

Radahn has become my favorite character ever made by From. His lore is beautiful. Had Starscourge not been defiled by The Rot, I believe he'd had befriended the Tarnished Player, depending on chosen "Moral" route, via questlines. Radahn's gravity magic was so powerful, he held back the "Stars". The meteors. The rocks containing any celestial beings, including more Outer Gods. He even kept his beloved horse through the use of his gravitational abilities. A loving bond so strong not even Rot could break it. A shame what happened. I hope to hear more about him through you guys!

[@SolidShepard]

yeah, its crazy how the promotional stuff had me thinking melania was the good guy and radahn was the baddie by how they framed the shots. but i really think radahn was the only one who wasn't corrupted by greed and power, and he ended up facing the most gruesome end because of it.

[@KainZC]

man i really didnt think of him this way before this comment, this opens up new perspective for me

[@Revelation40000]

So the known Outer Gods are: The Greater Will The Formless Mother/Mother of Truth The Source of the Rot The God worshiped by the Fire Giants The Full Moon The God worshiped by the Dragonlord The Frenzied Flame

[@muhammetdonmez332]

I think Frenzied Flame connected with erd tree. Just the corrupted version.

[@rooksgambit01]

and also the god of the numen, Pagan

[@Umezete]

There might also be "The Dark moon" (there is some implications for 2 moon gods) It's also unknown what exactly the God-devouring serpent is

[@WeebEater]

Whenever you kill the elden beast you get the message GOD FELLED. Is the elden beast also a god or is it the greater will taken physical form?

[@muhammetdonmez332]

@@WeebEater its vessel of greater will. Not the directly god.

[@Platchums]

Amazing video! I absolutely loved the lore in Elden Ring but I’ll admit I didn’t catch most of this stuff during my first playthrough. Thankfully videos like this help me make sense of it. The family structure shows the GRRM influence

[@MissingCollectible]

Thanks! I was obsessed with the lore as I was playing through the game, spending hours chasing one-off NPC dialog. Yeah I agree, the GRRM style is super present for where he contributed to the story. A family struggle of infighting for power feels very ASOIAF to me.

[@Platchums]

@@MissingCollectible I can’t wait to play through it again! I’m in the middle of a platinum challenge so I didn’t spend as much time as I wanted in the world but I’m gonna go back soon, maybe get the PS4 stack while enjoying the lore a bit more. Well done on getting the platinum yourself, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

[@MissingCollectible]

@@Platchums I absolutely loved it, one of my favorite games of all time. I don’t really ever stack but I’m strongly considering starting for this game.

[@tgreaux5027]

Because there’s no story in the game. I’m sorry but this is objectively terrible storytelling. I agree the LORE is great, amazing even. But they are so pretentious in the way they tell it that it has been deluded into a broken mess of a half story. It’s not brilliant, it’s not genius, it’s not subtle, it’s non existent and ridiculous.

[@titusalabat5173]

Great Job! This is the type of teaching and explaining that really simplifies the story. This made more sense to me than any other lore videos I've watched. Now I can connect more with the characters in this game and not be lost. Thank you.

[@MissingCollectible]

I really wanted a shorter video that outlined the family of demigods to give people a jumping off point into more complicated lore theories. Glad you found it helpful!

[@thomhe]

Great lore presentation! This definitely deserves more likes and views.

[@MissingCollectible]

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the nice words.

[@BIRDasPROPHET]

Amazing. And the video images are well put together to accompany the lore. Thank you for this.

[@MissingCollectible]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much.

[@VictorIV0310]

Godwyn, Morgott and Mohg remind me of Robert, Stannis and Renly

[@merquise8137]

Mohg = Renly, for obvious reasons.. lol Stannis = Morgott, tried to be king when the real king is gone.. Godwyn = Robert, removed from kingship early on in the story..

