What're They Hiding Under Stormveil Castle? ► Elden Ring Lore Hunting

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[@dragonninja3655]

Another interesting thing. That blood pile by the head in the castle, that is there even if you are offline. I am 95% the person it shows dying there is the wizard Rogier. Rogier is also one of fia's champions and as he was dying (or was already dead) in roundtable he had those same vine/tentacles hidden under the sheets (sheets similar to the sheets trying the hide the heads) that D has when fia kills him. It seems like Rogier went under the castle and was then killed by either the head somehow, or fia. As for the head bleeding, godwin died in soul, not body while ranni died in body, not soul, so the body IS alive but without a soul it can't really do anything.

[@agtjake]

Omg I noticed that bloodstain and just thought someone randomly died there. Didn’t even check it. Shows how careful I need to be when finding more lore.

[@keinchi]

That’s the death animation for death being applied. If you look at the head and the squid like beings in Altus, it’s more or less the same.

[@MegaFalco2000]

then, can you carry the essence of sella into the body of godwyn somehow?

[@waldo109]

It's 100% Rogier, if you went down in this area and afterwards speak to him at the Roundtable Hold, he will tell you about Godwyn the Golden and the Night of the Black Knives. The wiki (I know it is fan written but it is inferred from what we are given in the game) also state "The face of Godwyn lies rotting in the basement of Stormveil Castle. It is responsible for the loss of Rogier's legs." So while it might not have been Death Blight, just by being in the face's presence Rogier's legs were injured and that is the cause of his death. This connection surely means the face is a malformed version of Godwyn's face, left under Stormveil after the Night of the Black Knives. In regards to D and Fia, Fia is the Deathbed Companion and is One who Lives in Death. She definitely has an assortment of Death Blight related capabilities and the rooted appearance of D's corpse in the Roundtable Hold means he was killed with Death Blight.

[@memester6668]

@@waldo109 doesn't she give you a death spell Im pretty sure it's called fia's mist.

[@5ema55unto]

If one find the way to this place in stormveil castle before killing the area boss, he gets a lot of hints about it, like the messages from Rogier telling you to keep exploring: "something interesting might be nearby" "what you want must be close". Even warning about not staying there for long ('no more than necessary'), maybe cos rogier already knows about his legs being 'infected'. After the boss, The tarnished can ask rogier about the face : 'That is a sacred relic. Of the black knives plot. As that famed night of assassination is known. It happened during the Golden Age of the Erdtree, long before the shattering of the Elden Ring. Someone stole a fragment of the Rune of Death from Maliketh, the Black Blade. And on a bitter night, murdered Godwyn the Golden. That was the first recorded Death of a demigod in all history. And it became the catalyst. Soon, the Elden Ring was smashed, and thus sprang forth the war known as the Shattering. I once wished to become a scholar, you see. I've spent many an hour scouring the archives for knowledge of that fateful plot. The world has grown crooked, and if you intend to put it to rights, you'd better understand what happened to make it this way, mm? And...that thing is to blame for the shape I'm in now... I urge the utmost caution. Don't disturb the corpse more than necessary...'

[@MrDanChandler]

This comment needs more upvotes. Also, Rogier’s legs are infected? I missed all this; he vanished after I fought through Stormveil Castle and I never got to see him again

[@kuunt6065]

@@MrDanChandler he's in roundtable hold on the balcony

[@MightyRude]

The tentacles are a infection called death blight Some enemies use it as a weapon, like the mud skipper looking things that can be found in the deeproot depths (near Fia) or in the lyendell sewers

[@Pj-lb5ln]

@@MightyRude what? I don’t remember any tentacle enemies in deep root nor lyndel??!

[@Pj-lb5ln]

@@MightyRude also, what on earth is a mudskipper?? pretty sure there are no enemies by that name in the game lmao

[@richlacerra6668]

Since Godwyn was placed to rest near the Erdtree, the Erdtree grew around him and since we know the Erdtrees power is remembrances (storing the consciences so that they live eternally) Godwyn is literally growing from a different part of the tree much much higher up than where his actual body is located. This is reenforced by two facts. One being that this exact scenario is what happens to the rune of death which is why death root sprouts and is spread all across the lands between cause the Erdtree reaches everywhere the land between touch’s. Two by the clear branches extending from the head under stormveil they do not exist on Godwyns true body just on the one in stormveil alluding to the fact that it’s growing from the tree itself. To answer why the head is there in the first place that’s speculation territory, probably cause Godwyn was going to be birthed again from the Erdtree just like everyone was but since he lacks a soul only a husk was made.

[@mantistobogganmd5780]

According to the Guinness World Records, the longest ladder ever recorded was 41.16m (135 foot) long! It was designed and made in 2005 by the Handwerks Museum in Austria. The Stormveil ladder is definitely longer.

[@truebeard4635]

I scoured both of these locations for ages, the lore implications are fascinating! If you look closer at his corpse in Deeproot you can see that both of his arms are visible and they both have ornate bangles. His right arm has fish-like webbing hanging from it and his fingers on his right hand are webbed. His body is also visible, you can make out his torso, albeit ripped apart by the 'deathroots' that have exploded out of him. His torso becomes black and scaly and he clearly has a fin, like a mermaid. I can't tell if his clam-head/mouth is wrapped around a massive root or if that's his golden hair hanging down, or maybe tentacles, so bizarre! The 'husk' underneath Stormveil is interesting because it's not just a head. If you climb behind it you can see that it has a body and an arm, like it's tunnelled through the wall, some eldritch shit! Wonder if it's the Erdtrees roots taking the form of Godwyn or if it's the corpse of another of these squid creatures. The only other aquatic type enemy in the game is the Basilisk as far as I can tell, they have the same webbed arms as Godwyn's corpse and their breath inflicts Death (another link). All the demigods are transformed in some form or another but Godwyn is unique, why has he taken the physical form of some hellish mutated mermaid?! I'm really hoping they're setting up an incredible boss fight in a future dlc, like how they gave us Ludwig in The Old Hunters. Fromsoft loves a good old aquatic Lovecraftian monstrosity, in Bloodborne we had Kos, maybe they're hiding this games Cthulu in plain sight? Hehe.

[@themagnus2919]

I was disappointed I couldn't find this "dead god" Fia wanted to revive.

