Leyndell's Hidden History | Elden Ring Archaeology Ep. 11

[@SmoughTown]

Absolutely Seismic video dude, blowing my mind here. What a treat to the lore community.

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

We respect this pun.

[@SmoughTown]

@@tarnishedarchaeologist It felt right

[@KarmicBreathing]

​@@tarnishedarchaeologist groundbreaking even

[@jimijenkins2548]

@@tarnishedarchaeologist It was earth shattering.

[@n8doggy733]

Thanks for turning me on to this channel SmoughTown! Love all you lore sleuths ❤

[@TheRealTetro]

How ? Just how had seemingly everybody missed that the Nameless Eternal City might have been the hole in Leyndell ? Just wow. Your work is phenomenal !

[@Broomer52]

It does look visibly wrecked like it the whole thing just fell out of the sky, or rather from the surface. A chunk of the city just tumbled down and the only stuff that lives there are animals surveying the wreckage.

[@pirata2027]

I think everyone assumed it was the eternal city astel destroyed and took the sky from

[@TheRealTetro]

@@pirata2027 Those two things are not really mutually exclusive though.

[@chucklebutt4470]

I KNOW RIGHT?? It's freaking my bean!

[@sabinekine2737]

@@pirata2027 I wonder if this is why Radahn is holding back the stars. Because Astel went through Leyndell?

[@rabsrabble5415]

"The eternal city is exactly where the missing part of the Leyndell's lower city should be." How dare you drop another mind shattering revelation on my feeble brain. I love it, great work.

[@commandertoastcz6256]

And how he just drops it like a commnon fact...

[@NiZANOo]

@@commandertoastcz6256 FEEBLE CURSED ONE!

[@NiZANOo]

My bad , Straid of Olaphis, had my keyboard

[@miststead]

As someone currently working on my Anthropology degree, these videos have been going hand in hand with the classes/lectures I’ve been taking and it’s SO fun!!!

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

Glad you enjoy. Keep up the hard work.

[@Marcus-lg4pg]

Working on my Anthro degree also and it works perfectly. Fromsoft have a great appreciation for cultural studies.

[@monkey3monkey2]

@@tarnishedarchaeologist Hey, do you think the star pattern/design/effect on the walls in the Divine Tower of Limgrave (while going up the elevator) have to do with the Nox? It looks fairly similar to the underground night skies, and it seems like far too much of a coincidence that there would be another star pattern like that without being related to the Nox. It’s a little different (on the walls as opposed to a floating sky), but it evokes the same celestial feeling IMO.

[@Camaraocompao]

Myasaki is a social scientist after all

[@knasigboll]

It's crazy how much actual history I have learned because of Elden Ring lore and the content creators trying to decipher it!

[@LexIconLS]

History is fucking rad, fellow Tarnished! So many things from fiction are inspired by real-world history and a lot of what's actually happened in reality is wilder than a lot of fiction too!

[@Late0NightPC]

You'd be suprised at how close uncovering Fromsoft game lore can mirror real world archaeology and history. Unlike math or science where you can set up a hypothesis and then perform experiments to prove or disprove that idea, in history, it isn't really possible to just go and ask someone "Hey what was the fall of rome like?" for obvious reasons. You need to take what evidence has survived the wearing away of time, try to figure out what is clearly biased in some way, either from political interests or simple ignorance due to lack of information, what is genuinely honest, and then try to piece everything together, using context to explain things that lack evidence, and determine "What most likely happened". It's really fun to delve into the world of historical theories, it's just I'd assume for most people, learning about bland names and dates in public school where you relearn the same few subjects over and over makes it seem way less interesting. You just need to find what area of history you like the most. Personally, it wasn't until I finally got out of the "relearning American history for the upteenth time" in American public schools, and discovered how absolutely wild ancient Babylonian myths are that I finally realized it could be fun.

[@TewiInabaChan]

It real shows the love and attention to detail miyazaki and the team that is FromSoftware have for their games and our history that helped to inspire them.

[@mrgfspliff]

Ya it’s crazy how THIS is how you learn. Smdh. 🙈

[@FFNOJG]

This is actually the secret to why his videos are so damn good. It is VERY similar to the channel The History of the Universe. That channel is a beautiful mix of History, science, and Philosophy. in which this channel replaces the science part with lore

[@TristanHawthorne]

The road between Leyndell and northern Liurnia is now known as Bellum Highway, and its current iteration connected the capital of the Erdtree to the Academy of Raya Lucaria before the greatbridge was broken. Considering that two separate wars were waged between these two factions and that 'Bellum' is Latin for 'War', I believe the current iteration of the highway was built after the Eternal City of Nokstella was banished underground.

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

Agreed, it was just built over top of a pre-existing major artery.

[@wowwow1691]

You are the only creator that is making any progress with the story. The value of your input cannot be overstated! I hope you take a look at Malenia, and finally find out how many times she has bloomed, and whether “true” goddess of rot is something else entirely.

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

Thank you!

[@Dart572]

Damn, before I discovered your channel I knew FromSoft was very detail oriented in their environmental design, but this kind of shit is next-level. The both literal and figurative world building is amazing. Thank you so much for exposing all of these details that would go over most people's heads, never would have pieced any of this together myself.

