Romina, the Betrayal, and the Beauty of Rot | Elden Ring DLC Lore

[@Hawkshaw]

If you could direct a cutscene for Romina, how would you do it?

[@fungeon_bloke7525]

They should've done a Quelaag-esque reveal, perhaps just seeing her human-ish half tending to the Rot flowers and then revealing the double centipede monstrosity beneath

[@MarcellLakatos-h1q]

If there was a cutscene for her, there should be a variation where she notices you have Messmer’s kindling and knows exactly what do you intend to do

[@KiroShinigami]

Id have the camera starting on her gripping her weapon tighter, as if she knew that one day she too would be held accountable and be reminded that the process of life is within the tarnished and their end choice no matter their choice. She would turn to face you and with that her scolopendra half would chatter its pincers and the scorpion stinger would drip a glimmer of pure rot as her butterflies surround her. Then the camera moves outward showing the rot around her the buds and the pink butterflies scatter as she prepares to do battle.

[@WhoreForTheLore]

Poorly.

[@davidlejenkins]

Close up on the scorpion tails, tiddies, then cut to black. Easy.

[@VictorIV0310]

Still strange how, for a mandatory Remembrance boss, she has so little lore and even less relevance to the DLCs story aside from literally being in the way of the Sealing Tree.

[@seamusdempster]

I agree, I think I've found a bit more deeper meaning as time has gone on, the DLC definitely doesn't make it's lore obvious or quickly interpretable. There's significance in her relation to Miquella's ascension, as she used to practice a sacred act of purification which is tied to his Godhood. She also informs the nature of the crucible and of rot, and also the "bud" imagery feels relevant to Miquella to me.

[@Nemo12417]

@VictorIV0310 the Church of the Bud always revered the rot to some extent, and it suggests the Rauh/Hornsent viewed the dreaded Outer God of Rot as having a place in the world. The Verdagris disc has the symbol of the Fell God on it, but is associated with the Rot, again suggesting coexistence.

[@unsealednardo9965]

Fromsoft always does this. Like they know what's the most intriguing and say, we'll do less of it lol. Like Godwyn. Like the whole game wouldn't have happened without him. Did we learn anything else about him? Not really.

[@MitridatedCarbon]

ironically, that might mean she is a very important character. like fromsoft does this. it will sprinkle details of the story. the less details a character has, the more its influence is important in the world of the game. we know more or less everything about godrick and he is a nobody, but we know basically nothing about the geq, and she might be one of the most important characters in ER.

[@Nemo12417]

@MitridatedCarbon the Gloam Eyed Queen was an enemy of Marika who had the Rune of Death before it was taken from her by a servant of Marika. I think we can guess why she doesn't seem super present in the game.

[@dragondust5023]

i've said this before on a zully video and i'll say it again: I believe the colors of rot represent different things. The reddish/Orange rot of Malenia seems to represent destruction and withering. The pink rot of Rumina seems to represent rebirth/rebuilding from death. Malenia rejects the rot, giving it the destructive and withering meaning, thus the orange color, while Rumina embraces the rot, embodying it and believing it to represent rebirth, thus the pink color. You can see in the Lake of Rot and Caelid it's primarily orange/red, as it seems to have destroyed. But even in Caelid, you can see pink buds forming from the barren wasteland ('rebirth' for the land). At the Church of the Bud, though it is covered in rot, you can see it's not crumbling or being destroyed. It still stands, its colors primarily bright pink.

[@onepeice01]

YES!! I remember coming to a similar conclusion bc color in this game is integral to nature of ppl but also abilities. no matter how much I think I know, this channel will reveal amazing things I never new I missed. I love these games so much

[@grayfoxpianist11]

In protecting the seal, Messmer may have delegated this responsibility to Romina, either in deference to her role within the church's betrayal as you suggest, or in an act of superiority inherited from his mother: ironically chaining Romina to the ruins of what she once held dear, like Marika did with the Fire Giant in their culture's worship of another god. Regardless, I like to believe that Romina comes to view this responsibility as sacredly protecting the world she has helped foster, a world of rebirth, from those who would turn it into a world of stagnation: Marika's world without death, or Miquella's world without will. Great video, as always!

[@garrulousgoldmask]

I really like that potential parallel between Romina and the Fire Giant! And for all we know, Romina may have been the last of her kind.

[@AntonVShokolov]

I misread the thumbnail as "The Lore of Romania" and got confused for a second.

[@kjmagginoodlez9537]

😭😭😭

[@bw9382]

What the fuck is a “Romania”?

[@Ashaira]

Go look at an atlas. Maybe you'll learn something.​@@bw9382

[@MitridatedCarbon]

i love the concept of rot in ER. first the game makes it look like it is connected to stagnation, and the golden order to life, while in reality is the opposite. the rot is constant life and rebirth, while the golden order is stagnation. the game is filled with this sort of curveballs. like introducing radagon as a guy with some skeletons in his closets, show some connections between him and the giants, thus making you think the secret was "radagon is a half giant and he betrayed his people" when in reality the real secret was that he was marika.

[@nbmoleminer5051]

I would've liked her wings as an armor piece

[@blepblops]

The DS2 Butterfly set comes to mind Would've been funny if we got the outfit, but it spreads scarlet rot instead

[@marystone860]

That would have been SO cool!

[@samfish2550]

At least her shawl or minimum a budding helm modeled after the growths on her head.