[@KeyStone-pb7dk]

Also the mage guy gets hurt by the squid face thing and tells you not to provoke it so some thing is up with it

[@DarthGrammar]

@@themagnus2919 but you can find him...

[@InIt4TheMemez]

@@DarthGrammar isn’t the dragon you fight in fias quest line literally a death god of some sort?

[@InIt4TheMemez]

Well there’s already lovecraftian monster in the game like Astel, and there’s outer gods that exist in lore so it’s very possible

[@ToxicFaithPHD]

the intended path to this area is just before the boss fight in the room with the jars. You can jump on a wall ledge, then through a window.

[@gooseman579]

lmao what do u mean real path there both real paths

[@MrRoyVega]

@@gooseman579 actually, we all just imagined the one in the video lolol

[@MF-Productions]

Thanks for this

[@skybeep9548]

This path looks kinda real to me idk lol

[@LexusKyran]

believe it or not, i came back to find how to actually get there and it took me 2 whole hours to notice the ledge edit: also, into that endeavor, i found a secret ledge behind one of those birds that throw bombs at you (behind the one on the left, coming the the site of grace), going down through the outer side of the walls, and found a crucible knight to fight

[@naka3339]

So apparently the Rune of Death corrupts/transforms things. This is from Lichdragon Fortissax remembrance: After Godwyn the Golden became the Prince of Death, the ancient dragon fought long and hard against the Death within its companion. Alas, victory was never achieved and its only reward was corruption. Fortissax who was a friend of Godwyn became a Lichdragon trying to fight the Deathrune off Godwyn. From the story trailer we can see Godwyn transforming after his soul dies.

[@modestestmouse4820]

I wonder if it was some kind of failed attempt to clone or 'graft' godwyn back to life, considering Stormveil castle's emphasis on grafting

[@aaronkrive8861]

that's what I was thinking, the face underneath looks detached like the tentacles under it maybe held it on the godwyn corpse or something?

[@shaunsmith9013]

It's Godfrey or at least a part of him

[@hamsterrwrld6767]

@@shaunsmith9013 it's def Godwyn.

[@shaunsmith9013]

@@hamsterrwrld6767 yeah thats who I meant! Lol so many G and R and M names. Yes I know why xD

[@hamsterrwrld6767]

@@shaunsmith9013 I feel you, I was so confused at first too. 😭 But I just recently beat the game a few days ago and have been going crazy with lore videos and exploring secret areas for more.

[@scumhead0]

I wonder if having your "soul" slain means that when the erdtree tries to reincarnate you, it's confused by what exactly it's trying to recreate. Maybe it doesn't know if Godwyn is human, so it's this huge amalgam of different creatures. Interesting how his new body seems to be a mix of human and mainly sea creatures. idk just speculation

[@MenwithHill]

That's a solid guess, it's almost certainly "gone wrong" because of its lack of soul. Since it's a raw, empty vessel it probably easily got corrupted by something over the years. Some sort of eldritch entity in the depth might have ran into it. If you draw a line between the erdtree and stormveil, it does cross into the mystery cloud zone, so who knows what dwells in the depths there.

[@joesaiditstrue]

that's a great point, also ties into the whole souls being called rememberances, as in the Erdtree uses them to reincarnate the demigods based on what it remembers

[@MyUniqueHandle.]

Yup, This is what happens with melina. She is the reincarnation of the gloam/dusk eyed queen. Empyreans are literal vessels for great runes. Ranni is the great rune of the unborn, and Radagon just like on his soreseal has a great rune (probably the great rune of order). When markia removed death (the rune) the gloam eye'd queen was created to bring death indiscriminate. She became the empyrean, vessel of the death rune and founded the god apostles. Marikia sent maliketh to defeat her and he took the rune onto himself, destroying his mind. This is why it states marika betrayed her brother, she wanted death to stay away. When ranni's plan to overthrow the order started, she stole the the rune of death from maliketh and It *spread across the lands between through the roots of the great tree* (death root). Meaning Ranni in her doll form took the half of the rune from the physical body (her essence) she killed and put it into the tree (the same location godwyn was assassinated). Reincarnating the gloam eyed queen. Ranni knew she couldn't get into the erdtree due to the thorns so she uses melina to find a tarnished (you). This explains why Ranni was the original owner of torrent as she most likely gifted it to melina to help search for you (at the start of the game) and why they have so many similarities like rannis other half lining up with melina. Melina says too many things that line up with is. - She says she is born at the foot of the erdtree (roots). - Once she remembers her purpose she says the world is in dire need repair and 'death indiscriminate' aka destiny to die - In the chaos ending she says she will deliver you 'Destined death' (a bit on the nose) + her grace eye has faded after you destory the tree and her gloam eye is open.

[@gojiracon4576]

This helped me so much I knew Melina had to be related to the gloam/dusk eyed queen but I didn’t know how

[@flyingsmith5633]

I wonder if it's the Great Tree (like the crucible tree) not the Erdtree? Because all the lore about the crucible talks about how in the crucible all life was blended together, giving us the Misbegotten and the Omen. I wonder if the Great Tree took Godyn's body, and without his soul, started to blend it with other life like the lore suggests happened in the age before the Erdtree.

[@NightmanEX]

There is a thorny shield that drops from the soldiers of stormveil that has the thorns wrapped around it and mentions that the thorns are from something dark beneath Stormveil

[@rikkabilly]

It causes bleed build up too no?

[@jackdaw3822]

@@rikkabilly yup it does

[@michaelpowers4882]

Not c

[@kuystalheim5427]

It’s not a drop, you find it on the body near the first exiled you run into going the side path into the castle.

[@relasoft]

That "dark" i guess, is the ulcerated tree that lives there.

[@_sargentocoelho_4441]

It's Deathroot. There's extense lore about this, so to sum it up, Godwyn's corpse spreads deathroot in areas where the Great Tree (not the Erdtree) has roots. Since Deathroot works as some sort of "infection", it somehow managed to spread up to below Stormveil and it stood there untouched. The reason it looks like a face is because when Deathroot develops enough, it starts to resemble Godwyn's likeness (since he was the first of the dead and the first to "live" in undeath). However, i have no clue as to why it bleeds. I know for a fact that this specific Deathroot is NOT Godwyn because his corpse is in the Underground.

