Goldmask and the Golden Order | Elden Ring Lore

[@notsmough]

Thank you everyone for watching this video on Goldmask. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below

[@josemiguelvillaloboscorona4626]

I believe that goldmask speaks with the language of the fingers, that explains his poses and why coryns understands him by looking at his fingers. Also what i ask myself is why goldmask is so similar to midra in frenzied flame form

[@bambu7031]

both order and chaos seem to originate from the fingers, why shouldn't the lords of order and chaos come to a similar conclusion? their similarities might explain the outer space origin of the great will, it being the physical sun as well as a metaphorical one (a guiding light, the origin of grace)

[@josemiguelvillaloboscorona4626]

@bambu7031 that makes a lot of sense and would also explain why the flame of frenzy also manifest in the shape of a sun or rather an eye, similar to gold mask rune

[@andrewhoff8782]

I never made that connection, that's fascinating to think about.

[@pillarmenn1936]

Could just be emeciation because Midra was too busy keeping the Frenzy back to eat. Goldmask likely choice a lifestyle of fasting in order to prioritize his calculations.

[@SentientMeatloaf1]

@@pillarmenn1936 emaciation is one thing, pretty much everything in ER is emaciated, so I wouldn’t read too much into that one. However the iconography is also remarkably similar. Goldmask wears a blazing sun mask on his face, meanwhile, the lord of the frenzied flame manifests as a ball of flame where one’s head should be. It seems suspiciously similar. And it’s also worth noting that to become embraced by the three fingers you do need to strip off all of your armor, making the fact that both midra and Goldmask wear nothing but tattered robes excepting something on their heads (although to be fair, Midras head is his removed entirely) seem like maybe that was an intentional design choice.

[@BENIS8D]

My thought is Smoughfans eating GOOD lately with this upload Schedule, you spoil us!

[@notsmough]

Thanks Benis!

[@gnm4]

As an aspiring actuary, Goldmask's story has always stuck a chord with me. Thx for the vid!

[@glowindark64]

What is an actuary?

[@andrewhoff8782]

Googled it for you. An actuary is a professional with advanced mathematical skills who deals with the measurement and management of risk and uncertainty. These risks can affect both sides of the balance sheet and require asset management, liability management, and valuation skills.

[@andrewhoff8782]

​@@glowindark64there ya go.

[@EnglishAaron]

As someone with ADHD I am more for "chaos is interesting and entertaining". While some other parts of me who are autistic or "normal" like to see a beneficial and efficient system.

[@kwaki-serpi-niku]

Struck........

[@ValyeriasCorner]

the whole quest to get Gold Mask to move around was really fun. I love that he took the time the learn more of the Golden Order and they are only one to point out the flaws that the order has. He was my 3rd ending. I love him and his twitchy fingie lol

[@notsmough]

I think he was my third as well!

[@Bloo-skadooUcan2]

One thing that I compared Goldmask's actual mask to is a the design of a starshade. Starshades are used by astronomers to detect planets orbiting a star by blocking out the star's light. Now, I am not saying that Goldmask was an astronomer (or astrologer if we are talking about the world of Elden Ring) but, thematically, I can see how blocking out the briliant light of the Erdtree can be helpful to make calculations on the Golden Order I believe Goldmask's mask is used to see everything in relation to the Erdtree ad the Golden Order. In a similar way to how astronomers today use various methods to detect exoplanets in distant solar systems such as the transit method, radial velocity, and of course direct imaging. So in a similar way as to how astronomers calculate the placements of celestial bodies in relation to each other; and through the use of direct imaging, use starshades to block out the light of a star to find celestial bodies in orbit around a star. Goldmask uses his mask to view everything in relation to the Erdtree and the Golden Order. This is just my own view. Pls let me know if there's anything else that works with this idea or if I am completely wrong lol

[@sarahthesarah2850]

I agree, when he is presented getting grace he was shown to have died doing calculations.

[@LiamLovesMetal]

These videos fuckin rock man, love listening to them while I’m at work 🙏

[@notsmough]

Cheers Liam - really glad you enjoy them!

[@BLEMFIDEM]

Smough, I always get the impression in lore videos that people overlook the significance of grace and Marikas role in it. I don’t think that Marika shattered the Elden ring by mistake, and I don’t think that she was pushed to the brink to do so in the way that many people think. I feel as though she knew that the time for her order was at an end, and that we needed a new order. That is why the guidance of grace points you in certain directions in the game and not others, like how grace does not guide you to the three fingers.

[@Puffer_tail]

I really loved Goldmask’s quest, and his additional lore is really cool.