[@Writh811]

Another great look at the lore! Though, that's not a wasp stinger under Romina. It is an ovipositor, a reproductive organ found on female insects. After they mate the female will stick their ovipositor into the ground and deposit their fertilized eggs. The fact that she is half scorpion and has female insect reproductive organ, and the large scorpions origins are traced to the church should make the connection a bit more clear. Including the fact that some of these giant Scorpions for some reason have wings that look like Romina's.(For those bad at logic, Romina is the mother of the Giant Scorpions coming out of the the Church). The discussion of sprites and sprite burrows brings to mind some thoughts. Sprite Burrows are depicted with tangling roots, this doesn't feel far off from some Crucible imagery. I can't help but wonder if the Hornsent discoveries at Rauh had a hand in the creation of Enir Ilim and its Divine Gate. Enir Ilim serving as a scaled-up sprite burrow, but instead of putting the sprite in a stone the vessel it places the sprite in a person. Horns are needed to make Sprite Burrows and Enir Ilim is made out of Hornsent people. Scaled up the type of sprites the gate could draw would theoretically either be greater in number (Lots of sprites into one vessel) or greater in nature (One big sprite into a vessel). Of course I'm implying the Elden Beast is just a big powerful sprite drawn into the Burrow that is Marika, aka "The Visions vessel." And as the bondstone states "bonds with sprites are made to be broken." Marika tried to shatter the Elden Ring aka the Elden Beast, the sprite occupying her as a vessel.

[@Hawkshaw]

That's really interesting! Thanks for the clarification

[@brentskupien7658]

Genius

[@cullysloy2705]

Woah. I'm blown away. You should make videos

[@samfish2550]

I mean wasp stingers are modified ovipositors so it doesn't change much, doesn't remove content that could add but that's not really that much of a change.

[@NoobyGamer_]

Speaking of vessels and Marika, her people were made into Jars! Really good logic here, thanks for sharing

[@nbmoleminer5051]

I think the buds were so easily imbued with the scarlet rot because the Flower Crucible as shown by the Miranda Flowers and Flowering Guardians has close ties to Poison another aspect of the Rot God

[@tatsu_don]

Scorpions do appear in Elden Ring, within the Scorpion Charms. They are "carried by assassins who strike unseen". Just like Romina acted unseen by the Hornsent, cooperating with Messmer's crusade?

[@AndrewBenningfield-ji3iw]

I like how the DLC changed our understanding of Rot. It's not merely a state of decay, but a protective, life-giving cycle, and even the Scarlet Rot can be seen in a more positive light through Romina and the Forager Brood. It's more nuanced than we thought. You can almost (not really) understand Gowry now.

[@impcit5717]

The Outer Gods seem to connect with people that are suffering. The Greater Will made a pact with Marika, sole survivor of the Shamans. The Formless Mother came to the attention of lost Mohg. The Goddess of Rot sprouted within Malenia at her moment of defeat against Radahn. The Frenzied Flame is kindled from those who wanted the world to burn. Entities that promise power to those who feel weak and powerless are usually not called gods; we call them demons.

[@tinminator8905]

Malenia had the affliction of rot in her from birth. She simply unleashed the rot from within her and let the scarlet flower bloom for the first time. Evidenced by that fact that she was already missing her eyes and arms when fighting Radahn.

[@WretchedRedoran]

I'm not sure The Greater Will is an Outer God. My interpretation was actually that The Greater Will is pretty much the universe personified, possessing some semblance of a will of its own. When SotE came around, Ymir's dialogue seemed to confirm this as well. Then again, Ymir is kinda crazy ('kinda' may be an understatement).

[@oup6009]

The hornsent's use of stuffing people into jars is another example of Rot "fermenting" ingredients in order to create something better. Rot, or the cycle of rebirth, is simply an element of the crucible. Scarlet Rot seems to be a more aggressive and purposeful form of Rot, possibly a curse from the first Rot God that was sealed just as the Omen/Fell Curse is an aggressive form of the Hornsents' divine element after they were sealed in the Land of Shadow

[@HersgoryJigurda]

This commenter is onto something.

[@TotoIsWriting]

My theory is that Scarlet Rot was a product of Romina's powers and Messmer's flame. After he burned the church, what survived was imbued with the hatred and passion of the flame that destroyed them. Perhaps also a reference to natural selection, in which the fungi that survived were fungi that multiplied and fed on life to an extreme extent.

[@victoriousf.i.g.3311]

I assumed Rot existed due to Marika removing the D rune from the Elden Ring. Thus, things who could not return to the Erdtree could only rot and decay in perpetuity, and such folks became the servants of the rot god simply by being rotting persons. Who else would they call on? Malenia was cursed with eternal rot in retribution for Marika's meddling with the natural order; neither alive nor dead, but always in between. Miquella was cursed with eternal youth, not being allowed to experience the passage of time and the aging process. I believe Marika altering the Ring as she did had unintended consequences, rot being chief among them. An outer god of rot would find fertile ground in a land that does not die or experience natural rebirth. To shorten, Fromsoft always plays with the idea of the big main character doing something to halt the natural order, causing unintended issues. For Gwyn, he unintentionally created hollowing and the undead; those who forever rot until madness claims them. All because he feared the end so much that he would doom the world to retain one guttering and unnatural flame. Marika, in much the same way, sought to bring her people eternal life without realizing how important death is to the overall process.

[@level1dodo896]

The rot god is my favorite outer god. Rot is a natural force more so than other outer gods too. I’m not sure what natural force the Blood mother outer god represents but the rot god seems the most like a natural force

[@MisanthropicOcellus]

On the topic of verdigris, whilst never confirmed directly in the game, Rabbath's jar cannon is partly made of verdigris. Could just be a coincidence but given how different the basic metals are in this game the fact the colour matches perfectly is rare.

