The Hornsent and the Dancing Lion - Elden Ring DLC Lore

[@ultra824]

the scorpion catacombs are directly beneath ruah, and there's a godwyn face in it's boss room.

[@MadLuigi]

Thats worthy of a pin 😎

[@Dastardly_Duo]

Scarlet Rot and Deathblight in the same place. I wonder what Godwyn is up to

[@vin8754]

​@@Dastardly_Duo godwyn isn't up to anything. His soul is literally dead, his body is just spreading everywhere in the world like a cancer that you can't stop

[@Dastardly_Duo]

@@vin8754 His soul is dead, not his body. I say this all the time, when you attack Fia, Godwyn retaliates. She even acknowledges him. Then his closest knights became Death Knights

[@garretwilliam3409]

@@Dastardly_Duohow does Godwyn retaliate if you attack Fia? I’ve never tried attacking her after her NPC lackeys boss fight🤔

[@aranthur]

If the Land of Shadow map actually does just plop right into the hole in the middle of the Lands Between, Belurat was once VERY close to Stormveil, which makes a lot of sense. That corner of the continent just friggin loves stormy weather ASMR videos

[@whoisj]

and Leyandel's Divine Bridge covered to Enir Ilim.

[@Heowolf]

It really does, just needs a few small adjustments to scale, and a small rotation. Makes me think Caelid used to look like cerulean coast/charo's hidden grave before the war and rot. It would match the color theme of siofra/nox areas

[@quetzalcoatl1013]

The Land of Shadow was definitely in the middle of the map. The divine towers all bear architecture eerily similar to Enir Illim and Belurat. They fact that they are still in the lands between and are were used by different two fingers’ suggests they were places of power. My theory is that Marika, with the two fingers’, used the towers to seal off the Land of Shadow once Messmer and his army entered

[@Luckie_7]

There is lore in the big tower by renallas dungeon that basically states that it was, at least at one point the dead center of the lands between. If I remember where I found that I might be able to leave another comment abt it for you. It was in a video where I found it originally but it’s also in an item description I believe

[@mistahanansi2264]

I love that even though Hornsent Grandam mistakes the Tarnished for a "Sculpted Keeper" when they're wearing the [Divine Beast Head], she mentions how she was initially worried because she "felt the sacred beast's essence fade" but is relieved that you stand before her. This suggests that the Dancing Lion is more than just two dudes whipping themselves into a fanatical frenzy of cultural dance, and that they are (in fact) possessed by some sort of spirit beast. This is further alluded to when she refers to the [Divine Beast Head] wearing Tarnished as "vessel of the sacred beast", meaning that Sculpted Keepers were ACTUAL vessels of some sort of divine essence of a sacred beast, and NOT just mimicking one as a form of reverence. A beast that possesses two willing hosts to act as its avatar in the lower sphere of the Realm of Shadow. I think that's a really cool concept, and I expect no less from one of Miyazaki's worlds.

[@__Man_]

I also saw it that way from her dialogue. She asks the divine Beast to take root within the sculpted keeper. The whole cutscene, she's talking to this divine being, not the guys wearing the costume

[@gamera5160]

Two guys dressed as a beast possessed by a beast. "I know who I am! I'm a dude playing the dude, disguised as another dude!"

[@rylievalentine7109]

Makes sense that the beast has an essence. Since the head gives you a stat boost and let's you speak with gramdam

[@tylerzidron1367]

^it also makes you more dexterous, but imagine fighting in that, Ik realism isn’t the point but it’s definitely got some magic infused into it or power of divine invocation

[@KrimmyKrim]

Imagine getting so good in your military that you are the elite of the elite, just to end up playing second fiddle in the lion outfit. The ass end of the deal.

[@neontetraploid2026]

In real life lion dancing, the dancer in the back is actually usually the more experienced one because playing the "ass and legs" is more difficult than playing the head

[@Heowolf]

The Holy Power Bottom

[@Xenos369]

Interesting that the Hornsent seek some kind of religious apotheosis. Seen by their worship of aspects of the crucible, and creating "saints" by stuffing undesirables in jars to meld (like the Crucible). However, the Lamenter is a particularly interesting case. It seems that the Lamenter is the exact example of this religious Apotheosis that the Hornsent were looking for. But instead of accepting this revelation, they sealed it away pretending it doesn't exist. With that level of arrogance, the Hornsent were destined to fail.

[@DJIronChef]

We have Divine Animals at home! (REGAL ANCESTOR SPIRIT) And it can mimic other animals.

[@Heowolf]

Don't forget the omen cats!

[@jeftecoutinho]

The invocation scene of the dancing lion is quite reminiscent of Candoblé, in which a person volunteers for a spirit to take hold of it's body.