[@Cheattoe]

5:01 to believe in an ideal is to be willing to betray it- Kreia

[@AshleyIsArtsy]

Given both of their disdains for the fickleness of gods, i feel like Ranni and Goldmask could be bros lol

[@EternalCrusader-T5q]

Considering how much Ranni hates the golden order she would have him killed like Godwyn first 🤣

[@nicodemusedwards6931]

I respect Goldmask a lot in universe. For his intelligence along with his effort in trying to uncover the nature of things and solve the flaw in the Order. Unfortunately, just so happens that I don’t think there’s a flaw in the present Order, but in the foundations of the Order itself.

[@sarahthesarah2850]

It's like doing calculations without zero.

[@nbmoleminer5051]

What about all the discrimination, what about all those the Erdtree rejects?

[@thepyrokitten]

I think you're missing an important bit of context the DLC gives us: we learn that to become a god as Marika did, one must shed every other piece of themself. I think the truth Goldmask discovers is that a god made this way inherently cannot be made perfect as it is made from an imperfect being. Goldmask figures out that what Marika had done was basically to implement her own petty agenda into the Elden Ring. His rune therefore insulates the Elden Ring from the interference of her kind. An eternal order free from the meddling of gods.

[@victoriousf.i.g.3311]

Random etymology thingy: I was looking into Goldmask and Midra as they seem to be two very identical men with dramatic taste in Headwear. For Midra, I could only find it derived from Midrash, which is both a commentary on ancient Hebrew scripts and the method by which such scripts are made; i.e. it means "To seek earnestly, to expound, to want to know". In this rabbit hole, I also discovered the term "Mudra", a sanskrit term that means "Healing Hand Gestures". This has led me to theorize, given Goldmask only communicates through hand gestures, that Goldmask's true name is "Mudra" and his idea of a perfect order stands in contrast to "Midra", who is seeking a different kind of perfection. Not super important if true, but neat. Also with Radagon, his name is literally "Ra" and "Dagon". Ra is the lord of Light, fertility, and all the things Radagon embodies, but here's where it gets interesting: "Dagon" can also mean "to cut open", such as what was done to Godwyn during the night of black knives. Further, Godwyn then goes on to become a half man, half fish lord of a new people, "those who live in death". "Dagon" is the name of a Mesopotamian god depicted as, you guessed it, a half man, half fish. So now I wonder, given that Fromsoft wastes nothing when they make their worlds, why it is that Marika's 2nd husband and, quite literally, her other half, would have buried in his identity the name of Godfrey's golden son? That part I'm still chewing on.

[@sarahthesarah2850]

Nice correlations!

[@insertedgynamehere___969]

Theres also H.P Lovecrafts Dagon, who's a fish "God". And if my memory serves: he has his fish people mate with humans to make human fish hybrids in the "shadow over innsmouth" story

[@kitteecatt4681]

dagon is never depicted or talked about as a fish-god in ancient mesopotamia. the “dagon as fish god” is a pop culture misrepresentation and misattribution of ancient carvings

[@msf_helios9369]

I appreciate you breaking down your older ER videos into smaller and often revised chunks. This format is much more digestible for someone such as me. Thanks!

[@alliesotherness9456]

6:29 Darth Traya mentioned?? Brilliant! Love it.

[@WispFigment]

Look at my goat dawg 🥲

[@adawg3032]

I know it’s a reupload channel but it feels good and I am enjoying

[@eddymonies8302]

Did you just pull out Kreia for an Elden Ring video? Bro, I am here for IT!

[@ETERNALXGAMEPLAY]

Anybody ever realize that perfect order ending is the only ending where you have basically a under boss with Coren and Goldmask is the true prophet of the church to come With who remains closes to you tells me that perfect order ending is the true ending

[@GamerNurseGale]

in short, Marika upended the whole order. that old hag 🤣🤣

[@BlazeStorm]

Take a shot every time he says "order" lol

[@notsmough]

hahah

[@SirAshford]

My favourite ending and my favourite school of incantations in the game. Golden Order Fundamentalism ftw! A thousand year voyage guided by Order.

[@nbmoleminer5051]

Dragon Cult incantations for me unfortunately we didn't get a matching ending for those

[@PBart7]

EVER BRILLIANT, BASED CHADMASK

[@willprot6752]

GOATmask mentioned 🌞☀️🌞☀️🌞☀️🌞☀️

[@giovanniprovost]

THE BEST BOY

[@zakfitzgerald4774]

Great vid keep it up laaad

[@chunkypokemon3295]

good shit

[@CJusticeHappen21]

I've been looking for characters from outside of Fromsoft who can be parallel to Elden Ring characters. I think that the character who is most like Goldmask is Viktor from Arcane, especially in Season 2. "There is no Prize to Perfection. Only an End to Pursuit."