[@EmmettFlo7]

Another piece of evidence connecting Lyndell to the eternal city below is the giant limbless Gargoyles. This unusual enemy is found primarily in these two locations.

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

Yup!

[@demianleon6751]

You have no idea how much you're blessing the Elden Ring Lore community with your videos. It amazes me how much you can learn from all the architecture and just looking around your surroundings. Keep blessing us with these awesome videos bro!

[@StrangerThing369]

Yes Please!

[@WanderedIn]

How dare you not list the architectural features of Sellia in depth, I was so excited and then you tore it away from me

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

You might get your wish next time

[@entroponetics]

Edit: Wrote this before getting very far into the video, so now I feel silly for pointing out the obvious I would like to just point out that much of Elden Ring's topological and geological features, particularly around Liurnia and Altus, suggest a massive seismic upheaval that raised large portions of the map to higher strata and/or forced others either down to surface level or beneath the surface entirely. The upper areas of Liurnia, as well as Altus are situated on cliffs or buttes, with sudden drops around them that often contain debris from manmade structures that we see the remnants of above. Almost like large portions of The Lands Between were suddenly and violently shifted up or down at some point. That seems to be the case with Leyndell as well.

[@schokoladenjunge1]

perhaps that was the "shattering" of the Lands between in a literal sense. i would not be suprised if shattering the Elden Ring would have such a dramatic effect on the rest.

[@hprd2229]

@@schokoladenjunge1 Yeah, perhaps... Looking briefly (there might be more things pointing to this idea too) at the map description of Mt. Gelmir: "Map of Mt. Gelmir and environs. Mt. Gelmir, which houses the Volcano Manor at its summit, is characterized by sheer cliffs and ominous skies. These qualities only became more pronounced after the Shattering." hmmm.

[@WanderedIn]

@@hprd2229Well, that’s fascinating, and makes a lot of sense. Only the latest massive upheaval, given the previous Eternal Cities as well.

[@charles-edouardmorel3173]

It's been in front of our eyes the whole time, even in the name of the region, "Liurnia of the Lakes". Lakes, plural, even though what we see of it is basically a single lake, which isn't even really a lake, more like a swamp. It's description even acknowledges the landmass is sinking : "With its shallow waters and vast wetlands, the region of Liurnia is beset with the gradual sinking of most of its landmass. With its forests perpetually blanketed in fog, eerie sounds of bells can be heard in the distance." Another evidence of it is the sunken Academy Gate Town.

[@alexv1154]

@@hprd2229 never thought to look to see if the maps had descriptions, ffs

[@rocki_bb]

I'm so excited!!! You fall into a very small group of creators that inspire actual feelings of glee when I see you've posted a new video! Thank you for the work you put into them!

[@seanconnors1613]

I get most excited for the Archeologist and Quelaag. Side note: If anyone hasn't seen the Hawkshaw video going into depth about the colors in Elden ring, it is phenomenal.

[@hardgay7537]

Man figured out how to merge a game we already played with a history lesson and has us waiting with bated breath. It's criminal how few subs he has.

[@rocki_bb]

@@seanconnors1613 same!

[@OlExtraRegularBass]

@@hardgay7537 YOU GOT DAMN RIGHT!

[@OlExtraRegularBass]

@@seanconnors1613 @Quelaag for the rambles, this man for the concise bits.

[@iboofer]

Your research, observations and ability to link the game's architecture back to real world historical precedents is honestly amazing. You're easily one of the best lore hunters in the game right now, and I only heard of you about two months ago.

[@calebgriffin4214]

Great video! I’d also point out that the broken gargoyles are only found in to places: Leyndell and the Nameless Eternal City

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

Indeed. In other words, Leyndell and Leyndell

[@Xandros999]

One of gargoyles in the nameless city has a black corpsewax axe embedded in it. One might start to see how the Nox would harbor resentment against Marika. EDIT: It's not a black corpsewax axe. My bad.

[@colorpg152]

@@Xandros999 to me it sounds like marika is a mimic tear created by the nox, the mimic's veil is even called marika's mischief implying she is a mimic, same with law of regression it reveals mimicry and returns her to the original form

[@AnthonyDoesYouTube]

@@Xandros999 I am new to this channel so could you explain why that is? What connection is there between the Gargoyles and the Nox, other than that they both hail from Eternal Cities?

[@Xandros999]

@@AnthonyDoesKZbin There isn't any connection apart from that. Black corpsevax is what glues together the gargoyles that serve Malekith, Marika's executioner. As such it's pretty much a smoking gun for Marika's involvement.

[@IdToaster]

I get the feeling that Leyndell wasn't the name that the third eternal city had, until its conquerors renamed it; doesn't have the same scheme as the other two. Also it makes more sense for the third city to be nameless (in addition to it now being uninhabited) because its old name was stripped and replaced.

