Who is Astel? | Elden Ring Lore

The terror of the Eternal Cities Nokron and Nokstella. Astel, the Naturalborn of the Void and the Stars of Darkness, has become the greatest of the tragedies the ancient race known as the Nox has ever faced. This Lovecraftian horror helps shine light on the nature and history of the Eternal Cities, and we'll try our best to construct a story from what little information we are given about Astel.

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
00:34 - Who is Astel?
05:40 - Why is there another Astel?
11:48 - Outro

Music used:
Elden Ring OST - Lord's Apparition
Elden Ring OST - Astel, Naturalborn of the Void
Elden Ring OST - Eternal City
Elden Ring OST - Regal Ancestor Spirit

#EldenRing #EldenRingStory

[Lightice]

Just a note, a "naturalborn" is a polite euphemism for a bastard child, and Astel's Remembrance allows us to get a weapon called Bastard's Stars, further emphasizing that connection. This implies that Astel is something not wanted or intended to have been born of the Void, but something born outside the Golden Order, or whatever order it is that rules among the stars.

[Bretzel]

I think you got pretty much everything sorted out here except Astel’s origins. If Astel was created I don’t think he would have “Natural-born” in his title. I think maybe the nox may have accidentally summoned him, maybe they saw how strong the fallingstar beasts were when fully developed and wondered if they could summon something else from among the stars. I think the lore is awesome because its just like Bloodborne where everything was fine until aliens showed up and everything went bananas.

[Bannerman]

I love the line "The endless struggle of Silver against Gold"

[invyt]

My thought was that Astel is what you get when a fallingstar beast matures in space, and a full grown fallingstar is what we get if it matures after falling. This would explain why Astel has "naturalborn of the void" in his name, since he was born in the void (space) and influenced by it while the fallingstar beasts fell before birth/maturity.

[EnsignGeneric]

I think there might be a clue in the use of the term, "naturalborn." It doesn't just mean "born of natural processes", back in the day that was a polite way of saying, "bastard child." So another reading of Astel's name would be, "Astel, Bastard of the Void." If that's what they were going for it might imply that the Astels are born from the mixing of the powers or two or more gods or forces, likely the Primeval Current and the Greater Will. This does line up with the Nox tendency to merge powers to try to create weapons. Their use of gravity magic also kind of implies that, since despite its obvious celestial implications Radahn's mastery of gravity magic means that at least symbolically it's not exclusive to either side. The term, "bastard, " also implies an accidental act of creation, or at the very least one that wasn't thought through properly. If they were created by the Nox then whatever process they applied to create the first Astel they were probably very surprised by what they ended up with.

[headwired]

Something to consider, Sellia has a giant throne, like Nokron and Nokstella, but it sits empty with Lusat's staff underneath it and is guarded by a Nox swordstress and a Nox Priest. Maybe Lusat has something to do with it as well

[sullychow]

Astel always reminded me of Ungoliant from Lord of the Rings lore. Ungoliant (essentially an unholy godlike spider being, mother of Shelob, even scared Melkor who's the big bad). Tolkien stated that Ungoliant was born of the void, aka, something that God did not intend or desire, an unholy chaotic insidious birth. I see Astel the same way, unintended and not linked to any outer god. The Nox, in their defiance of the greater will, desperately sought a god from the stars and instead were given an abomination, even by Elden Ring standards. Not sure if Ungoliant influenced the game Devs or not but either way, very cool.

[altromonte]

It was my understanding that the solution is much simpler: there are creatures that live through/among the stars. Astel is no different from the elden beast, they're all just star creatures of different races. the golden ones are worshipped by the golden order, the others are worshipped by the Nox. falling star beasts and naturalborns are simply "foreigners" that arrived in the world, there is no indication they were created by anybody.
the "eye" on astel and the fallingstar beast follows the same eye theme that the fire giant and the golden runes have, it's the symbol of "outer gods" and other greater entities

[Faviomec]

Has no one else noticed the Astel faces on the meteors in Caelid? The same meteors that Radahn was holding back all, or most, have Astel faces on them. It's likely the whole reason Radahn was holding them at bay to begin with, since they're there before you defeat Radahn and more appear after you do.