[@onyxg7171]

finally, a well put together video i greatly appreciate what you have put in the community

[@EvolutionInDoTime]

This was an excellent lore video man. Super proud of you guys for getting this out there. (Also, sweet Mud cameo) One thing I'd like to add about Melina (not sure if you've seen or thought of this) if she is created by Marika to lead the chosen Tarnished to the Erdtree, then why does she share so many similarities with Ranni? They both have the same symbol on the opposite eye, and Ranni seems to be a soul, living without a body... so, could Melina be Ranni's body, repourposed by Marika to find the chosen Tarnished?

[@MissingCollectible]

I've seen the theory a lot that Melina and Ranni are the same person. They undeniably have a significant number of similarities - neither have physical form, neither like the 3 fingers all that much, both have similar eye icons, they both have a connection to Torrent. But that theory doesn't sit right with me for some reason. Their motives are different enough that I think they have to be different people. I hadn't thought about a repurposed body though. But we are able to find Ranni's body in-game. If we're able to find Melina's, I haven't found it yet.

[@Nostradankus]

@@MissingCollectible I can offer a bit of a theory as to who Melina was: According to Bernahl's armor he used to be a champion fit to be lord, until his maiden threw herself into the fire, causing him to become a recusant. In the cutscene where Melina sets the Erdtree on fire we can see that her "body" is scarred and she has says very early on that she is *burned* and bodiless. The description of her weapon, the Blade of Calling makes it seem like there is only one "kindling maiden" too, so perhaps Melina is the same maiden who used to serve Bernahl.

[@Dr_Donald_Duck]

@@MissingCollectible "Their motives are different enough that i think they have to be different people." - That logic doesn't follow, since we have the example of Marika/Radagon, which not only have different but even contradictory motives - so why couldn't this be true for the other M/R couple? Like you said, they both have access to the same exclusive information about Torrent and Melina even shares Ranni's blue eye in one of the endings.

[@AnotherSyouz]

@@MissingCollectible watch the lord of madness ending "wink wink"

[@MA-go7ee]

Man, great video, I didn't even realize you had so few subscribers. I think your video is a lot more substantial than any other I've seen

[@markov1300]

This is the best lore video yet, so well crafted

[@GuyFarruski]

This video is so well done! Honestly one of the best videos I've ever seen!

[@MissingCollectible]

The expectations are real now, not gonna lie...

[@ssbbc2561]

Great lore summary and analysis..thumbs up and like!

[@1337m33p]

I need 6 more hours

[@world_3059]

Bro put in too much work and was way to good to only be at 800 subs. Let’s run this up

[@JStewTM]

Love the way you broke this down!

[@jacobhughes8482]

I was a bit lost on the lore with the demi gods but this helped clear things up and made me appreciate the story even more. Great work

[@vincentgrimard9894]

Without a doubt one of the best lore video out there, good job!

[@MissingCollectible]

Thank you! I felt so compelled by the story in this game that it would be a disservice not to dedicate a video to it. Leave it to GRRM to make a world with such a messed up family

[@vincentgrimard9894]

@@MissingCollectible You’re right, the story is fantastic! I can’t wait for your next video😁

[@KainZC]

damn i like the way u arranging it, only 762 subs is such a understatement, i hope u get blown up soon

[@WeebEater]

That last part almost sounds like a threat

[@genichiroashina1]

Outstanding work! cleared up lots of things waiting for more 😄

[@Josh-py9rq]

Is that the turtle talking about radagon lol that was awesome thanks for explaining it it’s super confusing to me when I first started playing I really wanted to understand the lore more this really helps

[@MissingCollectible]

Yup, there's a lot of "turtle talk" in the script. Glad you found it helpful!