[@TarnishedProductions]

Nokdell

[@buckyhurdle4776]

Nokville, Tennessee

[@nytdiir]

That is insane. How have we missed this. That's amazing! I love this

[@spaceorochi]

How could it be that I figured out on my own that Nokron and Nokstella both fit the topography of the upper world and never thought that the Nameless Eternal City would be the same? Well, kudos to you! Funny story: I'm Italian and me and my friends frequently joked saying "Roma è l'unica vera Città Eterna" (Rome is the only true Eternal City). I then imagined the Nox speaking in modern roman dialect, which to me is the somewhat equivalent of cockney accent in English.

[@Warlock_Sack]

This was a really cool comment to read. Thanks for sharing. I love hearing insights of the game from people outside the US. I used to speak a little Italian but lost it. Now I’m depressed but I really wanna get back into speaking it. I want to be motivated again and your comment kinda helped :) thanks.

[@DennisOfDragons]

Stunning discovery. I'd never considered the old Leyndell nucleus to actually *be* the Nameless Eternal City. It makes so much sense, and completely recontextualizes Marika, the Black Knives, the Nox and Numen apparent connection, the growth of Leyndell through the ages, and the succession of ages itself. Great food for thought. On a semi-related note: what do you think of the crypt chair relief design (the "notochord" as you well noticed) and its resemblance to a certain embodiment of Order?

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

Stay tuned for next time! We’ve got some things to say about that chair crypt design.

[@blackrat1228]

ER really turned my 35+ years of gaming experience on its head. I walked by the buildings in Leyndell half noticing their similarity to Sellia and the eternal cities but just chalked it up to the typical video game technique of reusing assets. However, this video along with the other one discussing the fortified manor/colosseum point out there's at least three distinct building styles in Leyndell and all purposefully quartered off in their own areas. This isn't the first one either, your other vids have shown what I wrote off to be typical video game development time saving practices to actually be important parts of the world building. I'd almost write it off as accidental but it all just fits together so well.

[@Onorel]

For whatever my opinion is worth, I believe this channel is one of the best in terms of Elden Ring content. It's a crime that you don't have more subscribers.

[@andrew_cunningham]

The more of these I watch the more it feels like you're reading directly from Miyazaki's stolen design documents and the less it feels like any other channel of this type was even making a dent by reading item descriptions. It's actually revelatory.

[@commanderpower99]

I don't know what is more impressive: TA accurately digging up all the answers to these mysteries or Miyazaki putting them there in the first place...

[@phillipmitchell2254]

Of all the lore KZbinrs your channel is the most compelling and backed by actual real world principles. Thanks for taking the time to make these!

[@JakeMorgeson]

You are a treasure, it's insane how detail oriented you are, seriously kudos, I'm going through your Playlist right now and so many mind blowing revelations

[@antoniorivolta783]

Happy to be here, among a few enthusiasts, your work is incomparable, your way of narrating through the setting honors the way From wanted to make art

[@SpremeCalami]

16:50 this shot also made me notice that the very land itself was taken down into the depths with the city. Past the bounds of the actual grounds of the city the floor just drops off into the abyss below the world, but the eternal cities are all on shelves held up above the void. Really cool detail, I'd love to know more about what lives in the abyss and/or what caused it? I feel like it would have been easy to just make cave walls around the cities to keep you in them, but to actually make huge chasms under the entire world must mean something (from a dev point of view). Knowing what FromSoft is like, I am sure they didn't do this without consideration

[@gullit97]

It’s really interesting that you can see erdtree leaves falling down in the “underground” leyndell eternal city.

[@justwelsh]

I’m so glad you decided to do this series and piecing together all the archeological evidence Fromsoft has left about It’s helping me fill I the puzzle pieces I was missing

[@rileypearson6931]

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the implications of this, but it all makes so much sense! You truly have the best analysis of Elden Ring lore out there and I can't wait to both replay the game with this new knowledge in mind and see what else you find!

[@doomduck9073]

I cannot believe how easily I batted an eye at the fact the half-constructed Gargoyles only show up in two places: Leyndell and the nameless eternal city...This is a fantastic video and is highly insightful

[@TSpoon823]

Wow. This discovery might be the most important yet, and I can't wait to see how all of the implications are pulled together. What this could mean for our understanding of the narrative and timeline of Elden Ring... Bravo guys. Bravo.

[@SullySaltlicker]

I once got curious myself about that giant gap between Leyndell and its main gate, so I tried getting a good look from a few different vantage points. From most angles it’s covered in fog, but one angle I found made it clear there’s water there, just like the map indicates. I theorized that the defenders of Leyndell had flooded it as a desperate defensive measure during the Shattering, but I hadn’t made the connection that the remains would be below in the Deeproot Depths until I saw this video. Great detective work here.

[@jstagzsr]

One main thing that has been blowing my mind about Elden ring is that not only did the devs make a gorgeous game that runs great, and not only did they make a beautiful game that looks great, and not only did they cram SOOOOO much content into the game with an enormous open world, but they also built lore into everything.. something as simple as a sword description tells stories of parts of the lore that you wouldnt even know about otherwise. Elden ring isnt just a game, its a whole new universe with its own lore and stories and timelines and they baked that lore into absolutely everything. ive been watching lore videos for literally years and theres still new things im learning. how in the flup did fromsoft have the time to do all the coding and all the real physical button pressing and mouse clicking to actually build the 3d models and maps and animations and all that is required to make the physical (digital) game, but also have the time to invent and incorporate the lore into every aspect of the game.. were they working 9on this game for the past 50 years? or do they have a team of 100 million mind-linked telekinetic super programmers who snorted coffee and just wrote code and invented a universe around the clock for 50 years straight without sleep? Elden ring is so in depth about every detail that it blows my mind to think of the scale.