[@exquisitedoomlapointe185]

The visage shield is verdigris as well. But likely a coincidence

[@MisanthropicOcellus]

​@exquisitedoomlapointe185 yeah, same with the gladiator set. Though aside from the gladiators getting rotted, pretty sure it's normal verdigris

[@ChampionGold]

Also irl any metal with verdigris buildup is said to be "tarnished"

[@nbmoleminer5051]

I actually think she was spared by the Crusade because she was one of Marika's people by birth if even if not by upbringing because she seems to belong to the culture of the Hornsent in terms of beliefs and because of that I think she managed to negotiate the sparing of the lives of the Hornsent in the Tower itself to serve as defacto guards to the gate of divinity in exchange for her ensuring the tower the shrouding remains intact via her guarding of the Shrouding Tree

[@tinminator8905]

I think you are on the right track, but digging too deep for no reason. Her title is Saint. The name given to the goal of a successful gruesome shaman ritual performed by the hornsent. She was part of hornsent culture and a revered Saint. Her throat was never something Marika was after, quite the contrary. Shown by the item descriptions, Romina herself is only mostly concerned with the buds of the Church, which were all burned. Her only goal ever was to be the Saint and protector of those buds. She has no reason to betray anyone. She has no reason to leave the durch. All she wants is for the buds to bloom again.

[@liarwithagun]

@@tinminator8905 Except the Hornsent know the jar stuff doesn't make 'real' saints. That is why the line they use is "nigh-sainthood". What is nigh-sainthood to the Hornsent? A bunch of people's bodies joined together (imitating the 'melting pot' of the Crucible were all life is one). So Marika is a 'real' saint and the jar innards are nigh-saints. I don't think that Marika was made through jar ritual, but rather she was a 'saint' before the Hornsent found her village. Which is why she was spared and gains high status in their society, and the rest of the shaman were turned into jar innards. Marika was probably like Miquella, born with two people in one body. This is why the fingers takes an interest in her enough to give her a finger reader nursemaid and make her their main tool to achieve their plan to make the Erdtree. She is born as a "Crucible saint" because she, like everything in the Land of Shadow, is heavily influenced by Crucible. Which is why everything is growing horns like crazy there. This is also why Radagon hates his red hair. Red is the color of the Crucible (life before the Elden beast). This is why a lot of things are associated with red: giants, dragons, and things trying to 'go back' in time and so become more influenced by the Crucible (Radagon, his misbegotten, red bears, etc.).

[@tinminator8905]

@ You are picking and choosing your dialogue too much. Only a singular hornsent speaks of nigh-sainthood. All the other item description DIRECTLY state that the jar rituals on the Shamans are performed, so that they may be reborn into SAINTHOOD (Great Jar, Innard meat). No nigh. Put more weight on item descriptions. And also look at all evidence. There is so much lore everywhere leading you in different directions. Picking and choosing allows for you to interpret pretty much everything. If what you want is to find the actual lore, you have to look at all evidence at once and see the commonality or the more prevalent conclusion.

[@nbmoleminer5051]

​@@tinminator8905You replied to me by mistake instead of Liarwithagun

[@Jacobussythegamer]

When I first walked into the arena, I immediately made the theory in my head that she was a representation of Malenia and Miquella. Obviously the scorpion and the rot is Malenia. But the centipede reminded me of Sekiro's connection to immortality. It made me think of Miquella's eternal youth. (now I know this makes no sense and I long abandoned the theory)

[@zeppie_]

Interesting theory! The Golden Centipedes in Elden Ring are also found near places of Erdtree worship and are ingedients for items related to Golden Order Fundamentalism

[@M.A.R.S.]

I think what many people feel and agree with when they say Romina has "very little lore," is she especially has little to no build-up to her fight. We see the rot appear almost instantly when near her arena in Rauh, we might pick up the Pest Threads Spears spell or a scarlet bud, but those are the only bits of lore we can get prior to her fight. Leda makes no mention of Romina in her letter from the Rauh grace, which lets you know Dane will help with *something.* She deserved more love. So did Putrescent Knight, who should have gotten sleep buildup on its attacks rather than frostbite ("oh but ghostflame!" okay but he's literally surrounded by her nectar).

[@chrisofthehoovers4055]

This is all just conjecture but do you think she might be a Shaman like Marika? Maybe she is in some way related to Marika and that is why she guards the way. It would also explain how she merged herself with other creatures to attain the form we find her in.

[@echidnaburger02]

I feel like the line “bonds are meant to be broken” holds far more implication about the world of Elden Ring than most people realize

[@NeroVSsnk]

By George, you done it again Hawkshaw. Content strong as always

[@ozsun9736]

Juicier than the scarlet bud im gonna spark to this one

[@MisanthropicOcellus]

Absolutely wild, i was just the other day thinking about the ancestral followers, bloodfiends and rauh. I mean the spiralhorn shield is about as blunt a connection as it gets

[@Papermetroid]

I thought radahn was big before the scarlet rot? He’s still big while fighting malenia, hence before the aeonian bloom.

[@36fanis]

First time in forever that your video appears in my subscription page..

[@halcyon62277]

Another banger, Hawkshaw. Thank you! I like to think that after Romina betrays the Hornsent, an the guilt has truly set in, she sees in the Rot the ability to be "reborn" herself. To kill off the person she once was and play savior to new life born within the rot. I also believe that the "twisted" nature of what the bloodfiends and Romina and the Lamenters reflects a change in their way of seeing the world. It becomes twisted which then lends influence from outer gods to take control.

[@xpatrstarx]

Romina's theme is one of my favorite pieces or music of all time

[@elderliddle2733]

I think there’s something interesting you didn’t really touch. Why did Romina betray the Hornsent? I can imagine these ruins would have been amazing for defense and was probably one of the last areas conquered. I believe that Romina, in the same vein as Cypress, opened the gates for the enemy. It’s possible the last of the Hornsent used that church as a final bastion of protection and were ready for a last stand. She likely saw the inevitability of their defeat and wanted to get it over with. The Hornsent were angry and would never surrender. She got in contact with Messmer and opened the gates for him. For her defection, she was allowed to live and given a duty to guard the tree that surrounds Inur Ilim. It was at that point she discovered the godess of rot, and accepted the Rot Kin as her own in an attempt at rebuilding.

