Elden Ring - Big hints for the DLC

With only a name and a promotional image to go off of, predicting what Shadow of the Erdtree will be like is a tall order. One of the few details that seems certain is that it's going to involve Miquella, so let's see what he's really been up to this whole time.

Song used: Holy Forest - King's Field IV OST

[ZullietheWitch]

A big thanks to Smoughtown, who I consulted with a bit for this video. I was looking for something that indicated the purpose of Erdtree Burial was related to rebirth, and Smoughtown helpfully pointed me to a detail highlighted by The Tarnished Archaeologist, where the doors of the Erdtree Burial chambers feature murals that appear to depict the whole process. Go check out both of their channels:

This is a video I've been meaning to make since the DLC was announced, and I'm kind of embarrassed I've kept putting it off so long, but at least it's done now.

[dr.bright]

And when the world needed her most she returned!

[FTZPLTC]

The withered appearance of Miquela is interesting based on what actually happens to caterpillars inside of chrysalises. We think of the caterpillar as turning into a butterfly, but most of the caterpillar is effectively destroyed, digested into a sort of soup that the butterfly ends up growing from.

I assume that, whatever Miquela becomes as a result of entering that chrysalis, what's in there now is just leftovers.

[Ivorye]

This would also explain why Malenia stays in the haligtree, a question most players usually have is "why doesn't Malenia go looking for her brother" or why doesn't the tarnished tell her his whereabouts? because she doesn''t need to go looking for him cause he's still there, thats why when you meet she's sitting, reaching up towards the branches. With how close the siblings seemed to be it wouldn't be surprising if she could sense his presence.

[thedivineliar]

I really enjoyed how the character models were posed in this one! Seeing Mohg in the haligtree approaching the cocoon, and malenia's hand touching her brother's really added a lot to this already great analysis!

[freddykrueger]

If Miquella's transcendance has been incomplete, we can think the DLC will have 2 Miquellas : The soul, the innocent children of the official artwork, and the body, prisoner of the dream of the Blood Goddess, maybe became another Soul's Eldritch abomination. The first would guide the player in the dream to reach the second, who would be the final boss of the DLC.

[bhc]

Great to have you back Zullie! Hope you are feeling better. Excited to see what's next from you!

[TooLateForIeago]

The Mhog x Miquella situation is one of many in Elden Ring where I wish you could talk to the other bosses instead of just fighting them.

[crowstakingoff]

When you were starting to compare Miquella's rebirth to Erdtree rebirth, you made me realize something. Miquella in the egg also resembles the corpses in the egg-like structures in the roots.

[bumblegoot]

At this point, I have a pretty solid guess for what the DLC is going to be about.

I've suspected for a while that Miquella's soul is no longer present in his physical body. If that's the case, then we have a situation that is almost exactly like Ranni; the body is dead / damaged beyond repair, but the soul has departed. If this is the case, Miquella may still very well be trapped inside the Haligtree while his body is... erm... Moghlested.

However, this sets up an extremely interesting perpendicular scenario to Godwyn. While Miquella's body is dead / empty, his mind and soul are intact somewhere. Special emphasis is placed on the face in the Haligtree, and the roots even form a hand that Malenia is touching, so it's extremely likely that his soul is there. Meanwhile, Godwyn's soul has been destroyed, but his body remains alive in death, growing throughout the Lands Between like a parasite on the roots of the Erdtree. His lore and arena is also almost as vague as Miquella's, and his situation is unresolved by the end of the game, just like Miquella. Also, Miquella and Godwyn are both located at the base of the roots of the respective great trees they are tied to. We have a situation where two characters are have unresolved lore, they have dead end arenas that are both located at the base of the most important trees, and one is a soul without a body while the other is a body without a soul. Combine this with the art featuring Miquella and massive, warped tree with deathblight colors, it's almost certain that the DLC will be about Miquella and Godwyn.

But there's even more information that can give us an even bigger clue about the events of the DLC.