[@kasiahmura2816]

Every single episode completely blows my mind and makes me restructure my entire understanding of the world of elden ring. this is phenomenal lore content. I am still very curious about the nature of the power that took the cities underground. for the night cities, I would assume its just astel's teleportation, for the lendyell, I would assume some man made cave in, perhaps done to stop the advancing enemy forces. Either way we don't need to understand how it happend, just that it did.

[@LloydsSky9]

In the lore, Astel is a creation of the Eternal City. The creature that is Astel is a metamorphosis that spawns many Astels. The Greater Will was said to have done this act I believe.

[@tinminator8905]

@@LloydsSky9 There is no mention anywhere that Astel was a creation of the eternal city. What happened definitely suggests that that is not the case.

[@LloydsSky9]

@@tinminator8905 Nor is it stated Astel did. It is implied that the the Nox envoked the ire of the greater will. How the cities ended up underground is obviously through some catastrophic cataclysm, I recon the Elden Beast would have more power to do this than Astel

[@LloydsSky9]

@@tinminator8905 Also, look up what videos have come out about Astel. Astel is a Metamorphosis from the FallingStar Beast (It's based off of a real world Insect)

[@tinminator8905]

@@LloydsSky9 Yes it is stated that Astel did it. It is is stated that he leveled the eternal city and took away their night sky in the remembrance of the naturalborn. Yes, he is inspired by an insect larva but that does not mean that we should attribute the insects traits in real life to its Elden Ring counterpart. It could just be a visual inspiration. You are mixing up what is confirmed lore with small pieces of evidence.

[@jeremykugler4772]

This might explain why the Nox bear a symbol on their capes that the Godrick Knight Armor identifies as "two-headed war axe, an emblem of the golden lineage", visible on the jousting shield and the cape of that armor as well as their gilded shields. Just like the Beast once was the sign of Serosh, the golden lineage must have apropiated this Nox symbol as well, likely taken from the oldest part of Leyndell, the Eternal City, to establish further continuity. It only vaguely looks like an axe anyways

[@koco1puffs]

Thank you! This video has solidified my theory: Godwyn's soul was killed so that a part of his body could be used to forge the Fingerslayer Blade. Similar to how Radagon body was used to make the Sacred Relic sword. This blade was then used in an attempt to kill the Mother of Fingers and the Elden Beast. The scars on both of them are from this assault. In retaliation, the Greater Will sent Astel to sink the Eternal City, leading to its sinking and the subsequent abandonment of the Lands Between. This also sheds light on why Marika would betray Maliketh to steal the Rune of Death. She needed a weapon capable of slaying gods-just as she later instructed Hewg to create one.

[@LokiHades]

Whenever I see you post, I drop everything else to watch. Thank you for the awesome lessons and insight

[@billj.8690]

Sorry if someone brought this up already, but isn't in these "lower Leyndell quarters" above ground where we find a deathbed companion dress on a bed inside a building? That is interesting seeing how directly below in the Nameless Eternal City we know that Fia is with Godwyn's body.

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

Very good point.

[@MrEvan312]

Presumeably Fia made her way here from Roundtable Hold during her investigation into finding where Godwyn's corpse is, and it seems she was accompanied at least that far by her adoptive father, Lionel the Lionhearted: we find his armor in the same building and in the same bed, as well as what I assume is his charred corpse. I wish we knew more about Lionel and what happened to him. Given the state of his body maybe he was wounded by one of the broken statues, the Omenkiller right outside the building where you find him, or the Tree Spirit that's not far away in the same quarter of the city (all these enemies can breathe fire). Hell, I'd even suspect he tried to fight Fortissax (not sure how he'd reach Fortissax) since as valiant and skilled of a knight as Lionel is I could see him losing to a dragon's fire breath or fried by lightning in his distinctive armor (whose weakest protection is against lighting) and Fia tried to get him above ground to find help but he succumbed to his wounds.

[@ToxicallyMasculinelol]

I think that notochord pattern is actually inspired by _Charnia masoni_ - an animal known from Ediacaran fossils. it's one of the few complex organisms that predate the Cambrian Explosion. So it's an extremely old organism, and not obviously related to any later species. It looks like a fern but it's definitely an animal since it existed too deep in the ocean for something of its size to survive on photosynthesis. It's interesting that FromSoft would use _Charnia_ in the places where it's seen, because we're obviously talking about an unbelievably ancient animal, from a period in which multicellular life is extremely mysterious. The most interesting thing about the Ediacaran period is that none of its distinctive representatives seem to be ancestral to anything after the Cambrian Explosion. Biologists have struggled mightily to classify them. Their body plans are quite unique, notoriously difficult to reconstruct, and have been misinterpreted repeatedly. Most were wiped out in a mass extinction, and the rest were outcompeted more gradually by Cambrian organisms. It's as if a whole branch of life was snuffed out while another branch restarted from simple forms and took its place. So it has remained a very mysterious time, when the earth was dominated by seemingly alien life forms who abruptly disappeared. And the Cambrian is itself quite mysterious, so its predecessor is even moreso. So, what does its inclusion in Elden Ring signify? I guess it's pretty straightforward-an ancient civilization-but perhaps also one that was extinguished and replaced by a more complex, unrelated civilization.

