I think I know why | Shadow of the Erdtree DLC Story Cinematic + Gameplay Lore Reaction

[@Cynthetic]

Told myself I wasn't even going to watch this! But here we are. Anyway if you'd like to join my DLC prep streams we start M/W/F at 7:30pm EST on my second channel: kzbin.info/door/eh2kcN6di5zr0qPtPGQ-Vw

[@Eruke17]

when you said 'skinned bodies' and your face automatically changed in realization it was so good. You're a good analyst.

[@rofhiwandou7638]

Good thought on Marika and gloam eyed queen being sisters, mmh as you suggested Marika killed gloam eyed queen on that first scene. And she was pregnant with the maiden . If you recall, the maiden tells us she was born at the foot of the erd tree. And the foot/roots of the erd tree is made up of dead bodies as explained in the main game and seen in the first scene we have stacked bodies.

[@KevD720]

It said Maliketh DEFEATED the gloam eyed queen… not killed. There might be a reason for that

[@Noizzed]

The scene at the beginning, it almost looks like stitched skin, and we know that the Godskin fashion their clothes with the skin of the Gods they kill...

[@Saint.Cosmos]

I'm inclined to agree. There are enough sets of twins in Elden Ring lore that it's not far fetched *at all* I think even D and his brother are twins, if I recall correctly. Also, the sky in the background of the opening shot is gloam colored.

[@TheAsianSuperman7]

Very interesting theory about marika and gloam-eyed queen being twins!

[@Cynthetic]

The moment I thought more about it just felt like a light-bulb moment. I know GRRM had a massive part in the historical lore set-up of Lands Between and he's really big on the "sins against the family" storylines. Having Marika be cursed with deformed/cursed sets of twins as karma for killing her own twin is right up his alley

[@caioeduardo42]

@@Cynthetic its p well accepted in the lore community that they could be, the game has many twins who opose each other in nature

[@szamba]

I was looking forward to this reaction. I like the energy and the background you give to these videos. Vlad Tepes is also a good catch🐉

[@capncharlie_]

Cackling at the 35-minute length of this. I love your brain. Never change, Cyn.

[@samuraiwarriorsunite]

Yeah, I first found her during her Bioshock Infinite playthrough. I was amazed at how she was putting all the pieces together so early on in the story. Fashion always will, but smart never goes out of style.

[@capncharlie_]

@@samuraiwarriorsunite Beautifully put!

[@Cynthetic]

Awww thank you guys! Let's see if any of my theories hold water

[@Ali_g_sh]

@@samuraiwarriorsunite same! wow

[@Thebrothersfolife]

The twin-bird answers many of the questions about Messmer imo. Look at the twin-bird it has snake features and wings, and the original color of ghost flame was purple, Mt. Gelmir sorceries are just like death sorceries but a deep red, the red and blue on the shield could be like the gold and red that makes up primordial gold in that they were united. The serpent of Mt. Gelmir, Eiglay could’ve been one half of this twin-bird, which makes a really cool connection to Radagon in that it sought to be whole again and therefore grafted itself onto a powerful being. Plus all these bodies together look like Mt. Gelmir, maybe Rykard was the closest to reaching Marika’s status and his way was called blasphemous to further deter any other from figuring out what Marika did? That twin-bird could be the corpse of the thing that Marika slept with and produced Messmer as a result. I still believe that GEQ and Marika were twins.

[@FutayuriShironeko]

Marika and Melina being sisters and Melina being gloam eyed Queen can still fully work. Since Gloam Eyed Queen and Marika were competing empyreans before the creation of Golden Order.

[@Arcessitor]

He's saying "Would you really sanction lordship in someone without the light of grace?", which means he's probably talking to the Tarnished, as they are noted for being stripped of Grace. Keep in mind his flames are there to kill those without the light of grace.

[@ColaDad]

So this is my theory- the woman in the gameplay trailer painting is the gloam eyed queen, who is also related to Marika- either a mother or sister. Messier is HER son, so it would be Marika's nephew or cousin. Knowing that Marika is a schemer, she is the reason that Messier is destroying things, coercing him into waging a sort of rebellion. And either the gloam eyed queen participated in the rebellion, or was against it, but this also somehow ties in the god hunt with the skinned corpses and all. The strands Marika pulls from the pregnant belly are from the gloam eyed queen, which is her mother or sister, as she now had the power of 2 emperyans- herself and the one she took. This gave her the ability to summon the greater will and start her Golden Order. Idk wat miquella wants tho. And here's a thought- Melina could be the strands that Marika pulled. A sort of step-adoptive-daughter, and because she actually has a gloam eye, this is simply the remnants of her mother, Marika's sister, the first gloam eyed queen. So crack pot shit, but that's the connections I made.

