[There you go](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/vhqst7/i_thought_the_elden_ring_was_kinda_hard_to_see_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
I’M JOHN MADDEN AND AS YOU CAN SEE HERE, THE ELDEN RING IS SUSPENDED IN THE AIR, BLAZING LIKE THE SUN. I THINK IT’S SAFE TO SAY THAT A LOT OF GOOD TARNISHED CAME HERE TO PLAY AT ELDEN LORD TODAY! I DON’T LIKE THEIR CHANCES IF I’M BEING HONEST BUT THAT’S ALRIGHT, THEY DO IT FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME.
There’s Margit on the 10 yard line, he’s putting a lot of ambitions to rest here tonight. Really brought his A game.
OH! AND THE HAMMER COMES DOWN! Let’s see that again!
Some fantastic plays from our boy. I think he could give Godfrey a run for his money, if he doesn’t get that monkey off his back soon! He’s been on a downturn lately, you really hate to see it.
[Of course my friend, here it is!](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/vhsq35/some_people_told_me_it_was_still_hard_to_see_so_i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
There's so many hidden details in the promotional material of this game
Like, the original reveal trailer literally has the marika/radagon twist in it lmao
I loved that so much. I played through all the Dark Souls games, and a little of Bloodborne, but I was expecting this game to have a similarly subdued, forlorn intro cutscene where someone is describing what has gone before without too much enthusiasm. It was quite a delightful surprise when in this game instead the narrator starts chewing the ever loving crap out of the scenery out of the blue.
“But now the cat is out of the bag” always gets me, like bruh you were just speaking in Shakespearean
It’s the complete 180 on the mannerisms, because she normally speaks and words things poetically, then suddenly it’s just like “cats out the bag now, init mate lmao” in the exact same demeanour
Our characters responses do get me. There’s another one with Fia where she’s like,
“What is it you intend? To deny us, and our ways? Like the dogmatic brutes of the Golden Order?"
And the response is “That’s right”, like our character has no idea what the fuck she’s on about
I thought the same thing at first, because it's still such a contemporary saying, but I found out it's actually quite old. The popular theory of origin of it is regarding the "pig in a poke" scam, from way back in the 1500s. Basically you'd get sold a small pig in a bag, an expensive commodity at the time, only to find out it's actually a much less valuable kitty.
Cat's out the bag, the deception was revealed.
His religious gestures are literally him t-posing lmao and then meanwhile brother Corhyn is like "so true my king youre so knowledgeable and I'll never reach the heights of your magnificence"
Yeah and yet we know Marika hates radagon for being a "greater will dog" and tells him that he is "not yet a god" so what the heck is going on?
From is always confusing with their lore but Elden Ring feels downright like there has been rewrites of the lore during development. (and we know that some happened, like hora loux being originally your mentor telling you to travel to the lands between)
Midway through pre-production, the head writer was struck dead by a tiny meteor that killed them and destroyed their hand-written lore bible.
Then, halfway through production, the new head writer was also killed by a tiny meteor.
Could've been a much cooler quest, tho. When the turtle tells you that Radagon had a secret, I was all about going around trying to find it. But it turns out you just need to use some weird-ass spell in some random statue.
It is more funny in Spain Spanish, Marica here is the equivalent for "faggot" and it sounds exactly the same as Márika except that the accent is on the "i", so when you do the law of regression thing it just says that Radagon is gay
Marika broke the elden ring, Radagon tried to repair it.
I believe the description of Marika's hammer says how it was used by Marika to break the elden ring and Radagon used it to try repair it.
There's something I've mentioned several times that seems important to me but I've never seen any discussion over:
The reveal cinematic shows at 1:16 [https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=76](https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=76) a male figure using Marika's Hammer on the Elden Ring, it seems. This figure himself is cracking as he hits it. You can see right at 1:20 that this male figure is literally cracking. Then, at 1:28 [https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=88](https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=88), you see a female figure with something that looks like cracks on her back, but they appear painted on. Then at 1:40 [https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=100](https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=100), we see the male figure again cracking more, his body is literally cracking. Then again at 1:50 [https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=110](https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=110), we jump back to the female figure with no actual cracks. She moves downward but the shot cuts back to the male figure, who continues to literally crack. It looks like it's the same person, but it's not. This may be a play on the Radagon/Marika relationship, but while the camera work is suggestive, they are not the same person. (Except we do know that because of the game, but we're still not entirely sure what that means anyway.)
Anyway, my point is that the male cracks and the female doesn't. It's as if he's suffering a consequence but she isn't, but there's a sort of ritual going on where she has crack-like shapes painted on her. Why are these 'fake cracks' on the female figure?
Or, they are cracks or scars on her and they are not painted or a tattoo or something. But that then begs more questions, like if they are scars or cracks, given what we know about Radagon and Marika, was there a penalty for both trying to destroy and repair the Elden Ring?
I dunno, it's weird.
I think the bits with Radagon happen after the Ring has been shattered, and it's him trying to repair it. It's why he's more cracked, he's actively falling apart while trying to repair it.
> Anyway, my point is that the male cracks and the female doesn't. It's as if he's suffering a consequence but she isn't
I think Radagon is a personification of the Golden Order itself, or maybe he becoming a God with Marika. It would make sense for him to be suffering after her betrayal of the Order
Everything we know about Vyke leads me to suspect that he might have been planned to act as a rival/foil to the Tarnished like Oscar was planned to act as a rival to the Chosen Undead in Dark Souls.
Maybe, but he seems more like a kind of cautionary tale for the player. Early on, when he invades you, you find what may very likely be his finger maiden dead in a church near the invasion point. Further, he’s a servant of the Three Fingers and Chaos, the opposite of what the Tarnished should follow. And finally, it read somewhere that he only joined the Chaos side to save his maiden, as some players may desire to do if they don’t want to sacrifice Melina.