[@ironiccaesar178]

Thank you for mentioning my twinbird theory ❤ So the hornsent worshipped Lion beasts, birds and storms, could there be a connection between them, the storm king and Serosh's beast? Plus, in their territories the upgrades of the horned talismans can be found, maybe the ancestral followers are related to them as the Numen/Shamans are scions of the Nox

[@Brendonherring522]

Serosh WAS the Storm Lord. And I theorize may have been the god of the previous age a la Marika.

[@justkosmo6806]

@@Brendonherring522 If we can assume that the Erdtree sprouted from the Crucible during Marika's war with the giants, as implied by the Smithing Stone 8 flavor text, then the god of the previous age would have been the god that Placidusax served, likely a dragon who played a similar intermediary role to Marika. The Golden Beast Crest Shield also states that Serosh was a counselor to the Golden Lineage - I think the most likely origin of Serosh is that of a subsidiary leader who became connected to Lord Godfrey during his time as consort and was subsequently banished to the Badlands alongside him. The painting splash for Hoarah Loux in the intro depicts what appears to be Serosh's decapitated head next to him, so I expect that the Serosh we see in-game is some sort of spirit ash-like entity still attached to Godfrey

[@DJIronChef]

Marika being called a prostitute is hilarious. So much for the wandering mausoleum demi-gods random daddies lol

[@whoisj]

it doesn't seem like Marika gave birth like a human. all of her "births" were Erdtree births or children grown like fruit upon the Erdtree. All results of Erdtree rebirth. as I understand it, even her "children" were reincarnated beings. This likely explains why they're all so different. Omens, Humans, eternal children, Rot Goddesses, etc. The Grandam is just her best insult for the Goddess of the new order. A goddess the Hornsent created themselves, yet turned away from their divine Crucible to the light of the Erdtree and the Greater Will, even if it was a false Greater Will

[@Heowolf]

@@whoisj If they were all birthed/grown from the Erdtree, the Entire Radagon and Rennala plot doesn't make sense.The Erdtree burials are more akin to a rebirthing process, it's how Marika imparted the grace of gold. Dead go into pots>Pots make pilgrimage to tree>Tree guardian smashes pots (evidence of this at almost every tree), feeding the tree and perpetuating this cycle. The Grandam has dialogue about how she placed a curse on Marika's children - that would explain why all but Godwyn were cursed (which imo also explains why she went nuclear when her ONE normal child gets murdered, after she had death proofed the entire realm). EDIT: The Hornsent Grandham's curse heavily implies the Omen cursed children, but I'm not sure about the others. Unless they were all born in the age of abundance, the greater will seemed to have had a lapse in presence during this time (before the Elden Beast arrived to add order to the grace of gold). It would make some sense if as a result of that it was easier for other outer gods to interact/meddle. Here's the quote: "A curse upon the strumpet's progeny, upon Marika's children each and all." "The curse of the Omen shall strike thee down..." "In the form of the Sacred beast's ire" "May the curse strike thee..." "To the very last..." (I think there is another one too, but I can't find anything online. I loaded up the game and typed this out lol)

[@whoisj]

@@Heowolf some old lady cursed a god? 🤣 stories she tells herself to feel better

[@KurwaRomek]

@@whoisj the watchful spirit incantation description calls her "empyrean grandam", but since it isn't brought up anywhere else it may be a translation mistake. She does seem to be able to at least invoke divine beasts.

[@Heowolf]

@@KurwaRomek Was going to reply and saw this, almost exactly what I was going to say lol.

[@xthewated]

Radahn is the Divine Beast. The red lion reborn with divine horns.

[@lucarionuva9543]

That's crazy Just crazy enough to be true

[@Heowolf]

Bro is just in Mohg's body, Ansbach dialogue hints to Mohg's body being taken right after you beat him and he doesn't know why. It's also why you have to kill both of them before you can access the DLC.

[@trnrred489]

The secret rite scroll in game details how to make the divine gate. I believe that the lion with horns in it was just a prophecy from the hornsent. So they wanted to make it happen. Radahn ended up being the prophecy. He was the lion with horns in it that ushered in a god.

[@galeforcebeach]

Storehouse first floor site of grace. That is a divine beast. Radahn is not a divine beast. At all. Whatsoever. That's a no

[@Heowolf]

Only one warrior away from Divine Beast Dancing Centipede - We were so close to more seedbed lore.

[@Mainlymundane]

Great video. Makes me think the stormhawk king might have something to do with the divine bird warrior

[@jeftecoutinho]

I can kind of see why the Divine Gateway is full of horsent corpses: all of them are propably tutelary deities. If all tutelary deities accumulate "potent spirituality", imagine the amount of power accumulated in that gateway.