[@distantraveller9876]

I believe the Gloam-Eyed Queen is a title, much like the title of Elden Lord and not a single person. Also, it's never stated that Maliketh killed the Gloam-Eyed Queen. It states Maliketh fought her and managed to steal the Rune of Death from her, which had previously been plucked out of the Elden Ring, either by Queen Marika herself or by the Gloam-Eyed Queen, so it's possible they are connected somehow. Perhaps the Gloam-Eyed Queen was the previous Empyrean Goddess of the Land of Shadows before Marika's ascension to Godhood, which resulted in the creation of the Lands Between. But the cinematic trailer for the DLC clearly states the Erdtree and the Golden Order (and perhaps even the Elden Ring itself) were born from an affair that involved seduction and betrayal. We know that Queen Marika has seduced, betrayed and manipulated people before (Queen Renalla and Hoarah Loux/Godfrey for instance), she also betrayed her own Shadowbound Beast Maliketh and banished her own accursed twin children (Morgott and Mogh) to live out their days in exile. She was also likely responsible for the Night of The Black Knives and the murder of her own child Godwyn the Golden. The million dollar question now is WHO or WHAT did Marika seduce and betray to bring about the Golden Order and the Age of the Erdtree? And most importantly, what is the Elden Ring exactly? We know it's a metaphysical object of infinite power and that it was sent by the Greater Will through the Elden Star which was essentially a comet that contained the Greater Will's Envoy and physical avatar (AKA The Elden Beast). But when did this happeen? Was it before or after this scene with Marika? The trailer states Marika's seduction and affair with someone (and then betrayal) led to Marika birthing GOLD. But gold is associated with the Elden Ring and the Greater Will. Did the Greater Will chose Marika before this seduction/betrayal occurred or after? Why was Marika chosen by the Greater Will as a vessel for the Elden Ring?

[@mr.a8036]

We all now miquella is st.Trina like Marika for radagon.

[@mr.a8036]

@@ImAmirus and who is the cripple?

[@LivingPeazant41]

I think you are onto something! I still have no idea what is happening in this game, but it sure is fun to watch you kick ass!

[@Terror_Official]

17:06 At first I thought it was the Sacred Relic Sword, the part they're holding being the handle and the rest going down into the ground to the right, but I looked at its icon and it doesn't quite fit. It almost looks like a Coiled Sword from Dark Souls.

[@kellysmith1144]

Hello Cyn! I'm going to piggyback on your theory @15:27. The image that people think is a stomach is actually the hood or cowl of a robe hence what looks like equidistant stitching around the edge, and the golden strands are the hair of the twin that was sacrificed (possibly slain on purpose). The Golden Order was risen from the betrayal of Marika of her twin. The seduction is why the twin was betrayed to begin the Order. I'm not very lore-rich so you'll have to put the names in yourself. In something somewhat GRRM-like, the betrayed and slain twin was reincarnated somehow and she became the Gloam-Eyed Queen. Which is why we don't know who she is yet because everyone believes the twin is still slain. I'm thinking of Lady Stoneheart, here.

[@nothefabio]

16:19 Vlad II Dracul ("The Dragon") - Vlad III, The Impaler's father - took the dragon in his crest. Bc of this, Vlad III was also known as "Dracula" (The Dragon's Son").

[@rogertemple7193]

You are totally Awesome Cyn.🙏🙏

[@edwardthegiant]

Every time Cyn says she is annoying, I’m like: “Ya ain’t tho… of everyone, to be your mod, Ya couldn’t be”; never change the perspective however!!!!!!!!

[@Nhillus47]

u really are onto something that actually makes sense

[@Underournorthernstar]

Were you thinking the blade was similar to malikeths sword because thats what i thought. It has that jagged obsidian kind of look

[@borderlandish1140]

Knowing how messed up Marika is . Maybe she turned into Radagon and impregnated her twin . Then killed her sister and took the power from her pregnant body. I think the woman with the speed is the gloam eyed queens body with a god-skin peeler impaled in her. The veil can be compared to Marikas bed chamber veil.

[@laszlokovac6173]

Marika being the twin of the gloom eyed queen would be such a tragedy! But since you havent watched the gameplay trailer at 14:00 min you had no idea how sharp you were with that idea.

[@ralphy0103]

This is actually a good theory. We’ll see when the game comes out.

[@untamedrose30]

Have you watched any lore videos here on youtube? I think the place is called The Shadow Lands. One theory/the lore about why Mohg & Morgott were born as omens is because their father Godfrey and his men/knights (crucible knights) are from a different religion/culture called The Crucible. In The Crucible omens were seen as being blessed by the divine, but after Marika and her Golden Order took over all omen children and anyone or creature that was part associated with The Crucible were shunned, enslaved, imprisoned or killed and said to be cursed. Except for Godfrey and his knights (until Marika banished them and "remarried"), Godfrey marrying Marika and her using his knights to take over The Lands Between. VaatiVidya's video - Elden Ring's Demigods Explained, explains it better than me.