[@DoctorPecker]

It sucks so much to realize at this point that nobody is ever going to connect all the dots and figure out the biggest mysteries with this game. 😭

[@KurwaRomek]

It's impossible, it contradicts itself all the time. Not that it's really relevant, ultimately. Go to big golden tree. Beat bad guys. Become Elden Lord. You don't really need to know any more than this.

[@xEcuador1]

@@KurwaRomek is what a scrub like you would say. GEQ is pretty much debunked at this point with how many subtle hints the DLC gives us.

[@briancompau1694]

​@@KurwaRomekIt really doesn't contradict itself, and if it does it's because of an unreliable narrator. There's pretty obviously a set truth of the lands between's history that we have yet to uncover, similar to dark souls

[@exquisitedoomlapointe185]

We got a lot from the world creation all the way to antediluvian history in this game. Which implies that there is a pre antedeluvian period probably still decypherable.

[@Trimondius]

04:15 nice use of the night elves theme song from warcraft 3,definitely fitting for the hornsent.

[@jivesideproductions]

her bossfight was my favorite. really beautiful.

[@monoclesquid9667]

A neat fact about verdigris: because of the nature of the rust pattern, it preserves the metal underneath it. This is why older bronze age artifacts tend to survive longer than iron age artifacts, as by rusting they effectively auto-preserve.

[@BloodyRakuyo]

Beautiful video! I never considered that Romina may have betrayed the hornsent

[@codymuller5744]

Rominas OST is soooo good. You really feel the emotion and tragedy

[@VVVVIVIVI]

Hearing the Pale Sky theme around 1:35 made me so happy. I absolutely love GRIME. Not sure if you've ever used that game's soundtrack in your other videos, but uh yeah that was awesome to hear.

[@falkhornfalk9201]

I believe the main reason they use romina's theme in the trailer is because it is the best theme in the game.

[@blizzardgaming7070]

Fortissax wants a word with you

[@falgalhutkinsmarzcal3962]

I still think a lot of ER is based on Johfra Bosschart's Zodiac paintings. Scorpio depicts a scorpion in a wasteland similar to Caelid while a baby holds a skull (birth from death theme). His Aries painting even looks like Messmer, replete with black-winged helmet and red cloak. The difference is that the helmet of Aries has a dragon instead of two snakes. He has a shield, however, depicting the horned visage of an ogre-like creature similar to the Trolls. On a sidenote, isn't it bizarre that the Trolls do not have horns? After all, the Crucible knots come from Giants (according to the SOTE Talisman) and we know the Hornsent harvested these knots to grow their own horns (subsequently dreaming nightmares about Giants).

[@samfish2550]

I've always seen rot as change. Stagnation was the realm of the outer god of sleep, keeping miquilla in a permanent stasis as a child while the rot demanded Melania to change into something new. Flowing water in this context isn't negating rot but keeping pace with it and staying ahead of it. They are siblings, not opposites.

[@thecrankyoldman]

I've been looking at the game from a Carl Jung's human psychological perspective, and I do feel that rot represents the traumatic event that we try to bury away in our shadow, in the unconscious. But, it'll always keep seeping back into the consciousness from the unconsciousness. Learning to accept and confront your traumatic experiences will lead to spiritual enlightenment, wholeness or individuation. What we're seeing in Elden Ring, is a self that simply isn't ready to deal with the traumatic experience. From what we learn, through Marika and Miquella, is that they both rewrote the 'law' of the inner world. One removed death, and the other was trying to remove pain and suffering. It's a story about the self not wanting or knowing how to confront the traumatic experience, and therefor it's treated as a curse. Each time a new god or goddess ascends, it basically represents a drastic change in approach. A simple example of this is when you graduate from school, when you get married, when you have a child... or when a traumatic experience occurs. The Order basically represents a mask, a persona... and the tree represent the self. So, when we see Marika performing the shattering on top of a tree stump, it symbolizes ego-death. A lot of the stories are told through repetition, because we're the ignorant gods, of our own inner world, and sometimes we'll simply keep making the same mistakes because a lot of the times we don't want to confront our issues. The betrayal in the land of shadow, is told to us through the tower of Babel, and the idea of the Whore of Babylon. This symbolizes the collapse of a corrupt, decadent system and its replacement by a seemingly divine, yet equally oppressive authority, perpetuating cycles of control and moral decay. Then Nero also burned down Rome, to rebuild it, similar to what we see in Lyndell. Marika's bed chamber, as the Roman Pantheon, shows the story telling through architecture and history can be retold in Elden Ring accurately. This loop will continue, until the self finally accepts that running away from the traumatic event isn't going to result in a happy ending. We know this from Melina, who acts as the wise old man archetype. "The one who walks alongside flame, Shall one day meet the road of Destined Death." Flame/Death is required to bring back balance to the world. We'll keep looping, and Melina will keep sacrificing herself, until the self finally confronts death. It's the guide, guiding you to the guiding light. The two fingers represent a stagnant life and rebirth world where the three fingers represent life, death and rebirth but simply take things too far. You need both the 2 fingers and the three fingers to find true balance. Melina, the wise old man, is leading us, to the place where the self lost its guiding light, which is Farum Azula. I'm pretty sure Farum Azula represents Pharos, the lighthouse of Alexandria. As you mention, if the rot represents a traumatic experience, knowing how to live with it is a good thing, but the only thing the game shows us, is distancing yourself from achieving a good outcome.