[@blueray2174]

Would also explain the Golden Order's obsession with Erdtree burial

[@alenezi989a3]

The Lions in the main game have horns that are cut off, and their hair resembles the Divine beast's. I assume that the devine beast hunt that Huw was part of, I think they were hunted down tortured and had their horns cut then used in the Battle arenas as adding salt to injury. That's why we never find any real horned lions in the DLC. But it's weird the Coliseum's had the Crucible knights along with the horned lions fight the Duelists which had snakes on them, and from the item descriptions the people were cheering when the Duelists lose. Was this before Marika ordered Messmer to kill the Hornsent? So at that time the Crucible knights were considered Divine and the Snake even before Messmer was considered blasphemous?

[@mostafaahmednasr621]

I really wish we could have seen them in the dlc with full horns

[@dirmusloner7963]

Also about divine birds warriors am I the only one that hasn't forgot the divine birds depicted in Farum Azula?

[@matyneculai875]

Am i the only one who sees a lot of similarities in terms of aspect between the dancing lion and the guardian lion in base game , i like to think that the hornsent inspired the costume after the guardian lions cuz the dancing lion is also meant to guard and protect the hornsent

[@kyte5648]

Why did I not notice myself? The lion guardians even sometimes use frost breath. Is that a connection to the dancing lion's elemental attacks?

[@MisanthropicOcellus]

I think thats mostly right. Aside from them sharing similar movesets the lions in base game are treated as little more than guard dogs. Enslaved descendants of the divine beasts.

[@es-rh8oo]

And they're found in Stormveil Castle Fort Gael (Caelid) Redmane Castle Castle Sol Leyndell, Royal Capital What's the connection...

[@imannam]

Some people belive those are a form of actual Divine Beasts. and the Stormhawks are Divine Birds.

[@Titan_Ult]

I noticed that you didn't put the full quote for the Horned Warrior Helmet, which would be "Focus is also troubled by wearing this helm." The reduced focus of the Hornsent masks represents emotional upheaval, which in turn makes them more spiritual. This heightened sense of emotions within the Hornsent makes them more spiritual, which can manifest as horns and storm powers. These storms are meant to represent extreme emotions as well as a divine presence, since storms have often been a sign of the wrath of the gods, "Divine beasts are messengers of the heavens, and their rage mirrors the tumult of the skies, of which storms are the pinnacle.". This is why the people of the tower hid the Lamenter, because the rapturous grief of the Lamenter is also an extreme and overwhelming emotion which manifested as large horns. "This transformation tallies with the state of a denizen of paradise, but the people of the tower denied and hid it from the world. In their foolishness, they viewed true bliss with deep fear." Reduced focus because they're overwhelmed with emotions and cannot focus.

[@maplewings6482]

There is a book named "the eternal golden braid" i think the contents of which may well interlink heavily with marikas story and or reasoning. It raises the idea that perfect order cannot exist. We also happen to find a golden braid in the dlc presumably of marikas hair.

[@jacquiecotillard9699]

Thank you so much for this. I was all but looking for this book and its sequel everywhere without knowing it.

[@zjuraeventide8949]

It is most definitely Marika's hair, without a doubt. In her statues in the Lands Between, you can see one braid shorter than the others.

[@Pacal_II]

I think the heavens that the hornsent often talk about and the divinity they strive for is related to Farum Azula. First of all there's the obvious fact that Farum Azula literally is in the heavens. We also know that dragons are connected to storms and Placidusax is sat to lie "at the heart of the storm". On top of that before the Erdtree there's a big chance the Elden Ring was in Farum Azula. That's where we have the only depiction of it from before Marika's reign and of course Placidusax is known as the elden lord in the age before the Erdtree. Add to that the fact that a lot of the aspects of the crucible are related to dragons: horns, wings, breath, tail etc. Another thing is that we know the Hornsent represeneted the crucible has a spiral and the Ring in Farum Azula does have a spiral running through (which the new one doesn't). So the old version of the Elden Ring was directly tied to the crucible. Another thing is you mentioned the Twinbird and there's a connection here as well. There are several depictions of it in Farum Azula. In fact you can see it's depiction at the gate leading to Maliketh's boss room fight. The same one which has the depiction of the Elden Ring and a statue of an empyrean underneath it.

[@DisgruntledPeasant]

Perhaps the tower did fulfil it's purpose then? If the tower could reach farum Azula, this could be how the eldenring was taken from the dragons and used by mortals?

[@GhostIntheShell-w8n]

There was a Chinese video analyses that the lion dance was originally also a foreign thing for Chinese culture. It has Buddhist origins. The lion roar was considered powerful as the lectures of Budda himself. There was also a statue with horn on his head. And another one at the lower level of Enir but without head. It looks like the Buddhist internal debate. One fraction believes that the path of a Buddhist is to become Budda(a Titel) the other fraction doesn't believe one can become Budda after Budda himself. In shadow realm clearly the former one was purged

[@GhostIntheShell-w8n]

On second thought I probably shouldn't say the former vision of hornsent belief was purged. There is a common practice of becoming Buddha is to put the master monk (willingly) in a jar and bury him alive under ground. He will fast to death(Buddhahood) until digged out again. ( There is no female case as I know) His remains will become relics, which is divine. Cutting the statues head looks blasphemy at the first place.But there are also untouched statues in The shadow realm. Possibly the head was considered divine as Buddhism in reality. So it could be a purge or an evolution of belief.