[@Markus___]

I have watched, probably, hundreds of lore videos about souls games, but I have to thank you or should I say, curse you for keeping me literally hours watching your videos one after the other, I have some left but, the music choices and the dissected, eloquent and pieced together narrative... Love it, subscribed.

[@wep_vs]

I didn't even notice the entire part of the city was missing and i played through the game twice!!! Holy shit!!!!!!!

[@andreidone4086]

Always a pleasure seeing your videos appear in the feed!

[@jfh1366]

All this additional lore baked into the very earth is insane! So Marika is of the Numen race, which we know are the same as the Nox, or at least their ancestors. I kind of assumed that, when Marika took up the Elden Ring and turned to the Greater Will, she abandoned her people. This evidence suggests, however, that maybe she didn’t and instead for a time the early Erdtree faith coexisted with Night Sky worship and other Numen might have followed her to the capital. Then perhaps certain members of the Nox created the finger-slayer blade in secret and only after they used it to slay a Two-fingers were they seen as a threat and the Eternal Cities sunk. The Nox quarter in Leyndell could have been kept because its inhabitants were supposedly adherents to Erdtree worship, an assumption that wouldn’t be proven wrong until the Night of the Black Knives.

[@jamesmorley-e5e]

We never get to see Marika in action but her control over the Erdtree is godlike. She used it's roots to make massive sinkholes under all who defied her. It also looks like she soloed most of those root impaled fire giants. The closest we get to see is her son's death blight that impales us after build up but here's hoping we get a erd incantation in the DLC.

[@matteoflamigni550]

Another one in a streak of consistently great videos. It is really hard to imagine these connections aren't there with a purposeful design. The Nameless City-Leyndell really is a neat theory.

[@inversarium4218]

Please keep up the fantastic work you are an awesome addition to this community. Very much enjoy all of your videos. Thanks for doing what you do. Cheers!

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

Thanks!

[@SassyTheSasquatch96]

So much of elden ring is telling us to our face, and yet so many of us are blind. Grace has truly left some of our eyes.

[@KalvinKoolAidKool]

It’s weird that they have this huge ass door that leads to nothing yet if you watch the shattering war you could see almost everyone marching towards this door trying to break it down

[@itsagabe]

One thing that has always stuck with me about the Lands Between is its geography. It's unnatural, as if it was risen above the sea by a powerful will instead of nature itself. Maybe I'm missing some more lore videos here, but as far as I understand, we still don't even have an answer to the missing landmass right in the middle of the map. Perhaps the eternal cities weren't cast undeground, but refused ascendance? It's easy to understand why history would remember the event as such, but if the entire landscape was brought up and rebuilt upon accordingly, it'd make sense that the eternal cities would be left behind. This could also explain why the nameless eternal city is in ruins and why there's a chasm where that chunk of Leyndell once stood. Perhaps it wasn't sent undeground or denied ascendance, but rather crumbled (or made to crumble) with Godwyn's corpse, likely to avoid the spread of deathroot in the city itself. This theory of mine can be debunked by the lifts, though. I lack all the skillset to study the structures and determine whether they were built at a specific point in time. It is interesting, however, that the lift of Rold leads to a catacomb when travelling down, as if they had to improvise access to the consecrated snowfield. It's a secret path to the Haligtree, after all.

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

Yes... the strange geomorphy of the Lands. Lot of thoughts on that... The whole Divine Towers episode revolves around that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jHTIZ6eMrq9qmNk Also the last couple of minutes of the Marika episode: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5Sohmagm6uNfJI And then, of course, this... kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z6rXfJ-pZ7qCjtU

[@MrCCDesmond]

Thanks for these videos- your analysis has shifted the foundations of my understanding so many times now. Eagerly awaiting the next piece. Excellent work!

[@bravesirkiwi]

I had always wondered if there was a lore reason for the great height differences in game as so many dramatic cliffs are hardly ordinary. Definitely makes sense from a gameplay perspective but I guess we can assume from the evidence in this video that it was part of the same event that brought the cities underground.

[@TonkarzOfSolSystem]

Remembrance of the Naturalborn states: "A malformed star born in the flightless void far away. **Once destroyed an Eternal City and took away their sky.** A falling star of ill omen." So Astel was the disaster that befell the nameless eternal city under Leyndell. Because the nameless city is a) destroyed and b) missing a sky. So what you say at 17:06 is incorrect. The Greater Will may have banished the Nox underground, but the Astel disaster was a different matter.

[@NumberD2000]

this is my straight up favorite elden ring lore vid. my view of the story shifted like 15 fuckin times upon first watch.

[@alazarielanderson5367]

Your and Quelaag's videos are the lore vids i anticipate the most. I await them patiently, but fervently . Thanks for the work you put in.