Malenia fought Radahn in Caelid to restore the movement of the celestial bodies, and that includes the moon. According to the lore, had an Eclipse occurred, Miquella and his Haligtree would have reached full potential, and Godwyn would have been somehow resurrected. Consider that we can kill all the shardbearers, including Radahn. That means the celestial bodies are free to move about, which means an Eclipse is possible. The Eclipse is also featured everywhere in Castle Sol, the Eclipse Shotel's ability is Deathblight buildup, and there is even an Eclipse tattoo in the character creation menus despite the Eclipse never appearing as an entity or faction in the entire game or having any significance to the in-game story beyond being a vague "future event" that would also bring both of the most important and obscure characters back into the picture.

The DLC is called "Shadow of the Erdtree". This likely has many meanings, including the Haligtree being in the shadow of the far larger and more successful Erdtree and Godwyn literally being a shadowy version of the roots that the Erdtree spreads. But also, consider that the entire reason an eclipse happens is because the moon casts its shadow over the earth!

So for that reason, my guess is that the DLC will be about Miquella, Godwyn, and the Eclipse, and that the Eclipse happening will be a major factor in the DLC's story. We might see Miquella reach his full potential and Godwyn resurrect from the dead, possibly even at the same time. We might fight them. Regardless, it's gonna be wild.

EDIT: *It was wild*

[steampunklemon]

On the subject of the Miquella body still in the Haligtree, it seems to me like the game is evoking the metamorphosis of a butterfly very literally. When a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, the main parts of the butterfly grow from structures inside the caterpillars body. Meaning a lot of the caterpillars body is ‘unused’ by the butterfly, and left behind when undergoing metamorphosis. This includes the head and front limbs. Seeing as the children of Marika and Radagon are often associated with butterflies, I think this might be what’s being evoked here. So the body in the Haligtree is just a disused husk.

[Bones_]

Getting to hopefully see a "fully evolved" Miquella is I think one of the most exciting things to look forward to in the DLC, because if it happens you know he'll be insane.

[riotguards]

Miquella is probably the most dangerous boss in the entire souls library, not because he's insanely strong, invincible or commands an army but just by the power of compelling affection that has managed to make players like him despite there being very little information on him.

[dominiconeil]

I'm always a little concerned about Miquella, and a little hesitant to judge Mohg. Remember the bewitching branch item that lets you turn enemies against one another? Its description includes "Tree branch blessed with an incantation of unalloyed gold, " and "The Empyrean Miquella is loved by many people. Indeed, he has learned very well how to compel such affection." That is to say, Miquella was really good at _making_ people love him, and did it to a *lot* of people.

So there's always part of me that wonders if Miquella used his "compelling" powers on a guy who (being an Omen) was an outcast, locked away in the sewers and abandoned by his parents, and then _wasn't prepared_ for how far a person deprived of any affection all his life would go when they are suddenly stricken by completely overwhelming feelings of affection for someone.

Edit: Someone pick up the phone, 'cause I _fucking called it!_

That said, I feel like I kind of _underestimated_ what a POS Miquella could be.

[LrdLexan]

Another thing to note: *Malenia* is a symbol of rebirth herself. The Haligtree was built to be a place for Malenia's Scarlet Rot to heal, so perhaps Miquella is double or triple-dipping in his idea; Erdtree Burial (a form of rebirth) mixed with the Haligtree's hold on the Rot (a second form of rebirth) and then entering the Land of Dreams (where he was attempting to rebirth Godwyn from with The Eclipse).

I expect that Miquella is now trapped inside the Land of Dreams, as his mind and Soul fled there while his body was removed.

[sorensouthard]

I think miquella's kidnapping was probably the biggest tragedy of the lands between. They seemed to thoroughly be the inheritors of what would be the next age. A new tree, loyal supporters and an advanced civilization. Each of the rune bearers of course were noteworthy, but I don't think any were as close to inheriting the next age as miquella was, and it was sabotaged right at it's impetus.

