The color blue and butterflies are often symbolic of death. If you've ever watched Corpse Bride, both are littered everywhere in the film. Moths are butterflies who evolved to be nocturnal, so it makes sense as to why they and the color blue are so heavily utilized for the Umbral realm and its items
Yeah. Despite being pretty shallow compare to Fromsoftware's games, it is still one of the best lore in Soul-like games I've seen along with Blasphemous, and even better than Lies of P. But I wish they invested more details on environmental storytelling.
@@pachi9065why did you sure I have never played this game? So far I have done the Radiant and Inferno ending, and watched the Umbral ending playthrough on RUclips since I lost my interest. Overall LoTF has a good story and character writing even though they are not quite original or stand out. But technically in my opinion the environmental storytelling is the weak aspect in the game, not much stories has been told through environment details.
Holy moly! A long video about one of the most interesting aspects of lore in Lords of the Fallen? Sign me in. I am glad you liked the game i have been playing it as well and even though i did get very frustrated by the enemy density and boss designs i absolutely adore the lore and art direction the game has. Hope you will keep making more videos about this game!
Another clue that Pieta is from Umbral or related with it and that I have not seen many people mention but then again I only noticed it by accident. When or if you use Blessed Reflections a spell you get from the Remembrance of Pieta, the one that summons 2 clones and slam the ground, when you use the Umbral lamp and shine on them they have blue wings. I have no idea if you can do solo but a friend of mine likes to use this spell and I myself only saw it by accident when I raised my lamp to get a parasite from the area we were fighting in. I knew about Elianne and I found it quite a neat little hint if you knew what to look for.
Few important things about the Hollow Crow's story. Tacitus' Journal says that "something can be found beneath the surface of Kinrangr's waters.". We know that Lucy died by drowning in a nearby lake (_Despite his efforts, Yorke often couldn't help but exhibit a distant demeanour towards his niece, although Lucy still expected her uncle to save her as the freezing water dragged her down_).. There is a strange connection between water and Umbral (water doesn’t exist in the realm of Umbral and at the end the city was consumed by cold water). Yorke tried, with the help of Udinrangr’ shaman, to resurect Lucy. These shamans worship crows (we can also find these animals in stigmas) and crows feed upon animal carcasses. Feeding upon dead is a theme we can connect to Umbral. Knowing how umbral magic works, we know that Lucy wasn’t fully resurected, but rather came back as a zombie. _Unable to accept how he had failed Lucy, Yorke tampered with the primal magic of Udirangr, almost entirely forgotten by his people after generations in Mournstead. But what returned to Yorke was not his niece but a mockery of life, and so his eyes turned towards one final, even more desperate gamble._ From the lore we also know that the beacons are a powerful source of energy and hallowed sentinels used human sacrifices to act as a catalyst (ex: saint Latimer). Yorke wanted to use that power to enhance the effects of a failed ritual. In the game you can find Lucy’s coffin wrapped in chains, placed in a beacon. That was his last desperate gamble. Placing Lucy’s body in the beacon unleashed a powerful wave of umbral magic, freezing entire fief. Yorke and few other soldiers survived the spell. Seeing the horror that Yorke has brought upon the fiefdom, remained rangers decided to kill Yorke. Hidden lore of blackfeather rangers: _Perhaps one of the darkest episodes in the history of the Blackfeather Rangers occurred when they were forced to hunt one of their own following his descent into deranged rituals and gruesome murders._ Yorke tried to defend himself (we find his axe stuck in the body near the nest) but was soon overwhelmed by rangers and had to flee. He got murdered by his own people. Near the Lightreaper fight arena you can find Yorke’s ring on the only body in the entire fief that did not freeze. These bloody remains were pecked to the bone by crows. Yorke’s grief along with powerful ubmral magic created a monster we know as a Hollow Crow.
Can't deny this game has a unique framing of Good vs Evil. It is interesting to see how elements from the original story from the old game made it into this one. Great video, thanks Geoff!
Orius faction on first glance: Typical good guy group Orius faction with context: Corrupt religious zealots who like self-flagellation (whipping oneself) Adyr faction on first glance: Typical bad guy group Adyr faction with context: A maligned god who's actually fair and just, but is painted as evil due to his followers' actions Umbral faction on first glance: A strange vendor who sells you an assortment of H.R. Giger bits and bobs Umbral faction with context: An actual psychopath who forcefully impregnated a bunch of women, all to appease an entity who wants to consume all of existence
@@Rahnonymous Didn't Adyr corrupt the king and his son into monsters? Adyr doesn't seem "fair and just" to me. Society probably functioned during his rule but he was probably very strict and dealt out harsh punishments.
@blakebailey22 he was a tyrant, he hated humans who dared to take leadership which is all the reason for why he ruined King Bramis and his family despite promising the Queen that he would spare them
i’ll be real idk how you don’t have like 12 million subscribers because the work you put into all of your videos are ABSOLUTELY amazing. Another great one!
Great video! On the point of the Forsaken Fen‘s sudden cataclysm, I‘ve entertained another idea entirely. The Shuja were freed from Nohuta slavery at some point in the past. I believe it possible that, searching for a new home, they chanced upon the outcasts of the fens. Recognising the symbols of their former oppressors, the Shuja began a quick and deadly assault on the outcasts, who only had the Angel of the Void as their protector and were quickly overwhelmed. Thus their practices and Umbral worship was their downfall too, albeit in a different way.
So I'm assuming Judge Cleric worshipped Orius, the Judge warrior worshipped the beast god, and the Judge assassin worshipped the Putrid Mother. I wonder if DLC will have players face the other judges
Thank you for making this video. This game does not deserve the hate it's getting. The devs have worked hard to balance the game and although there is plenty of flaws to point to, it's not a bad game at all. Keep up the good work.