[@omega_sol]

Your content is incredible. Seriously the best Elden Ring lore channel rn.

[@kell_gg]

Your videos always blow me away, but this one takes the cake. You bring up these details that I may have noticed, but would never have pieced together in such a complete way. Very VERY looking forward to the continuation.

[@figo3554]

This really hammers home their environmental storytelling capabilities. So much has clicked for me because of this.

[@LizardOnAMushroom2358]

The consistency that you manage to blow my mind is unreal

[@MrKamylow]

Man I discovered your work via SmoughTown that kept citing your videos. The view you have of Elden Ring lore and world is a real gem. Thanks for the content.

[@ComradeOgilvy369]

I literally dreamed about this last night. Had a feeling this is where we'd end up. Great work my man.

[@MicahisaRAT2]

Ok the soap topic had me thinking about Fight Club. 😂

[@RelativelyBest]

I mean, my immediate assumption was that the gate used to have a teleportation function, similar to how you get into Raya Lucaria, and it either stopped working at some point or they turned it off to keep that huge army out.

[@ZebraOnYourNose]

It makes sense Marika, a numen, would build her capital in the likeness of her home. But to actually see that level of detail in game is something I wish we had more of in modern game design

[@DeadDeadDeadski]

My mind was blown when you explained that the eternal cities were literally driven underground. I had always taken it to mean just the people were banished underground and then they had to rebuild. It explains so much of the stranger architecture you find like the aqueduct hanging out of the rock ceiling. Subscribing now!

[@Warmaka]

11:06 It's an interesting sentiment but absolutely nothing in the game backs up your timeline or any of the events that couldn't be better explained with the devs running out of time and having to cut corners.

[@whirlwind872]

I have nothing to add, but commenting for the algorithm anyway because liking and subscribing just isn't enough for this amazing channel

[@NocturnalNick]

Ha! I've been looking for tiny details that much up with above/below ground maps almost since launch, can't believe I never spotted this one! Good stuff.

[@NocturnalNick]

Specifically the Leyndell chasm. Seems like the most obvious thing in the video, but it never even entered my mind to connect with anything

[@kimlee6643]

The mere title is quite provocative, but the content within far exceeds it. This channel's ability to point at what's exactly in front of everyone and then following suit with a cogent interpretation is quite amazing.

[@vinny1952]

your videos deserve so much more praise, i know for a fact that there are elden ring lore creators out there who use your video but dont give you the credit you deserve. Keep it up man this is obsurdley great content.

[@dawson3776]

I am thoroughly addicted to your lore videos right now.

[@TonkarzOfSolSystem]

It seems more convincing that Sellia and Ordina were built by settlers from Leyndell. This explains the architectural similarities. We know Sellia was influenced by the Eternal City underneath it, and Ordina was home to Albinaurics which explains the similar graphic on the tombs. It is weird though that the main gate leads nowhere, and lore wise the cities were banished to the underground. Knowing that the architects of the Golden Order banished and persecuted those that couldn't participate in the immortality of the Golden Order, it makes a certain amount of sense. And I don't think this was mentioned in the video, but the lower part of Leyndell has a bunch of insane Albinaurics hanging out there.

[@devinguy]

This absolutely blows the lid open on so much stuff. I knew that architecture played a role in these games but had no idea how deep it went in Elden Ring. Great work!

[@magyar645]

A nice proof is also the black staircase leading to the graveyard outside leyndell , it is right next to the grace site where the commoner turns into Margit, since then i always thought the eternal cities were above ground at some point

[@reverbivore5308]

Phenomenal work. I look forward to these videos more than any other Elden Ring content.

[@wubwub247]

I love that you always start these videos with a cold cut of a lesson about the real world parallel of the subject of the video, makes the lore feel so much more real

[@mshawnee]

I don't comment on youtube videos much since I watch them on my tv, but your channel and this video was great and I really appreciate your work! Especially love the tie in with Xenophon.

[@theDoctorwitTardis]

Utterly mind-blowing. Seriously well done!

[@LastProtagonist]

A "saint's statue" can be found in front of the elevator to the Nokstella River Basin site of grace. Another thing worth pointing out is the masonry leading up to the Eastern Ramparts of Leyndell is different than the walls themselves, and is also lined with saint's statues. You've already pointed out the Nox/Sellian floral designs on the buildings, but I think it's also worth reiterating how not-so-Valiant Gargoyles can be found in abundance in the nameless Eternal City as well as Leyndell and how Maliketh's "Black Blade Kindred" are also these ancient gargoyles. As always, nice video, and I'm in awe of the speed you're able to produce them. Nicely done

[@Djcello113]

Bro, the depth and richness of your videos have me totally engaged, it's hard for me to pay attention for so long, but this series is just wow

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

Glad you like them!

[@Bodmanford]

I would adore a deep dive into the architecture of Elden ring, these videos are so unique and wonderful I’d watch just about anything

[@horrorsran]

Dude your videos are mindblowing, I can’t believe I never noticed the hole in leyndell lining up with the nameless eternal city, plus that being godwyn’s burial place oh my wordddd

[@Nemo12417]

It's a pretty safe bet that Astel is responsible for what happened to the Eternal City of Leyndell. Astel stole the false night sky, which would have had implications for the cavern ceiling above.