[@misterjoshua5720]

Must be sprouting buds that look like his face, as it remembers Godwyn most and all of it springs from him. Also as a side note: The "coral" formations of rot in Caelid also bleed when you smack them, so this may be a thing of the devs doing the same thing to make it obvious this ain't a rock or a tree.

[@UnknownUser-bk2kf]

Whats the difference between those two trees?

[@_sargentocoelho_4441]

@@UnknownUser-bk2kf It's complicated, not because its hard to understand but theres actually very little we know about this. Anyway, it is believed the Great Tree was what existed before the Erdtree did. As in the Erdtree symbolizes the Golden Order (the actual age we are living in the game), whereas the Great Tree was the power active during The Crucible (and this is where it becomes abstract), "the age where everything was of the same essence." The evidence for such claims can be found in Crucible Knight's armor, weapons and talismans. But tbf even i dont truly unserstand this

[@UnknownUser-bk2kf]

@@_sargentocoelho_4441 alright. Thx ^^

[@maxdennis8163]

I feel like we're missing a lot of context here, but my best guess would be that the Prince of Death, being both alive and dead at the same time (I assume), spreads like a plant. Bits taken from the original "corpse"(like pustules) are basically spores, allowing the Prince of Death to take root and infest new areas. Another observation is that the boats in the area where you fight the Ulcerated Tree Spirit look more like bean pods than anything man-made. I was going to say chrysalids but it seems like Roderika was actually referring to the bundled up corpses you find in a pile near the Grafted Scion. Lastly, I could be wrong but I assume the skeletons we fight in this game are animated by deathroot, ie, we're basically fighting a corpse controlled by a plant (like the root skeletons in DS3?)

[@GsusCrust]

According to Cursemark of Death- "Godwyn died in soul alone." so his body is alive and it keeps growing and mutating. While in the other hand "Ranni was the first of the demigods whose flesh perished" so her souls is alive inside the dull while her body is just dead.

[@jaredcullum117]

I've noticed a lot of skeletons have roots going all throughout them, so that seems like a likely theory.

[@jibus3556]

I get the impression that the massive hole leading down to the face is due to excavation, that maybe something clued Godrick in on the presence of the body below stormveil so he had his forces mine their way down in order to make some kind of use of it. Another comment mentioned that Godricks soldiers use a shield that seems related, here's its description: "Marred Wooden Shield: Wooden shield of the Stormveil soldiers. Much like the castle, it is marred by mottling and thorns. Some say it is the curse of grafting which causes such affliction, while others talk of its root being something altogether more sinister hidden deep within the castle." Looking closely at the rest of stormveil, the castle and it's soldiers are all partially covered in thorns, a curse which, based on this item description, very well may be due to the uncovering of this body. If I were to guess, Godrick had hoped he could attain something from the body he could use against the other demigods, perhaps some kind of remnant of the rune of death used to kill godwyn that he could in turn use to kill other demigods. This backfired, providing him with no such power but instead releasing a curse on his castle that lead to all the thorns. Godrick would go on to cover up this failed endeavor. The body being discovered and excavated from beneath solid ground implies that it did simply grow down there from the erdtrees roots similar to the deathroot, also meaning that there's likely many more of these "bodies" that have grown throughout the underground below the land between that just haven't been uncovered.

[@jebbushu711]

I have to wonder, what if the "curse of grafting" and the curse of death aren't entirely separate? My underatanding of the curse of death is that it is the death of the soul while the body lives on. When Godrick grafts people, he essentially forces their bodies to stay alive as part of his even though their souls are dead. I'm certainly no lore expert as ive gotten most of my lore from quests and just looming around, but i could certainly see the "curse of grafting" being some kind of extension of the death curse. Maybe it is even almost like an artificial version of the same curse that Godrick has created by keeping bodies alive after death, wherein the curse of grafting and death are not directly connected but are kind of the same. All just my uninformed speculation though, this part of the lore is so interesting.

[@psychomammoth9640]

I always thought that was just the extension of Godwyn, his body is supposedly that large nasty thing down further underground. Where you see Fia. The one that we see above at the castle must be a further extension. His soul died but his body remained and just mutated.

[@garmadoncar6670]

D didn't kill Fia, it was D's brother who killed her after you give him D's armor

[@bubblebeep1592]

maybe if you don't give D the dagger he kills Fia? it was D's brother on my playthrough

[@xAshura_]

@@bubblebeep1592 you can really continue the quest without giving D the dagger

[@ghoulish6125]

I thought both Brother's were called "D"?

[@Nyx-Aphelion]

@@xAshura_ my second play through I got all the way to faram azula without doing Ds quest or talking to fia. I found him dead in his spot, you can still take the armor and give it to his brother and still get to fia doing that quest.

[@SuperFantasyX]

@@xAshura_ how

[@13Recon19D]

This is literally explained as being Godwyn in Rogier’s quest line. That’s hos blood stain next to it. He talks about it if you speak to him after viewing the blood stain.

[@angryjugplayer1884]

Came here to say this.

[@anuragkaushal4455]

wait the ulcerated tree boss doesn't deal deathblight damage right and there's no else there. When we touch the bloodstain we see rogier dying to deathblight, question is..who dealt the deathblight damage to Rogier ?

[@13Recon19D]

@@anuragkaushal4455 the big face thing the bloodstain is by is a husk of Godwyn. He is the first to live in death. The husk of godwyn that is there bleeds if you strike it. It makes sense that this husk death blighted him.

[@anuragkaushal4455]

@@13Recon19D by that logic shouldn't it deathblight the player as well if we attack it ? Please don't take is an an argument I'm just curious to know about it 😅

[@13Recon19D]

@@anuragkaushal4455 nah, we special

[@ivorymantis1026]

The one in stormveil might just be a husk of some form because it has no eyes in it's cavity. The one in deeproot still has visible eyes. Would play well with the snake symbolism in this game.

[@BlueAsterismSolstice]

That could also clue in that Godrick wanted to graft, but couldn't get a suitable body to do so in size. He removed the eyes of the dragon he grafted also.

[@Sjoeb01]

Another interesting thing I noticed is that the head underneath Stormveil seems to have had its eyes removed, while Godwyn's (supposed) head still has its eyes. If you look closely they look awfully similar to the Beast Eye that you get from the Beast Clergyman, AKA Maliketh. Could there be a connection here, since the Beast Eye quivers whenever a deathroot is near?