Where is the "hate" I keep hearing about? Yeah there's a few people here and there that don't like it very much but the overwhelming majority of people that have ACTUALLY played the game either like it or even love it. It's a game with some flaws, but every game has them. LOTF is honestly my favorite Soulslike of all time. It isn't nowhere near as punishing as some people make it out to be either. Everytime I think "oh man this game hates me and doesn't want me to progress" I finally change something up and try a different tactic or mechanic and then think to myself "ohhhhh, so THAT is what I should have done!". This game want's you to play a variety of different ways. And once you realize that it make's the experience much easier.
@@Remmy093090% of the vids and comments I see on the game are about how horrible the game is. Heck there’s even a video about how LoTF is “an insult to Fromsoft” which I feel is very, VERY extreme. I love LoTF myself, and feel it brings a lot of great new additions to the table like its lamp mechanic, the armor tincts to make ANY set match, and the phenomenal ranged/magic system which I never see anyone talk about
Been waiting for this!!! I wasn't sure if you intended to cover any LotF lore, but I am obsessed with the game and am starved for lore content about it. There's a few other channels covering it but not many, and this just made a shitty day a much better one for me. Thanks Smough!
I have to say the passion you have for LotF is infectious. I’ll probably pick it up soon to get my dark fantasy rpg fix and it’s a shame these vids don’t get as much traffic as the rest. Thank you for the passion and I hope at some point you make some more stuff about this game
I’m so glad there’s people like you making videos on this game, a bad first impression has ruined this game in the eyes of the RUclips echo chamber. I think this game is amazing and I loved this video! I hope you make more.
@@SmoughTown I have been playing it every chance I got since launch, it's an absolute blast. Thanks for covering the lore. Can't wait for something about Adyr too, who I find to be a super interesting character.
Great to hear you talk about this and can't wait to hear you talk about the Orius and Adyr side of things. I do think there's a weird love/hate relationship or schinanagins happening with Orius and the Umbral since they benefit one another with defeat of Adyr.
I genuinely love this game, the lore and gameplay has been very enjoyable to me so far! Definitely a giant improvement to the first lords of the fallen game, the second game compared to the first is like night and day.
When I first started watching lore videos I stumbled upon you and since then no one sounds nearly in depth, consistent, and concise. 👍🏽 Keep it up cause I don't goto anyone else
I have been really looking forward to seeing your interpretation on the lore of this game I love this game sooo much I know you’ll do it justice!:) EDIT: on a side note I have Raymond and would highly highly recommend them they’re honestly something I don’t think I can go back to the inferior of
So happy to see more n more ppl including a big time souls content fan like yourself slowly but surely starting to do lore vids on this amazing franchise IMO. This franchise doesn't get as much love as it should which is truly a shame because if ppl can look past its flaws and the "bad" stigma the original left behind they'll see just how amazing it truly is. For a small studio 2nd attempt at trying to create an interesting world within lotf universe i think they did a pretty amazing job.
I am so glad you've finally decided to cover LOTF as well. Its limited lore fascinated me throughout my playthrough. The only criticism of the video I have is the choice of music. I do believe a less upbeat-y heroic tune, and a darker, more quiet one would have benefited this video greatly. The pacing seemed to be quicker than your usual stuff as well, but seeing the runtime of the video, I can't say that I blame you. You have so much to cover in this game and I'm looking forward to all of it. Thank you!
So I love the focus on worldbuilding in this game and the way the three 'greater powers' are balanced against each other. Order, chaos, and entropy. Order and Chaos are engines of life but Entropy just eats. In an ideal situation they're all balanced with each other. Order and Chaos create and destroy the material world and the energy of life which is constantly created is devoured by Umbral. I think in LotF the abundance of Umbral is basically a side effect of lots of death and lots of magic. Particularly the use of the lamps and parasites. These relatively small things which nonetheless provide tiny windows from a realm of pure Entropy into material reality. Umbral is an all-consuming cosmic force. The Putrid Mother is, I think, just a way for the mortal mind to give it a face, even if that face is pretty intense. All the ghouls in Umbral are reflections of mortal psyche as well, and the seemingly malicious nature of Umbral makes people afraid of it but doesn't the text imply that basically everything we think we know about the, let's say, appearance of Umbral is based on mortal terror at death coupled with the idea of an unkind afterlife? Thus, one might imagine that the Nohuta see and regard Umbral as something fundamentally more gentle and welcoming. I just think it's incredibly 'faceted' worldbuilding. the Umbral shades also have a ton of different ways one could interpret them. Those big faces could be lying, cowardice, imposter syndrome, a ton of things. Same with the preggo shades. They could be the fear of childbirth just as much as the fear of losing a child. They could also be emotions like spite or jealousy that grow within us until breaking out violently. Don't even get me started on Pieta. Honestly I think Umbral does so friggin much with dualities. From a worldbuilding perspective it's genuinely brilliant stuff.
a desire for power to tip the balance one way or the other leads mortals to extremes that basically just turn the world into a battlefield for the primordial forces of existence which is, presumably, not sustainable. Thus they all stand to destroy each other and humanity incidentally in the process. Particularly Umbral. It's an unthinking force because thought isn't necessary to it's greater cosmic function of consuming life force. Without Umbral there'd be too much of the stuff and the universe's chi would probably get all clogged up. But if Umbral ate everything I think it would logically go on to devour itself (and, if I had to guess, probably birth a new universe in the process) Thus the balance is necessary for the continuation of the universe or, perhaps, to allow the universe to achieve this cycle naturally. Then mortals come and start poking holes in it to steal little bits of it's power. That's my thoughts on it, at least. Spooky stuff lol.
