Watching Elden Ring Lore Videos With Crunchy

Crunchy's channel: ‪@CrunchyVideos‬

[@ratatoskrstreams1416]

Video was demonetized, the muted parts are the ones that caused the issue.

[@naxergss2625]

sad

[@coreyrachar9694]

If it was demonetized then why edit after the fact? Will they potentially remonetize it? Anyways there are pretty large sections cut from the video, I thought my audio drivers had a meltdown.

[@gygaxthecat2448]

Colors mean rulez. Colorless mean suspension of rules to manipulate death. Probably in more ways than one. Dusk gloam. Dawn gold with a hint of red. Rosie? The sun is far away because the Greater Will is distant. Maybe if it was close it would be a reverse Icarus situation. Do you believe the Greater Will is a demiurge?

[@copyninja8756]

Anyone else had audio issues ?

[@Lazenzzz]

Yeah, some parts are muted for me

[@nateralus]

Looks like it happens when they watch other people's content

[@weavatronobservatory]

At 30:00 the volume returns.

[@CenteredTarnished]

Thanks for the kind words on my video! To avoid making 4-hour long videos each time, my lore videos are more of a series that build on each other. If I didn't do it this way, I would be stuck explaining concepts and connecting them to everything before I got to the thesis of that particular video. And unfortunately, the KZbin game requires you to not only grab the attention of the audience but keep it as well. As much as I would love to explain everything every time, the reality is no one would watch. That's why I really appreciated the stream with @cruchyvideos - it allows for more explanation. A lot of the "throw away" lines are further explained in other videos which will help paint a fuller picture. Perhaps I should just suggest those videos during the video and link them in the description. Either way, very much a big fan of both of you and to have you like my video and theory means a lot!

[@Rich_P_Anya]

Your theory is that Miyazaki inserted various conceptual frameworks used in psychology into Elden Ring, but those frameworks were designed to examine human behavior and relationships and apply to any relevant person, character or story. You shouldn't need "4 hours" to set up one cogent point or supporting evidence. Applying psychology to Elden Ring is fine but you're claiming to have discovered a critical, primary thread of the story.

[@mikedelgrande5296]

This is so good! You and Crunchy are two of my favorite creators. I only recently discovered Crunchy through your reaction to the Godefroy video. And btw Crunchy, that was one of THE BEST lore videos I’ve ever seen. Well done 👍

[@swordierre9341]

Your og video with crunchy was the one that originally got me into elden ring lore.

[@DarkManRay]

There's no sound for large portions of this video.

[@randywilliams6248]

Not that I understand all of this but I love listening and the fact for the long video. I commute and work at a desk, so anything similar to a podcast is amazing. So thanks again

[@fernandofaria2872]

4:03:17 -> Well, i might be remembering wrong, but weren't you the one that mentioned Gideon and why the character was an allegory for how seeking omniscience is an excercise in futility (and, as such, he was also kind of a playful jab from Miyazaki, directed at lore hunters)? Im surprised, then, at how long it took you to realize that Miyazaki never gave us the full picture, since _that’s_ the intention (and what he is referring to when he mentions in interviews how he filled the gaps when the western fantasy books he read got lost in translation). Thats what hes been doing since Demon’s Souls. Thats the *intended* experience. We are _not meant_ to get it. We are meant to fill the gaps with our imagination, not with what we can extrapolate from the few cold hard facts. GRRM wrote lore for the worldbuilding, but Miyazaki deliberately and strategically concealed important stuff from us to craft that experience from his younger years. The narrative is not just shattered (get it?), its _missing_ important pieces. One could argue that the story from his the previous games DO form a full picture, but to that i would say: the painter lady from Dark Souls 3 crafted a Kandisnky, not a Caravaggio. Plus, those games were much more contained, and never had the scope of Elden Ring. As for the DLCs, yeah, they have answered _some_ questions, but it also brought others. Hell, there was a whole ass daughter from Gwyn that we never heard about (Filianore) until The Ringed City, just like no one knew about Messmer. People underestimate how much we don’t know. So, for Shadow of the Erdtree, I would expect some answers, yes, but i feel the finished product will paint us… a Magritte or something? I dunno, lol, i’ve grown too attached to my painter analogy to consider its flaws, but the point is: they’re more subjective than objective 🤔 Elden Ring is like this video, thats missing huge chunks of audio (sorry, also couldn’t resist a friendly jab at ya), and the way i approach these games is like that line from Tenet: “don’t try to understand it - feel it”. I know many disagree, but to me, when you detract from that to try and break down every little detail, thats when you lost the game.