[@Nemo12417]

Alternatively, the chasm in Leyndell might have been created by Radahn. The opening cinematic indicates that Morgott (who only left the capital to fight Rykkard) fought Radahn at one point, and I could see Radahn's destructive powers collapsing ground that had a cave beneath it.

[@abydosianchulac2]

This puts additional flavor to Marika being Numen-born since we assume the Numen and Nox are the same or closely related. It had seemed like the Numen were some distant, remote people separated by time or space from "modern" Lands Between, but it's something entirely different if they, Marika's people, were present and actively living in Leyndell all along. (And it wouldn't be nearly as significant that the Black Knives assassins were Numen inasmuch as people think that indicates Marika was involved, if they were a relatively large part of society.)

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

Exactly.

[@matteoflamigni550]

Hmmm no, that thinking is wrong. Marika is considered to be involved because: - her plan to slay a god specifically required the Death Rune to be freed - Maliketh's entire lore is that Marika betrayed him while he was carrying out the very duty she gave him - her plan requires a body free of the GW's ability to override it, another thing that could be produced only with Ranni's ritualif you are born Empyrean (as Marika is) - she is pierced by something looking like a Death Rune shard itself, indicating that she orchestrated the Death Rune theft but then things went not like she evasioned - the Black Knives are now adversaries of Ranni, indicating once again that everything went as scheduled up to Godwyn's death and then someone changed the plan - every aforementioned step (theft of the Rune, murder of Godwyn, Ranni's ritual) was carried out by the Black Knives who are explicitly stated to be numen who were close to Marika (in their set's description) and not certainly out of just being the same race of people. - a Black Knife seemingly guards Marika's chamber So Marika and the Black Knives are most definitely linked as - I reiterate - is textually mentioned and factually supported. While the fact that Numens were probably an élite of foreigners well spread, estabilished and even culturally dominant in the Lands Between is a keen intuition (also lined up with hints fro translators and dataminers both), it doesn't diminish one bit the credibility of Marika's involvement.

[@LokiHades]

@@tarnishedarchaeologist I speculated on your video on Marika on the possibility of the Numen close to Marika, as referred to by the Black Knife Set, were possibly other Libation maidens in the Saint and Tree Empire. It’s food for thought at least I’d reckon, before dismissing the idea entirely. Edit: Also rewatching the prerelease E3 trailer, we can see when Marika/Radagon is hammering at the Elden Ring, each strike of the hammer fractures their body further. I think the depiction is meant to make you speculate, with hindsight knowledge, on whether It is Radagon attempting to repair the Elden Ring or Marika attempting to shatter it.

[@Doomed_Traveler]

@@matteoflamigni550 things that are explicitly stated may not be as trustworthy as they seem

[@matteoflamigni550]

@@Doomed_Traveler yes, yet whenever the game relays untrustworthy info it always drops hints abput it being the case. Then again I was wrong in this, because I spore with a japanese speaker about Marika "betraying" Maliketh and he explained it is a mistraslation. The actual description is more about "disappoint" more than "betray" and moreover it is not necessarily from Marika, meaning it could mean that either Marika disappointed Maliketh or even the inverse (which given the description as a whole makes sense, like: "he only had to guard the Death Rune but still, he disappointed"). Therefore at the moment there is very little to go on to support my previous opinion that Marika was involved in the theft of the Rune. And her being involved in Godwyn's murder never made an ounce of sense. So there.

[@GtheMVP]

I really hope they make an anime with Leyndell fully intact. Like I wish for Anor Londo, I want to see it at its peak.

[@JustinZode]

Unbelievable work. Putting pieces together that are so clearly there, but I’ve seen few others making such connections. Completely changing the way I see the story.

[@ashtonfeatherstoneandersen4783]

Would love to see your archeology in Lothric, Lordran, and Drangleic.

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

Good chance that is coming, someday…

[@SorryFaPartyin24]

You are a beast! These caught me off guard and started a bit slow, but man I am glad I held on. These are diamonds

[@_ariosto1519]

Great video mate, thank you! Please keep it up! 🙏🏾

[@NerdishNature]

As said beforehand. As architect hearing your archaeological and historical analysis is absolutely perfect. Really looking forward to seeing the next episodes

[@Li1t]

Very interesting video, as always. I'm both impressed with the sleuthing and with FromSoft for putting all of this detail in the game.

[@jon040192]

I enjoy how the introduction to this video (the Xenophon section) could just as easily be the introduction to a Dark Souls 2 video essay.

[@santiagovallejo4518]

We need that Miyazaki talk to Brandon Sanderson to make actual books about darksouls, bloodborne, elden ring and demon souls those would be so cool

[@DerekDietz-w7f]

This is probably the most enjoyable KZbin channel I’ve ever come across

[@juanbarranco8445]

One of the best lore (if not THE BEST) channels, indeed!!!