TL;DR: I don't think The Putrid Mother has agency, as such. I think she's just a part of the life cycle of the LotF universe. I think what's construed as her 'will' is actually Molhu's will or, perhaps, the will of the Nohuta. Her parasitism of the material world is a side-effect of the mortal realm invoking it. As far as it's place as a proper realm of the dead, I think Umbral consumes ALL matter and energy, mortal souls are just capable of giving it a manner of tangibility because of their minds. Thus if there is a nicer realm of the dead it's Umbral, too. Or, if there are afterlives associated with Adyr and Orius (which seems implied) those would basically just be waiting rooms for Umbral's eventual consumption of the entire universe (in theory)
Awesome video, listening to these helps the day go by faster for sure. Knowing what happened to the boy, being used like he was, definitely makes playing as a Palidan and turning them to Adyr makes it so much better now
Its criminal that we didn't get another video on LOTF, I've been going through it and I'm having an absolute blast. I feel like it's honestly on the level of souls in terms of world building and lore. But I know it's launch burned a lot of people and Elden Ring is the golden boy of this channel. A man can dream...
LoTF has a lot of really cool aspects. It’s far from perfect, and has some aspects that make me question what the devs were thinking, but its overall an awesome game. Would’ve loved a Tancred/Reinhold vid from Smough
@TheReclaimers Tancred is not only a badass looking boss but he's a very complex character. A smoughtown analysis on him and Reinhold would've been great.
Thanks for the great video! After being a doubter at release (largely because of technical reasons though), this game drew me in like no other this year after getting it on sale. It strikes a wonderful balance of a classic narrated game and the obscurity of a souls title, giving you a proper grip on everything while playing through it, but letting you feed on your desire for more, plunging deeper into the lore. The wonderful aesthetic, level and world architecture and sound design all let me gloss over it's shortcomings (many of which are still actively worked on by the devs). I really hope we get DLC for this in the future! Also, it took me a while to my own umbral playthrough, realising the whole scope of "Pieta" (even the name so fitting) and how many details, literally hidden in plain sight and the realisation, her placement in the gameworld, or better said: Molhu's placement is so central and deliberate, it ran shivers down my spine. They did such an amazing job at this.
This is a detail I haven't seen anyone mention before, but you can hear the cawing of crows as Pieta reforms after the fight, with crows being especially drawn to the umbral.
Being someone who knows nothing about this game, all I can hear is: "The main threat presented to us in Lords of the Fallen is that of *a deer* and his imminent return."
I very much enjoyed this. Times have been tough so i haven’t been able to jump into the game myself but this got me very hype for when I eventually can. Great job as always!!!
Hopefully more folks find this video now that the game is on game pass. Don't blame you for moving on though, hardly any views... Still, this is a good explanation. It felt a little harder to follow in game because you have to unlock the lore through levelling, which I don't love.
"I am the hub of the wheel, the origin of all life, the devourer of death." "Or maybe you're just hungry... could it be as simple as that?" Really interesting to see how much inspiration Lords of the Fallen takes from the Legacy of Kain series.
While the game itself has gameplay issues (which are being worked on constantly), this part of the Fromsoft concept baseline was completely missing from all the other major soulslikes out there. I really appreciate this one game finally grasping the story aspects and the "soul" of this genre so to say. Great video, I really hope you continue on the other parts of the story!
So glad to see you tackling Lore for this game. The original LotF was better than the hate it got, but this new game has been a pure joy for me. I like to say, if you like Bloodborne, you'll like Lies of P; and if you like Dark Souls, you'll like Lords of the Fallen. And this "Dark World" (Umbral)--similar to the Zelda franchise--is such a standout idea that I hope we'll continue to see.
Though your take on the lore was top tier definatley happy too see you cover more lords of the fallen lore also have you played lies of p would be good to hear your take on its lore
Very very good video. I love the attention to details and the illustrations of said details around each area covered, because I will admit I never really paid mind about the umbral statues’ difference. I will for sure take some time looking for that next time. The only mistake I noticed is not even about the game (immaculate conception refers to the idea that Maria is not touched by the original sin, it’s not about her impregnation).
I know this video didn't do well for you, but I still wish you brought of your talents into the lore of the game more than just one feature. I absolutely loved it, despite some issues. The lore is def one of tje strong points.With all the great updates the game.received, it deserves more attention.
Something I noticed is the similarity between the three symbols for Umbral, Orius and Adyr respectively. O and A are already superimposed over each other in Adyr's temple on a pillar as if they're two sides if the same coin, whereas the Umbral eye looks like the precursor to the symbol of Orius. Maybe both A and O originally stem from the Putrid Mother who is said to be older if I recall correctly.
The amount of work you put into your videos is crazy. I’m glad you’ve been getting recognized by From and getting early access. I hope that extends to other companies as well
Love the video. Honestly I personally find the world building of Lords of the Fallen much more engaging than Dark Souls and Elden Ring. The game itself has flaws, but not that stop me enjoying it, and it explores themes in its story that are a lot more engaging. I know this series will inherently do worse than Fromsoft stuff because it's for a game with much less wide appeal, and grognards for Souls will boycott anything to do with it, but I really hope you continue on the subject.
I have a question that isn’t answered in the umbral ending, why is it we sacrifice the four, and need the other four to soul bugs thing to put in the pillars. Why couldn’t we sacrifice any NPC why does it have to be those specific NPCs
They were marked by the putrid mother (damarose the marked), possibly due to the intense emotions they experienced through their lifetimes being ideal to grow nourish the seedpods.
A lot of shit talk on this game when it released, and I’ll only back up the performance shit talk. Other then that the lore and the art work and just how this game was built between 2 realms is absolutely incredible work!!!! I hope Hexworks continues there work in souls games!!!!!
How come you can see the whole image in the stigma? When I activate them I have to pan the camera around to get a glimpse of an elbow. I never see all the figures in them...
Your interview with Cesar has some huge implications for the story of the Mournstead royal family. So the queen was actually not communicating with Adyr, as she thought, but with the Putrid mother?