[@Lux-x2w]

And if you look Godwyn's body, at the left, you can see others big eyes. It's hard to see first but scope helps a lot

[@dragonhyphen]

That's a pretty trippy theory, and could possibly be true. However if you go to the prince of death throne and look at his eyes and arms, they look very similar to the basilisk who happens to shoot out clouds of death and also have the "beast eye" and same arms. It is definitely all connected somehow.

[@xXBlueSionXx]

@@dragonhyphen if these basilisks are the same found in the souls series, those goofy death gazes are actually their sac pouches holding the death clouds. Roger gives a warning not to poke around dead corpses anymore than you have to. Worst case scenarios is ruptured dead organs spewing what foul bacteria caged in like a balloon ready to burst. My theory is Rogier accidentally popped the eyes when investigating and caused his own cursed death.

[@RoninWaffle]

@@xXBlueSionXx Ooh that's a really interesting idea. That would definitely add up. I went into the game and went down to that area again and looked at that bloodstain, which as someone somewhere in the comments has pointed out, is there even in offline mode, and shows Rogier pretty clearly going through the death blight animation. So it certainly could be the eyes, or it could be that he tried to do something magically to the face and caused the deathroots to grow suddenly (and got hit by them too), and that's why you see the extra ones poking out of the mouth

[@dippahh9064]

super interesting. hopefully a future dlc will elaborate on this because we dont know very much about godwyn at this point

[@toomuchrandy1731]

When Godwyn died, he was given only half the death rune, so only his soul died. His body lived on, so the Erdtree couldn't exactly give him remembrance. His body I believe was placed at the Erdtree, probably trying to rectify this. Those who became afflicted with the curse of the half death (or perhaps some variation of it) are the tentacle monsters whom spit the death smog at you, with the hood over their faces. They wear this hood, to hide what has happened to their face just like Godwyn. Godwyn was embraced, but not remembered by Erdtree and thus spread the deathroots. I think the head at the bottom of the castle is a reincarnation attempt, perhaps it was sacrificial I'm nature thus way down under the castle where the deathrootes can reach. One last bit I'd like to note, the deathroot, is literally what comes out of the ground and impales you upon death status build up. It's the same as curse from dark souls, it's a literal half death curse. It builds up until the half rune marks you for death, then the deathroot comes and spears your soul away. This one I'd need to look closer, but someone investigate? The death status death animation, that deathroot looks kinda like the tentacles on the squid looking head doesn't it? I think this eldrich creature isn't necessarily animal or plant via the head or roots, but maybe actually parasitic and mutating and malformed it's host to spread further. Hard to grasp since it's a half death curse. Death root tentacles?

[@aledg25]

I was almost certain that there would be some sorta hidden key item that you needed to ‘wake up’ Godwyn’s corpse to initiate a secret boss battle, kinda like Laurence from bloodborne. Probably something being reserved for dlc

[@dengue1981]

Expect Goldwyn in first dlc i bet

[@kuso7430]

@@dengue1981 Godwyn, Miquella and The Empyrean Queen who is hinted to be Melina. Those are 99% DLC Boss Fights (And maybe even a Shadow of Former Demi-God Rykard).

[@Granddaddy_Purp]

@@kuso7430 you’re on the nose I’ve been thinking of those 3 as well. Melina is 100% related to the dusk eyed queen that delivers “destined death”, whether she is her or her daughter or something, she’s definitely related. As for miquella he does have a model and is not only one of the strongest supposed Demi gods but Is also in a slumber in his cocoon. And lastly this mf. So hyped for dlc man

[@kuso7430]

@@Granddaddy_Purp Yeah DLC is going to be awesome, I really think Fromsoft will have us a really big new zone o even zones for the DLC (This could be Bloodborne The Old Hunters hype)

[@bazusooooo2390]

@@Granddaddy_Purp i feel like mohg kidnapped miquella to have him killed and reincarnated so that mohg could have both miquella and malenia under his control. Without the knowledge, or maybe power, to bring a demi-god back from the dead, mohg failed, and miquella is now dead - hence why malenia has been waiting at the haligtree. She's hoping her eternally youthful twin brother will eventually come back.

[@biggestnoob4704]

Funny how Godwyn, who's ER's version of Baldr, in a frightening way becomes Niddhogg, the serpent that gnaws on the roots of the world tree

[@AjaniGoldmaneFFXIV]

I went back down to the storm veil castle area with the head. And it looks like there is a body behind it. And when you walk it , it makes a fleshing should same as walking on the face. My only guess would be after godwyn died they tried to rebirth him through the erdtree. But it didn’t work, but what came out instead were those fleshy tree monsters that drop the gold seeds.

[@dragonhyphen]

Could be. Or it could have been basilisk? I mean if you go to the prince of death throne underground and look at the creatures eyes and arms, they look very similar to the basilisk enemies, who also happens to shoot out clouds of death.

[@AjaniGoldmaneFFXIV]

@@dragonhyphen oh thats smart too! they do have similar eyes and death blight going on.

[@PedroNWO]

I really have admiration for people who take the time to find these things. I finished Elden Ring and I had 5 games waiting for me … couldn’t wait any longer to play them.

[@woofergranade2044]

Godwyn looks a bit like the boss you fight under the Volcano Manner. The warping of the facial features and the snake scales make it look like this is the same thing but in later stages. Maybe the serpent that devours gods isn’t a literal serpent but a disease of some sort that turns gods and demigods into serpent like tumors?

[@persona8977]

That one is Rykard

[@bale9320]

I think it was just a random great serpent. But since Rykard feed himself to it by choice ( see intro of the game and some item descriptions ), it became huge and powerful thanks to the power of a greatrune. But it still is Rykard. Clearly not a disease.

[@bo0td]

I only found that place under the castle because the guys that summoned me went down there instead of fighting the boss.

[@hhhnfryhgf9560]

You’re welcome

[@blackeyedturtle]

Finding and looking at that creature's head beneath Stormveil Castle is part of Rogier's questline. After coming into proximity to that head, go back to The Roundtable and speak with Rogier. A new dialogue will pop up, "Ask about the body/ies in the basement of Stormveil." or something along those lines.