[Pyre]

WELCOME BACK ZULLIE.

Your sense of cinematic staging remains amazing.

This aspect of life to Miquella, that recurring phrase of "Let all thing flourish, whether graceful, or malign" raises really, *really* fascinating questions about what could happen with him in the DLC.

Not a single force in Elden Ring is one of death. The Scarlet Rot, The Formless Mother, The Dung-Eater and Godwyn. Even the Flame of Frenzy seeks to create a new paradigm of *life* .

Interesting then that among all of these forces aiming to rewrite life to their parameters, Miquella seems to be the most fervent, and pure, of all of them.

[MossOwnsYouYT]

I think it would be really cool to see some cutscene changes in Malenia's fight if you complete the DLC first, like with Sif in Dark Souls. I would really enjoy seeing more development in external areas.

[Elementroar]

Mohg was also…sunk into Miquella as blood when we confront him, so it’s possible Miquella’s form is partially his doing directly. You know, cos he doesn’t want a child consort maybe and forcing Miquella’s body to grow

[michaelmannix]

I find the implications of Ranni and Miquella's potential cooperation the most intriguing part of the DLC. Aside from the possibility that Miquella was Torrent's former master, who gave Ranni the spirit calling bell to give to whatever Tarnished was chosen by Torrent, there are a few more subtle details that seem to imply Ranni and Miquella's fates are somehow crossed.

First is the Great Rune of the Unborn, gifted to Rennala by Radagon upon his departure to the capital. The connection between Rennala's rite of rebirth and Miquella's attempt to use the Haligtree as a womb aren't too difficult to see, but what's also striking is the fact that this Great Rune has the same shape as Malenia's, yet smaller and pure gold. We know that Great Runes tend to have a twin, like Rykard/Radahn's and Morgott/Mohg's. It stands to reason that Malenia's Great Rune would resemble Miquella's... if he had one. However, at least so far in the base game, we never acquire a Great Rune directly from Miquella. Perhaps his lack of this intended rune is even partly why he fails to be reborn, much like the demented pupils in Rennala's chamber.

While Ranni did reject her appointed Great Rune, I don't believe Unborn belonged to her at any point. After all, why would Radagon have it then? I'm curious whether in the DLC we'll actually acquire Ranni's Great Rune in some capacity, even if it isn't directly stated as hers...

The other connection between them is even more subtle, relating to geography and astrology. Ranni is of course connected to the Dark Moon. Though it appears in her ending as a sort of portal into the cosmos, it seems that the Dark Moon is also visible from the Moonlight Altar—in fact, two separate moons are visible from there simultaneously.

Normally, the moon we see is fixed somewhere in the northeast, where it aligns each Rennala's chamber, the Church of Vows, the Erdtree, and the Forge of the Giants (stand outside Rennala's arena at night, and you'll see the moon eclipsed by the Erdtree). From the Moonlight Altar, we can see this moon dimmed beyond the Erdtree in addition to a much brighter moon that suddenly appears due north. This one is in perfect alignment with Ranni and her Two Fingers, a large astrolabe outside the Cathedral of Manus Celes, Rennala's chamber (perhaps more specifically the Dark Moon Ring), and the Royal Moongazing Grounds of Caria Manor.

Based on the position of this northern moon and anecdotal worldbuilding pertaining to the Carian royal family and the north star, it would stand to reason that the north is important to Ranni and her intended purpose as an Empyrean. Figures then that our furthest point north on the map is Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree. This secret locale is consecrated beyond a vast snowfield populated by ancient white bowers, the very same that are found down Siofra River Well (along with a few Followers, to boot). It feels almost to me like Ranni and Miquella somehow traded fates, and that Miquella was permitted to use this sacred land as a means of egress while Ranni remained in Liurnia, plotting the destruction of the Golden Order.

Maybe I'm spouting nonsense lol, but I do feel like the DLC may shed more light on Ranni than we may expect.