[@kushjindal2939]

​@@GhostIntheShell-w8n even today in india a roaring lining is our main symbol It roars spreading dharma or righteous everyhere

[@Ali-Gilgamesh99]

The divine lion dancer are combined between Ugallu from mesopotamia and Chinese lion dancer

[@MUSQUIZanimation]

Easily my favorite boss from the dlc. Great arena. Great theme. Creepy design. Awesome for co-op too.

[@easye4329]

I took the divinity of the devine beast to be referring to the dragons of farum azula. Since the beasts controll storms and lightning. There's a fair amount overlap with the ancient dragons. And if their "divine beast" is an image of the beastmen before they were granted fingers and tools. Then the Crucible worship itself could be an offshoot religion of the dragon worship which inspired a tower to reach their gods in their floating city

[@Heowolf]

I think they were actually beasts, like the big ass omen cats you can find in the base game. They were just hunted to near extinction. The dragons invoke a special type of lightning for each element instead of the base element itself outside their breath weapons, and didn't have hornsent servants (though idk what beastmen are).

[@davidmingle5910]

@@Heowolf holy shit the lions have horns? i never noticed that

[@justkosmo6806]

@@Heowolf The omen-horned Lion Guardians also use wind (the game's storm element) in their attacks, so I think it's safe to say that they have a connection to the clearly leonine divine beasts. The flavor text for the Old Fangs that drop from the guardians also reference the Crucible

[@Heowolf]

​@@davidmingle5910 Zullie the Witch and BonefireVN are good if you want some close ups, I recommend looking into both of them if you haven't already.

[@wyattml1641]

Actually. There is a piece of godwyn in Roth. It’s in a dungeon in the ravine under the Plato’s. So that might be what effected the dancing lion!

[@astrid9920]

Could the divine beasts be the giant corpses found in the Specimen Storehouse? Theyre gigantic and covered in horns, which are associated with the crucible. Plus other artifacts sacred to the Hornsent were stored there like the secret rite scroll.

[@Heowolf]

Likely to some extent, there's something in one of the fire knight item descriptions about that place being made basically for purposes like that.

[@DisgruntledPeasant]

Seems legit. Hornsent worship them as divine and seek the commune with them. whereas the golden order study them to extract their power.

[@zjuraeventide8949]

I doubt it. The Grandam specifically states "from higher spheres delivered..." when invoking a divine beast, implying that divine beasts are in a realm beyond the normal plane of existence. It is the spirit of a divine beast the possesses the first lion dancer you encounter. It is more likely that the divine beasts represent some sort of aspect of the ancient crucible, similar to how the god of rot may manifest as a literal scorpion as well as poisonous stagnant liquid

[@m33tballa]

We see horned warriors and divine bird warrior which are like the Knights of the tower folk, but what about their common froot soldier?

[@lettuceprime4922]

probably the caterpillar mask npcs like the Hornsent character - or just the currently shadowed enemies, back before they were, you know, shadowed

[@ABrickinTime]

I’m curious about Godfrey’s beast regent and if he has any connection to the hornsent/crucible culture

[@Chef_Jimi3]

Great video, brother. Keep it up

[@arrenmandl]

Not sure if the bird warrior is related to the death birds, head isn't bulbous enough. A map overlay would put Belurat/Enir-Ilim near the stormhawks, potentially both at Stormveil and Farum Azula (pre-move). FA did at one point have a divinity present before it fled. Great video!

[@nbmoleminer5051]

The head minus the horns does match that of the depiction of the Twinbird on the kite shield but then again the Twinbird depiction in Farum Azula looks like it might have horns

[@fahimtajwaar2521]

Perhaps a connection between the Crucible and the Divine Beast Warriors could be tornadoes. Tornadoes both represent storms and a spiral column reaching to the heavens. Tornadoes could also have an aspect of ‘blending’ like the crucible, since everything is drawn into the vortex. I have no idea what to conclude from that though, just food for thought.