[@glysah]

Really good video! Looking forward to more

[@azazel5673]

Nice video! Just curious as to why you think the night of knives happened before marika fragmented the elden ring rune? The opening cinematic makes it pretty clear that it was the other way around imo

[@Emomomotional]

I really want someone to do a video about the fact that I think the Greater Will is all the bodies and souls of everyone in the world. Around every Erdtree is a collection of broken jars and honestly the jars are probably the most well explained lore in the entire game. Even the updates have added more jar quests to flesh out that they're filled with bodies. I think the Erdtree is like the lifestream in Final Fantasy. It could be that the Greater Will is an outer God OR more likely is a God made of the collection of all the people living in the world. I mean the Erdtree literally grows into and is part of the world itself. They regularly talk about how the Greater Will enforces it's will upon the world and how the different Outer Gods are all vying for their power on this world but that this one seems to be the current strongest. There is also jars all over Raya Lucaria like maybe they had part in making the jars to collect the bodies and souls to feed the Erdtrees. Every single Erdtree in the game is literally covered in warrior jars surrounding it and there's no way that's just a coincidence. I think either someone did actually make a God or that the people of the land somehow conjoined their souls together to make this power that got away from them eventually having its own will. Since the game is based on alchemy, there is this idea that alchemy was simply about making gold but the initial intention was a way to make one immortal. The idea was to be able to form the laws of nature to work under your will. Instead of a stone to warp the laws of nature, you have a tree that can be fed continously and once well supported, can actually continue to reinforce itself. I'm sharing this a couple places hoping someone else can jump in. I study in philosophy and it seems to fit the underlying themes.

[@meowijuana2322]

Quality lore video. Please keep em coming!

[@jasperfox6821]

We are indeed, maidenless.

[@Hollow_Pigeon]

Great work keep it up👍🙏

[@ThePoshPanda]

What I don't understand is 1. If grief caused Marika to shatter the ring, why does Radagan fight us to stop us from repairing it, when he wants to repair it? 2. Also if Marika was sad about Godwyn's death, why are there so many signs of the black knives being related to Melina and Marika. 3. Why did Marika create Melina to burn the erdtree? In hopes of this destroying the will and elden ring/beast? But, doing so allowed access for it to be repaired. If it was never burned, the vines would keep the land in decay of the golden order because no one would be able to claim Elden Lord.

[@NoxMedicant]

I've been searching for your videos. Remember you doing these video essays on bloodborne.

[@MissingCollectible]

Thanks, but I think you're looking for someone else. We've never done video essays on Bloodborne (though we've wanted to for a while now).

[@ddyang9172]

Some people say that before the mirage she broke the ring

[@normangaskill1972]

and such is life. All want to be King

[@lanceelopezz223]

*murdered Godwyn

[@MissingCollectible]

#JusticeForGodwyn

[@jirpijirpinen8110]

Other lore videos are trash atm u good :3!

[@zerodeaths7864]

Radagon is Merika

[@yogurt7773]

I found some information: Ranni is only princess of raya General radahn and rykard are son in law of Radagon and Rennala

[@Umezete]

I'm think what you're referencing was actually inferring they were son in law of Marika

[@geert574]

game pushes yin and yang, cause and effect in everything. the age of fire and dragons led to desire for order and GW was triggered, GW in turn procs the Frenzy Flame Gods influence to rise, its same for human characters, Ranni is clearly split in 2 Melina the other half, one aligns with moon, one briefly with chaos to end the GW order, moon seems neutral element and it seems GW gets closer to moon god as well because of ranni (astel summon by GW). Miquella tries to resist gods by making own order, resultingly Rot gets trigggered (Miquella wants to grow out of childhood, rot is aging). Game plays with original gods like Fire, Dragon vs the invader gods GW, Rot, Chaos (this is from mythology, Zeus the invader god vs the old southern greek gods/titans), the current gods GW etc vs the wannabe new gods Humans (Marika/Miquella/Mogh). Ranni/Melina together are the oldest order but they cant regain godhood anymore only align with other gods (mythology again think Ymir or Ouranos). So the story is eternal struggle and imperfection without any escape no matter what

[@rooksgambit01]

Maybe the skeleton in radagon's closet is the body of radagon himself or marika's. Maybe One of them wanted to fuse their souls into one body or maybe one of them attempted to steal the body of the other? Just my own theory...