Is the umbral boy Dal’Jaroo? - the child mentioned by the woman from a foreign land in a cage in Pilgrim’s She mentions the sun rising over the sand, etc.
Please Smough, make videos on the lore of the first Lords of the Fallen, and the connections to this new (2023). Akin to what you have done the Elden Ring ones.
@@Sometuy11A I think it's a warrior based culture where loyalty is heavily rewarded because spoilers in coming after his ending you rise as his right hand his first new lord. He could of just killed your character but he's impressed with your work fighting your way through everything not losing your sanity to the upstart Sun/Blood God Orius who doesn't show himself to any of his followers unlike Adyr who lives with his (ppl/creations?) An rhogar an humans alike aren't lying to anyone like if your weak you don't have a place in his world but if you are strong he recognizes you as such where as the umbral mother just wants to eat everything an Orius seems to smite everybody after you go through his ending so it's Ardy for me. Hope we get Judge Rogue or Judge Warrior DLC
@@Hankering5656 I don't think that's exactly his vision for the entire world, merely his vision for those he deems worthy to stand by his side as his warriors or lords. Damarose even said this during her quest. If you look at the items that are tied to Iselle, you'll see that before she became a warrior priestess of Adyr, she spent a lot of her youth simply picking flowers with her mother, and her family lived a simple life. So basically, if you're not powerful, you live a simple life, but if you prove yourself a worthy warrior, you get to stand beside Adyr as one of his chosen champions or priests. Unless you're the subject of his vengeance and wrath, he's an alright dude.
You're in contact with the devs themselves? Couldn't imagine that ever happening with most other games. Let's see if it makes the experience better or wore. This certainly is an interesting opportunity.
Thank you for this video! It really helped clarify things for me. I played through it once and the world largely felt edgy for the sake of being edgy (like the arms on the fences in the first town - why are there thousands of corpses everywhere?! The town has barely three houses) and the plot felt pretty flat - at least to me. Especially since I focused on strength and couldn’t read much of the lore in the items, which I don’t really like the extend of. For the high stat items in faith, ok. But for a normal axe, I can’t see nothing? That made it hard to connect with the lore to the point it drove me away from a second playthrough. This gives a new perspective on those topics and I am happily awaiting upcoming videos from you on LOTF. Keep up the great work!
The one thing I don't understand if all the umbral entities are "emotions" or "illusions" how does the vestige moth grab Drustan? He's not a real lampbearer and thus should not be able to peer into umbral, and umbral moths shouldn't be able to kill him.
I feel like this game isn't getting the love that it deserves. I know that performance was in rough shape at launch, but this was a great game. Hot take, but I had more fun with Lords of the Fallen than I did with Elden Ring.
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Frenzy flame vs. Umbrella mother who wins in destruction
The color blue and butterflies are often symbolic of death. If you've ever watched Corpse Bride, both are littered everywhere in the film. Moths are butterflies who evolved to be nocturnal, so it makes sense as to why they and the color blue are so heavily utilized for the Umbral realm and its items
candles & butterflies are symbles of life & death. its Persian philosophical poetry (Sufism, if not mistaken).
The lore and world building are definitely strong points of this game so I have been looking forward to this, thank you for your efforts!
Couldn't agree more! Hope you enjoy
Yeah. Despite being pretty shallow compare to Fromsoftware's games, it is still one of the best lore in Soul-like games I've seen along with Blasphemous, and even better than Lies of P. But I wish they invested more details on environmental storytelling.
The game runs at 2 fps though
Spoken like a player who NEVER BEAT THE GAME, who tf is Oris then buddy?@@TuNguyen-vu1cg
@@pachi9065why did you sure I have never played this game? So far I have done the Radiant and Inferno ending, and watched the Umbral ending playthrough on RUclips since I lost my interest. Overall LoTF has a good story and character writing even though they are not quite original or stand out. But technically in my opinion the environmental storytelling is the weak aspect in the game, not much stories has been told through environment details.
Can't fathom the amount of work required to collect all of the info required to make these vids. Always happy to see a new vid show up in my feed.
Thanks Havoc - really hope you enjoy this one
Holy moly! A long video about one of the most interesting aspects of lore in Lords of the Fallen? Sign me in. I am glad you liked the game i have been playing it as well and even though i did get very frustrated by the enemy density and boss designs i absolutely adore the lore and art direction the game has.
Hope you will keep making more videos about this game!
Thanks so mucn! I couldnt agree more - I agree! The game has a lot of depth
Another clue that Pieta is from Umbral or related with it and that I have not seen many people mention but then again I only noticed it by accident. When or if you use Blessed Reflections a spell you get from the Remembrance of Pieta, the one that summons 2 clones and slam the ground, when you use the Umbral lamp and shine on them they have blue wings. I have no idea if you can do solo but a friend of mine likes to use this spell and I myself only saw it by accident when I raised my lamp to get a parasite from the area we were fighting in. I knew about Elianne and I found it quite a neat little hint if you knew what to look for.
Wow that's so awesome - I had no idea!
What a great detail, thank you for sharing it.
I think also the Orius beams after you cleanse the beacons shine blue under the light of the lamp.
Few important things about the Hollow Crow's story. Tacitus' Journal says that "something can be found beneath the surface of Kinrangr's waters.". We know that Lucy died by drowning in a nearby lake (_Despite his efforts, Yorke often couldn't help but exhibit a distant demeanour towards his niece, although Lucy still expected her uncle to save her as the freezing water dragged her down_).. There is a strange connection between water and Umbral (water doesn’t exist in the realm of Umbral and at the end the city was consumed by cold water).