[@Ladyoddish]

Something for your consideration - items related to the Dryleaf Arts references its practice is the “dawn of an aesthetics journey” linking them to the Curseblades. The Aesthetics set dropped by them reference their commitment to living life of strict self control - linking to Dry Leaf Robe “seeking self discipline”. Making another pyramid like you’ve depicted. The Dryleaf sect is interesting as they broke off when the Erdtree stopped giving blessings. Miquella’s light based incantations were learned from the Dryleaf sect traditions which boost them, and the tree motif behind the Multilayer Rings of Light incantation hark back to when the Erdtree was still giving blessings - with its spiralling depiction. You can go on forever in the lore - but Godfrey’s warriors and champions can be traced back through to the hornsent in their armour. The crucible knights following Godfrey and their worship of crucible aspects. Godricks knights worshipping tree and beast. Godfrey’s hero’s being awarded death for their deeds. Crucible aspect incantations classified as Erdtree. Blessing of the Erdtree incantation showing natural tree and Elden Ring without the O border. In the evolution of the Erdtree incantations - we see Marika was cool with all this crucibleness with Godfrey until possibly coming back and finding her people slaughtered in a crucible like melding/melting way. The Dryleaf Seal found past Bonny Village in their quest to discover when it all went wrong… The Erdtree Seal depicting no natural tree with the O border found on an Omen killer… Marika’s secret Erdtree without order steps before leading to the cutting of her braid with a complete O rune turning towards the dawn of the Golden Order and making herself the one true God - and potentially ending the end of the Erdtrees blessings in doing so. ….or at least that’s my current theory. Thanks for listening ❤ love your work!

[@C_A_I_N_N]

This is a theory I still have that if anything has only been further confirmed to me at least based on the Divine Bird warriors being that the Divine Beast spoken of and who the shaman like Grandnam requests to 'perch within' the 'towers sculpted keepers' is the Divine bird which is based on the Thunderbird from many Native American mythologies.

[@C_A_I_N_N]

Now I think this because of many parallels between admittedly what little there is to speak of about the Thunderbirds of Native American mythology to the game from things like the fact that the Thunderbirds Are The Divine messengers of the Gods who were said to be massive beasts who would fly through the skies in the center of raging storms with every flap of their wings being what caused lightning and who could if they so choose assume human form to walk among and commune with humans who they were protecting from their sworn enemies which depending on the mythology could either be the great horned serpents or the underwater spirits and when you consider the fact that there is both the great serpents and the Marine like spirits of the death blight afflicted, it shows some interesting parallels on a base level especially since most of all, Divine beasts were said to be the messengers of the great Sun and the fact that there's a literal graveyard just outside the passageway to the church District of the shadowkeep where you can find a literal shit ton of those Undead Knights who have the shield of the realm of sunlight almost confirming if you asked me especially with the architecture we see that the seat of the sun was in fact the shadowkeep and more specifically the realm of Shadows

[@C_A_I_N_N]

Beyond all of this there's also the interesting story of a young boy who happened across four young Thunderbirds who is asked by their mother to guard them from the two-headed serpent who would try to devour them and the boy having ended up inadvertently befriending a two-headed serpent, would one day come to betray the four young Thunderbirds he grew up alongside and given that we see a total of actually five Divine Beast dancers if you ask me shows some correlation of the story when we also know a young boy infested with serpents and who is the sun upon by his mother and the God she followed as well as also in another light by the two fingers to betray those he had grown up alongside and befriended being the hornsent people with the fact that he even took the steps to preserve their culture I think demonstrating not only a fondness but perhaps even some level of care for the horn scent despite the massacre he was committing on all of them.....

[@C_A_I_N_N]

Beyond all of this there's also the other interesting facts like how the great horned serpents we're said to be the sworn enemy of the Divine Birds because the Divine birds were protecting Humanity has the great horned serpents wanted to devour all Humanity but given that in this case it's the birds and Humanity who had the horns namely being the horn sent, and if we decide also invert them devouring humanity and instead have them Devour the opposite being divinity and consider the fact that horns in horns sent culture were considered divine and again that all members of the society had some amount of horns and that we literally come across a god devouring serpent with messmer's serpents also even serving to in a sense it would seem you could say being devouring him with himself having been a demigod showing the true nature of what a serpent is in Elden ring as well as also what Divinity truly is especially since I think the true nature of what Divinity is given what America and the horn sent value most about both of the horns and the erdtree was how both could allow for the summoning of spirits and The Rebirth of those who have died.

[@C_A_I_N_N]

All in all I'd love for more people to really look into Native American mythology when it comes to trying to understand the horn sent

[@Brendonherring522]

I've become enamored with the idea (given the obvious parallel to Miquella and Radahn's presentation in the DLC, even with their hair...) that Serosh was the God of the previous age. He was the Storm Lord, defeated by Marika's champion Godfrey.

[@N7Allfather]

Was he the Lord or the God, because those are two distinct roles?

[@DisgruntledPeasant]

There is definitely a strong link there, but the timeline is quite confusing.