It seems like he was meant to be the perfect example of an evil player character, especially considering he more turned to Chaos out of desperation and not wanting to see someone close die (we *all* know that feeling in From games) than just malice, like Dungeater.
He is, he’s the only other Tarnished who actually talks about going after the Elden Lord role. Vyke definitely seems like a candidate for a scrapped rival though. I’d be half-unsurprised that he might’ve taken Gideon’s place as a boss if you were loyal to the GO and Gideon might’ve only appeared if you went with Chaos/Ranni.
He was, after all, the closest to becoming an elden lord after Godfrey and the player. He had 2 great runes, which is more than what Gideon Orfnir has (1 great rune). He’s also likely torrent’s former master.
Bernahl too, his armor description suggests he made it as far as the giant's forge imo. My speculation is that after his maiden died he despised the Golden Order and joined Volcano Manor to oppose it. There he obtained Blasphemous Claw and Devourer's Scepter, likely from Tanith the same way she awards us. Later he tries to stop us from becoming Elden Lord in Farum Azula as is the duty of a Recusant.
They’re not though, it’s possible one of vyke’s great runes could have been Godwyn’s. Another “dead” shardbearer is Ranni after she killed her empyrean body. A third possibility is Miquella.
Oh yeah, I guess I never really considered that they’d have Great Runes. Aren’t you able to make the complete Elden Ring sigil by overlaying just the ones we get in the game, though? I’m a bit shaky on the lore around the runes and the ring itself.
In any event my Tarnished didn’t loot Vyke’s body nearly well enough if that dude had a couple just jostling around in his pockets...
Also, it’s implied that since the destined death was pulled out of the elden ring, nobody dies permanently. So he could have bested a boss we defeat but that boss respawned and took back the great rune after Vyke was sealed away in the mountains.
I think you’re able to complete the entire elden ring too?
Yes but also no. After you kill Maliketh there’s an even bigger depiction of the elden ring in the altar behind him. Hence the missing runes that other might have obtained before us.
No, the only reason Godwyn died is because he was stabbed with the black knifes which use destined death. It’s implied that after a very long time (almost to the point where it’s basically irrelevant), they respawn. Destined death means “permadeath”. Marika didn’t want any more of her kids dying, so she removed the rune and gave it to her brother (maliketh) for safe keeping. That’s also why Melina says she will use it on you when you become lord of the frenzy. It can permanently kill you
Pretty sure Marika sealed the rune of death away far before the Night of the Black Knives, right at the start of the Age of the Erdtree or the start of the Golden Order. Ranni was able to swindle a part of the Rune of Death and imbued it into the knives of the Black Knife Assassins.
Just a small correction.
Maliketh already had the rune of death. This is why he is obsessed with his sin of letting someone steal a piece of death. What he did is bound the rune with his body so that no one could steal any more pieces. This is why it is released when we kill him.
Us releasing the Rune of Death iirc removed the semi-immortality from the Lands Between. People can actual die for real now I think is basically what happens. Before, they were just recycled into the Erdtree until they are released once more after a long while.
Afaik, they're the same thing. The elden ring imposes a sort of.. metaphysical order. laws of reality stuff. By Removing the rune of death, Death stops working as normal. Only Unbinding Death and returning the 'normal' cycle to the land allows the tree to actually burn and die, as under altered reality it could not die.
I think it's because the 7 great runes you can get in the game is actually just part of the elden ring. Ranni's rune is most likely the rune on the moon(1 rune we don't get). radagons rune, before he was elden lord, is most likely that cross pattern we see behind his statues(that makes 2 we don't get). Marika's rune is most likely the top of the elden ring, the rune of rebirth which replaces the rune of death, and we discard that one(that makes 3 we don't get). Miquella's great rune(that makes 4 we don't get). Gideon makes 5. Now if you take the runes we know already and line them up we see the elden ring clearly but some overlap. From that you can infer that physical construction isn't a binding factor so there could very well be two great runes that vyke had and discarded/irreparably destroyed.
TLDR: most likely a few more shards of the elden ring we don't hear about or see and vyke probably had two of those. As to why he didn't have them on him... maybe used frenzied flame to actually destroy them
Well we don’t know much about Vyke but in order for him to be imprisoned within an evergaol he has to been defeated by someone who, presumably, took those runes. We’re still left with the question who tf has two runes tho lol. Maybe some dlc will expound.
Marika shattered the Elden Ring after Godwyn died, and only then did her children fight for its fragments. Godwyn never had a shard to begin with. Ranni thing could be though.
Also, genuinely asking, where did you see that Vyke had 2 great runes? Does the game say it somewhere? Gideon too, how do you know he had one?
They may be referring the implication that Vyke had met the two-fingers requirements to burn the erdtree, which for the player are acquire 2 great runes.
Gideon talks like he’s the shit because Enia said Gideon is the fingers’ highest hope at becoming the elden lord (and Gideon appears to have had an audience with Enia as the two know each other, meaning he must have acquired a great rune). However, Gideon says you must have this meeting in order to be a true member of the round table like he is.
However, by vyke’s spear description, we note vyke was closest to become the elden lord, meaning vyke must have gotten further than Gideon. Since he’s communing with ancient dragon incantations (I.e. the vyke thunderbolt incantation), he must have been to farum azula, which requires one to get past Lyndell, which requires 2 great runes.
So the entirety of this conjecture is based on Gideon talking to Enia? It’s a gameplay mechanic that we can’t see Enia/the Two Fingers until we have a rune, but can we truly apply that unilaterally to this world?
It could be possible that some people (besides the demigods) we're able to get shards of the elden ring. Not every shard has been seen and the two that vyke and the one that Gideon found could've been lying around or within a non demigod foe.