Yorke tried, with the help of Udinrangr’ shaman, to resurect Lucy. These shamans worship crows (we can also find these animals in stigmas) and crows feed upon animal carcasses. Feeding upon dead is a theme we can connect to Umbral. Knowing how umbral magic works, we know that Lucy wasn’t fully resurected, but rather came back as a zombie.
_Unable to accept how he had failed Lucy, Yorke tampered with the primal magic of Udirangr, almost entirely forgotten by his people after generations in Mournstead. But what returned to Yorke was not his niece but a mockery of life, and so his eyes turned towards one final, even more desperate gamble._
From the lore we also know that the beacons are a powerful source of energy and hallowed sentinels used human sacrifices to act as a catalyst (ex: saint Latimer). Yorke wanted to use that power to enhance the effects of a failed ritual. In the game you can find Lucy’s coffin wrapped in chains, placed in a beacon. That was his last desperate gamble.
Placing Lucy’s body in the beacon unleashed a powerful wave of umbral magic, freezing entire fief. Yorke and few other soldiers survived the spell. Seeing the horror that Yorke has brought upon the fiefdom, remained rangers decided to kill Yorke. Hidden lore of blackfeather rangers:
_Perhaps one of the darkest episodes in the history of the Blackfeather Rangers occurred when they were forced to hunt one of their own following his descent into deranged rituals and gruesome murders._
Yorke tried to defend himself (we find his axe stuck in the body near the nest) but was soon overwhelmed by rangers and had to flee. He got murdered by his own people.
Near the Lightreaper fight arena you can find Yorke’s ring on the only body in the entire fief that did not freeze. These bloody remains were pecked to the bone by crows. Yorke’s grief along with powerful ubmral magic created a monster we know as a Hollow Crow.
Glad to see more lore content of LotF, its lore is underrated IMO. Thanks for this
My pleasure - thanks so much for being here!
Can't deny this game has a unique framing of Good vs Evil. It is interesting to see how elements from the original story from the old game made it into this one. Great video, thanks Geoff!
Thanks so much my friend - yeh I really like the fact the game stands alone but it still integrates the first one.
Orius faction on first glance: Typical good guy group
Orius faction with context: Corrupt religious zealots who like self-flagellation (whipping oneself)
Adyr faction on first glance: Typical bad guy group
Adyr faction with context: A maligned god who's actually fair and just, but is painted as evil due to his followers' actions
Umbral faction on first glance: A strange vendor who sells you an assortment of H.R. Giger bits and bobs
Umbral faction with context: An actual psychopath who forcefully impregnated a bunch of women, all to appease an entity who wants to consume all of existence
@@Rahnonymous Didn't Adyr corrupt the king and his son into monsters? Adyr doesn't seem "fair and just" to me. Society probably functioned during his rule but he was probably very strict and dealt out harsh punishments.
@blakebailey22 he was a tyrant, he hated humans who dared to take leadership which is all the reason for why he ruined King Bramis and his family despite promising the Queen that he would spare them
@@Rahnonymous really? All factions explicitly portrayed as zealots in pursue their own truth, they don't even try to cover it.
i’ll be real idk how you don’t have like 12 million subscribers because the work you put into all of your videos are ABSOLUTELY amazing. Another great one!
Thank you so much! hopefully one day!
Great video!
On the point of the Forsaken Fen‘s sudden cataclysm, I‘ve entertained another idea entirely.
The Shuja were freed from Nohuta slavery at some point in the past. I believe it possible that, searching for a new home, they chanced upon the outcasts of the fens. Recognising the symbols of their former oppressors, the Shuja began a quick and deadly assault on the outcasts, who only had the Angel of the Void as their protector and were quickly overwhelmed.
Thus their practices and Umbral worship was their downfall too, albeit in a different way.
Thanks for making lore content for this game, I think it deserves more recognition for its art and world building.
So I'm assuming Judge Cleric worshipped Orius, the Judge warrior worshipped the beast god, and the Judge assassin worshipped the Putrid Mother. I wonder if DLC will have players face the other judges
Thank you for making this video. This game does not deserve the hate it's getting. The devs have worked hard to balance the game and although there is plenty of flaws to point to, it's not a bad game at all. Keep up the good work.
Where is the "hate" I keep hearing about? Yeah there's a few people here and there that don't like it very much but the overwhelming majority of people that have ACTUALLY played the game either like it or even love it. It's a game with some flaws, but every game has them. LOTF is honestly my favorite Soulslike of all time. It isn't nowhere near as punishing as some people make it out to be either. Everytime I think "oh man this game hates me and doesn't want me to progress" I finally change something up and try a different tactic or mechanic and then think to myself "ohhhhh, so THAT is what I should have done!". This game want's you to play a variety of different ways. And once you realize that it make's the experience much easier.
@@Remmy093090% of the vids and comments I see on the game are about how horrible the game is. Heck there’s even a video about how LoTF is “an insult to Fromsoft” which I feel is very, VERY extreme.
I love LoTF myself, and feel it brings a lot of great new additions to the table like its lamp mechanic, the armor tincts to make ANY set match, and the phenomenal ranged/magic system which I never see anyone talk about
Been waiting for this!!! I wasn't sure if you intended to cover any LotF lore, but I am obsessed with the game and am starved for lore content about it.
There's a few other channels covering it but not many, and this just made a shitty day a much better one for me. Thanks Smough!
My pleasure my friend and sorry you've had a bad day - glad this helps and hope it gets better soon!
I have to say the passion you have for LotF is infectious. I’ll probably pick it up soon to get my dark fantasy rpg fix and it’s a shame these vids don’t get as much traffic as the rest. Thank you for the passion and I hope at some point you make some more stuff about this game
More please!! Loving this game and have been disappointed by the lack of lore deep dives on RUclips. Love the content mate.
Takes me more than one listen just to absorb everything. Great vid.
Much appreciated - glad you enjoyed!
