Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree - Story & Ending Explained

This video will explain the story and ending of Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree. We'll be going over the main story as well as the side material found throughout the Shadowlands.

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:04 Main Story
16:39 Extra Lore

Music In Order
0;00 Demon Souls - Character Creation Menu
1;04 Dark Souls 1 - Main Menu
9;45 Demon Souls - Maiden in Black
16;39 Dark Souls 2 - Majula

Hope You Enjoyed!

[gergonyaka]

There is no way that after 2 years Mohg beats the allegations. This DLC is wild

[harrymitchell]

whats heartbreaking about messmer is what he says in his cutscene, he literally cannot believe that after his mother locked him away and forsakes him she would allow a lowly tarnished who is fundamentally as graceless as him to become a lord and not him. Like what a slap in the face

[WaterFlame]

I think the whole idea of the Three Fingers is that, since the Two Fingers are representatives of Order, the Frenzied Flame takes the form of the Three Fingers to mock the Two Fingers and their order.

[Farathriel]

There's a group of small but very vivid details that makes me convinced that Radahn, in fact, is highly opposed to Miquella's actions. Firstly – Radahn held back the stars which kept the fate of the empyreans. Doing so, it seems that he has stopped not only Ranni from acting but also blocked Miquella's actions that were meant to ascend him to godhood. That is, I believe, a reason for Malenia to strike at Radahn. He simply broke the vow and rejected Miquella. Secondly – it is stated that it was Miquella who saw a lord in Radahn. We don't get to see Radahn's response to that. It's simply implied that Miquella proposed something to his brother but we aren't told about his response. However, Malenia's actions are rather brutal and it seems dubious for Radahn to agree on blowing up the entire Caelid which was, in the end, the province that he had ruled. Moreover, if Radahn and Malenia agreed on having a duel, Radahn wouldn't have erupted with flames to stop the scarlet rot in his body. But he did erupted. Right, so also amidst the fight with Radahn in this DLC, he kneels down on the ground and erupts with fire. It's the same fire that he erupted during his fight with Malenia, which was later implied in Radahn's great rune that he did so in order to resist the encroachment of the scarlet rot. Who is Radahn resisting then? The player? But the Tarnished cannot charm anybody. So it seems that Radahn's resisting Miquella's charm or perhaps the mismatch between Radahn's soul and Mohg's body becomes apparent to him, therefore he wishes to reject it. Seconds later however, Miquella steps through the gate of divinity only to quell the eruption of fire in his brother's body. Radahn's resolve has been put back on place, he stands up and subsequently fights the Tarnished yet again.

There's also another layer of lore to be found in regards to hornsent people as well as omens. So in the armors of hornsent warriors from Belurat it is implied that their horns serve the purpose of invoking the divinity. The true reason why Radahn must've died and his soul put into Mohg's body was because Mohg was an omen – therefore he was a hornsent. His body did not only serve the purpose of being merely a vessel. It was also used to invoke Miquella's divinity as he has stripped himself of everything human, thus making himself nothing but a transcendent spirit.

Lastly, there are two other details that shed some light on the Radahn's opinion on his brother's actions. First off – the name of the boss itself is "Promised Consort Radahn". It's "promised", not just "consort". I believe it's a soft implication that there is some kind of coercion going on when it comes to Radahn's becoming Miquella's consort. For Radahn to act on his own volition in favor of Miquella's case, it'd be more logical to name him "Radahn, the Consort of Miquella". Now, another part is the soundtrack of this last bossfight. It's first phase is an inverted remix of the second phase of Starscourge bossfight from the base game. However, at one point you can clearly hear between 1:55 to 2:05 a false, disharmony in the choir, as if somebody just missed a few notes. This, I believe, points towards Radahn's true personality shedding the last tear of grievance at his miserable fate that has been brought upon him by his brother. Besides, there's a good reason for this boss to have the same leitmotiff as Starscourge, it's because Starscourge's second phase is a military elegy, a composition prepared to say goodbye, to honor somebody's death. But Radahn's not dead in the DLC yet he wished to be deceased. Freya says otherwise but she doesn't quote Radahn, she merely speaks in his stead as if she knew better.

So in short guys – I know the boss is hard as hell but it's time to man up, pick up that Tragoth's hammer and put the poor man Radahn into eternal sleep that he wished.

[UrNotThatGuyPal]

And we were calling him Moghlester this whole time

[TiakOSRS]

If I remember correctly Godwyn isn't technically dead, just his soul. The night he was 'killed' Ranni was also killed, but instead of both of them dying for real her body died and soul lived on, whereas Godwyn's soul died and his body lived on. Thats why she can inhabit various puppets and he is stuck stuck.

[lost-in-the-enigma]

The DLC has changed my views of Miquella's curse of eternal youth from being one that focuses on his fate to never come to fruition and instead is simply a curse that keeps him as a child. As powerful and talented as he is, in my eyes Miquella has always had the mindset of a naive child.