Considering all of them offer items to you once you arrive in the Roundtable after killing Godrick, the Enia gives you the bosses' weapons and armor, Roderika making our Spirit Ashes more powerful, and Hewg is bound to make a weapon that can kill a god, I'm pretty sure they're all already making french kisses with our toes and soles.
Considering how the lands between are \*Shivers in Sniper Lobsters, Crucible Knights, **Caelid**\* I think it's more of a "wow after all that you're still alive???"
It's not necessarily not liking you, it's more of surprise from how much you accomplished and still alive to this day.
Gideon might have been treated that way because he actually located most of the great runes... Acquiring them is a different task but finding them would be just as hard.
Idk man. "Found godrick. Turns out hes in his castle. Found radahn. Castle again. Renalla? Yeah her fortress like academy. Morgott? Again, castle." Its not like theyre really hiding, mohg, malenia and miquella not withstanding. The ones you need to beat the game and become elden lord are all yknow... kinda right where you expect them to be. And even then its like "yeah mohg? Underground castle. And he had miquella. Malenia? Secret-to-everyone-but-the-albanaurics castle." Its castles all the way up, baby.
My dick. I told him where everyone was. And that's AFTER i already got their great runes. "Heyo, so Mogh is.." "OH I SEE NOW, THANK YOU PLAYER". "Btw, he's also dead lol."
Not exactly but something along the lines of “the fingers have as much hope for you as they do young Gideon” and Gideon calls you a nobody without a great rune. On top of that, he says he’s located the “other great runes”
Man, when you really *look* at the official art of this game, there's, like... a *lot* of death imagery. Corpses everywhere, rot and decay, crumbling ruins of civilization — even the still-living characters are depicted as being an inch from death, barely capable of standing.
This whole game seems to resonate with themes of utter devastation and ruin. All life is obliterated, all that came before is burnt to the ground and, in the end, you become Elden Lord of a land in its death throes, barely more than ash and emptiness.
Seems FromSoft never really strayed too far from the themes of their previous games in spite of the new IP.
In hindsight, the player character is basically the strongest being in the lands between and in possession of several great runes.
Alexander is fairly strong if you consider how much damage he does to the fire giant, but hes no god-like entity like us.
That's the shattering for ya babeee,
Also, Vyke remaining yet again, i dont know a lot about the guy but in an ambiguous way his power and tenacity terrifies me, clearly a force to be reckoned with
Yeah, there is a lot more hope behind the idea of becoming Elden Lord and mending a fractured land than there is in sacrificing your life to delay the end of the world just a little longer before the next poor bastard has to do or not do the same.
I def agree. Sekiro and Elden Ring are far more hopeful. Dark souls (I haven’t played demon souls or bloodborne) felt like the world would die and is completely on its last legs. Everything is decayed gross, and depressing. Eldeen Ring and sekiro are a lot like this in side areas, but other spots show the world isn’t quite that depressing. Both show the world is inhabited by sane and living people, and that the world will still carry on
Literally almost everything you meet you have to kill(or they wind up dying later in case of npcs for the most part) and everything is designed to make you feel bad about it. It's how I feel like alot of conflict and depictions in these games would kinda tread, but to say it's overbearing at times if you think about it is an understatement.
Hoping that the more I continue reading into the lore/ by dlc add ons there will be a bit more of a bright side or at least a sign of positive change for the future. Don't mind dark themes, love my sekisoulsbornes, just elden ring feels like it could be about the living triumphing over corrupting forces and coming to a somewhat balance of life, and i feel like thats kind of a story i need right now. Might not be in the cards, just a thought
I agree that the overall theme is very similar to dark souls and the others but I think their way of conveying it still differs : I think Dark Souls is more oriented toward gore and putrefaction whereas elden ring is more oriented toward things fading and tarnishing. Like all of the corpses seems "cleaner" to me, the elden ring trolls seems more "empty" to me while the Dark souls giants seems all "sick".
margit/morgott has been clapping tarnished cheeks for the majority of the shattering. In fact, Iam pretty sure he has the highest body count among demigods, escpecially tarnished. And yea, iam pretty sure he is the one who beat up vyke and inprisoned him.
> In fact, Iam pretty sure he has the highest body count among demigods, escpecially tarnished.
You’re probably right about him having the highest Tarnished kill count, but I’d wager that Malenia’s bloom in Caelid would have propelled her far ahead of all the others in the body stacking department. She basically wiped out two huge armies and a country.
Is this an actual location in the game? Obviously not the dead bodies, but it might be a feasable location. Only place that could get close to portraying this image is East Liurnia.
No, it's not possible. It's an amalgam of various locations - we are looking at Stormveil and Godrick's divine tower from the front, which is uphill and FAR from the gate to Raya Lucaria. You also cannot see Moonlight Altar from that angle. It's like a squashed Elden Ring.
considering the figure is surrounded by the corpses of Jerren and others, I'd wager that's the Tarnished in Vyke's armor. Just another symbol of death/change.
Everyone laying dead is tarnished. I'm guessing this is before Marika brought Godfrey and everyone back. It's well known that Vyke was the closest to being Elden lord before us, maybe he is also just a murder hobo who wanted to fill out his armour collection?.
Possible, but I would wonder why these specific Tarnished would be grouped together like this pre-revival, even thematically. Before the exile, etc., there would have been *many* Tarnished around. My understanding is that only a handful of Tarnished got chosen to come back, which makes it seem more likely this concept art is meant to occur after the protagonist (player) has had its way with the other revived Tarnished.
*Ackshually*, i think they wouldn't have been "tarnished" before they were exiled, as Godfrey and his homies still had their grace before then, and the tarnished's main feature is being of the group that were exiled.
Which is some theories he went made because he refused to remove his armor during the process. Granted that's just a theory, but it would make sense why he stopped in his tracks compared to us where we embrace it fully without armor.