[@BlankPicketSign]

Found this first playthrough, stayed in Stormveil for a while because I just love it so much. Godwyn super creeps me out, both of them! He was SO HANDSOME in life, but when he died some OTHER SHIT happened to him to make him this messed up and I just hate every thought my brain comes up with when filling in the gaps! I can't even discern his anatomy from his corpse under the Erdtree's roots. The scariest thing for me is that "Only his soul died" on the night of Black Knives, while for Ranni only her BODY died and her soul survived... Which implies that THAT THING might be able to move around as some humungous monster!!!!

[@dominicbeller8700]

Putting it simply, if you follow the lore, that’s what remains of Godwyn. On the night of the Black Blades Ranni and Godwyn both died at once, Ranni dying in body and Godwyn dying in spirit/soul. Fia’s ending quest takes you here. Something about your soul simply dying/not being re-sorbed into the Erdtree deforms beings. Godwyn is very much removed from the natural cycle of things in the Lands Between and his form reflects his state.

[@papasweed.dispenseria5977]

It's deathroots in his shape, since godwyns actual body is at the erdtree roots

[@haschwell2757]

Just to clarify. D doesnt kill Fia. Fia kills D and when you pick up D's armor its description basically says he has a twin. You meet his twin right before the 2 gargoyles boss fight in Nokron. If you give him D's armor he comes back to get revenge on Fia for killing his brother.

[@midgetydeath]

Notice that the roots of the Erdtree seem physical yet it’s body is ghostly and transparent. Yet, there are other small physical Erdtree-like flora dotted around the environment as well as ghostly ones (Golden Seed ones for example).

[@phobosromulus]

You’ll notice too that everywhere you collect deathroot, especially from Tibia Mariners, there’s large quantities of roots that possess the same barbed tentacles and weird basilisk eyes. And the tibia Mariners further enforce the aquatic theme of Godwyn and the basilisks.

[@joylove4968]

Roderika said that she came to godrick’s castle via boats

[@puffergaming9921]

Let's be honest it's definitely a secret boss. But when he was slain he was buried there, and from him the roots of the erdtree were corrupted with death. My theory is he became one with the erdtrees roots now become death root and now he slowly grows into something ungodly.

[@matiasluukkanen7718]

This actually sounds most plausible and would connect the dots between Prince of Death's pustule, Deathroot, Godwyn and the emergence of undeath really neatly.

[@puffergaming9921]

@@matiasluukkanen7718 yeah! i did some studying and im pretty sure i got the lore for the dragons down as well, its in the comments on a different video if you want the link tell me!

[@Alucia0]

Okay, so something to note is to look at Godwyn the Golden, after being stabbed by the black knives, his hair layed out in tendrels, exactly like the Prince of death head below the castle. Something else interesting to note is that the face also looks very similar to the hood of the GodSkin apostle, complete with the gem matching the one on the Godwyn head.

[@NightmanEX]

If you unlock the stone sword lock room underneath the exit of the ladder you can get the Godskin Amulet and prayerbook

[@gamecubemaster1990]

The only thing I can think for the boats was, since I heard this game has some inspirations from Norse mythology, they could be like boats that Vikings were put on before being burned with their belongings

[@memester6668]

It could be Godwin but on the night of the black knives they killed his soul but not his body. The opposite of ranni who killed her body but her soul lives within a doll. I wonder does the mending rune you get from her elaborate any further on Godwin.

[@dengue1981]

Nothing really in depth on Godwyn yet we have figured out she needed to kill another demigod to split the death mark though so her spirit would live on

[@jkostelo]

The face under the castle is also itself a hand. The face is on the back of the hand. The tentacles are fingers. If you past the top of the face you can see a wrist and a thumb on the right. Making the face a right hand, palm down. The bits below the nose remind me a bit of flattened out finger plates of a gauntlet.

[@nobbymk2431]

The little pimple "over" his eyes is actually some sort off mouth. The nose is over his eyes and these spiked tentacles are where the prince of death has his hair. gives him an alien look this can be clearly seen when climbing the ladder in stormveil.

[@jimst3r1]

Thats godwyn, and apparently this is what happened to him after he rotted away, probably influenced by the Erd Tree. Also the reason Rodgier lost his legs is because he walked around down there.

[@matiasluukkanen7718]

I don't buy it, because we don't ourselves get death-blighted by the corpse. I'd rather say either the tree-spirit killed him, or he met Fia who killed him, turned him undead as her spy and champion, to seek out the cursemark of death.

[@RyanHolcombeRyan2Gamer]

You totally missed checking out the blood-stained right next to the giant creature it's not a normal blood stain it's a blood stain of a important NPC that shows something happened to him you should definitely check it out

[@lEDgendxkills]

Blood stains with runes around them simple mean they belong to people with one of the same group passwords as you, messages too

[@EinFelsbrocken]

@@lEDgendxkills yep, remains there even when fully offline

[@tobsw3802]

I know I'm super late to the party and I'm sure you already figured it out but I just have to say... this video right here... perfectly encapsulates the lore of the Souls series. When people say "Oh there's no story!!" This kind of mystery and sense of discovery is what they're missing out on. Gold. Absolute Top G.

[@pistazienglace4899]

Yes so good! I love how the community is exploring and shareing! Driven by the flame of ambition lol

[@Aetrion]

Something interesting from another fight: After you kill Morgott you find his body on the ground and you see that all of his horns and fur have disappeared, and he looks mostly human. It's like he reverted to the way he would have been before an outer god cursed him to be an omen. Maybe Godwyn reverted back to the way he would have really looked after death as well.

[@pinkvillafantasy]

Same thing with Godrick, once you kill him, you find the servant dude stomping on Godrick's normal looking body. It's possible that when a Demi God dies their body returns to a normal humanoid form. But with Godwyn it's the reverse since he lost his soul, but not his body so his monstrous body remains, had Godwyn died normally his body would have probably returned to normal.

[@jakefoley9539]

Reminds me of the apostles in Berserk, specifically Wyald. When Wyald is killed it's revealed that his true form is really just this frail little old man who regretted not doing more with his life.