[@zeppie_]

Really interesting! Personally, I think that the Frenzied Flame is more akin to giving in to your impulses as an outlet for your suffering, such as self harm. I don't think that it's a coincidence that the ascendance as Lord of Frenzy is a practically irreversible process either. The universe goes back to what it was at it's inception, formless and without life. As the universe dies, so does the self. I think that represents the logical endpoint of the Frenzied Flame

[@thecrankyoldman]

​@@zeppie_ If there is anything that represents suicide, it'd be Ranni's ending, since Ranni represents the outcast archetype. Nihilism. Ranni wants to distance herself from everything, and not be part of the inner world. The frenzied flame wants to burn it all to the ground, so it can start over. Like a hard reset. Undoing all the progress that's been made up to that point. It's like the idea that you want to be normal, but wanting it so badly that you do things that you don't actually agree with. It also doesn't solve anything. When you go for the frenzied flame ending, and you see Melina, she's basically disappointed with you, to a point where she starts to resent you. You've basically done the opposite of making progress, undoing it all. Basically, willpower (maiden) and determination (tarnished), don't see eye to eye...

[@Blockvard]

Thanks for a nice video! The centipede catches my attention a lot with Romina. It and the scorpion seems like a nod to the empyrean twins, and how maybe they were supposed to be one and the same but split into two halfs of a whole. And the colouration of Romina looks like a nice match between Malenia's rot and Miquella/St. Trina's colour. Even the poison flower blooms twice can be linked to Malenia's rot poison and St. Trina's sleep toxin. Two powers, when combined will make you decay and eternally sleep. And around Malenia things rot, and around Miquella and St. Trina things bloat (putrid), both a sign of decay, but one more in vegetation and the other in the animal kingdom. The two twin colours can be related to fire and water, put in a mix and these elements can be seen as the highest sign of divination. Light powers. Centipede symbolises change/molting and is highly associated with dreams. As Miquella looks as if he just emerged from his "cocoon" his entire physical life and has dream powers. He seems heavily linked to the centipede. Too bad that the iconography for the twins isn't as straight forward to scorpion/centipede, but butterflies 🦋 but why don't we meet any other centipede, only those dried golden ones? And they are important material for golden fundamentalists... Sorry for the long comment. Hope more brilliant minds than me solves these conundrums

[@KakarotGamingXP]

You are a 🐐!!! Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for another amazing video 👍

[@MitridatedCarbon]

Romina being a shaman makes a lot of sense if we see her as a Miko, and through the lens of what a miko is. Cause Romina is basically a shinto priestess, from her being the keeper of a temple down to her puryfying dance, like a kagura or a mikomai, and becoming host of a divine presence. And even if we follow the lore in-game, she is not only grafted and melded to what I suppose is a new Scorpion god, and her relationship with flowers (just look at the shaman village), but design wise the bud shrouding her eyes is similar to the bandages shrouding thh shamans' eyes, making her similar or at least close to the shamans. Like i can see Messmer talking to her about Marika and convincing her to hide the tower and subvert the hornsent, only for her to realize the error of her actions.

[@thorn.fieldnsta]

In zodiac, scorpion is also a symbol of transformation. Also being a water sign associated to stagnant waters to some authors (Orain-Ferella in her book about Samhain)

[@Irithyllian]

I KNEW THAT WAS HER IN THE CUTSCENE! I went back and commented on that after release of DLC after a month, that halberd of her's tip was too recognizable, I instantly assumed she was a hornsent too.

[@tonysladky8925]

I don't know if there's anything whatsoever to this, but I find it interesting two legendary weapons are known as "poleblades" but with rather different form factors and associated fighting styles: Eleonora's Poleblade, a twinblade, and the Poleblade of the Bud, a halberd. Probably just a quirk, but interesting.

[@devinburns2535]

It's my personal thought that the reason merika was punished the way she was. Was because she tried to upset the true order of the world. I believe all the outer gods were meant to have a foothold in the lands between. All of them their own domain, all of which worked together to ensure true order in the world. A cyclical set that allowed for life to truly thrive. When merika took the rune of death out of the elden ring. She attempted to make her rule the order of the world. It hindered the influence the other gods and their potential empyreans in the world. Rot is often described with stagnation, but in uphending the base nature of the world. Merika showed what true stagnation was, and capable of. Her order despised the crucible because it was proof of her folly. That no matter your desires order has one way. Birth, life, death. It constantly repeats and allows life to thrive. Through her stagnation of the world. Rot runs rampant, madness is everywhere. Miquella himself falls for the same mistake. He tries to change the natural order of things and bend reality to his will and his will alone. Something that even with good intentions will cause far more harm then good.

[@cataddict_]

Kendrick just dropped ❌ Hawkshaw just dropped ✅

[@Nemo12417]

Romina perfectly represents the DLC: solid lore, weak narrative.

[@mohammadjuhail3503]

I love this saying solid lore. Weak narrative 🫡

[@JorgeSanchez-sh2nl]

Literally every souls game be like:

[@johneverimanne3986]

I think it was all initially supposed to be part of the game, and they didn't beef it up as much we'd hoped, and likely because didn't expect to sell so many copies, and all of the change it's sparked with them. And whatever they're proir arrangements, Miyazaki had to make some calls. Polish the f outta the dlc, or focus energy on a bunch of new protects and ideas. If we see amazing games after this, it might be worth it. All in all, I'm very critical of the industry, but I haven't seen anything to suggest they boned us, and have future schemes for even more boning, yet! Though it is concerning that Wallstreet likely has there eyes all over the company with ER sales.