[@liarwithagun]

Why try and learn or figure out anything at all then? Why try and eliminate murder if people will inevitably be murdered? Why care about your health if you will eventually die anyways? Just because a goal isn't attainable doesn't mean the pursuit of that impossible goal isn't a good thing. Many good things come from such pursuits even if sometimes there are negative effects as well.. People find enjoyment and satisfaction in trying to decipher the lore of the Soulsborne games even if Miyazaki does give us enough evidence to completely solve everything.

[@fernandofaria2872]

@@liarwithagun Thats not the point. The point is that people look for stuff that simply isn't there, while insisting they are. But I never said there is something wrong with speculation. In fact, i said the opposite: use your imagination to fill the gaps. Just be aware of their existance, and that they are larger than most people think.

[@Ultimaniacx4]

I think the falling stars beasts and star beings from the void are completely separate from the Greater Will. They weren't sent by the Will, they were things that fell from far away were the Will has no authority. That's why Ranni wants to set out among the cold stars. To break away from the Will's influence and forge a new dark path.

[@glowindark64]

I think the eclipse is the golden sun/son(godwyn) being drained of color (killed) by the dark moon(rani) . I think its just symbolism for that event

[@Firecat0]

Sorry for just sprinkling comments here and there, but things keep coming to mind. Something sinking into my brain more and more as I've watched these lore videos the last couple years is that Elden Ring treats 'bodies' very differently than how we think about them in real life. You can tear off and attach limbs, you can have a body fully alive without a soul or any of the typical upkeep like eating, souls and bodies are fully separate, setting a special person on fire can set a tree alight, a body can be rotting so badly that major parts are coming off and still function well enough to kick our butt, humanoid bodies can transform into dragonic ones (and vice versa), draconic bodies can be drastically elementally changed by their diet, two bodies can hold the same soul, and in the case of Marika it may be that two souls are in one body/the body can be split temporarily/the body outwardly reflects the dominant personality at any given moment. The weirdness with bodies and how the Elden Ring shapes the laws of reality and how gods and beings can come from outerspace (?) and stars can be held in stasis, like- What if we looked at it all as coding and computers and technology? As viruses and errors, programs, hardrives, just bits and pieces that can be altered and moved around willy nilly if you know what you're doing, that can be added to and installed. The 'two bodies, one soul' is just two devices running the same program and logged in account (think Discord perhaps). Godrick is downloading a whole bunch of apps. The Lands Between are Windows 11 and the Shadow Lands are partitioned Linux, both on the same machine. Godwyn is a program that wasn't fully deleted and got corrupted as a result, and when they attempted to recycle it back into the system to make space it instead began infecting things. Shattering the Elden Ring and removing the rune of death is just removing some fundamental computer part (fans?) or coding, like things still function but something essential is gone and it's gonna cause problems down the line. The nox are reverse-engineering a common function like copypaste and coming up with weird similar things instead like autotranslate and screenshots. The falling stars Radahn stops are programs on flashdrives somebody stuck in the cpu and he threw up some program of his own that constantly stops things in that usb slot from autodownloading but once he dies his program goes away and the contents of the usb get downloaded and blow a hole in the place and suddenly previously hidden files are visible in a new folder path. Outer gods could be larger operating programs or maybe just competing browsers that shape how you access the world. You find google chrome blocked on your work pc since they kept finding you playing around and suddenly, in the darkness you see the bloodstar-I mean firefox. I'm just saying. If you look at the world not as being beholden to the laws of organic reality, but as computer stuff more wacky happenings make sense. I feel like I can comprehend how certain things function that previously eluded me. My head is probably gonna turn into a weird crystal now... 😔

[@godly_potatoe69xd19]

An interesting thing about marika dying to become a god is that Odin hung himself and basically died on Yggdrasil (world tree) in order to obtain knowledge and become able to understand ancient runes.