I’m so glad there’s people like you making videos on this game, a bad first impression has ruined this game in the eyes of the RUclips echo chamber. I think this game is amazing and I loved this video! I hope you make more.
Couldnt agree more - I have never witnessed such an undeserved storm of hate. Thanks so much for watching!
@@SmoughTown I have been playing it every chance I got since launch, it's an absolute blast.
Thanks for covering the lore. Can't wait for something about Adyr too, who I find to be a super interesting character.
Great to hear you talk about this and can't wait to hear you talk about the Orius and Adyr side of things. I do think there's a weird love/hate relationship or schinanagins happening with Orius and the Umbral since they benefit one another with defeat of Adyr.
I genuinely love this game, the lore and gameplay has been very enjoyable to me so far! Definitely a giant improvement to the first lords of the fallen game, the second game compared to the first is like night and day.
Yes! The LoreMaster is covering Lords. Lords is such a bada$$ game.
Always gotta love a SmoughTown post
Thank you for your efforts to bring lore to the people! In Light we… Fall ✊🏻
I am definitely cheering on for more LotF content
The moment I saw that conical helmet, I knew you would not be able to resist it :D
Hahaha you know me too well
I am super hype for your take on the lore for this series
When I first started watching lore videos I stumbled upon you and since then no one sounds nearly in depth, consistent, and concise. 👍🏽 Keep it up cause I don't goto anyone else
I have been really looking forward to seeing your interpretation on the lore of this game I love this game sooo much I know you’ll do it justice!:) EDIT: on a side note I have Raymond and would highly highly recommend them they’re honestly something I don’t think I can go back to the inferior of
Thanks so much! Hope you enjoy my take on it!
@@SmoughTown sadly I have to watch this later my father and I promised we’d hang out but later tonight I’ll be dug in!:)
@@00spiderwolfman Have a great time with your dad!
@@SmoughTown thx I appreciate it😀
@@SmoughTown I really love this vid great work but I was wondering do you have a discord server?
So happy to see more n more ppl including a big time souls content fan like yourself slowly but surely starting to do lore vids on this amazing franchise IMO. This franchise doesn't get as much love as it should which is truly a shame because if ppl can look past its flaws and the "bad" stigma the original left behind they'll see just how amazing it truly is. For a small studio 2nd attempt at trying to create an interesting world within lotf universe i think they did a pretty amazing job.
Have been patiently waiting for you do some lore videos for this :)
Someday we WILL get that Adyr video
Can't believe you have less than 1mil, your content is so good! I love how much effort, detail, and love is put into your videos
Just Amazing man, incredible breakdown!
I hope Adyr and Orius video will follow, the lore is insanely awesome in this game!
Really awesome video. LOTF has some very neat lore, this answered some of my questions too!
I am so glad you've finally decided to cover LOTF as well. Its limited lore fascinated me throughout my playthrough. The only criticism of the video I have is the choice of music. I do believe a less upbeat-y heroic tune, and a darker, more quiet one would have benefited this video greatly. The pacing seemed to be quicker than your usual stuff as well, but seeing the runtime of the video, I can't say that I blame you. You have so much to cover in this game and I'm looking forward to all of it. Thank you!
So I love the focus on worldbuilding in this game and the way the three 'greater powers' are balanced against each other. Order, chaos, and entropy. Order and Chaos are engines of life but Entropy just eats. In an ideal situation they're all balanced with each other. Order and Chaos create and destroy the material world and the energy of life which is constantly created is devoured by Umbral.
I think in LotF the abundance of Umbral is basically a side effect of lots of death and lots of magic. Particularly the use of the lamps and parasites. These relatively small things which nonetheless provide tiny windows from a realm of pure Entropy into material reality. Umbral is an all-consuming cosmic force. The Putrid Mother is, I think, just a way for the mortal mind to give it a face, even if that face is pretty intense. All the ghouls in Umbral are reflections of mortal psyche as well, and the seemingly malicious nature of Umbral makes people afraid of it but doesn't the text imply that basically everything we think we know about the, let's say, appearance of Umbral is based on mortal terror at death coupled with the idea of an unkind afterlife? Thus, one might imagine that the Nohuta see and regard Umbral as something fundamentally more gentle and welcoming.
I just think it's incredibly 'faceted' worldbuilding.
the Umbral shades also have a ton of different ways one could interpret them. Those big faces could be lying, cowardice, imposter syndrome, a ton of things. Same with the preggo shades. They could be the fear of childbirth just as much as the fear of losing a child. They could also be emotions like spite or jealousy that grow within us until breaking out violently.
Don't even get me started on Pieta.
Honestly I think Umbral does so friggin much with dualities. From a worldbuilding perspective it's genuinely brilliant stuff.
a desire for power to tip the balance one way or the other leads mortals to extremes that basically just turn the world into a battlefield for the primordial forces of existence which is, presumably, not sustainable.
Thus they all stand to destroy each other and humanity incidentally in the process.
Particularly Umbral. It's an unthinking force because thought isn't necessary to it's greater cosmic function of consuming life force. Without Umbral there'd be too much of the stuff and the universe's chi would probably get all clogged up.
But if Umbral ate everything I think it would logically go on to devour itself (and, if I had to guess, probably birth a new universe in the process)
Thus the balance is necessary for the continuation of the universe or, perhaps, to allow the universe to achieve this cycle naturally.
Then mortals come and start poking holes in it to steal little bits of it's power.
That's my thoughts on it, at least. Spooky stuff lol.
TL;DR: I don't think The Putrid Mother has agency, as such. I think she's just a part of the life cycle of the LotF universe. I think what's construed as her 'will' is actually Molhu's will or, perhaps, the will of the Nohuta. Her parasitism of the material world is a side-effect of the mortal realm invoking it.