[@ThePickler47]

If you talk to rogier after seeing the stormveil face he tells you what it is. forgot what he said but it was a lot of dialogue

[@h.wang_]

Full dialogue here: The misshapen corpse under Stormveil? That is a sacred relic. Of the black knives plot. As that famed night of assassination is known. It happened during the Golden Age of the Erdtree, long before the shattering of the Elden Ring. Someone stole a fragment of the Rune of Death from Maliketh, the Black Blade. And on a bitter night, murdered Godwyn the Golden. That was the first recorded Death of a demigod in all history. And it became the catalyst. Soon, the Elden Ring was smashed, and thus sprang forth the war known as the Shattering. I once wished to become a scholar, you see. I've spent many an hour scouring the archives for knowledge of that fateful plot. The world has grown crooked, and if you intend to put it to rights, you'd better understand what happened to make it this way, mm? And...that thing is to blame for the shape I'm in now... I urge the utmost caution. Don't disturb the corpse more than necessary...

[@ArthaxtaDaVince777]

@@h.wang_ Interesting, Rogier also dies later on, maybe that corpse has a death Blight kind of curse?

[@Icix1]

Rogier's questline has all the details, but the corpse under stormveil is Godwin.The red blood pool is Rogier dying/becoming infected by death while poking around down there. Godwin is now the prince of death (god) due to how he died. It's also why you find the prince of death's pustule there. When he was murdered, he died in spirit but not in body. He was the first of Those Who Live in Death (the undead) and his burial at the root of the erdtree corrupted it. It's why you see his face and roots coming out of it. The major goal of fixing the elden ring is getting death back into the cycle. As to why multiple faces exist, it's possible it's deathroot taking the appearance of its god, Godwin.

[@sledgedragon2677]

For some reason, entering the forgotten cave area under Stormveil Castle gives me the same vibes I had while entering the abandoned part of the city in Jak 3. If anybody even remembers that.

[@stevenboddy9219]

look at that bloodstain infront of the octo, its for rogiers quest. you see him get his legs wollybonked.

[@stevenboddy9219]

@@xxsargenttacox I love you.

[@SolVentulus]

I haven't updated my game yet so I'm playing offline for now. I decided to check this out and I noticed 2 things. 1 - There's a bloodstain there that I think belongs to Rogier and seems to maybe show what happened to get thorns growing in and out of his legs. 2 - The giant head down under Stormveil isn't just a head. In fact, behind the head towards the wall, is part of its body. This thing slammed through a lot of solid rock to get there. If you have the Ghostflame torch that produces a white light, you can see a lot of the color of this thing. I wonder what this one's full body looks like. Also wonder what they are, where they come from and if there's a way to see any of them alive. Maybe a dlc will have a strange aquatic type of area.

[@perryhahn5525]

Rogiers bloodstain is actually a part of a questline for him. If you talk to fia at some point she might hint at it

[@Der_Iago]

its these things that make this game probably the best game of all time (at least for me). Man, I love how much effort they put into stuff that maybe 0,1% of the players will even look for other than finding it.

[@nolandderlugner1351]

Its bad game design that only 0.1 look/know about it lmao

[@Nin_the_Shinobi]

I kinda hope the dlc expands on this. I would like to see these alien like creatures have a part to play in this universe.

[@Xuhtig]

Lol that's not how you're supposed to get down there but yea, not a secret. The true secret is the alien face at the roots.

[@nebthekillaukable]

The vines are from the curse mark of death, the creature is clearly what creates the roots of death that you get for d and the beast master dude. Godwyn looking at the trailer was killed by the black knife assassins, created by ranni using a part of the rune of death before killing her physical form. Godwyn was buried under the erdtree but must have been tainted by the curse of death and in turn allowing the roots of death to spread. Long story short I think the face trees are a physical form of the death curse taking root and if they had been left to grow maybe could have grown into trees of death like the erdtree but death magic not holy magic.

[@Koyuki_Yukihime]

This is what Rogier found under the castle . He even said don't disturb the corpse too much , I try attack it a bunch but nothing happen but if you inspect blood stain at that spot you'll see Rogier spectre and how he get messed up by death blight .

[@GtheMVP]

Is it Rogier who gets impaled by something? You only see it from the bloodstain.

[@TastyCarcass]

You can find godwyn eyes growing out of deathroots in certain areas on the game, like where you meet D in Summon water Village. I believe Godwyn has created a cancer in the tree, causing deathroots to grow and body parts to appear The body under stormveil doesn't look very tree like, but it's possible it grew from the tree and fell there, much like the tree spirit near it can move

[@christianschmid1440]

There is a huge skeleton in caelid,,when you are at the arena and turn around so you face the coast. It might be nothing but on my first playthrough i immediately thought that this is the giants face. Because its the only thing that roughly fits the size.

[@christianschmid1440]

@@SixBeark yeah saw them a day after i posted my comment>^^ strange how you notice something all over the place once you noticed it for thr first time

[@PlausibleColt75]

Very interesting indeed... by the way, what's the armor pieces you're wearing in the video ? Looks awesome !

[@DM-bv9uh]

Sanguine blood cloak, knight helm, Leyndell boots i cant see the rest.

[@victorsouza4554]

We totally need an out of bounds video on Godwyn. I can't even grasp what he turned into.

[@m.a.dmatt6689]

A long ladder you say? (Plays Snake Eater)

[@JohnDoe-tt5qc]

I think those weird coffin boat things where you fight the tree spirit are opened and desiccated plant pods. Remember how every time you clear a catacombs area you see the ‘Erdtree Burial’ with all the corpses pressed into the roots of the Erdtree? I think these weird pod things are how the parts the plant can’t absorb are getting spit out. And since Godwyn died in a sense, he definitely got an Erdtree burial. But since only his spirit died, maybe his undead body is leeching off the Erdtree’s roots, making it grow and distort, and causing weird growths that look like him. The area we find him in is directly under the Erdtree after all. Alternatively maybe his face was cut off at some point and just… grew back?

[@JohnDoe-tt5qc]

@@Narvre That's a possibility for what happens to them after Godrick is through with them, but I think the chrysalids Roderika refers to are probably more likely to be the body bags we find outside the dining hall in Godrick's castle. She probably calls them chrysalids because they look like cocoons, and the big pile of body bags is also where we find the Chrysalid's Memento.

[@jmc2830]

there is another way to get down here. from the last bonfire near godrick, you can turn right and head up. continue then jump down and you will have an opportunity to open the door back to a previous bonfire making fighting the boss a little easier. it's still a decent trek but definitely better then the way you showed.