[@lboyd1817]

I’m sorry… NO order before the greater will? Nothing can exist with no order. Things as distinct entities separate from other things isn’t possible without order. That’s like saying chaos cannot exist until the frenzied flame god conquers the lands between. Idk about you, but the world already looks pretty chaotic without him reigning

[@liarwithagun]

I'm more like there was no single world hedgemon that controlled everything. There was a lot of small civilizations all doing their own things.

[@Firecat0]

One thing about the Stormveil Godwyn is that for all that we have eyes sprouting up everywhere with the deathroot and with his corpse in the Deeproot Depths, the head there in the castle is very obviously missing the eyes. They even bothered the model the lids as sunken in as if there had been something there at some point.

[@evilfungas]

I tend to think the Greater Will is superior to the Frenzied Flame, and so perhaps not an Outer God, if being an Outer God implies equal status. Order separates in order to unite (this is the key to all the caduceus symbolism and the laws of causality and regression). Hyetta's dialogue seems to imply that the Frenzied Flame is a product of the original separation which it opposes: the Frenzied Flame represents the unity opposed to distinction only possible after distinction has been made, and this is expressed as chaos or disorder. But Order is distinction which has been unified. Somewhat tangentially, it's interesting that the Two Fingers are the messengers of the Greater Will, which brings Order. There is some relation between Order and duality, as if twoness represents an ordered distinction, but threeness the confusion of Order. The two fingers communicate from a distance through a sort of gesticulated language which has some relation to Runes (a kind of lifeforce which is also a script, enough of which accumulates into a sort of eye). The three fingers by contrast communicate by grasping and directly imprinting their message on the body. Edit: I see some of this was touched upon in the video shortly after I wrote my comment.

[@LevovitLore]

That was a great conversation. Thank you. Too bad I wasn't able to go to the stream in time. And now some sections have missing volume(

[@godly_potatoe69xd19]

The inner and outer world thing with runes makes sense because we use runes in order to project our ideology onto our physical body, so the great runes would be similar to how runes affect our bodies, but instead applying to the entire world and reality itself.

[@lukaspumo3498]

Return of the crunch

[@Cazuelle_AF]

Lokey has a theory that seems to fit in with what you were saying about a potential conspiracy against Godwyn. I can't remember everything about his theory but it is something like: the god of Placidusax who disappeared actually died and the crucible or great tree sprouted from her body. (The finger slayer blade is also her body and somehow the three fingers was the one who desiccated her grave - see finger print great shield ). If that is the case then it would make sense why Miquella thinks watering the tree with his blood will grow another tree and why they thought killing Godwyn and feeding his body to the roots would revive the Erdtree. I can't find where I saw this but when you were talking about the conspiracy at the end I remembered I had seen it somewhere. Sorry I can't remember all the details.

[@Brendonherring522]

Love a crunchy + ratatoskr vid!

[@eldenringpvpenthusiast1710]

42:20 I think an example might be how were told in dark souls dragons just existed and thats how things are, yet things like seathe betraying them can happen? or how giants just turn into trees, but can go to war with other countries and do more then just turn into trees

[@kyleharrison713]

The Greater Will has to be an Outer God, because it literally makes Marika... a God.

[@Arnveld]

Amazing steam, thx rata for checking out those theories!

[@krazy8903]

I think the God that they killed with the black knife is the God of Placidusax, who supposedly fled...but maybe he was killed, that's why he never returned?

[@pigzy9807]

I agree, but not dead. It is a classic from soft tail weapon.

[@soulbro55]

Ratatoskr your last livestream video was deleted, when you were lore hunting. I was in the middle of it when it was deleted.

[@jamescheek7507]

Audio keeps cutting in and out. Bummer. I was really looking forward to this

[@UnrulyGoats]

With the new trailer, I have confusion. Dragon lord is dragons version of elden lord. it seems the dragons had an Elden ring as you see in the boss arena. BUT they worshipped a God that they're waiting to return, so NOT the Elden beast? Or why would they be waiting on their God if it IS the elden beast and he's still around? was the Elden beast around BEFORE destined death was removed to start to "golden order" or did removing it call the elden beast? in which case, who was the God of the time period between the Dragon's God and the arrival of the elden beast after destined death was removed from the elden ring?