[@jackh9654]

The Tower is a symbol for The Hornsent. It is meant to represent the aspiration of humans toward Divinity: the spiraling upward rise toward the heavens are meant to describe the path a person should take to arrive at higher spheres and commune with the divine. Hornsent are blessed with unnatural curved horns that allow them to commune with spirits, so naturally, they considered themselves blessed with divine power, and importantly, divine purpose. The Heavens seemed to decree that The Hornsent would use the power of spirits - ancestors, ashes, and invocations - to ascent to The Heavens. But times change. The Tower venerated The Crucible of Life, the chaotic struggle of all things against one another and the universe. Evidently, they should have feared it, as much as worship it.

[@quentinlewis1986]

What if the divine bird was the storm lord in the base game

[@NorthstriderGaming]

It's also worth mentioning that the Dancing Lion wasn't a warrior in the first place. It got re-purposed into a weapon when Messmer attacked, but until then it was really just a divine ritual to perform the dance.

[@yikes6969]

7:03

[@ChristopherMoltisanti-qd2uk]

Watch the video before commenting. It's less embarrassing.

[@alpacaofthemountain8760]

Great video!

[@outlawdolphin1831]

My theory, Serosh may have been the good of hornsent. He may also tie into "the betrayal" that is mentioned surrounding marika. In other games, sometimes when a god is replaced by another entity, their name is forgotten to all. This could explain why serosh is not mentioned anywhere in the dlc

[@LPro2.0-xk2wo]

Im not sure if anything is talking about this but do you remember in the base game we fight black lions with a blade on their leg. If you look closely at their head you can see remains of horns that have been cut off. Could there be a connection to the hornsent?

[@jacobreeves3110]

In shadow keep, in the store room, we see the statue of a horned beast similar to the dancing beast. Perhaps they were worshiped, were killed by Mesmer and now this lions dancers are just an attempt to honor and preserve the horned lion beasts.

[@Daniel-bc5yq]

I'm very curious to why Grandam seems based on the character model of the finger readers

[@AmishBenDer77]

She speaks to the gods of the hornset culture, much like the finger readers speak for the two fingers who are messengers of the greater will. Her and the finger readers might all be shamans, like Merika was before her assent to godhood.

[@humblekek-fearingman7238]

I believe that the elden beast is the divine hornsent beast. It also was from higher spheres deliver'd, and functions as a messenger to the greater will. Now, it lacks horns but we don't really know if it can change its appearance, we know it can reforge the flesh of Radagon. But even if it couldn't change its appearance, it doesn't really matter, as crucible and horn worship would have likely existed before it's advent, and thus horns could merely be attributed to its appearance to frame it in a culturally relevant context to the hornsent.

[@Anch0rd]

Do you think there is a link between the divine bird or beast warriors have any connection to the stormhawks of stormveil? Both seem to invoke some kind ancient, divine storm but idk

[@MadLuigi]

The connections to storms definitely seem like a link to Stormveil, plus we have connections to dragons and Farum as well

[@Nube_Negrah]

No one wants to say it, but It seems like Godwyn was on his way to becoming a divine Beast warrior or actual DIVINE BEAST GOD. Commander Niall also welded Storm, Ice and Lightning while castle sol is directly connected to godwyn

[@benmarshall5132]

Hornsent are probably the coolest faction in the game. Love Belurat and this boss

[@Paperbag]

its actually misconception that dragcula (the vampire) is inspired by the impaler. but modern media likes to mix those together

[@-SEAS-OF-RED-]

You only have to wear the Divine Beast Head the first time you speak with the Grandam, as she is actually blind due to the tangled horns that grow over her eyes and instead she thinks that you are a Sculpted Keeper because of the scent of the Divine Beast Head ("Ah, such a joy to smell this scent again...").

[@whoisj]

Huw is said like Hew

[@galeforcebeach]

So if they were trying to make thier own god what was the dead thing in the divine gate during the story trailer that marika plucked the golden threads from? Looks like a big godskin eyeball. Where is that thing? Its not there in game. Wonder if they already had a God all along... I wonder if the hornsent worshipped the abyssal serpent? Hm

[@agni3722]

8:24 Huw🗣️ hUw🗣️ HuW🗣️

[@madmorgo6233]

Me when I'm taking a combo to the belly 😅

[@brookefrederick3684]

Just a thought ive had. Say marika is a jar saint. Maybe the act of her creation made the hornsent gather all the lion dancers. Maybe they do some sort of ritual or something and summon a massive storm. One massive enough to destroy farum azula, and thats why its always stormy. Idk if thats remotely true, but from what little ik it could work ig hahaha

[@emperordalek102]

plus radahn is said to be the lord of the battle fields lion so maybe he and miquella had a small involvement with the hornsent culture.

[@dbfzato-1327]

im interested in how it links to serosh, with him being like miquella is to rodahn was he a demigod of the hornsent?

[@MadLuigi]

Connections to lions for Serosh definitely is an intriguing line of thought

[@Brendonherring522]

​@@MadLuigiSerosh was the Storm Lord, the God of the previous age before Marika!