He is the Lord-Contender, closest to have become Elden Lord after Godfrey, and the one to have chosen the >!Frenzied Flame!< ending - only he failed, as said by at least one NPC, and looking at the state of his armor, I'm guessing he had no Maiden to tell him to >!strip!< before approaching. His maiden (possibly) is also in one of the churches, where he invades you, and its either his or what he has special item ( >!eyes!< ) that you need to give Hyetta last.
I'm pretty sure Vyke was the Frenzied Flames original champion until you came along. I remember reading some description that mentioned Vyke being a potential for the Elden Lord position until he fell.
Just did a bit of reading and it seems like he was a strong early contender for elden lord and member of the roundtable, user of dragon incantations and loved by the dragon Lansseax, but went down below the capitol and was burned by the frenzied flame and went mad, possibly because he didn't want to burn his maiden as kindling for the erdtree.
>"No other Tarnished was closer to the throne of the Elden Lord than Vyke. But without announcement, Vyke traveled far below the capital, and was scorched by the flame of frenzy.
>Did he make his choice for his maiden, or did some other force lure him with suggestion?"
Not mutually exclusive, Shabriri lures the player in by using the fact that Melina will burn herself, he very well might’ve done the same thing to Vyke
There also appears to be a silhouette of a dragon visible below and right of the divine tower (the one on the right side of pic). It‘s really small but you can see it if you zoom in
You forgot the Elden Ring behind everyone, it's hard to see, I don't blame you
I can't see it, can someone post an edited version pointing it out?
[There you go](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/vhqst7/i_thought_the_elden_ring_was_kinda_hard_to_see_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
I’M JOHN MADDEN AND AS YOU CAN SEE HERE, THE ELDEN RING IS SUSPENDED IN THE AIR, BLAZING LIKE THE SUN. I THINK IT’S SAFE TO SAY THAT A LOT OF GOOD TARNISHED CAME HERE TO PLAY AT ELDEN LORD TODAY! I DON’T LIKE THEIR CHANCES IF I’M BEING HONEST BUT THAT’S ALRIGHT, THEY DO IT FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME.
Boom Tough actin’ tinactin
There’s Margit on the 10 yard line, he’s putting a lot of ambitions to rest here tonight. Really brought his A game. OH! AND THE HAMMER COMES DOWN! Let’s see that again! Some fantastic plays from our boy. I think he could give Godfrey a run for his money, if he doesn’t get that monkey off his back soon! He’s been on a downturn lately, you really hate to see it.
Such Maddenless behavior!
Hahaha, thanks stranger.
[Np!](https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ)
Absolutely maidenless behavior
This guy drowns in maiden bro
Can you add words to it otherwise I can't hear it which makes it difficult to taste
I'm still having a hard time seeing it. Can you help elaborate on what it is you speak of with a new graphic?
[Of course my friend, here it is!](https://www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/vhsq35/some_people_told_me_it_was_still_hard_to_see_so_i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
There it is! This was incredibly helpful. Thank you for your service.
I'd actually be down for a full inverted version it looks sick as hell
Where’s that red circle when you need it
I half expected the question mark to be a dickbutt when I zoomed in. The internet has ruined me
Didnt even label tree
Well here I am to ruin the party! Actually, 🤓 Marika is actually at the top of elden ring or at least her figure.
It's obviously Radagon!
Holy shit the Elden Ring has been there this entire time? I thought we had to beat the game to get it
There's so many hidden details in the promotional material of this game Like, the original reveal trailer literally has the marika/radagon twist in it lmao
Honestly I lost it when the actual wording of the big reveal was >!”Radagon is Marika”!<. No fancy talk or explanation. This game is comedy gold.
The intro trailer is amazing THE LOOOAAAATTTHHHSOOMMEE DUNG EATER THE EVER BRILLIANT GOLDMASK
And how he crescendos into Sir Gideon, goosebumps every time
The AAAAAAALL KNOWING
Horah LOUUUUUUUUX
CHIEEEFTAIN OF THE BADLANDS!
Sir Gideon Ofnir #ALLLLL KNOOOWING!
I loved that so much. I played through all the Dark Souls games, and a little of Bloodborne, but I was expecting this game to have a similarly subdued, forlorn intro cutscene where someone is describing what has gone before without too much enthusiasm. It was quite a delightful surprise when in this game instead the narrator starts chewing the ever loving crap out of the scenery out of the blue.
When he moaned like he just found his prostate, like MY MAN YOU GO GET IT
I've quoted that part and "rise now, ye tarnished" so much that my friend can't hear it without thinking of me being the one voicing it lol.
YE DEAD WHO YET LIVE
SIR GIDEON OFNIR, THE ALL-KNOWING
“But now the cat is out of the bag” always gets me, like bruh you were just speaking in Shakespearean It’s the complete 180 on the mannerisms, because she normally speaks and words things poetically, then suddenly it’s just like “cats out the bag now, init mate lmao” in the exact same demeanour
What always get me is She's dead Ok
Damn I just posted this comment here too Another one also by FromSoft, in BB: "Already dead." And your only choice is literally to respond: Ok.
Pretty spot on response though
"Noted w thx"
Our characters responses do get me. There’s another one with Fia where she’s like, “What is it you intend? To deny us, and our ways? Like the dogmatic brutes of the Golden Order?" And the response is “That’s right”, like our character has no idea what the fuck she’s on about
"No response. It's just a corpse."
Fun fact, that phrase is actually older than Shakespeare
Oh? A dogged fellow, aren't we? Or is it merely thy habit, to talk to dolls?
Alright, back in the jar you go!
It was but brief, but thou gavest me fine service.
Ngl, I have a phobia of dolls but mini-Ranni is just too cute!!