[@ocio.delordran493]

Great video, it's weird that fromsoft give so little information about Romina, while her own appearance says so much about her, she has butterfly wings (associated with rebirth), centipede body (Sekiro...) and Scorpion tail (from what we know from the base game, certain Outer God has a close relationship with scorpions).

[@brushdogart]

Just a little comment on her color, it's not a normal pink but is a color called magenta. Magenta is not a "real" color, it is a optical illusion created when the human eye tries to view blue and red wavelengths at the same time. Interestingly, this color was also used to depict the "Color Out of Space" in a recent movie version of that classic Lovecraft horror story. The director chose magenta for its "unnatural" appearance and how well it stands out in natural settings.

[@fading-sun-studios]

the old guy carrying a book is a also found somewhere else in the game, i dont remember where, but he is def somewhere elsoo too other than lake of rot

[@BerylLx]

It's mentioned that he is found all over the underground areas in The Lands Between; Siofra River, Ainsel River and Lake of Rot.

[@pathfindersavant3988]

Between the Banished Knights, The Cookbook Potentate, the scholars of the Specimen Hall, and now Romina it seems a lot of people joined hands to overthrow the Hornsent empire. Which just makes Marika's betrayal of all those people who helped bring her up and overthrow the Hornsent government all the more galling. She had the perfect opportunity to bring all these disparate people and cultures together in unity, to *graft* them all into a new whole. But she refused, too deeply scarred and driven by her own trauma, hurt, and hatred and chose to burn it all down instead. Hurt people, hurt people. Marika just wasn't strong enough to move past that hurt and instead chose to spread it forth onto everyone, even her own children.

[@Cj-fm6yf]

Man, I want a good rot weapon. My poison build would be so good with it.

[@MsAliceKey]

not really the point of the video but thanks to you i finally got the ancestral spirit! when playing i couldn't understand where he kept pulling these moves from but now i know its because of the animal spirits it absorbed :)

[@nyx2889]

31:04 iirc the death arcana is associated with the scorpio zodiac. the death arcana symbolizes great change, and a scorpion's stinger which brings death, also is it's reproductive organ. so you're correct i think!

[@Halfgnomen]

Heck ya new Hawkshaw

[@Pointedspoon-ni9ot]

You’re the goat hawkshaw I wish I could write and analyze as well as you

[@daklr2501]

Very powerful insight

[@OtherMomo]

I. Surprised I did t even consider the implications made in relation to the scorpion dagger when we saw live scorpions in the dlc

[@Staylecrate]

Your theories are definitely original and tie in nicely to the story. I love the ambiguity in the soulsborne series. So much potential for lore. Think she had horns and cut them off?

[@EmpressStacyTheEternal]

Yk how theres the hypothesis Chaos Witch Quelaag is a separate entity to her spider half? Like they have 2 brains Romina in 1 move will point her weapon forward at you like shes directing the centipede to charge, so maybe they have 2 brains too? :) Just a thought ^_^

[@lashed1980]

Its intresting that nearly all of marikas children are inflicted by curses from the land of shadows. With the exception of Godrick, what curse, or who's curse did Miquela contract?

[@warpstorm1988]

9:25 you mentioned inhuman biology which immediately made me think of the Godskins, then noticed the similarity in their and Romina’s attack patterns so now I’m wondering if there might be some sort of a connection 🤔 Not a contender for GEQ (I still think that’s Melina) but somehow linked to them as a faction?

[@daBunky]

I think Malenia is less unable to stave off Rot, and more its given Empyrean. Miquella and Godwyn are clearly Empyreans of the Greater Will; golden sons to their golden mother. But Empyrean means only that one is capable of ascending to godhood, not which Outer God shall claim them as a vessel. Malenia, as Miquella and Messmer*, was born the child of a single god. A demigod, but without humanity to actually 'counterbalance' godhood. They were always fated to ascend, and it so happens the Scarlet Rot found purchase in her. It makes sense, then, that the current servants of Rot and the Forager Brood aren't grieving a dead mother (the past Goddess of Rot), but instead feel rejected and unloved. Malenia did not want the Rot, she had no care for it. The part of her that was truly *her*, which she gives up for Miquella in her confrontation with Radahn, is Millicent**, after all. And Millicent is clear in that she doesn't want to bloom into something else, she wants to stay herself. Malenia rejects the Goddess of Rot's children because she rejects, initially, even being the Goddess of Rot at all. (*Messmer never ascends, per se, because Marika very much plucked out every bit of divinity she could reach and sealed what she couldn't with her own Grace.) (**Regarding Millicent and her sisters, considering the bloom of the Scarlet Aeonia is the path of goodhood for Rot, I think they are equivalent, in a way, to how Miquella sheds his flesh and feelings in his own path to ascension. With every Aeonia's bloom, Malenia sheds ever more of her that is not divine. Until she blooms into a Goddess, in the fight against us.)

[@soupdemon9414]

i can hear the old music of the night elf of warcraft 3, yes very good selection, very mystical and primal.

[@Viisauden]

I always found it odd that Hornsent invades you outside Romina's arena, since he never really explains his reasons for doing so and was previously set on hunting down Miquella. Perhaps that moment is meant to indicate that even now Romina is still considered divine in Hornsent culture? In that case it makes sense that he would try to protect his culture's last surviving Saint. In addition, the fact that the player can find the Fine Crucible Feather Talisman in the Ruah Ruins may also hint at this, and point towards Romina representing the "insect feather" aspect of the Crucible, which Malenia also seems to inherit later on.

[@Idea_of_Lustre]

Hornsent was never set on hunting down Miquella. He was intent on getting revenge on Messmer. If you give him the opportunity for revenge by summoning him and killing Messmer alongside him, he remains unsatisfied and decides to turn his blade on Marika and her compatriots. Since the Grace of the Erdtree returns to you after beating Messmer (at the latest), he concludes that you are working on her behalf. But yeah, it is still a bit odd that he invades in that particular spot.