[@ryanmiller3918]

Ganishka from berserk little easteregg. The little tentacles are resembling his lighting bolts he uses in his apostle form. The face is just the appearance of the resemblement. But he would usually have clouds and storms and stuff like that around him

[@guden0991]

it looks like a nose that would be below the eyes but its actually the other way around, the one at root depths has arms and a belly, and the face has this crown with tentacles at the top, then the nostrils followed by the two eyes and the mouth looking hole at the bottom

[@heuvelke1065]

You forgot one bigger detail. Deeproot looks fresh the bigger one in stormveil looks mummified

[@eremundead6321]

i made a wrong turn on a ledge in stormveil and fell to my death down into that room somehow, and i was laughing until i turned the camera around during my death animation to see that face. one of the many heart-stopping moments this game has inflicted on me

[@Pikachu-qr4yb]

The same happened to me. Jolly old m was just happy go get to a legacy dungeon and I fall down a hole right on top his head...

[@yesntpittzant4156]

Maybe there is something about serpents in elden ring, considering that snake boss at volcano manor (havent played that questline yet)

[@Wifgargfhaurh]

It's crazy how huge some of the areas in Elden Ring are

[@Aelethil]

5:25 A fun little additional lore bit, There are 2 D's and they are twins Named Darian and Devin. If I'm not mistaken, You meet Darian in the roundtable hold, and the individual you give his armor to is his brother Devin. Darian's name can currently be figured out by killing Devin, as in his final words upon his death he says " How could this...? Forgive me, Darian..... d-darian...." And the vice versa can happen if you kill Darian As devin will apologize to Darian with the same words. Them being twins is 'confirmed' by them eventually giving you the 'twinned' armor set upon their quest completion/death

[@andrewcutlip1412]

Pretty sure that scaly part at the base is his dragon, Fortissax. The same Lich Dragon that you fight during Fia's questline. Looks like they placed Fortisaxx body next to Godwyn or Fortisaxx just curled up and died along with him.

[@janugur2241]

I absoulutely adore this type of enviromental story-telling the Souls games deliver.

[@BlueAsterismSolstice]

I thought D just dies to Fia when you give him the one item. Also it's possible that this was part of how Godrick wormed his way into grafting as an art as a distant and barely recognized demigod. He essentially grafted his body into ascension, but it's not been elaborated how that would have worked. It could also be why we find Rogier in the castle, whom was originally someone investigating the trail of Death to the murder of Godwyn. The gaols as they are called is just a cultured way of spelling jails. They are mosly magic imprisoning of such culprits throughout the Lands Between.

[@kennyhouser3467]

Correct. It is my understanding that Fia kills D, then D's brother kills Fia.

[@user-op2bh7rc9z]

I believe the “fish” part is apart of fortissax in some way, just going off the black scales. If not then the body has mutated due to his soul being killed but not the body, which is what we saw the beginnings of in the trailer. The body you see all mangled up with Fia is the actual body of godwyn and the face you see in stormveil is a “growth” of sorts, this isn’t confirmed but there’s been a recent Reddit post showing crabs in liurnia with the same face pattern on their backs and they spew deathfog. This hints that maybe death itself spreads and contaminates everything around it. This is why D and Gurranq do what they do, it’s why deathroot is called deathroot and there’s a reason why Gurranq needs to consume it but it’s crazy to think this is all a result of Ranni stealing a small bit of power from the rune.

[@cykablyat9526]

what was ddissapointing for me was the fact that nothing happens when you attack it , even tough you see rogier getting screwed by it and even he warns you to not disturb it so i was expecting a boss figth and i think the reason why he is in godrick`s castle maybe because they are related,godwyn being godrick`s father

[@PoguliPogalu]

I don't know if you know but there's a lantern you can stick on your belt and two hands or dual wield freely

[@jimst3r1]

omg where

[@PoguliPogalu]

@@jimst3r1 one of the merchants in limgrave or liurnia I cant remember exactly, check on the wiki it might help :) there's also a torch that help revealing invisible enemies

[@themaverick1898]

@@PoguliPogalu the merchant in the southwest shack by the beach in weeping peninsula. Just advice tho there are special torches later on that do special things that help in different situations so just don't just throw away all the torches you get just because of the lantern like I did lol

[@PoguliPogalu]

@@themaverick1898 Oh yeah that's the one ! Thanks :) and I do know about the special torches, but thank you anyway, it might help others :)

[@MrDrokkul]

Sliding down that ladder with the pointy helmet would be satisfying as all get out.

[@meruemking1528]

yooooo we need a dlc for this

[@jsportsupdates807]

Frfr

[@skeltaldelegate5408]

You'd think there would be more content given to plot points and characters of this much importance, but instead we get Godskin bosses 7 times, negating any excuse for cutting content.

[@demonbasher23]

I get that uneasy feeling about the game like they’ve cut a few things out at some points and some character story’s seem to just be abit blah. There’s so much emphasis on characters such as miquella and Godwin, yet they pay off seems abit underwhelming. With the whole flowering of Melania too after you fight her. It’s almost like we’re stuck in stasis. The game is still early though. Maybe some secrets will be elaborated abit further in future content.

[@skeltaldelegate5408]

@@demonbasher23 if it was in-game content, its already been found. We'll only see more from updates/dlc.

[@demonbasher23]

@@skeltaldelegate5408 i dont know about already been found the game isn't even 8weeks in yet. There's texts on stone tablets in the giant area I've yet to decipher and have yet seen anyone decipher (one example). I remember on dark souls1 it took a good while before I saw someone translate the titanite slabs/shards. Even more recently the 9999 health invisible walls. I believe there's yet more to be unearthed within the finer detail of the game.

[@skeltaldelegate5408]

@@demonbasher23 "its only been X weeks, there's more content for sure!" is sadly just cope, sorry friend

[@demonbasher23]

@@skeltaldelegate5408 time will tell..😭😭😭😭

[@thebingthing8421]

Yeah this isn’t the “correct” path. There’s another entrance that has loot

[@gooseman579]

i mean there both correct paths

[@thebingthing8421]

@@gooseman579 yeah…I didn’t know how to word it….alternate or intended path?