Instead of having his curse doom his endeavors to fail, its his childlike tendency to abandon a task in search of a new idea or plan that has been causing him to fail time and time again. Miquella failed to find a way to fully cure Malenia's Scarlet Rot, and instead moved on to the Haligtree as his next project when he got a temporary fix. His safe haven to the oppressed was left to wither and rot when he entered his cocoon to possibly free himself of his curse. Without any sign of looking back at the horrors he is doing by abandoning his projects and goals time and time again, Miquella fails to ever consider the true ramifications of his actions.

The DLC makes this all the more clear. His plan to enter the Shadow Lands to become a god make his theft from the Haligtree into him abandoning it, leaving his followers to wait for him endlessly as the Scarlet Rot overtakes them. His desire to have Radahn be his Lord due to his kindness and strength comes off as a child idolizing an older brother, failing to see Radahn as his true self: a blood thirsty warrior who craved glory and battle endlessly.

His journey through the Shadow Lands shows him walking a path that I truly do not believe Miquella understood the ramifications of. He abandons his core characteristics as a part of his ascension to godhood, not realizing that he will become "caged by divinity" as he naively condemns himself to being a puppet of the Greater Will or some other Outer God.

Even his Age of Compassion is corrupted by his childlike view on the world. Instead of truly leading and changing the world, Miquella charms people into following him. And judging by his dialogue in the final fight, I don't think Miquella understands how brainwashing people into compassionate and kind people is no better than making them his puppets.

Overall, I find Miquella to be a very interesting character: A godlike being with the naivety of a child.

[jjstraka]

Discovering the Stone-Coffin Fissure on my own was pretty much an Ash Lake moment. And the very simple lore revelation, and why it is there, just made the whole thing for me. Brilliant.

[vijaybm]

I think most of us had already guessed that Marika, Miquella and Ranni were all playing game of thrones with pawns of their own 2 years ago. But it is nice to see the confirmation through this DLC.

[T-Squeezy]

I never saw Radahn as this bloodthirsty warrior that was just looking for a grand fight to end things on. He was an intelligent and kind individual from what we have seen in lore notes, going to Sellia to learn gravity magic for the purpose of being able to continue to ride his horse along with owning multiple animals like a small cat. We also learn he took on the mantle of the Lion to symbolize Godfrey and Serosh after being captivated by them. Notice how he is captivated by Godfrey NOT Hoarah Loux, a calculated and strongwilled leader as opposed to the barbaric origins hes known for. It was only after being beaten in Caelid did Radahn become a bloodthirsty monster.

[IronForce-ffqx]

It’s kinda wild that the Minor Erdtree spell and the golden braid are (probably?) the only look into Marika’s mindset that we’re ever going to get, since (as far as I know) every single time she’s referenced, it always states her actions and leaves out her motivations and feelings concerning said actions. And even then, what we got is still very vague since the braid doesn’t specify what Marika’s
wish/confession was.

[VictorIV]

What I like about the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is that it pulls no punches in showing off the horrors of war and mass slaughter similar to some scenes from George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” books.

[Flora-of_The-Moon]

After playing the dlc my first thought was “that was great. wish I understood what was going on”. Hopefully this will help. Thank you.

[Schfilpmin]

Okay I have a theory that Godwyn was initially supposed to be Miquella's Consort. After Godwyn's death, there is proof Miquella instead of trying to revive him as is, instead laments saying in the Golden Epitaph description "O brother, lord brother, please die a true death." We give Radahn a true death through the festival and he was revived because of it. Was the death of Godwyn's soul alone a factor to stop his resurrection? If he was supposed to be his consort it would completely make sense not only emotionally but logically why he would both lament his half-dead festering monstrosity of a brother and hope for a true death for him. He clearly had respect for him and probably saw similar qualities in Radahn. In the remembrance it mentions Radahn's kindness, and strength that they each had, Godwyn had shown for Fortisaxx, and Radahn his scrawny horse Leonard. So many parallels that I think it's very likely.

[samwizgamgierd]

It seems to me that Miquella will end up repeating Marika's actions, the fact he chose Radahn. His Age of Compassion is enforce by Radahn thru endless war. Submit to Miquella or die by the hands of Radahn.

[AltCunninghamX]

Mohg finally beat the allegations. Bros been in court for this crap for 2 and a half years

[Lloyd]

If you notice Bayle's neck still has one of Placidusax's heads attached to it

[brodericksiz]

SmoughTown has been championing the idea that the Greater Will was way more than just another Outer God for a while now, among other things due to how the original Japanese consistently uses different terminologies when referring to the Greater Will (using language that is reminiscent of the Biblical God) and Outer Gods (who seem to be more similar to the Kami of Shinto tradition). Looks like the DLC provided more evidence in favour of his position

[omerozel]

A nice detail with Bayle is that Placidusaxs two missing head are biting down on his neck. One is right behind his right horn and the other a bit further to the left.

[devinleff]

Damn Ging, literally just finished everything in the DLC and the final boss like 5 minutes ago and was wondering when you would upload. Absolute perfect timing, this is why you’re my favorite!