Elden Ring's new story trailer is hiding something

What are you going to play after Shadow of the Erdtree?

TIMESTAMPS ▼▼▼
00:00 Overview
00:55 The Beginning
12:03 A War Unseen
18:00 Miquella's Faithful

CREDIT ▼▼▼
►Thanks to @mispap1 for the editing assistance

MERCHANDISE

SPECIAL THANKS TO
►Mispap1, for Lore / Prepare to Cry editing and footage - @mispap1
►M4x20 for their closed captioning work

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SOCIAL

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►Special thanks to Soul of Cinder-tier Patrons.

[VaatiVidya]

I didn't really want to gush about this during the analysis but goddamn the art design for that gate scene is insanely striking. So surreal

[leoceanman]

Vaati: Finally, my 5.5 hr AC lore vid is out, maybe I can take a breather…

From Soft on a Tuesday:

[ProfessorLink]

Hiding something? Well we didn't see a poison swamp anywhere in there so that's certainly well hidden if nothing else.

[unqualifiedprofessortanuki]

The way marika stands in between the two columns of Bodies looks exactly like how id expect someone staring out from inside the erd tree would look

[xrla]

The red gate of bodies is shaped almost exactly the same as the gate through which you enter the Erdtree.
In game, you don't directly physically enter the Erdtree, but teleport via a golden seal. Leyndell and Altus have the iconic golden sky and clouds as well.
This to me looks like the first scene takes place inside the Erdtree, physically, before the gate was sealed. And Marika is lifting the rune arc as to show it to the world outside.
Also, the Erdtree absorbs bodies in current timelime, so it would not be surprising if it originally sprouted, or was built from a mass of bodies. And Miquella watered the Haligtree, another sapling of Erdtree, with his own blood. It all connects quite well I think

[NarutoUzumaki-xpnx]

Me watching the trailer - This makes little sense

Vaati opening dialogue - Everything makes so much sense

[Nakna_ankaN]

The line “…an affair through which gold arose and so too was shadow born” indicates that before gold and shadow existed as contrasting concepts they were one. I believe that Marika acting on behalf of the greater will, sealed off shadow from gold and what we see in the trailer is her in the process of closing a gateway between the two realms.

The tree we see in the land of shadow is split down the middle and golden sap seems to be oozing from in. I believe that one faction wants to open this gateway, while another is trying to keep it shut and that the tree that coils around the split tree and that most people thought was trying to consume the other tree is in fact trying to pry it open or perhaps more likely keep it shut.

We know the game world as the lands between, perhaps because it exits between shadow and gold. There is some cut dialogue from the Godrick’s dying monologue:
“There is only one tree, and only its branches.
That bathe in true rays of gold.
Not the fool Omen King.
Nor the rank malformed twins.”

The trees he’ referring to must be the Erdtree and Miquella’s haligtree, suggesting then that at some point in the production of the game there may have been a third, TRUE tree and perhaps the line of returning together to our home bathed in rays of gold isn’t referring to Leyndell, but to a realm of gold where this third tree is located.

Messmer being a child of Marika or Radagon seems all but certain and I believe him to be the firstborn child of Marika and Radagon. First, because all the other unions resulted in three children, and just like Malenia and Miquella, his name starts with an M, but also because there are three different types of butterflies; the aeonian that relates to Malenia and the nascent that relates Miquella, the smoldering then relating to Messmer and his flame seems like too good of a fit not to be the case.

If this is the case then it would stand to reason that he is also cursed in some way and one thing I took note of back when he was revealed is how different aspects of him is very similar to other characters. His spear is very similar to Mohgwyn’s sacred spear, he has what looks like several small dragon wings and a large snake that is either coiling around him or is part of him.

Could it be that his curse is that he is influenced by several outer gods at once, that perhaps several has within him, joined forces to oppose the greater will or that he is able to wield their power, while not be under their influences?

Part of the description of Mohgwyn’s sacred spear reads; “…it is an instrument of communion with an outer god who bestows power upon accursed blood” referring to The formless mother, the dragon wings could be a sign of the god to whom Placidusax served as Elden lord, the snake is the serpent god and his fire could potentially come from the fell god.

I’ve had a theory for quite some time that Marika herself became an unwilling participant in the golden order. That the seduction mentioned in the trailer refer to how the greater will seduced Marika in order to serve its purpose and that the manifestation of Radagon, was a means for the greater will to take full control. This would then be why Marika once she understood that she had been used, tried to shatter the Elden ring only for Radagon to try to repair it.

Another strong symbolism of this is how the statues of Marika and Radagon differ from each other. Marika has her arms stretched out in the same pose that she is shackled inside of the Erdtree as if she is forcibly taking that pose, while Radagon takes it willingly. If the pose is a symbol for the golden order and the greater will and their relationship to it, then it would be a strong symbol of them relating to it in very different ways.