[@cataclysmicacedia824]

KREIA IN MY ELDEN RING LORE VIDEO??? MORE LIKELY THEN YOU THINK

[@kitkat6959]

So Goldmask's ending doesn't fix anything, it just prevents more interference?

[@TheAuspiciousGoldmask]

The problem with the Order was the meddling of the Elden Ring by fickle Gods no better than men, The Golden Order is like an equation, Goldmask simply found the right variable to perfection and that was the removal of the Gods and Men from tempering with the Elden Ring, its not known how he found his rune, some ppl say it was Marika, some ppl say it was fate itself and some ppl (my self included) believe the Greater Will made the rune and Goldmask found it, with the rune shielding the Elden Ring from any fickle hands that wish to wield the Ultimate Power.

[@Rusty_Spy]

It fixes things by removing the big lie that caused so much instability to begin with. It also extends to philosophical and ideological beliefs and dogma that were perpetuated by the Golden Order to subjugate and oppress several groups of people. By dismantling the foundation that these prejudices were built, you dismantle the main reason people have to believe in those prejudices. It's why the laws of Casualty and Regression, and how pastor Muriel describes them, are so important to understanding Goldmask's ideology.

[@pillarmenn1936]

More or less. Mind you that the only time problems started sprouting up within the Elden Ring was when parts of it start getting removed such as with Marika removing the Rune of Death and having to create Erdtree Burial as a supplement. The endings themselves, bar Frienzied Flame, don't really "fix" any pre-existing problems as well. Dung-Eater and Fia only add to the ER and Ranni and Goldmask simply just remove the ER from future tamperings. Majority of the problems that the Lands Between face all come from societal and cultural differences.

[@sarahthesarah2850]

It was an *attempt to perfect the order. Problem is growth and development is often imperfect . There is a cycle as the order ages and those underneath it surpass it. It's better than it was before. Still if you remove the flawed human it's the same problem as Miquella's. How can someone who eventually surpasses humanity be a god that understands humans? His order is more stable. Eventually that stability will turn into a confinement.

[@eziowayne]

❤

[@luckyowl6432]

420 views when I clicked on this.

[@saintbreaker480]

The Fell God is the God of the Sun and ruled over the dragons with the dragon lord Placidusax during the time of the Sun Realm. The Hornsent hate the Fell God so when the Jar Saint Marika said she could defeat him by draining the sun with a tree via photosynthesis bringing in an Age of Plenty they got behind her hence her elevated position in their culture. But her real goal was to become a god. Marika was the Gloom Eyed Queen at this time and the demigods she hunted were the children of the Fell God who inherited shards of the Elden Ring when the Fell God was defeated. She learned how to consume gold and gain immortality from the serpent Eiglay who i think was meant to be her lord. When she ascended at the Gates of Divinity and betrayed the Hornsent by slaughtering every person present for their life energy (or gold) she also betrayed and claimed the gold from the serpents corpse which we see in the trailer and became her own lord. She kept this a secret and lied saying the Serpent betrayed and killed everyone before she killed it which is why the serpent is an enemy of the Erdtree and the Hornsent. The rune of Death was still free at this point and Godfrey killed all who stood in opposition to the Erdtree. Once the wars were over and the Tarnished were banished the world began to fade due to the lack of death in the Lands Between. In an attempt to stop her Age from "dying" the Erdtree of the Age of Plenty was burned, hence why it's corpse is in the Land of Shadows where all death ends up and Leyndell is covered in ash pre Golden Order Erdtree burning, the Land of Shadows were veiled, the rune of Death was sealed, and a new Erdtree of the Golden Order was created when Radagon became Elden Lord to continue to give the illusion the Erdtree is perfect and eternal.

[@valkrake]

Wait, there is a second smough channel with even more lore??

[@CadavresSansNom]

How is it that goldmask is tarnished yet he looks like he is "hollow" like the wandering nobles and such and such? Are all other tarnished not very much "alive" looking?

[@Iceguy246]

W mans

[@nbmoleminer5051]

As good as this ending isI would've preferred an Ancient Dragon Ending even more

[@mannytprimeministerofthemanate]

Day 10 of asking for the channel name to be changed into orenstville

[@BusinessSkrub]

In essence, Goldmask's answers boil down to: powerful guys at the top suck, they've screwed up everything so badly that the only way to fix it and restore rightness to the world is to remove those powerful beings from existence. I think I like this guy more than I did before, Luigi is that you?