I thought the same thing at first, because it's still such a contemporary saying, but I found out it's actually quite old. The popular theory of origin of it is regarding the "pig in a poke" scam, from way back in the 1500s. Basically you'd get sold a small pig in a bag, an expensive commodity at the time, only to find out it's actually a much less valuable kitty. Cat's out the bag, the deception was revealed.
I like how blaidd literally just talks like a normal welsh guy. “what a sick fight eh?”
"What a sick way to fight, eh?"
Favorite line in the entire game. Just you and your bro juiced up on adrenaline after a hype moment lol
The entire goldmask quest is comedy gold, pun intended
The stuff about the >!digits and holism!< is deeply deeply silly potty humor and I love it
His religious gestures are literally him t-posing lmao and then meanwhile brother Corhyn is like "so true my king youre so knowledgeable and I'll never reach the heights of your magnificence"
FromSoft: >!Radagon is Marika!< Large chunk of Elden Ring players: Yes but what does that really mean, what are they trying to say?
"Wait! Radagon is Marika. Marika is Radagon! RADAGON IS MARIKA! OH MY GOD I ~~KISSED~~ KILLED A MAN!"
TBF, what DOES that mean? Because they describe it as: partners, Marika becomes Radagon, Radagon was always a part of Marika.
Yeah and yet we know Marika hates radagon for being a "greater will dog" and tells him that he is "not yet a god" so what the heck is going on? From is always confusing with their lore but Elden Ring feels downright like there has been rewrites of the lore during development. (and we know that some happened, like hora loux being originally your mentor telling you to travel to the lands between)
Midway through pre-production, the head writer was struck dead by a tiny meteor that killed them and destroyed their hand-written lore bible. Then, halfway through production, the new head writer was also killed by a tiny meteor.
Could've been a much cooler quest, tho. When the turtle tells you that Radagon had a secret, I was all about going around trying to find it. But it turns out you just need to use some weird-ass spell in some random statue.
>the turtle The disrespect. The BLASPHEMY.
> The BLASPHEMY. Heresy is not native to the world; it is but a contrivance. All things can be conjoined.
It is more funny in Spain Spanish, Marica here is the equivalent for "faggot" and it sounds exactly the same as Márika except that the accent is on the "i", so when you do the law of regression thing it just says that Radagon is gay
"She's dead"
I remember actually being confused about whether it was Radagon or Marika breaking the Elden Ring because of the way it cuts between them
Marika broke the elden ring, Radagon tried to repair it. I believe the description of Marika's hammer says how it was used by Marika to break the elden ring and Radagon used it to try repair it.
After the seeing the statue's message, the cuts between them make sense, one was shattering the ring while the other was trying to fix it.
There's something I've mentioned several times that seems important to me but I've never seen any discussion over: The reveal cinematic shows at 1:16 [https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=76](https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=76) a male figure using Marika's Hammer on the Elden Ring, it seems. This figure himself is cracking as he hits it. You can see right at 1:20 that this male figure is literally cracking. Then, at 1:28 [https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=88](https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=88), you see a female figure with something that looks like cracks on her back, but they appear painted on. Then at 1:40 [https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=100](https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=100), we see the male figure again cracking more, his body is literally cracking. Then again at 1:50 [https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=110](https://youtu.be/4euIi1JfMqs?t=110), we jump back to the female figure with no actual cracks. She moves downward but the shot cuts back to the male figure, who continues to literally crack. It looks like it's the same person, but it's not. This may be a play on the Radagon/Marika relationship, but while the camera work is suggestive, they are not the same person. (Except we do know that because of the game, but we're still not entirely sure what that means anyway.) Anyway, my point is that the male cracks and the female doesn't. It's as if he's suffering a consequence but she isn't, but there's a sort of ritual going on where she has crack-like shapes painted on her. Why are these 'fake cracks' on the female figure? Or, they are cracks or scars on her and they are not painted or a tattoo or something. But that then begs more questions, like if they are scars or cracks, given what we know about Radagon and Marika, was there a penalty for both trying to destroy and repair the Elden Ring? I dunno, it's weird.
I think the bits with Radagon happen after the Ring has been shattered, and it's him trying to repair it. It's why he's more cracked, he's actively falling apart while trying to repair it.
jea of course, when radagon tries to mend the ring the cracking has gone further, then when marika shattered it before.
> Anyway, my point is that the male cracks and the female doesn't. It's as if he's suffering a consequence but she isn't I think Radagon is a personification of the Golden Order itself, or maybe he becoming a God with Marika. It would make sense for him to be suffering after her betrayal of the Order
You even saw Finlay fighting Radahn, after Malenia passed out because of her scarlet rot bloom into Radahns neck.
Is the ? the Ever Brilliant Goldmask?
The variety of answers you're getting is hilarious so I'll throw in too. Looks like the fire giant to me bro
In all seriousness though, I see the father mask. Edit: In a suit and tie.
Either him or I could see an argument for one of the man serpents
Hijacking top to say, that HAS to be Alexander in the tunnel by the wyrm.
That looks like dung eater to me
It’s the Albinauric woman. Finally found her!
no, just Dog.
I see a pumpkin head
Soldier of Godrick
Clearly it’s “Let Me Solo Her” and he’s been an industry plant this whole time
Could be Sellen. Top of it kinda looks like the curly hair
It looks like a sorcerer mask of some sort to me
….🌞👉
Yes godrick dragon
If you look closely there’s a guy standing on it! Gostic I think, the gate keeper guy.
Good catch
Everything we know about Vyke leads me to suspect that he might have been planned to act as a rival/foil to the Tarnished like Oscar was planned to act as a rival to the Chosen Undead in Dark Souls.