[@shogomakishima7224]

I always thought that the crucified people were tarnished who were apprehended by Godrick men. We know about Godrick tarnished hunts, and we can only see them in Limgrave. It would make sense for Godrick to crucify the tarnished to prevent them from being reborn. What is more, when we summon golden phantoms we do so at the crucifiction stake which I always thought was a metaphor of us taking a random tarnished off the crucifix.

[@shogomakishima7224]

The theory of Melina being Miquella kinda clicks. Melina has to be Marika + Radagon daughter since her name starts with M but we never see any mention of her in the game lore.

[@brandonwhite4992]

Bro gotta mute the mic if you are going to sit there and chug water on and off for 45 seconds 😂😂 - safe to say he pounded a gallon of water 😂

[@jackdubois1512]

Good stream, its great when you two get together

[@justingabriel1765]

Okay so this it the way I see the whole Melena is Miquella and Radagon is Marika stuff. Radagon is Marika… but isn’t. They both exsisted, both lived their lives, it’s not as if they are actually the same person, yet two halves on one being. When you say they are the same it would mean that one of them doesn’t have a will of their own, or their own choices. Radagon Married and had children with Rennala, during that time there wasn’t a decade gap of Marika missing from the capital. So they were not always the same body, I look at it more like Starrk from Bleach, or Piccolo and Kami from Dragonball. The being they were split itself into 2, so while technically being the same, until they merged again, they are their own being just from the same origin. If a Miquella and Melena are the same way, that would help explain this, but that would then mean that when Melena was talking about her birth and mentions her mother, she wasn’t talking about Marika, but Miquella, who would have been the one to split themselves. The main reason I don’t really like this theory is that if you don’t burn melena, you can go kill Malenia, which is like Miquellas whole reason for doing the things he’s doing. If they were the same person literally, I don’t believe that Melena would let you kill Malenia. Unless Malenia isn’t dead because of the whole Rot Goddess lore. The other thing the guy mentioned was the distain for the frenzied flame, but I mean to pretty much everyone except followers of the Frenzied Flame, it’s a bad thing, so that doesn’t make any real point to them being the same. I would assume Ranni as well would not like the Frenzied Flame and the 3 fingers. Also the Butterflies are less to do with theme and more to do with the literal areas you find them and in their item description. The rot butterflies are the most obvious ones. The Nacsant butterflies are found in Nokron and specific areas, and is said to look as if it’s just been born it’s whole life, and Miquella is always being reborn and is young. That’s the one thing we know about him for sure. The Smoldering Butterflies description mentions how it serves as Kindling, and Melina’s title is the Kindling Maiden, I think she’s the only one that has that title.

[@eldenringpvpenthusiast1710]

does anyone know a being in game that is basically waiting to hear something like "my beloved"?. The "your beautiful" and "my beloved" carvings stand out in their descriptions having an extra line of dialogue. It makes me feel like there could be someone like Boc that might react to the "my beloved". All I could think of was Renalla and her beloved egg, but I was out of larval tears, so I wasnt able to try after doing a rebirth. I swear if you do it a couple times she thanks you and mentions "my beloved egg". But then again it might be someone else or just nothing at all. lol, but the carving looks like it has her hat on it almost, the carving that works on boc is said to resemble a demi human, so I assume the same for the other carving mentioning to look human

[@eldenringpvpenthusiast1710]

oh Boc turns human rite? perhaps thats a good moment to try, maybe it will save him, but I will feel so bad if someone tries and it doesn't

[@TheFufuway]

can't believed I missed this stream :

[@badalrana10]

Audio is cut out 1:53:19

[@Lazenzzz]

at 1:02:16 too for me

[@KevinOTHS]

My problem with everyones speculation on the nigjt of the black knives is that it is one of the only thing that is bluntly and flatout told to us what happened. Now we can say its unreliable but it seems with so much left so ambiguous thst we should just take at face value what is so clearly layed out for us when we get it.

[@Firecat0]

HQ Rata drinking ASMR. XD It's too bad you don't care for having demonetized videos on your channel; TarnishedArcheologist is one of my absolute favorites and I'd kill to hear you talk about and react to his stuff.

[@sergio.ballesteros]

For me Marika and Radagon are similar to Piccolo and Kami Sama in Dragon Ball. The original namekian wizard took away his evilness from himself and that evilness was Piccolo Daimaoh, whilst the other half was Kami Sama. And both remember being one same being. I believe that, at some point, Marika split into two separate beings in a similar way. So they don’t actually share the same body, while they are still the same person.