[@Photoloss]

Alright so what is the timeline here? It only makes sense for the Nox to gain/create their false night skies _after_ their banishment underground as they'd have the real thing prior to that, and if we assume the Swordstress set description to be in chronological order that fits too. And the city needs to have that false sky by the time Astel arrives and wrecks it because we find the stolen sky in Astel's lair (and the Yelough Anix version shows this is not some "space cobweb" they just create by themselves). So we have Banishment->Sky->Astel, right? Except the Shattering supposedly led to "abandonment by the Greater Will" so the banishment occurring during/after the war is a bit iffy, and more importantly the Starscourge Greatsword claims Radahn earned that title "in his youth". And the corresponding sword monument names Sellia meaning it already existed as such at the time. So how does that line up with Radahn's participation in the Shattering war(s?) seeing as the Starscourge victory _should_ have prevented Astel's attack had it already occurred. Which means the order of events according to this video would be Black Knives->Siege of Leyndell->Banishment of Leyndell Eternal City->creation of false sky->Astel attacks->Radahn, still "in his youth", conquers the stars->Radahn fights in more Shattering wars? Also Radahn and Ranni need to become traitors to Morgott at some point but Ranni's supposed to be dead at this point and seems to be unaware of Radahn's influence on star-written fate. That seems like an awfully long time for a world that's supposedly locked in a brutal civil war/succession crisis as well as fundamentally fucked thanks to the Elden Ring itself being shattered. Edit: the Ainsel River Map also says those underground regions are "the grave of civilizations that flourished before the Erdtree" - civilisationS plural i.e. most likely including the Eternal Cities. _Before_ the Erdtree, therefore definitely before the Shattering.

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

No reason to twist ourselves in knots. It appears as though the Nameless ET persisted above ground long after the other two were banished.

[@Photoloss]

@@tarnishedarchaeologist But that is precisely the one which got wrecked by Astel! So it persisted longer, somehow got banished in a very similar fashion but post-Shattering, had time to deploy its own fake sky afterwards and then got destroyed by Astel all before Radahn conquered the stars. How does that work out?

[@agopessimist1335]

@@Photoloss bit of a late reply, but one potential possibility is that, given how Astel in the Japanese description is a spawn of Darkness, could have been summoned by the despair the Nox felt when they were banished underground, and this wouldn’t conflict with Radahn stopping the stars since Astel didn’t crash-land into the banished city, but was unintentionally summoned instead. We often find Fallingstar and Full-grown Fallingstar beasts at crater impact sites, but we don’t ever encounter an Astel near a crater site save for one in an underground (not sure how an impact crater can be underground) dungeon in the Mountaintop of the Giants. Yes, there is cut content showing an Astel crashing down on Radahn’s arena, but it’s difficult to use cut content to prove something in the game’s canon lore. This is also the same kind of cut content that labeled Radahn as a giant-killer rather than a starscourge. Last Protagonist did a video about Astel, and he theorized based on the item descriptions of the spell Eternal Darkness and of Astel’s Remembrance in their Japanese descriptions, that the Nox were banished underground and that their despair (aka their “darkness”) caused Astel to be summoned. So the summoning of Astel and the theft of the Leyndell Eternal City’s sky could still occur even after Radahn stopped the stars from moving. Remember that Astel can teleport, and summon portals. And Radahn would have only been able to stop stars from falling from the sky. So a potential timeline of events is that in his youth Radahn stops the stars from moving and therefore falling from the sky and hitting the Earth. The Black Knives happen, and during/after the Shattering the Leyndell Eternal City is banished underground. The Nox have their night sky built, and later Astel is summoned by their despair (either from being banished or having Godwin’s body buried so close to them) levels the city, and steals their night sky before teleporting to underground Liurnia, close to an area that was used to worship the stars and moon in the past. This is my personal take on it anyways.

[@MemeMan_MEMESQUAD]

Not sure if you'll see this, but I have a theory that plugs the hole causing your confusion at around 8:10. I think the hint is in the map. Miquela's halegtree has a brace and outer ring. Leyndell has the same structure, but with no tree in the middle. Just a bunch of much smaller buildings that don't match the style of the walls. I think the walls were built around the great tree which is no longer there. Meaning the walls came first, then Godfrey's fort, then the rest. This puts the stump of the old great tree right where it would need to be for what would become the Erdtree to sprout from the edge. Zoom out again, and the stump of the great tree is at the edge of the massive hole that takes up the entire middle of the map. Three eras, three trees, the creatures they produce shrinking as they do. Not sure, let me know what you think. Edit: forgot to mention, the "1st tree" left a hole in the middle of the map that filled with water, and the great tree did also, which is the weird lakes in and around the Leyndell walls. I think it's all laid out on purpose. Edit again: this means the Leyndell door to nowhere was the door inside the great tree, like the modern Erdtree has a door. I'm sure you can piece together what I'm getting at despite the formatting Another edit: The leaden windows of the eternal city would make sense if they were built inside the much larger great tree, assuming it has a space like the inside of the Erdtree but bigger

[@federicoforgione]

Another stunning masterpiece, it's Amazing how entertaining, relaxing and Extreme accurate and "logical" these videos are

[@mynameismice]

I seriously need more, this is the best lorehunting i have found on elden ring thank you so much

[@tarnishedarchaeologist]

More to come!

[@Falaxuper]

3:36 archaeologists among us :)