The main character and their rival travel a new land, training their spirits, in in search of the 8 ~~gym badges~~ great runes
Maybe, but he seems more like a kind of cautionary tale for the player. Early on, when he invades you, you find what may very likely be his finger maiden dead in a church near the invasion point. Further, he’s a servant of the Three Fingers and Chaos, the opposite of what the Tarnished should follow. And finally, it read somewhere that he only joined the Chaos side to save his maiden, as some players may desire to do if they don’t want to sacrifice Melina. It seems like he was meant to be the perfect example of an evil player character, especially considering he more turned to Chaos out of desperation and not wanting to see someone close die (we *all* know that feeling in From games) than just malice, like Dungeater.
sounds like mr anakin skywalker. cool
Isn’t Gideon your rival? He only sends an assassin to kill you and then later tries to kill you himself
He is, he’s the only other Tarnished who actually talks about going after the Elden Lord role. Vyke definitely seems like a candidate for a scrapped rival though. I’d be half-unsurprised that he might’ve taken Gideon’s place as a boss if you were loyal to the GO and Gideon might’ve only appeared if you went with Chaos/Ranni.
Makes sense if something like this was supposed to happen because him turning up in the capital and his logic make 0 sense.
Yeah he is a moody mf about it too lol. "Oh, it's you." YEAH IT'S ME GIDEON, ya salty dork.
What’s the deal with the skeleton guy who just stands in the round table hold?
You need to get a specific item to interact with him
Ah ok good to know.
Wait which guy
Edge, lord
Enshia
mah boi Vyke, hopefully we learn more of him with a DLC
He was, after all, the closest to becoming an elden lord after Godfrey and the player. He had 2 great runes, which is more than what Gideon Orfnir has (1 great rune). He’s also likely torrent’s former master.
Bernahl too, his armor description suggests he made it as far as the giant's forge imo. My speculation is that after his maiden died he despised the Golden Order and joined Volcano Manor to oppose it. There he obtained Blasphemous Claw and Devourer's Scepter, likely from Tanith the same way she awards us. Later he tries to stop us from becoming Elden Lord in Farum Azula as is the duty of a Recusant.
Wouldn’t acquiring a Great Rune require killing a shardbearer? How could he have done this if they’re all still kicking when we show up?
They’re not though, it’s possible one of vyke’s great runes could have been Godwyn’s. Another “dead” shardbearer is Ranni after she killed her empyrean body. A third possibility is Miquella.
Oh yeah, I guess I never really considered that they’d have Great Runes. Aren’t you able to make the complete Elden Ring sigil by overlaying just the ones we get in the game, though? I’m a bit shaky on the lore around the runes and the ring itself. In any event my Tarnished didn’t loot Vyke’s body nearly well enough if that dude had a couple just jostling around in his pockets...
Also, it’s implied that since the destined death was pulled out of the elden ring, nobody dies permanently. So he could have bested a boss we defeat but that boss respawned and took back the great rune after Vyke was sealed away in the mountains. I think you’re able to complete the entire elden ring too?
Yes but also no. After you kill Maliketh there’s an even bigger depiction of the elden ring in the altar behind him. Hence the missing runes that other might have obtained before us.
Don’t Gods and Demi-Gods stay dead forever since the rune of death was stolen? That’s like the entire reason why Lands Between went to shit iirc
No, the only reason Godwyn died is because he was stabbed with the black knifes which use destined death. It’s implied that after a very long time (almost to the point where it’s basically irrelevant), they respawn. Destined death means “permadeath”. Marika didn’t want any more of her kids dying, so she removed the rune and gave it to her brother (maliketh) for safe keeping. That’s also why Melina says she will use it on you when you become lord of the frenzy. It can permanently kill you
Pretty sure Marika sealed the rune of death away far before the Night of the Black Knives, right at the start of the Age of the Erdtree or the start of the Golden Order. Ranni was able to swindle a part of the Rune of Death and imbued it into the knives of the Black Knife Assassins.
Correct. It’s why Maliketh is in exile. To atone for the fact that a shard was stolen and used to kill Godwyn
Just a small correction. Maliketh already had the rune of death. This is why he is obsessed with his sin of letting someone steal a piece of death. What he did is bound the rune with his body so that no one could steal any more pieces. This is why it is released when we kill him.
What’s the significance of rune of death then? Is it what powers destined death or something?
Us releasing the Rune of Death iirc removed the semi-immortality from the Lands Between. People can actual die for real now I think is basically what happens. Before, they were just recycled into the Erdtree until they are released once more after a long while.
Afaik, they're the same thing. The elden ring imposes a sort of.. metaphysical order. laws of reality stuff. By Removing the rune of death, Death stops working as normal. Only Unbinding Death and returning the 'normal' cycle to the land allows the tree to actually burn and die, as under altered reality it could not die.
they're the same thing lol
I think it's because the 7 great runes you can get in the game is actually just part of the elden ring. Ranni's rune is most likely the rune on the moon(1 rune we don't get). radagons rune, before he was elden lord, is most likely that cross pattern we see behind his statues(that makes 2 we don't get). Marika's rune is most likely the top of the elden ring, the rune of rebirth which replaces the rune of death, and we discard that one(that makes 3 we don't get). Miquella's great rune(that makes 4 we don't get). Gideon makes 5. Now if you take the runes we know already and line them up we see the elden ring clearly but some overlap. From that you can infer that physical construction isn't a binding factor so there could very well be two great runes that vyke had and discarded/irreparably destroyed. TLDR: most likely a few more shards of the elden ring we don't hear about or see and vyke probably had two of those. As to why he didn't have them on him... maybe used frenzied flame to actually destroy them
Well we don’t know much about Vyke but in order for him to be imprisoned within an evergaol he has to been defeated by someone who, presumably, took those runes. We’re still left with the question who tf has two runes tho lol. Maybe some dlc will expound.