[@AmishBenDer77]

@@Brendonherring522 I like this idea

[@KitsuneShapeShifter]

Grandam is best waifu, she cooks for us and tells us to get some rest after finishing her quest :)

[@chasethecringewolf2195]

I think what I love about Elden Ring is I interpreted the Divine Beast as being an alien spirit that inhabits the sculpted keepers, like the Heavens were their idea of space or other worlds. But hearing you talk about it while at first I was kinda like “nah thats lame,” in Elden Ring the Heavens and a literal other planet could be the same thing. The same thing with a crucible which may be a tree or it may be an intangible idea that gave rise to the Erdtree. The Numen being from another world could mean they came from the realm of shadow, or it may mean another planet. Afterall this is the lands where Marika first “set foot,” which I feel like would be an odd way to describe someone being born somewhere. Its also in the description of Nanaya’s Torch where Midra is called weak, we have to come to a conclusion about what the Flame of Frenzy considers weakness. Was he literally not strong enough? Or did he gain a new found purpose in life? Its so vague and interesting how Elden Ring’s lore can be extremely diverse by simply having vague terminology that can be interpreted multiple ways. And of course having to rewind our brains to a point in history where we’d see Asteel and not even be able to describe it as an alien because the terminology wouldnt exist then. So it’s just a thing that we cant describe. God I love this game.

[@DisgruntledPeasant]

I'm not sure 'other planets' is the right way of thinking of it. The term 'spheres' is almost like an ancient way of thinking of different layers of reality. Think of it more like the entities in Bloodborne, they exist on a different plane of existence but can still intersect with our own, and can manipulate our plane of existence in ways that our minds can't really understand. Gods? Meybe not in the way we would like, but definitely god-like. I find it quite fascinating that the EldenBeast has strong parallels with the Divine Beast (may even be the same thing). It's arena suggests it inhabits the space between realms, but it can directly manipulate the lands between by welding it's lord is a weapon. It holding radagon as a sword reads to me as a metaphor for it in some way inhabiting and using him as it's tool for affecting change, just like the divine beast can 'reach' into the world by inhabiting the dancing lions.

[@AmishBenDer77]

I wonder if the process of the flagellators somehow inspired Miquella's choice to become a god through the sacrifice of his own body and soul. Maybe only he could aspire to such lengths as an Empyrean and the child of the lowly strumpet Marika. Also, it is possible the Hornsent chose to get rid of the group of flagellators, not because they were wrong, but in fear of them being right and loosing their power. This would be similar to other significant religious groups throughout history who chose to snuff out new ideas in support of the old authoritative structure. An example being the story of Joshua(Jesus) of Galilee, and his movement for reformation being pushed down through killings and imprisonments, rather than embraced by the Jewish principalities at that time. In fact I've been having this gnawing thought in the back of my head that much of the story of the Empyreans is based around the mystical tales of Jesus(Miquella), Mary(Markia), and God(The Greater Will). Almost like a gnostic version of the same story in a weird way.

[@rangopistacho6928]

its a really interesting ranking system to be honest, the divine beast dancing lion being in its location makes sense, but to be honest at the same time I Wish we could only fight this boss later on and then be able to acess the final area once we have burned the roots, of course the divine beast would need to be made much harder then it is already, but I suppose I can understand its better to let people fight it earlier on and have the freedom to do so, its seems the dlc wants to make it really easy to acess the final boss of the dlc since the main game has a ton of things that block your path like morgott, the fire giant, maliketh, gideon, godfrey you have to go through all of them just to reach the final boss and perhaps miazaki wanted players to have more freedom to choose bosses now you only have to fight messmer to reach the final boss as you can skip every other boss in the dlc (and romia saint of the bud but thats only two compared to the whopping five in the main game apart form rememberance bosses which most of them you can take any in any order you desire)

[@Joandersonso]

Sorry, offtopic but at 6:00 how did you manage to take this shot? It's so cool. Does otis_inf's camera tool can pause the game but still allow camera movement?

[@itzDusk]

Is it possible that the divine warriors are in some way related to dragons? They use storms which are associated with the hawks in stormveil but also the dragons in farum azula. I think the hawks are descended from a dragons especially if dragons are analogs for dinosaurs, the real life predecessors of birds. Is it possible that the divine bird being referred to in ornis’ description is referring to Plasidusax or their god?

[@topcat59]

Cool vid bro.🐱

[@MadLuigi]

Thanks!

[@EndLess009]

What if the “Heavenly beings” that the horn-sent worshiped were was the Dragons and Beastmen worshiped at Farum Azula?

[@TheTrashyMan18]

Godfrey needs to be connected more to this hornsent lore. He might have been the highest level hornsent warrior that was seduced by Marika to betray his own in exchange to become Elden Lord. Also can explain why he has the spirit of a lion on his back.