[@MissingCollectible]

That would definitely be interesting. I know a lot of people believe that Radagon and Marika were once completely separate entities. But seeing as the skeleton in Radagon's closet is specifically in reference to the statue, I think that quote is referring to the secret hidden in that statue. Of course that doesn't mean the first part can't also be true.

[@Kosmtheandric]

how can radagon be Marika if you say a few moments later that radagon was trying to repair the ring while Marika destroyed it. both at the same time can't be a thing, or are we talking multiple personalities that each and one point came to a different conclusion one that destroyed it and one that tried to repair it. coupled with self incest?

[@MissingCollectible]

Not sure if I'd describe it as multiple personalities, but they definitely share a body. You can see in the final boss fight where they shift from Marika to Radagon. And they're definitely working against each other as described on the boss weapon you get from them.

[@Revelation40000]

@@MissingCollectible There is a unique line in the game which is relayed to you from the echoes of Marika. In Marika's own words. "O Radagon, leal hound of the Golden Order. Thou'rt yet to become me. Thou'rt yet to become a god. Let us be shattered, both. Mine other self." It almost seems that with the Elden Beast, Radagon and Marika from something along the lines of the Trinity in some beliefs, three who are one yet separate at the same time.

[@haslamabad_]

@DoogManGuy the trinity idea makes sense, to add onto it look how the elden ring symbol is 3 circles with a t shape in the middle, the circles could possibly represent the 3 aspects (radagon,marika,eldenbeast) and the T shape could represent the erd tree, or am i reading too much into this...

[@edwinchin8292]

In order to manifest In the lands in between I think the the greater will had to manifest a physical being being marika /radagon, like the duality of man, positives negatives, the perfect being containing both extremes to create everything. That seems like the theme if you are familiar with any religions this concept is.. Always there.

[@nathanaelink]

holy cow. I want more

[@jakesummer8148]

Wait so mowg wanted to be miquella’s consort? Even tho they are both male? That’s… I love it

[@MissingCollectible]

Hah, yeah I love it too. Unfortunately, I love it a little less when I remember that Mohg just wanted to use Miquella for his power.

[@Umezete]

@@MissingCollectible And the whole Miquella was cursed to be an eternal child

[@purplenurp5590]

This feels like elden ring is somehow in the dark souls universe

[@MissingCollectible]

Does it having basilisks count? It also has a sorcery called Black Flame, that's in DS1, I'll count it.

[@henkkas4897]

Where is godrick the grafted??

[@MissingCollectible]

Godrick is not included as Finger Reader Enia says he is a distant relation.

[@Revelation40000]

@@MissingCollectible Doesn't Godrick's Great Rune and Remembrance of the Grafted almost outright say he is of the Golden Lineage? Additionally other descends of the Demigods such as Millicent, do not carry a Great Rune.

[@MissingCollectible]

@@Revelation40000 Interestingly, Godrick's Great Rune doesn't mention Godrick. And the Remembrance just implies that he once lived in the capital. Even with that I still included Godrick as one of Marika/Godfrey's children. Enia's wording on Godrick separates him as a "distant relation" but seems to separate him from the other demigods even further than that. It's almost like he's just some random 4th cousin who grabbed a great rune and got the heck out of dodge. Not sure why we're bringing up Millicent. There was a longer version of the script that included other members in the larger family tree (the 5 offspring of Malenia, Zorayas, Nepheli, etc) but it didn't really add anything to the video other than make the family tree larger.

[@Revelation40000]

@@MissingCollectible Apologies, was writing two things at once, interesting to note there is a Godefrey the Grafted at the Golden Lineage Evergaol.

[@MissingCollectible]

@@Revelation40000 Godefrey the Grafted drives me up insane. He's got the Golden Lineage Evergaol and there's an Ash that references his capture. But who is he? What did he do to need to be captured? And that's kind of it, he doesn't really have a direct connection to Godrick or to the first generation of demigods that I've seen. It just feels like there's more there.

[@Sleepy12ftPanda]

Let's give it up for our first nonbinary Fromsoft boss! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