[@DreadNadine]

One of my theories I've had for a while is that Romina was a carer for the children of the numans/protected how numans seldomly come into being. Buds have consistently been used to describe people or children in Elden Ring. She even has a blade she cradles like a baby that has a rib cage in the middle, looking like similar weapons that have been made from bodies. I believe it would work with this theory because it would give a lot of explanation to why she would have been willing to work with Messmer and betray the other culture they were teamed up with, same as Marika (almost like this was especially and truly the moment where Marika switched from someone who was just trying to protect her loved ones- now Romina is in her place, forced by Marika to make similar decisions- into the causation of the autrocity. Because of Marikas insatiable need for revenge, she was doomed to repeat whereas Romina, with her pure/more balanced intentions of love and protection, but still allowing death/nature to run its course, succeeds) Her body + how easy it was to weave with the scorpion, rot, and centepede into her body, lends support to her being Numan/shaman. I think she wove the rot in because she was desperate for the buds to still be able to bloom, and find purchase, because they were babies, one of the seldom ways children could be born to the numans perhaps (the hornsent would have found this vital as this was how they were creating saints/possibly trying to create a diety) and Marika destroyed that possibility, giving up the previous way of life and death for one of control, where she now is the new and only mother (a mirror of Count Ymir to show the madness of that idea) also now the few/only way of birth in the lands between, through her new erdtree. Funny enough, Romina was successful, the buds did eventually find purchase within Marika through her children, as it seems most outer gods are able to hurt her with cursing. Romina allowed the buds to bloom once again in the form of the rot she wove into her divine element (perhaps the cruicible of the flower since there seems to be interesting links to that) in the form of Malenia and then her own unintentional children (also showing that this process is almost asexual, like a tree or flower, and all the children are almost parts of their originator, however that fits in with how the numans possibly work) Theres a lot I'm not sure of, but this thematically fits for me and makes Romina such a sad character, much like Margo the wetnurse caring for the children of God's.

[@DreadNadine]

Also just super quick side note, I love what you said about Malenia and Romania being direct comparisons and my theory might add to that in that- Malenia was an unwilling mother and wanted nothing to do with her children, bearing heartache and misery from the rot, whereas Romina accepted everyone as her children, even rejected butterflies, and so harbors the positive parts of rot

[@the1384]

7:19 Does that mean Radagon is a Sprite created in Marikas Perfect Image to destroy the Bond between Rennala😮

[@samfish2550]

Rot like all outer gods in my opinion, was once part of the crucible. Much like crucible touched life is a mix of all plants and animals the divine crucible was all gods, thus when the golden order was separated from the divine crucible we got the other outergods, shattered away from their original balanced state in the same action, left to be found by their remaining worshippers.

[@s-nooze]

Do you think Romina has anything to do with the myth of the founding of Rome? Romulus and Remus... Romulus killed his twin brother and then mourned him. I can't remember all the details. Every time I go through Rauh and see the old ruins with the scholars picking through them and then fight Romina I think of ancient Rome. There just isn't enough information about this boss. I really enjoyed this video though, I think you are right about her.

[@5chneemensch138]

What if Romina's weapon references spreading incense and got corrupted by her? Maybe it *literally* was a budding flower. Connection to perfumers even?

[@DeagleXY]

love me my Hawkshaw content

[@EldenRingColosseumchannel]

Fellas, we’re in for a good time!

[@AdamCBM]

She has the Best theme in the whole game imo!

[@stevenwetherbee7573]

Wonderful video

[@headecas]

We assume the church of the bud refers to plant buds.what if the church of the bud was a place to worship budding horns of the hornsent?

[@gerardmonturiol6936]

it would be great if you make an upload video about color in elden ring to expand with the new information of the dlc

[@joshbest1929]

She embraced the bud in silence… her lack of speaking makes sense. However, breaking that would have been impactful

[@nebky]

24:08 it's never actually stated that the blind swordsman was malenias teacher. We know there was "a blue fairy" who bestowed a "flowing blade" to a blind swordsman. And that malenia encountered a man with a flowing blade who became her tutor. Everyone seems to assume that there's a third person here where to me it seems more likely that Malenia IS the blind swordsman (after all she's the only blind swordsman we know of) and the man with a flowing blade was the blue fairy, her tutor who helped seal away the god of rot within herself.

[@ExalNysta]

Your statement makes 0 sense, big interpretation failure. Just read the Prosthesis-wearer Heirloom. Feel free to read Blue Dancer Charm, Blue Cloth Vest, Scorpion's Stinger and Flowing Curved Sword. Malenia is not the Blind Swordsman because the one who sealed the Rot God was the one bestowed with Flowing Blade. And it is the guy, who is refered as Blind Swordsman.

[@nebky]

@ExalNysta I have read them and it does make sense. Heirloom: Malenia “encountered her mentor and his flowing blade.” Charm: the blue fairy “bestowed a flowing sword upon a blind swordsman.” And then “Blade in hand, the swordsman sealed away an ancient god” Vest: links the colour blue to flowing waters (check out the fairy = river theory) and looks identical to the charm, suggesting the fairy was a warrior with a flowing sword. Sword: “Legends speak of a master of the sword garbed in blue, and his curved blade that was patterned after flowing water.” The blue fairy (garbed in blue) was the original (now legendary) owner of the flowing sword, as described by the charm. I don’t see how it doesn’t make sense that the fairy bestowed the sword to his pupil, the only blind swordsman in the game, Malenia. Who we know has sealed the god of rot within herself, only once we defeat her does she unleash it and literally become the goddess of rot. The alternative is that a blue fairy bestowed it to a random blind swordsman, who in turn used it to seal away the god of rot and then tutor another blind swordsman… who happened to also have the god of rot within her from birth.