As far as it's place as a proper realm of the dead, I think Umbral consumes ALL matter and energy, mortal souls are just capable of giving it a manner of tangibility because of their minds. Thus if there is a nicer realm of the dead it's Umbral, too. Or, if there are afterlives associated with Adyr and Orius (which seems implied) those would basically just be waiting rooms for Umbral's eventual consumption of the entire universe (in theory)
Awesome video, listening to these helps the day go by faster for sure. Knowing what happened to the boy, being used like he was, definitely makes playing as a Palidan and turning them to Adyr makes it so much better now
Its criminal that we didn't get another video on LOTF, I've been going through it and I'm having an absolute blast. I feel like it's honestly on the level of souls in terms of world building and lore. But I know it's launch burned a lot of people and Elden Ring is the golden boy of this channel. A man can dream...
LoTF has a lot of really cool aspects. It’s far from perfect, and has some aspects that make me question what the devs were thinking, but its overall an awesome game.
Would’ve loved a Tancred/Reinhold vid from Smough
@TheReclaimers Tancred is not only a badass looking boss but he's a very complex character. A smoughtown analysis on him and Reinhold would've been great.
Was definitely looking forward to this, thank you sir!
My pleasure! Enjoy!
Thanks for the great video! After being a doubter at release (largely because of technical reasons though), this game drew me in like no other this year after getting it on sale.
It strikes a wonderful balance of a classic narrated game and the obscurity of a souls title, giving you a proper grip on everything while playing through it, but letting you feed on your desire for more, plunging deeper into the lore. The wonderful aesthetic, level and world architecture and sound design all let me gloss over it's shortcomings (many of which are still actively worked on by the devs). I really hope we get DLC for this in the future!
Also, it took me a while to my own umbral playthrough, realising the whole scope of "Pieta" (even the name so fitting) and how many details, literally hidden in plain sight and the realisation, her placement in the gameworld, or better said: Molhu's placement is so central and deliberate, it ran shivers down my spine. They did such an amazing job at this.
This is a detail I haven't seen anyone mention before, but you can hear the cawing of crows as Pieta reforms after the fight, with crows being especially drawn to the umbral.
Being someone who knows nothing about this game, all I can hear is:
"The main threat presented to us in Lords of the Fallen is that of *a deer* and his imminent return."
Be nice to see dlc flush out the game/lore even more. I really appreciate the free content too
I very much enjoyed this. Times have been tough so i haven’t been able to jump into the game myself but this got me very hype for when I eventually can. Great job as always!!!
I love your passion for lore man , im watching this even tho im extremely biased towards the game and actually hate it
Hahaha thanks bud, that means so much
18:34 wish we didn't need 1600 plucked eyeballs for the skeleton set.
Aye it is wild - im actively farming them and im still nowhere close
It's worse because the set itself is trash
Hopefully more folks find this video now that the game is on game pass. Don't blame you for moving on though, hardly any views... Still, this is a good explanation. It felt a little harder to follow in game because you have to unlock the lore through levelling, which I don't love.
Praise the blessed mother for she embraces all! 👏 🔥 great video
Thanks so much my friend!
"I am the hub of the wheel, the origin of all life, the devourer of death."
"Or maybe you're just hungry... could it be as simple as that?"
Really interesting to see how much inspiration Lords of the Fallen takes from the Legacy of Kain series.
What a treat. This video is an absolute triumph. Congrats!
I hope we get some more LotF lore videos. The game felt a little buggy but the lore was 👌
Yes! Have been looking forward to this video. Excited for the next installment of your LotF lore vids!
Bravo as always. Warts and all this game is a lot if fun to delve into
Agree! Thank you so much for the kind words
The fact you talked to the devs is amazing! So mucj info! ❤🎉
While the game itself has gameplay issues (which are being worked on constantly), this part of the Fromsoft concept baseline was completely missing from all the other major soulslikes out there. I really appreciate this one game finally grasping the story aspects and the "soul" of this genre so to say. Great video, I really hope you continue on the other parts of the story!
So glad to see you tackling Lore for this game. The original LotF was better than the hate it got, but this new game has been a pure joy for me.
I like to say, if you like Bloodborne, you'll like Lies of P; and if you like Dark Souls, you'll like Lords of the Fallen. And this "Dark World" (Umbral)--similar to the Zelda franchise--is such a standout idea that I hope we'll continue to see.
Hell yeah! This game’s lore is an absolute pleasure to learn about.
Wonderful job! I'm excited for more Lords of the fallen lore!
How come you haven’t made any more lore videos for this game? I need more Lords of the Fallen lore!
Yes dude you did it!! I was hoping you would. I loved this game and played the shit out of it. It’s a gem I’m glad you see it
Loving the LotF lore breakdowns!
“I don’t believe a human community would choose to settle in a poison swamp.”
Clearly you’ve never been to Florida
Though your take on the lore was top tier definatley happy too see you cover more lords of the fallen lore also have you played lies of p would be good to hear your take on its lore
smoughtown, back again with some fromso--- wait, no it's not...
back again with some lords of the fallen banger content!!!
Very very good video. I love the attention to details and the illustrations of said details around each area covered, because I will admit I never really paid mind about the umbral statues’ difference. I will for sure take some time looking for that next time. The only mistake I noticed is not even about the game (immaculate conception refers to the idea that Maria is not touched by the original sin, it’s not about her impregnation).
Finally, Hope there'll be more
Loved this video!! Sincerely hope you do more!
I know this video didn't do well for you, but I still wish you brought of your talents into the lore of the game more than just one feature. I absolutely loved it, despite some issues. The lore is def one of tje strong points.With all the great updates the game.received, it deserves more attention.
Something I noticed is the similarity between the three symbols for Umbral, Orius and Adyr respectively. O and A are already superimposed over each other in Adyr's temple on a pillar as if they're two sides if the same coin, whereas the Umbral eye looks like the precursor to the symbol of Orius. Maybe both A and O originally stem from the Putrid Mother who is said to be older if I recall correctly.