[@gooseman579]

@@thebingthing8421 i feel like one is hidden and the other is meant to be found there, both correct but the one near godrick is to make sure u actually find it

[@GehrmansWheelchair]

Stumbling across this on my first playthrough was the first time I had ran into one of those tree spirits, absolutely blew my mind. I tried to run away from it and then about shit my pants again when I pulled out a torch and saw the malformed head on the floor lol.

[@nalhurst9042]

Long before the elden ring was broken there was a war between the gods and the Giants my guess is it could be a long dead corpse that could have kept a small amount of magic even after death

[@mrobscene2912]

"When your grafted you become a chrysalis." Now go back and look at those "coffins". It's also coming out of the ground.

[@charlesx2334]

as far as i do research , these are things that grow out of Godwyn's corpse

[@sanilleg5142]

I found this on my first play through. If you read the description of the shield that is full of thorns (Marred Wooden Shield), it hints at some thing sinister below the castle explaining why there are thorns/vines everywhere

[@aaronperkins2880]

I found that guy on accident. I was both confused and grossed out. And it's "pust-yule" :)

[@fieryleech]

The little crabs in lyndell (in a little lake beneath the archer giants) they have the faces on their shells seems like it’s growing.

[@jonasb7253]

It's cthulhu. Alot of the monsters seem to be inspired by H.P. Lovecraft. In his book call cthulhu, it's described to be an enormous God like being from the stars who has a tentacled face withe the scalely body of a dragon.

[@MRATHOMEDAD]

Strong Lovecraft vibes by seeing that deflated squidward

[@wingseam550]

There’s another way down. Near a bonfire with a door that needed to be opened from other side. From other side, before opening, you can hang a right and head downwards. First encountering bats and eventually that mini boss worm thing. I was early on so I ran past and up the ladder 😂

[@DB-jl1fh]

I'm not too sure what to say about the head in Stormveil, however the head in the Deeproot Depths is Godwyn. his head formed like that because Fortisaxx is fighting inside of him trying to keep him alive which is making his body deform. that is also why it appears that Fortisaxx's body is deteriorating. Its possible that this is replicated in Stormveil with another ancient dragon fighting inside of its friend to save him. as to who exactly the deformed head in Stormveil might be, originally I thought that it could be the storm king as it would make sense as it is hidden in Stormveil castle and we do not have to much information of the storm king even though he is mentioned as being pretty relevant to the history of the lands between, but then I thought that it may be another being that was aligned with the ancient dragons just like Godwyn the Golden was. It seems as Fia was also interested in the head at Stormveil because Rogiers bloodstain is there and you can see him being killed by (I assume) Fia. As when you find him dead in the roundtable hold, he has the effect of deathblight as you can see clearly with the wooden tentacles embedded in his body. Another theory that I have is that the head in Stormveil is actually ranni because she ordered the black knife assasins to kill her and Godwyn at the same time in the night of the black knives. so its possible that this effect was created by the cursemark of death (which also links to Fia). also the place where you find half of the Cursemark of death is near Stormveil in the divine tower, the other half I can only assume is where Godwyn was killed, in the Deeproot Depths. Its definitely a confusing plot point and I really do hope to see more of Godwyn in the dlc.

[@AlvaTheWayfaringKnight]

I found this on my first time. There is also a body that comes out of the rocks too.

[@ghosting5069]

There's another hidden area with a tree armor knight and cool incantation. . Where ? The area with the falcons holding those fire Barrells that explode on impact . Look for it .

[@KingForADayM]

I could have sworn I fell to my death down their in the early game(before I knew that was an area) and it moved towards my body. I’ll have to recheck that.

[@akanehone1434]

monkaS

[@Mrcaptainmorgan93]

"IM STILL IN A DREAAAMMMMMMM SNAKEEEE EATERRRRRR" - Me climbing that ladder

[@xvor_tex8577]

After discovering this thing underneath stormvail castle I went to a NPC but I forgot who was it and they said do not disturb this thing and something along this line

[@GrowlieDave]

I know that the ruins that scatter the landscape were from an huge floating city that was destroyed for some reason. There is the occasional Gollum that wakes up with half helth or is found deep underground with chunks of ruins you find on the surface. Perhaps our 2 squids can from there. They also share a look with the godslayer gear, primarily the hood, perhaps related?

[@raymondzellar5523]

You're killing it on the elden ring lore vids. It would be cool if you eventually dip into the souls games too :) its always awesome hearing new perspectives on the old lore.

[@slumpkinn5283]

that face thing is caused by godwyns death, it made a sort of disease i think that grows in the shape of him. and the talisman, "prince of death postule" most likely refers to godwyn since fia, who is connected to godwyn in her quest calls him the prince of death.

[@minusp895]

Probably fell from Faram Azula during the Shattering (the one in Stormveil). If you want to know what the face is, think of Rykard. Those faces are the demigods being reborn.

[@panwall1327]

This is what I can put together. Godwyn's corpse at the roots of the Erdtree tree is corrupting the tree. Its making versions of Godwyn all over the Lands Between. There are several trees with eyes, and even some crabs with Godwyns face. That face at the bottom of stormveil castle is just a husk, a corruption of the roots. That weird worm tree creature shares A LOT a similarities with Godwyn's model at the roots. Almost as if those are aspects or avatars of Godwyn

[@coalkingryan881]

Oh shoot. If you see those scales as being a snake, it makes the opening cutscene make more sense. I don’t know if I’m wrong here, but when the narrator is talking about the demigods, it shows Renna, Miquella, Radhan, and Malenia. But the important one here is the God-devouring serpent, Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy. Rykard allowed himself to be eaten by the serpent in order to merge into it. When you fight him, you see his face which looks an awful lot like Godwyn’s. It’s scaly and looks more like some sort of rock foundation than skin. Not to mention, Godwyn’s eyes do look like that of the vertical slits of snake eyes. I believe when Godwyn was killed, at some point, a serpent similar to the one who killed Rykard, devoured Godwyn, merging into him, and preventing his complete death. Why his face is under the Erdtree and Stormveil Castle could be because his body is merged with the roots of the Erdtree, his face also forms at other roots.

[@elam3654]

I think those rings are shackles. His throne room gives the impression he bit down on a tree branch, while the blight erupted from his neck instead of his mouth.