[@ExalNysta]

@@nebky thats your mistake, she wasnt born with the god of rot within her and she never sealed it. You cant and wont find any piece of lore or description mentioning that, what exists is the needle forestalling the rot. It was never stated Malenia had the god of rot within her, instead she was born afflicted with it, she was born accursed with rot. The god of rot was never sealed within her, it is explicitely stated on the description of "Map (lake of rot)" and hinted by the location you find the "Scorpion Stinger". Again, as it is, your theory does not make sense. Maybe we could work something out later, but for now what is most accurate is that the Blind Swordsman is a random guy, as well as the Blue Fairy is a random entity, none of them are Malenia.

[@nebky]

@ExalNysta "Malenia, Goddess of Rot"

[@WildLemon922]

As a tiny sidenote, Romina can be translate from persian to "pure" or "purified", interesting!

[@OtherMomo]

Are you saying that the Rauh... that They Might Be Giants?

[@Emomomotional]

They could have sold so many more copies of the dlc if they'd added crossplay for those who aren't doing pvp. It's so incredible. It's too bad.

[@kaingates]

I think they cut a bit too much from this boss to include rot. How she conflict with earlier established lore makes me wish they either cut her out completely or gave her more space because right now there are too many things conflicting making it more messy than interesting.

[@pg3223]

Miranda was the scarlet rot goddess in the same way St. Trina is Miquella

[@ClaymoreM18]

They dropped the hardest ost of all Elden Ring on her and not even a cinematic, how come

[@sergiokaminotanjo]

No body My crush, approaches me My autism kicking in: 0:55 - 34:08

[@GB-sh9st]

please don't harm yourself, hostile LEO

[@tinminator8905]

I disagree with your reading that Romina was complicit in the burning of the church. None of the item descriptions elude to such things and instead show a great concern for the buds of the church. There is no motive. For me the answer as to why she did not get burned by Messmer is very simple and does not require any plot or consipracy: She is not hornsent. To me this is the natural conclusion from her title "Saint". She is one of the successful Saints created from the horrendous rituals of the hornsent on the Shamans. She is of Shaman origin. The very reason for who Messmer's crusade is trying to avenge.

[@jamesleishman8025]

I think I'm going to call malania the goddess of oxidation from now on

[@therealdaouh4973]

Read this as Romania at first ngl…

[@void.sawyer]

Fermentation is controlled rot and I can't think of one fermented product I don't like

[@akaniwa]

what if the inhuman biology is bud/horn growth? horn growth is also tied to the primordial cruscible which is just a melting pot of all types of life energies, so much like we see different types of growth in the form of wings, horns etc etc on the omen and others it might simply be cruscible growth? but that in turn ties "the bud" to the cruscible which is interesting in itself. about 12:01 minutes into the video, watching the rest now.

[@NMA-q5n]

Is Romina a horsent, or could she have been a shaman. If so, more than betrayal, could have been a "rebirth" of the culture, and the posture in the cinematic the heavy burden of the massacre

[@odinskagg8394]

You do need to kill Leda as well so 4 boss fights. or do you not see her fight as a boss fight?

[@blitzergeldert]

she and team miquella do not drop remembrances

[@finnthefannibal]

The water and fire being opposed to life reminds me of inorganic versus organic, with life constantly trying to organize and assimilate while elements like water are always eroding and dissolving

[@Komega01]

crazy how there isnt an "age of rot" ending

[@Robertward111]

So Vaati was right. I don't care what FromSoft's reason might have been, cutting everything that gave Romina'a purpose in-game was just wrong. They may as well have removed her with everything they cut.

[@ickyvicky]

I wonder if Romina was allowed to live because they were a tree person like Marika

[@Grimsly3736]

This would make sense with her now Fungal/Flower nature of her main body, she has elements of Bleeding Tooth Mushrooms (sometimes called Devil’s Tooth) and obviously her hair is like her Pole-arm.

[@Managarm]

I really like the idea of the betrayal! This opens a lot of doors to investigate... As an aside, I feel like your videos always start with a strong point, but then devolve into circular assertions... :/

[@Banana-senpai]

I think this video is solid but you could remove everything about verdigris and it is still the same video. This is to say that the connection between verdigris and the God of Rot is anecdotal. In the same way, there's little connection between the giants (or the Fell God) and the God of Rot. The only Outer God we know connected to a forge is the Fell God and its giants (and I guess the Crucible is a metaphorical forge, or maybe now literal with the giant's connection to horns but that's another can of worms) whose amulets and plate carried by the Fire Giant share patterns with verdigris armor's swirls and discs + verdigris discus (yes I think what the Fire Giant carries is a plate or ornamental disc and not a shield; it has no handle or straps, and looks like Chinese ritual bronze) so why would such a ritualistic craft related to smiting, forging and technology have anything to do with a god related to nature and life cycles unbound? They seem antithetical. Funnily enough, Flame Cleanse Me, made by the fire monks, removes rot. I think it should be noted that seeing copper rust (aka real life verdigris) on something doesn't automatically make it elden ring's mythical verdigris, like the doors on farum azula. TLDR: dude in mythical rusty armor could have gotten it from a different god and not the God of Rot. I thought having stories full of loops and twines was one of the main aspects of the DLC, characters NOT being one-dimensional or one line of thought/origin.

[@embargovenom9948]

I actually don't think Romina got the Rot and the butterflies from the sealed God of Rot. I think she got them from Malenia, since Malenia abandoned all her worshippers, disgusted by them.