[@Asterati]

17:30 I think it looks like the headpiece Tanith wears. Tanith, and probably the Morais family, are from a foreign land. Since Rykard is enamored with blasphemy, it makes sense he took a wife from the place where blasphemous things are sealed!

[@Fish-nt5wb]

(I keep deleting this and reposting because I don't know if I'm nuts or not....I'll just leave it): Hmm. I think my theory from the first trailer still stands: The DLC will largely be about Eiglay (the serpent queen), and her relationship with Volcano Manor. The Temple of Eiglay is connected to the Manor by a bridge. Inside it are the Godskin Noble, the serpent's amnion (Eiglay egg), and a chunk of a giant, dead snake (Eiglay). I believe that the Noble is protecting these artifacts. In the first trailer, Messmer says, "Mother, wouldst thou truly Lordship sanction in one so bereft of light?" Sounds to me like Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy. The seduction mentioned in this trailer is that of Tanith by Rykard. Remember, she drops the Consort's mask when killed. A consort is, let's say, an "adult plaything". After you defeat Rykard, you find her trying to eat his whole-ass corpse. He does say "devour the very gods" in his cutscene. Perhaps the blasphemy is in eating the corpses of Gods that the Godskins leave behind. Anyway, it looks like Messmer's mother is Eiglay, she let Rykard into her club, Rykard did some dodgy shit with Tanith as an accomplice. Then, he killed Eiglay, and SHE is the snake his face is attached to, and the Blaspehmous Blade was that which he used to kill her by driving it down her throat. At the start of this trailer, nekkid lady yoinks an amnion (right out of the snek's vagene?). I believe it's Tanith, as a priestess of Eiglay before being corrupted by Rykard, at the birth of Messmer. It could also be that she's gone nuts, stolen the amnion, and this is the birth of Rya, but I think that's far less likely

[@fakename4683]

When I think about Godfrey I can’t help but think the land he, and his army, was sent to may be the shadow lands due to the idea that the PC was meant to pass away in the shadow lands. Since the Erd Tree may have been formed from the bodies, it makes sense that Marika would send people to become fertilizer. Beyond that, this trailer may confirm that Marika is the greater will, Melina’s dialogue seems to point to Marika losing followers as time goes on (Miquella identified the fault in the order that all the energy doesn’t return to the Erd Tree). This trailer seems to point to the idea that Marika formed the Elden Ring without outside influence (and may or may not understand it). Considering there isn’t an Elden Beast at this point it makes me wonder if Marika made the Elden Beast, and Radagon as an extension. Even the idea of outer gods makes me wonder if they where just individuals from the shadow lands who intruded into the lands between.

[@MenosWulf]

That has to be the gloam eyed queen, Marika grab the gold from.

[@GilangD21]

It also couldbe that messmer is the gloam eyed queen child instead!!

[@lexlewis550]

I’m sorry I’m late to the party I can’t wait for you to play this one beautiful one 🥹❤️ the saga continues…

[@Cynthetic]

Oh this is going to be epic

[@roshaanjamshed5756]

Love the video! Also if u wann get into the lore would love to see your reactions to some Vaatividya videos, he puts so much effort into the videos ans theyre amazing to watch!

[@Maplecakes1221]

highly recommend vaatividya if you want some good lore content for Elden Ring

[@Cynthetic]

I do need to check out their videos! Maybe I'll do a reaction before DLC release

[@KSharp2]

I love how Miquella's godly ability is to compel others and the entire lore trailer is a Miquella fan gaslighting the shit out of you

[@honsai7409]

People are blowing that one single lineout of proportion because it's not a omnipotent divine or magical skill at all. And there are quite a few figures who are partial to Miquella or even antagonistic like Godrick and Morgott.

[@DenariusHaveNarius]

Vlad Dracula, aka Vlad Tepes. Dracula can be interpreted as meaning 'son of the dragon' or 'son of the devil'. Interpretation probably depended on whether or not you were dangling on top of a pike. Asian depictions of dragons tend to be more snake like than western depictions of dragons. I think anyway. Gotta use the useless knowledge when you can...

[@laszlokovac6173]

I think miquella left all behind because miquella realised what marika did to build all of that and when you are right, even sacrifised her twin. Miquella might despise all of that and wants to righten things up or wants to take over everything.

[@HiteshKumar-up9cs]

ANOTHER GAME OF THE YEAR WINNER

[@valarmorghulis5575]

drcul means devil or dragon. Dracula means son of the devil or son of the dragon.