[timanderson]

I think it’s possible that, in lovecraftian fashion, some of astel’s features are presented to us in a way that we can perceive. Since he is a cosmic entity it’s possible we can’t possibly perceive his actual form so our brain converts in a way that we understand. This could explain why he appears as an amalgamation of irreconcilable biology (butterfly-like wings with a rattle-like tail, gems and bone) It’s our perception attempting to convert and categorize the inconceivable creature.

[melomet]

the beasts are like all scrunched up versions of Astel. could be that the ones that fell to the lands between and began to assimilate traits of local fauna, while ones that were summoned by the Nox maintained their original form. i think the existence of both of these types of creatures in the lands between led radahn to "challenge the stars" to prevent more of these creatures from coming

[bmg]

I like the idea that the Astel were creatures that exist in the void of the cosmos, not obeying the law of any god or civilization, and that during some times, several fell into the lands between, either dying or falling into slumber
The one in the Yellough Anyx tunnel seems to have frozen and then discovered through mining
So, it's entirely possible this cities and it's scholars tried to harness the power of the Astel, signalling the start of the school of gravity magic
But they probably awakened them, and the cities were destroyed
It seems to be an species of some kind, a true Lovecraftian horror, since it isn't only one massive and destructive god, but it's an entire race that could fall into the lands between at any moment
Which is why the theory that Radhan learned this truth through his gravity master (which is also an alien) and decided to stop the stars

[anii]

I had so much trouble with Astel the first time... there is no word to describe the utter horror and displeasure I felt when entering the boss room of the second one

[The_Jomonge]

If you look at the falling star beast the growth on its head is actually a head similar to astels, same cracks where the eye is and it's hard to see but you can see where the left eye socket of the skull is

[VLimit]

Finally double-checked my pronunciation of any characters or places that were said aloud in-game. I'm still trying to improve these videos wherever possible, so feedback is still always appreciated! Thank you for watching, and I hope you enjoy both this and the future content that I have planned.

[lockepersonal]

If you agree that Numen are Nox as evidenced by Rogier, it could be speculated that Marika herself is one of the plots of Nox to take vengeance on the Greater Will.

[Kalnigma]

Could it be that the Star of Darkness variation is Nokron's attempt on Astel ? Considering that Nokron is pretty near by Mohgwyn's house, whose location can be reached through a teleport gate also at the Consecrated Snowfield, maybe it was another failure of the Eternal City, but they weren't as heavily destroyed as the one in Deeproot Depths since Mohg was there to help the Nox imprisoning their second failure ( due to the fact that if Nokron is screwed, his Palace would also be affected ). After that, they sealed Astel at the Consecrated Snowfield and had a Sanguine Noble guarding the place so that no intruders would be able to approach and release the Star of Darkness variation.

[golemofwill]

Fallingstar Beasts seem like the caterpillar stage. The mid stages are the astels that seem to be unable to fully move and are stationary in multiple areas. The true butterfly form is Astel, naturalborne of the void. My weird theory is that they are the giants or at least the corpse/skulls of giants being possessed by something else. That weird eye in the middle of their skull implies that is what controls the skull. Hope we see more of the void in the dlcs.

[bigcurly]

That kill on astel when you had 1 health at the end was mad ballsy

[Lanaestra]

So, this is admittedly pretty speculative still, but I think there's another place to look for a connection to this thread- Primeval Sorcerer Lusat. The bulbous eye on his head piece is more than little reminiscent of the eye that Astel/the full-grown fallingstar beast share. And there's a connection, through Sellia and its night sorcery, between Lusat and the nameless eternal city, as you noted.

Another element that I think we need to consider as possibly related to this line of inquiry are the alabaster/onyx lords.