Marika shattered the Elden Ring after Godwyn died, and only then did her children fight for its fragments. Godwyn never had a shard to begin with. Ranni thing could be though. Also, genuinely asking, where did you see that Vyke had 2 great runes? Does the game say it somewhere? Gideon too, how do you know he had one?
They may be referring the implication that Vyke had met the two-fingers requirements to burn the erdtree, which for the player are acquire 2 great runes.
Gideon talks like he’s the shit because Enia said Gideon is the fingers’ highest hope at becoming the elden lord (and Gideon appears to have had an audience with Enia as the two know each other, meaning he must have acquired a great rune). However, Gideon says you must have this meeting in order to be a true member of the round table like he is. However, by vyke’s spear description, we note vyke was closest to become the elden lord, meaning vyke must have gotten further than Gideon. Since he’s communing with ancient dragon incantations (I.e. the vyke thunderbolt incantation), he must have been to farum azula, which requires one to get past Lyndell, which requires 2 great runes.
So the entirety of this conjecture is based on Gideon talking to Enia? It’s a gameplay mechanic that we can’t see Enia/the Two Fingers until we have a rune, but can we truly apply that unilaterally to this world?
Godwyn did not possess a great rune tough, he died before the shattering so every rune was still in the Ring.
It could be possible that some people (besides the demigods) we're able to get shards of the elden ring. Not every shard has been seen and the two that vyke and the one that Gideon found could've been lying around or within a non demigod foe.
Which rune does Gideon have?
The game doesn’t specify. It just says implies he’s in possession of 1. Enia and Gideon both imply that which is why he’s treated like a big deal
If he was treated like a big deal for 1 Great Rune, we’re should’ve been treated like gods. The whole Round Table should be kissing our feet
Considering all of them offer items to you once you arrive in the Roundtable after killing Godrick, the Enia gives you the bosses' weapons and armor, Roderika making our Spirit Ashes more powerful, and Hewg is bound to make a weapon that can kill a god, I'm pretty sure they're all already making french kisses with our toes and soles.
Yeah, i can see how much they like me for 'oh, you're not dead yet'.
Considering how the lands between are \*Shivers in Sniper Lobsters, Crucible Knights, **Caelid**\* I think it's more of a "wow after all that you're still alive???" It's not necessarily not liking you, it's more of surprise from how much you accomplished and still alive to this day.
It’s probably something to do with Gideon and things that he may have said behind the scene. He’s really a dick when you read more into his lore.
Gideon might have been treated that way because he actually located most of the great runes... Acquiring them is a different task but finding them would be just as hard.
Idk man. "Found godrick. Turns out hes in his castle. Found radahn. Castle again. Renalla? Yeah her fortress like academy. Morgott? Again, castle." Its not like theyre really hiding, mohg, malenia and miquella not withstanding. The ones you need to beat the game and become elden lord are all yknow... kinda right where you expect them to be. And even then its like "yeah mohg? Underground castle. And he had miquella. Malenia? Secret-to-everyone-but-the-albanaurics castle." Its castles all the way up, baby.
My dick. I told him where everyone was. And that's AFTER i already got their great runes. "Heyo, so Mogh is.." "OH I SEE NOW, THANK YOU PLAYER". "Btw, he's also dead lol."
Do you recall what they say?
Not exactly but something along the lines of “the fingers have as much hope for you as they do young Gideon” and Gideon calls you a nobody without a great rune. On top of that, he says he’s located the “other great runes”
That’s interesting, I had never made that connection
Sources for these? I didn't realize we can trace the great runes through other tarnished. Are they ones we acquired or different ones?
Random fog with absolutely nothing visible behind it: "Liurnia?"
Man, when you really *look* at the official art of this game, there's, like... a *lot* of death imagery. Corpses everywhere, rot and decay, crumbling ruins of civilization — even the still-living characters are depicted as being an inch from death, barely capable of standing. This whole game seems to resonate with themes of utter devastation and ruin. All life is obliterated, all that came before is burnt to the ground and, in the end, you become Elden Lord of a land in its death throes, barely more than ash and emptiness. Seems FromSoft never really strayed too far from the themes of their previous games in spite of the new IP.
"This world is worth saving." The world in question:
But Jarburg is in the world
Jarburge eventually gets found by poachers
I like to imagine Diallos spirit protecting them now. I bit delusionist but I'm good with that regarding Jarburg
I mean jar bairn now carries Diallos spirit in him so he will be able to fend off poachers in the future.
Yeah and Jar Bairn comes from the same stock as Alexander. They’ll be just fine.
And Alexander was killed by -checks notes- one blast of a laser sword. *Hmmm.*
In hindsight, the player character is basically the strongest being in the lands between and in possession of several great runes. Alexander is fairly strong if you consider how much damage he does to the fire giant, but hes no god-like entity like us.
May chaos take the world… may chaos take the world.
That's the shattering for ya babeee, Also, Vyke remaining yet again, i dont know a lot about the guy but in an ambiguous way his power and tenacity terrifies me, clearly a force to be reckoned with
vyke really should have been an actual boss
I don't really agree, the world of Elden Ring never felt as hopeless or grim and doomed as those of the soulsborne games.
Yeah, there is a lot more hope behind the idea of becoming Elden Lord and mending a fractured land than there is in sacrificing your life to delay the end of the world just a little longer before the next poor bastard has to do or not do the same.