[@blueshadowdx]

Crazy theory: The trailer speaks of an affair which lead to the creation of the Golden Order. This could mean 2 things. 1. Marika’s “affair” with Radagon (herself) which resulted in Messmer’s birth. He is actually Marika’s firstborn and used to wipe clean the world that came before. 2. What if that affair was Marika allying with the Gloam-Eyed Queen and then betraying her. The Godskin hunts were enacted to wipeout all of the Gloam-Eyed Queen and Marika’s would be rivals. Once they were all dead, as she so often does, Marika disposed of the Godskins no longer having need of them.

[@joddielawrence6209]

This is aging well rn😂

[@ScarletEdge]

The birth of Gold is not necessarily the birth of the Golden Order. Gold was born and it could take some time before Order of it was established. Compare it to a newborn that is not yet fully developed. The video conveys the birth of disparity between the Shadow and the Gold.

[@jorgevelez4943]

Now that you said Marika Having a Twin made me Think what if Mesmer is The Twins Son and Not Marikas. Why I went to that Conclusion because If you look at Him Close He Looks Like a Godskin The Eyes are The Same and if I’m Correct The Godskin are Snakelike People so That would Make senses in my opinion

[@lidlforsen]

Marika did the same trick with GEQ as she did with Rennala, use Radagon to seduce her and betrayed her. Thus, from them come Messmer and maybe Melina, one of their eyes closed was the thing that clicked on my head.

[@spotsnwrinkles7796]

22:58 I dont know much about "cynthetic" lore but this must be futher investigated

[@kirkcobain093]

Also. If you are correct. What if messmur is the son of her twin. Edit: also we all are assuming that messmur is fighting FOR Marika. But..... if hes the son her marika twin.......what if he actually thinks marika is his mother and not Marika and has been manipulated ths entire time. Edit 2: apologies. Having so many thoughts. Would it also be possible that messmur and melina and actually twins of the glomide queen. And thats why she guides us to destroy the golden order as revenge for her mothers betrayal at the hands of marika. Also the fact that messmur amd melina both have the same eye conveniently hidden from view.

[@rockerojerez349]

Soooo brutal 🙀💥

[@Cynthetic]

There's going to be so much body-horror. You already know

[@rockerojerez349]

@@Cynthetic yep 😎🤘🏻

[@SelineSnape]

I'm honestly surprised you're looking forward to the DLC and even started a new playthrough, didn't you mention that ER wasn't really your thing or is my memory of this incorrect? :D

[@Cynthetic]

Oh I LOVE ER, though I may have said something along the lines of ER's playstyle didn't fit me as well as other FromSoft games. Building and item literacy can make or break an ER playthrough, and I don't know how to build 😂 which is why my new strength/faith build is so outside my comfort zone

[@apollodingo3583]

A lot of the story is told through the trailers.

[@kevinlealMusic]

I think it’s confirmed that Messmer is Marikas son.

[@Twinterfang]

It was confirmed in an interview

[@joeford6592]

Love your videos

[@Cynthetic]

Thank you!

[@-.M_C.-]

I think that is the crucible

[@blublugamingchannel]

Interesting :)

[@omgwtfrofltomato]

Fallout ep 2 coming?

[@capncharlie_]

No, YT, this is totally not a bid on Cyn's thoughts and theories. What? No.

[@Cynthetic]

Aye! I'll take it either way. Will put it in the "could Cyn actually be onto something pool"

[@tonydeluna8095]

DLC of the summer 2024!

[@Cynthetic]

I'm excited!

[@greenmantis676]

The DLC of the entire decade

[@RustyRagesRegularly]

Hahahaha good god 35 minutes.

[@Cynthetic]

This is really cutting into my FF7R time, but now all I can do is THINK

[@lazycat72]

can you reaction black myth wukong?

[@heyjohn14]

You should play Half Life

[@NeoDMC]

I feel like Miquella is Griffith and the followers at the end are basically the Band of the Hawk who have essentially been sacrificed for his own benefit.

[@Radwar99]

What's going on with your Fallout reaction?

[@_User91_]

Me not caring about elden ring whatsoever, just here to support cyn Video not even 5 mins in: “ok meg lets take a look at that bergina”

[@looots1320]

Marika is the gloam eyed queen, Messmer has the same flame as Maliketh, The Godslayer sword are protected by the Godskins, the corpses all were skinned the purple female under water is St. Trina, abandoned by Miquella Melina might be St. Trina to call Tarnished warriors edit - the betrayal is aligned to Griffith from Berserk, Miyazaki is a big fan of Berserk Dark Souls was created from it gloam eye color is not purple, its black, the Godskins fire is black not purple, Sleep = purple, Melina's eye was purple

[@nightcorewb4949]

But Maliketh's Flame is from the Death Rune and wasn't St Trina an Alter Ego of Miquella?

[@looots1320]

@@nightcorewb4949 yeah Miquella/St. Trina theory is same person, and Melina is St. Trina