[@justingabriel1765]

That’s what I thought too!!! They aren’t actually the same being but came from the same being, because both have gone and done things simultaneously, and both seem to have a will, they are two halves of the same person but not literally the same person

[@igniortix]

But don't we see in the Radagon boss fight cutscene him transforming from Marika to Radagon? There is some funny business there

[@justingabriel1765]

@@igniortix yes, but that’s after everything happened, just like how Piccolo and Kami became one again later in the story, Radagon and Marika merged, and then Radagon sealed the entrance to the Erdtree to keep them in there and for no one to reach them. At least that’s how I saw it

[@1SaltyPito]

Do u guys know why rannis doll has 2 faces?

[@FFNOJG]

So the greater will is BOTH, AN OUTER GOD, and NOT an outer God. As the term "outer god" has 2 seperate meanings.... They originate and/or Reside outside the lands between, but have influence through their envoy/preferred way of communion/iconography. Outer God's are also, and which I believe IS the way it actually used throughout the game, as in "an outer God is a cosmic being that is OUTSIDE the mainstream/dominant power structure/establishment along with its envoy's/preferred communion rituals/iconography". THE GREATER WILL DOES NOT FIT THIS DESCRIPTION FOR OUTER GOD.

[@hellogoodbye3786]

As I was playing, I remember thinking something felt off. I'm not really good at sifting through lore, but I've always been an admirer of it. Initially, the belief that The Greater Will was an Outer god was commonplace, and so i didn't really think to question it. After a few subsequent playthroughs, however, I began to challenge that notion. Honestly i never reached any conclusion, but I had that thought in the back of my mind that The GW seemed far more powerful compared to the other confirmed Outer gods

[@MelancholicAwesomnes]

@@hellogoodbye3786 I think western conception of God vs the Shinto conception of god is what throwing a lot of speakers for a loop. I think the best way I would describe it is if you watch JJK or Chainsaw man there are demons that represent people's fear of something. They are more or less analogues for the gods in Elden Ring (though it isn't an absolutely perfect analogy). I think people are think people in the west are instantly thinking of divine cosmic beings when they think of Outer Gods and that's not quite what Gods are in Elden Ring. The Greater Will and the Elden Beast easily would fit the Western few of a cosmic divine being.

[@liarwithagun]

@@hellogoodbye3786 The thing is, we don't really have much evidence that the Greater Will actually does a lot. How do we know that everything attributed to the GW isn't just the Elden Beast's doing? How much is Markia or other 'gods' that is attributed to the GW? Most of our info on the GW comes from GW worshipers with the except of the little that comes from the Frenzied Flame, whose claims are suspect by itself. All that said, it does seem clear that the GW is implied by the game to be something special/unique rather than just another 'regular' Outer God. But it is hard to tell if that implication is the literally 'scientific' truth or just what the people in the Lands Between believe. And is it special because it in inherently special or is it just special because it is the current ruling 'Outer god' of the Lands Between. I think coming to any certain conclusions about the GW at the moment is unwise considering how little we have seen about the GW.

[@primarchlogarius]

Wow early morning stream

[@pigzy9807]

So I think I am the person who talked to Crunchy about the idea of Miquella using Mogh to transform. The way Mogh regards Miquellas hand, the guy really seems bewitched. We have the bewitching branch, which is a little piece of a Halig Tree, Miquella compels affection. But when is this power used? He is supposed to be the most fearsome Empyrean, and he is that way through his big brain not his might. But a chump like Mogh can just scoop Miquella up, no issues, I don't buy it. (In the words of Rata) But why would Miquella want to be taken? His Halig Tree isn't working. His growth with Mogh has been working, he is way bigger now and sort of an Omen. The red Albinaurics get little Omen horns, so we know the blood works this way. Maybe he needs to grow out of being a child to become a God. Then we got DLC info. So that got me thinking. Miquella goes to the land of shadow in the DLC, to learn how to grow an Erdtree because the Halig Tree is failing. The process of blood is how Miquella gets to the land of shadow. The cocoon is a bloody bed chamber shared by Mogh. A bed chamber like Marikas, that has the boulderchins that viel the land of shadow (dream world/spirit world maybe). Miquella is getting pumped with accursed blood which divests him of his grace. When an omen dies they do not return to the Erdtree, so Miquella breaks out of the cycle. Another (even more) schizo idea. Jerren, the man the sets up the Rahdan festival, is a Bloody Finger. It says so when we defeat him. So he is working for Mogh? Wtf. Is the purpose of the Rahdan festival to produce blood that trickles down to the Moghwyn palace bellow? Is that part of the reason Malenia was sent there. To unlock fate, (eclips and all that) but also to produce an endless supply of blood for Miquella. Alexander even goes there to fight. He is like a pot that is used to water minior Erdtrees with blood.