[@RevolverRho]

In good conscious I can’t feel bad for anyone in this game except the merchant people probably

[@CFX992]

Dude it is so obvious that the Divine beasts have a direct link to Serrosh the beast regent and the storm hawk, and definitely not the twin bird, they utilise the power of the storm, there are crucible related statues and architecture all over farum azula and parts of stormveil.

[@randymarshislorde]

Oh the irony (and immense pain/frustration for me) that since I just ABSOLUTELY HAD to play through the DLC blind, I didnt fight the dancing lion OR the putrescent knight until after I had not only cleared the shadow keep and defeated the likes of Messmer and Gaius; but I actually made it all the way up to the final fight in Enir-Ilim (trying to avoid spoiling for newer players) and even had a couple of attempts at that absolute monster of a final boss. Anyone who would argue that Elden Ring, much less the DLC are too linear; they should take a look at my route for my first run of each 😂 1400 hours and I still cant do anything in the correct order 😅

[@Heowolf]

You aren't alone, 110 hours in the DLC until I had the top left map fragment lol.

[@randymarshislorde]

@@Heowolf top left fragment and the abyssal woods one both gave me trouble for a long time lmao

[@battlericky17]

Wait hes optional? How can you skip him? Not that i want to…..the fight his actually fun af

[@MadLuigi]

Yup! Lol you just don't have to go into Belurat

[@battlericky17]

@@MadLuigi wow color me surprised! I was stuck on him for at least an hour or two before i summoned a player to also die for a little bit longer with lol

[@todd3143]

zullie the witch-core bgm

[@RealEvilLordExdeath]

Godfrey defeated the Storm King. He has the beast Lord serosh on his shoulders after he beaten him. The hornsent love lions and Storm. Am i the only one seeing this connection?

[@Verlisify]

I'm still mad its just 2 dudes in a trench coat and not some creature

[@greystgermain542]

as awesome as the hornsent are i can kinda see why they lost to messmer. messmer had furnace golems while they had two guys in a costume

[@SilasSeiler]

But it's 3pm now

[@MadLuigi]

@@SilasSeiler whats wrong w 3pm

[@SilasSeiler]

@MadLuigi it didn't play immediately at release time. It did end up playing shortly after. Great video! Love your content

[@MadLuigi]

@@SilasSeiler Oh haha I didnt get that at first. Yeah YT can sometimes be a tad delayed. Thanks very much!

[@RommelStorm]

The hornsent people are funny. They literally wiped out Marika's people in pursuit of some stupid saint thing. And when she attained godhood and sought vengeance via Messmer, they're all mad at her? Lmao I hated Marika in the base game but now I hate her still because she missed some hornsent people.

[@benmarshall5132]

There is no proof that Marika betrayed the Hornsent AFTER they started putting the Shaman in jars. The Hornsent may have very well started doing that as a reprisal for the purge that Marika initiated

[@Lilbird2fye]

I just realized miquella is controlling rahdan. How? We’ll just think in the boss fight miquella hugs us and we are converted to him… he was hugging rahdan the whole time in the second phase of the boss fight. N he comes out when rahdan soul returns i guess. Maybe rahdan wouldn’t have fought us if miquella didn’t hug him

[@aarongrace978]

Just helped someone slaughter his ass. Input mapping was insane he was spazzing out

[@idlehour]

I get odd. Finger reader vibes from this the more i think (without evidence just noticed stuff) like it looks like it wears finger reader crone lady clothes. And idk. Something about it. I just want to know more about Enia the finger reader hanging with the two fingers. Shes my fav character. I will mary Enia. I will. 😊

[@a.r.h9919]

11:25

[@dirmusloner7963]

Considering what Hornsent did to Shamans and they saw that living jars are me at to "saint hood" that dancing lions seemed to have the same philosophy. No wonder why Hornsent got what they deserve by Messmer.

[@darkhobo]

No one noticed its a bunch of Grafted limbs like Godrick huh?

[@MadLuigi]

The Lion?

[@GothicEU]

What grafted limbs? It's literally just two whole dudes under the costume. There are videos on yt that show the Lion Dance model in detail.

[@Heowolf]

Embarrassing

[@darkhobo]

@@MadLuigi with 40 human limbs? That ain't an actual lion. Its grafted together... Wait I was kidding. Did people REALLY not notice it?

[@Heowolf]

@@darkhobo Proof you're wrong: 1 - "Elden Ring - The strangest boss in the DLC" by Zullie the Witch 2 - "The Dancing Lion Intro Cutscene but without the cape" by BonfireVN Stop trollin'

[@Eldenbrosunite]

I think the Dancing Lion is an okay/average boss fight. Nothing too crazy.

[@KMFlivin]

They just gay