The amount of work you put into your videos is crazy. I’m glad you’ve been getting recognized by From and getting early access. I hope that extends to other companies as well
Too kind my friend! I am just so grateful getting so much support!
Love the video.
Honestly I personally find the world building of Lords of the Fallen much more engaging than Dark Souls and Elden Ring. The game itself has flaws, but not that stop me enjoying it, and it explores themes in its story that are a lot more engaging.
I know this series will inherently do worse than Fromsoft stuff because it's for a game with much less wide appeal, and grognards for Souls will boycott anything to do with it, but I really hope you continue on the subject.
I can't wait for your orius video. This game's lore is so interesting
I have a question that isn’t answered in the umbral ending, why is it we sacrifice the four, and need the other four to soul bugs thing to put in the pillars. Why couldn’t we sacrifice any NPC why does it have to be those specific NPCs
They were marked by the putrid mother (damarose the marked), possibly due to the intense emotions they experienced through their lifetimes being ideal to grow nourish the seedpods.
A lot of shit talk on this game when it released, and I’ll only back up the performance shit talk. Other then that the lore and the art work and just how this game was built between 2 realms is absolutely incredible work!!!! I hope Hexworks continues there work in souls games!!!!!
How come you can see the whole image in the stigma? When I activate them I have to pan the camera around to get a glimpse of an elbow. I never see all the figures in them...
Hahah a lot of repositioning and zooming out
@SmoughTown Im on xbox and there is some ongoing glitch that prevents me from seeing stigmas half the time. Sucks. Great video! Keep them coming!
Ah, aspects of the Elder God from Legacy of Kain reborn in a mix with dark souls - truly a lovely combo
they really needed to make the Umbral entity a boss fight, also Orion god, would have been awesome
9:13 Yes, this is it lord Inquisitor!
Your interview with Cesar has some huge implications for the story of the Mournstead royal family. So the queen was actually not communicating with Adyr, as she thought, but with the Putrid mother?
NO IM LATE THIS IS AWESOME THOUGH
Nice can’t wait to watch this one I actually saw LOTF lore as interesting absolutely love fantasy :)
Is the umbral boy Dal’Jaroo? - the child mentioned by the woman from a foreign land in a cage in Pilgrim’s
She mentions the sun rising over the sand, etc.
Please Smough, make videos on the lore of the first Lords of the Fallen, and the connections to this new (2023). Akin to what you have done the Elden Ring ones.
Really hoping you do a adyr lore video
That would defo be next!
Not knowing anything about his ancient rule (besides biased perspectives) is driving me crazy haha.
@@Sometuy11A I think it's a warrior based culture where loyalty is heavily rewarded because spoilers in coming after his ending you rise as his right hand his first new lord. He could of just killed your character but he's impressed with your work fighting your way through everything not losing your sanity to the upstart Sun/Blood God Orius who doesn't show himself to any of his followers unlike Adyr who lives with his (ppl/creations?) An rhogar an humans alike aren't lying to anyone like if your weak you don't have a place in his world but if you are strong he recognizes you as such where as the umbral mother just wants to eat everything an Orius seems to smite everybody after you go through his ending so it's Ardy for me. Hope we get Judge Rogue or Judge Warrior DLC
@@Hankering5656 I don't think that's exactly his vision for the entire world, merely his vision for those he deems worthy to stand by his side as his warriors or lords. Damarose even said this during her quest.
If you look at the items that are tied to Iselle, you'll see that before she became a warrior priestess of Adyr, she spent a lot of her youth simply picking flowers with her mother, and her family lived a simple life.
So basically, if you're not powerful, you live a simple life, but if you prove yourself a worthy warrior, you get to stand beside Adyr as one of his chosen champions or priests.
Unless you're the subject of his vengeance and wrath, he's an alright dude.
You're in contact with the devs themselves? Couldn't imagine that ever happening with most other games. Let's see if it makes the experience better or wore. This certainly is an interesting opportunity.
Amazing video!!!
This game is awesome, especially now with all the updates
This is like watching Albert Einstein explain buttered toast.
For the love of all that is holy, someone please help me figure out what the song at 8:00 is?!? It's driving me crazy and it's slaps too much
propably anathema phase 1. This music is played during the first phase of a Judge Cleric boss fight
@@hollowmane5664 IT IS! Thank you!
Anybody know a way to get past the "can't name your character" glitch on PS5?
thank you!!!!!!!!!
Honestly this game sounds dope.
Thank you for this video!
It really helped clarify things for me. I played through it once and the world largely felt edgy for the sake of being edgy (like the arms on the fences in the first town - why are there thousands of corpses everywhere?! The town has barely three houses) and the plot felt pretty flat - at least to me. Especially since I focused on strength and couldn’t read much of the lore in the items, which I don’t really like the extend of. For the high stat items in faith, ok. But for a normal axe, I can’t see nothing? That made it hard to connect with the lore to the point it drove me away from a second playthrough.
This gives a new perspective on those topics and I am happily awaiting upcoming videos from you on LOTF. Keep up the great work!
We need Lies of P lore bro
The one thing I don't understand if all the umbral entities are "emotions" or "illusions" how does the vestige moth grab Drustan? He's not a real lampbearer and thus should not be able to peer into umbral, and umbral moths shouldn't be able to kill him.
Very informative video but I feel it repeats itself a lot. Possibly to add length time
I feel like this game isn't getting the love that it deserves. I know that performance was in rough shape at launch, but this was a great game. Hot take, but I had more fun with Lords of the Fallen than I did with Elden Ring.
Grab your buckets
about the light reapers death animation, i REALLY hope he isnt dead, but thats biased since him and unbroken are my fav bosses
Based and lovely - gonna much on this content