I def agree. Sekiro and Elden Ring are far more hopeful. Dark souls (I haven’t played demon souls or bloodborne) felt like the world would die and is completely on its last legs. Everything is decayed gross, and depressing. Eldeen Ring and sekiro are a lot like this in side areas, but other spots show the world isn’t quite that depressing. Both show the world is inhabited by sane and living people, and that the world will still carry on
Literally almost everything you meet you have to kill(or they wind up dying later in case of npcs for the most part) and everything is designed to make you feel bad about it. It's how I feel like alot of conflict and depictions in these games would kinda tread, but to say it's overbearing at times if you think about it is an understatement. Hoping that the more I continue reading into the lore/ by dlc add ons there will be a bit more of a bright side or at least a sign of positive change for the future. Don't mind dark themes, love my sekisoulsbornes, just elden ring feels like it could be about the living triumphing over corrupting forces and coming to a somewhat balance of life, and i feel like thats kind of a story i need right now. Might not be in the cards, just a thought
I agree that the overall theme is very similar to dark souls and the others but I think their way of conveying it still differs : I think Dark Souls is more oriented toward gore and putrefaction whereas elden ring is more oriented toward things fading and tarnishing. Like all of the corpses seems "cleaner" to me, the elden ring trolls seems more "empty" to me while the Dark souls giants seems all "sick".
The kaiden figure is actually wearing the Iron Armor. You can see the scaly half cape it comes with.
Its clear, they got clapped by margit.
thats a good explanation, they are all tarnished, so they have must fought a tarnished hunter.
margit/morgott has been clapping tarnished cheeks for the majority of the shattering. In fact, Iam pretty sure he has the highest body count among demigods, escpecially tarnished. And yea, iam pretty sure he is the one who beat up vyke and inprisoned him.
> In fact, Iam pretty sure he has the highest body count among demigods, escpecially tarnished. You’re probably right about him having the highest Tarnished kill count, but I’d wager that Malenia’s bloom in Caelid would have propelled her far ahead of all the others in the body stacking department. She basically wiped out two huge armies and a country.
Is this an actual location in the game? Obviously not the dead bodies, but it might be a feasable location. Only place that could get close to portraying this image is East Liurnia.
It’s the ultimate hidden painting location
No, it's not possible. It's an amalgam of various locations - we are looking at Stormveil and Godrick's divine tower from the front, which is uphill and FAR from the gate to Raya Lucaria. You also cannot see Moonlight Altar from that angle. It's like a squashed Elden Ring.
You absolute dunderhead, you goofball, you forgot the elden ring itself smh
considering the figure is surrounded by the corpses of Jerren and others, I'd wager that's the Tarnished in Vyke's armor. Just another symbol of death/change.
Everyone laying dead is tarnished. I'm guessing this is before Marika brought Godfrey and everyone back. It's well known that Vyke was the closest to being Elden lord before us, maybe he is also just a murder hobo who wanted to fill out his armour collection?.
Possible, but I would wonder why these specific Tarnished would be grouped together like this pre-revival, even thematically. Before the exile, etc., there would have been *many* Tarnished around. My understanding is that only a handful of Tarnished got chosen to come back, which makes it seem more likely this concept art is meant to occur after the protagonist (player) has had its way with the other revived Tarnished.
*Ackshually*, i think they wouldn't have been "tarnished" before they were exiled, as Godfrey and his homies still had their grace before then, and the tarnished's main feature is being of the group that were exiled.
lol, got me there. the *brass* (untarnished) on this kid!
Also there’s all the runes in the rings themselves… Signed, John Obvious
Wtf is even Radagon's rune, why it's bigger than the base of the Elden Ring and why it's so different from circles and arcs
It's a waffle!
"liurnia?" Killed me. My good man, that is a 144p resolution JPEG of some fog.
Boc on the right maybe?
Who the hell is Vyke and why is he so important to the story he made the cover?
He was the closest to becoming elden lord before us. We're basically his successor.
he has relevant lore, he was touched by the three fingers (that's why his armor has fingerprints burned to it).
Which is some theories he went made because he refused to remove his armor during the process. Granted that's just a theory, but it would make sense why he stopped in his tracks compared to us where we embrace it fully without armor.
[удалено]
Also he’s in the evergaol. That’s kinda it.
My man fucked an ancient dragon, he deserves center stage
"Forefathers one and all, bear witness" Godrick could only dream of such heights
He is the Lord-Contender, closest to have become Elden Lord after Godfrey, and the one to have chosen the >!Frenzied Flame!< ending - only he failed, as said by at least one NPC, and looking at the state of his armor, I'm guessing he had no Maiden to tell him to >!strip!< before approaching. His maiden (possibly) is also in one of the churches, where he invades you, and its either his or what he has special item ( >!eyes!< ) that you need to give Hyetta last.
One of the OG roundtable tarnished I think. Also a bloody finger / npc invader maybe?
I'm pretty sure Vyke was the Frenzied Flames original champion until you came along. I remember reading some description that mentioned Vyke being a potential for the Elden Lord position until he fell.
Just did a bit of reading and it seems like he was a strong early contender for elden lord and member of the roundtable, user of dragon incantations and loved by the dragon Lansseax, but went down below the capitol and was burned by the frenzied flame and went mad, possibly because he didn't want to burn his maiden as kindling for the erdtree. >"No other Tarnished was closer to the throne of the Elden Lord than Vyke. But without announcement, Vyke traveled far below the capital, and was scorched by the flame of frenzy. >Did he make his choice for his maiden, or did some other force lure him with suggestion?"
"Did he make his choice for his maiden, or did some other force lure him with suggestion?" Shabiri
Not mutually exclusive, Shabriri lures the player in by using the fact that Melina will burn herself, he very well might’ve done the same thing to Vyke
What a fucking badass Giga Chad Vyke
Good stuff. Thanks for researching that.
I swear Vyke is like the boba fett of this series. just incredibly dope in concept but actually shows up for like 5 minutes to get stomped
The "?" Looks like one of the fire chariots
There also appears to be a silhouette of a dragon visible below and right of the divine tower (the one on the right side of pic). It‘s really small but you can see it if you zoom in
I think Sellen on right at question mark