[@NocnaGlizda]

They should call Queen Marika - Murica. Because people pronounce it that way which always surprises me but at the same time does not surprise me. It is very easy to get confused because of the spelling. However, in non-English-speaking countries such a name is pronounced differently. But I am a whiner. However, I have always been interested in languages and pronunciation. I can't help it.

[@igniortix]

What's your native language?

[@coreyrachar9694]

Maybe the greater will is normally an outer god with the only distinction being that it's the current, ruling god, therefore it's considered 'inner' or just 'non-outer'. Just like the propaganda regarding rune of death and also what happens in real life, the current order condemns all belief systems that are not itself.

[@Rich_P_Anya]

Tarnished Archaelogist's analysis are by far the best among everything mentioned here. The color theory is beyond silly. Yes, colors tend to connect to themes and other story elements in video games. Its called visual language. The Centered Tarnished is a guy who learned a few psychological concepts and now believes he can see through walls and around corners. He proc'd frenzy and is doing word association and literally claimed he is "in sync with Miyazaki's" thoughts and secrets. In the first few minutes of a video, he shows an ai image supposedly generated by a prompt to create a chart based on Jung. He pointed out thay the chart looks like a tree as if that means something. His best points boil down to summarizing fairly obvious themes within the story.

[@liarwithagun]

Jung's work (the basis for most of Centered Tarnished video) is so broad and incorporates so many concepts that it can be used to 'explain' everything as being related to it, even when it isn't. It's explanatory power is about as valuable as hermetic mysticism, probably because it was created by researching religions and spiritual mysticism in general. It has a problem where a lot of stuff is attributed to being inspired by it or using it but a lot of times that stuff is just based on the original ideas spiritual ideas that have existed for hundreds or thousands of years that Jung incorporated into this work. It doesn't help that a ton of it has been 'debunked' by science later.

[@tuckernuts88]

"Color theory is silly because visual language is a thing" Bro, color theory is the study of that visual language. You drew a very tiny circle and thought you had something.

[@crabbypatty10fefrefe]

Long stretches of no volume through the whole video

[@nothappening5510]

Centered Tarnished frustrates me because he has a lot of good concepts to work with just for all of his videos to work you have to throw away half of the lore of elden ring cause he seems to not have a lot of the lore in mind when he writes his videos

[@Rich_P_Anya]

He is basically bs'ing.

[@copyninja8756]

​@@Rich_P_Anya naa hes just human. Hes doing well

[@ripvanwinkle3432]

Centered's video is building upon his other videos. This is probably the worst video to watch on its own. @2:04:00 yea to understand you need the the rest of his videos.

[@Rich_P_Anya]

Watching his other videos doesn't help.

[@EmraHemingway]

Oh if you want the sun, JackIsAMimic is your guy~

[@FFNOJG]

Nietzsche is essentially pronounced "NEET-CHAY" maybe try and blend a tiny z or s sound between the two parts

[@SirSaladAss]

It's NEE-chuh, or even better [ˈniːtʃə]. No tiny z or s, it's four phonemes. Simple as that.

[@ViviRavan]

Crunchy is such annoying human being.

[@nicholaspontillo5554]

No improvement will outweigh the miserable piece of shit that is the first game. It’s never had a worse experience playing video games in my life. Every time I played it I would say to myself “why am I still playing this” and I realized it was because I didn’t want my money to feel completely wasted. I finally came to the conclusion that even if I platinum the fucking thing I will still have wasted my money.

[@shan_2933]

What first game?

[@VAL420]

Thy meager flame...