The goal of the greater will is after all perfect order, but how can that be if it isn’t in full control. I believe that the purpose for the greater will with the different unions of Marika and Radagon, first with Godfrey, then Rennala and finally between the two different aspects of the same entity, was to produce a new even stronger Empyrean through which it could act.

Once Marika understood that the greater will had been using her and was trying to replace her, she may have been involved in or even orchestrated the plot to assassinate Godwyn, since if his soul died and the body of Ranni died, neither would be a suitable vassal for the greater will to bend to its will.

Mohg and Morgott would not have been options either on account of them being omen. Rykard was also part of the plot and may have been unsuitable because of how he had already started to stray from the golden order in favor of the serpent god. Why Radahn was unsuitable is harder to answer, but he idolized Godfrey and showed no true loyalty towards the golden order. Malenia was unsuitable because of her affliction of scarlet rot, leaving only Miquella, who once he realized that the golden order couldn’t heal his sister and how his love and empathy was in conflict with the golden order’s treatment of omen and the misbegotten also abandoned the golden order and perhaps made himself an unsuitable host through his departure to the realm of shadows.

This obviously just a lot of wild theories and there are plenty of gaps and unanswered questions that remain, but it’s fun to speculate. Thanks if you made it this far.

[optimalrefundable]

the imagery of St Trina as the music swells is so damn majestic.

[callumhilliard]

I wonder if Miquella wasn’t kidnapped by Mohg, but instead planned it with Mohg for him to steal him away. If Miquella found out/figured out it required a lot of bodies or blood to create an Erdtree than who better to help him with it than the blood lord himself, and it would makes Mohg’s proclamation make more sense when he says “this is the beginning of our dynasty” when it actually was, because they’re working together.

[aldoleonardo]

17:40 "When the Ashes are two, a flame alighteth.
Thou'rt Ash, and fire befits thee, of course..."

[jorgwei]

I think you are spot on with Miquella's realization of how much blood you need to raise an Erdtree. There is this massacre around Vulkano manner, and you can loot sacrificial twigs from the heaps of corpses.
This starts to look a lot like what is going on in the realm of shadow. The fire, the mount of corpses feeding twigs, the serpent. I think the Great Serpent is very likely from the Land of Shadows, maybe in allegiance with Mesmer, maybe it's its own agent.

[HATEDMADNES]

It actually looks as though the dead lion dancers (in the wide shot) are actually 3 separate lion costumes with two operators per lion. Each cape has two spears holding them up, one body per spear.

[JSKWilson]

21:07 I think we've actually already seen five of these NPCs, not four!
You didn't mention the martial artist with the black coat and flat hat who was seen in the previous trailer battling a knight... provided that was indeed this NPC and not a player wearing their clothes...

[corpsehound]

A little pop etymology: Gloam is not a color. 'Gloam' is a verb meaning to darken toward night (and it's a noun, but we'll get to that in a bit). 'Gloaming' is a noun meaning twilight or dusk. So you could say something like, "Inside the portal shines a golden sky in opposition to the gloaming sky without." Consequently, in modern English, the Gloam-Eyed Queen should really be the Gloaming-Eyed Queen, but to make matters more complicated--'gloam' was once a noun meaning the same thing as 'gloaming'. But since the events with the Queen take place long ago, an archaic noun actually fits for her. Both 'gloam' and 'gloaming' trace back to Old English 'glōm', meaning twilight or dusk.

[jacquesbossou]

I've always found it strange how most people think that Miquella is inspired by Griffith from Berserk, while we literally have Marika in front of our eyes: using strong and loyal warriors, and mass sacrifices, to establish her order, based on a great tree.
Miquella would rather use his own blood than people's lives to make his tree grow.
I think Miquella is truly as kind as the characters in game say, and Marika is the one inspired by Griffith and his deceptions.

[MonkeyDLuffy-fleb]

I've been waiting for this.
It's funny how so many were too, seeing the comments for the trailers. You've become a central part of the Soulsborne franchise

[nokar]

That scene looks like Marika sealing off the Land of Shadow from the Lands Between like a fkin oblivion gate. Possibly with some sort of Griffith-esque sacrifice

[Godspeed]

I think the beginning of the trailer is an offering that Marika is making to the greater will and the entrance she's holding it up in is the primordial crucible. The entrance she's at looks like the entrance we go into with the erdtree and she may have basically supplanted the crucible into what we now know as the erdtree. Basically I think the crucible was used as an incubator/shell for the erdtree grew from.

[elementoflight]

something that wanst mentioned:
The roman looking soldiers of Messmers Army have a lot in common to Ds Twinned Armor, the helmet especially has the same kind of bronze faceplate and trimming.

[johant]

hearing your theory, i think marika tricked gloam eyed queen via radagon, then repeat the same with renalla. Messmer would be the child of that relationship. another wild guess is land of shadow were actually the "real world" and the deathless world is the world created via elden ring, messmer's war and tyranny was actually moving (plus resetting) all the souls into lands between, basically bringing everyone to live eternally in the "afterlife".