VERY IMPORTANT EXTRA NOTES: A BRILLIANT Reddit comment from 'ErzherzogHinkelstein' point out: The Nox NPCs and Silver Tears are called MarikaLineageMan/MarikaLineageWoman and MarikaLineageSlime in their AI. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some commenters mentioned that this makes Godrick calling the dragon he grafts a 'true born heir', but also... '*Kindred*' make sense 👁👄👁 I believe the first was: josearturocastrejonespinos7933 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In response to a brilliant critique from "falgalhutkinsmarzcal3962" - I agree with comments that the tail of godwyn is more akin to a Basilisk tail, for sure. I also agree the body of the dragonkin are likely trolls, hence the hole. However I still believe the roots are NOT the same as the flesh root-like lamprey-like worms on the dragonkin AND the grown ones on godwyns corpse (Not a forked tail like basilisks) which I compared to the Deathroot itself in the video. Marika's GOLDEN flesh being used as the ingredient leading to success would make sense as the flesh of shaman would harmoniously meld these many aspects, and with the flesh of a god, contain them. Also in regards to the lampreys, the comparison of the number and state of the eyes is still outrageously compelling to me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THANKYOU ALL for the AMAZING comments and debates, I live for the comments section after posting a video, your insights are often profound and I truly enjoy reading them.
Fun notes: the etymology for basilisk goes back to old Greek roots meaning "Young Ruler" of "Little Royal" with a construction that lends itself almost to "Kinglet". :) The cryptid Basilisk is also often historically conflated with a similar mythical being, the cockatrice. From Shakespeare's Richard the 3rd, Richard's mother curses herself for her awful son: O ill-dispersing wind of misery! O my accursed womb, the bed of death! A cockatrice hast thou hatch'd to the world, Whose unavoided eye is murderous.
Ok, I am coming around to your way of thinking but if you're right that Marika was able to harmoniously meld Godwyn from disparate aspects that provokes a very important question: Why does his name begin with a "G" instead of an "M"? Because the G name implies that he is a child of Godfrey but not of Marika. Or at the very least that Godfrey was more important to his origin than Marika was.
@@ScumMageInfa i think hes all water creature like because his soul died, but his flesh came back to life. and there's also the tibia mariners, who are undead but have boats. so when godwym "died" since he was branded with only half the cursemark of death his body died as the flesh of a demigod, which made him kinda immortal, so it adapted to cross back to the world of the living and "swam" across the river between life and death, like the river styx maybe while escaping from this river, the river as a guardian tried to infect him and stop the body from coming back, infecting it with parasites, or lampreys. and when ranni "died" it was the other half of the cursemark of death so only her flesh died, giving her soul free reign in the realm of the living with them being opposites where her body is dead but her soul is free from it and able to adapt to other vessels, and godwyns soul died and without that meaning and what makes someone truly alive, his body is free to adapt however it needs to. and these tibia mariners are agents of death against the golden order, because as we know with the golden order if someone dies they just return to the erdtree, making these ferriers of the dead shackled and unable to release the dead. and in the age of the duskborn ending we make undeath a thing for everyone, giving these tibia mariners free reign to release the dead and godwyn becomes the lord of undeath, being unable to die as a demigod and possibly immortal with his undeath, already breaking the shackles so the rune of death and its effects are possibly useless against himg
@@deathandrebirth-y8x if you look closely at the chairs Rogier sits on there's a relief depicting what seemed to be a woman with two long scaly fish tails, resembling Marika and her veil like cloths behind her.
The thing with Godwyn is that he is essentially THE Crucible Knight. He is the son of Godfrey, who is the leader of the Crucible Knights, and he bears their icon, the Herb of Many Aspects (the 1.00 name of the description of the Crucible Knights Armor), on his piece of cloth. His corpse is also guarded by the leader of the Crucible Knights, and he was placed at the Great Roots, which are clearly connected to the Crucible in some way. Furthermore, both of his brothers are Omen, beings that are essentially forced to bear certain signs of the Crucible permanently. What is happening to his body in undeath is that he is perpetually casting all the aspects of the Crucible, which is why he has become a fish/clam/whatever person (imagine if the DLC Crucible Knight that just grows a weird horse body, but never changes back because he has brain damage or whatever). The helmet most likely depicts the form he took with the power of the Crucible to fight Fortissax. He took on a form resembling a dragon, which is, in truth, a culmination of multiple animals, representing the many aspects of the Crucible. The clam head and his fishtail are part of an aspect of the Crucible that is connected to sealife. This is the whole deal with the malformed dragon knights as well-they are trying to imitate Godwyn, but they don't possess the Crucible aspect powers. This is somewhat proven to be connected to the Tree Sentinels since Godwyn's personal guard are also just Tree Sentinels, much like the malformed dragon knights, as evidenced by their music being just a remix of the former. While I think Marika is involved in the production of the Dragonkin Soldiers, I believe they are an entirely different subject on their own. However, I agree that the helmet clearly depicts Godwyn's fish form from a time before his undeath.
@@Tazdingoyahahahahaha Well since it is building on the obviouse cruciable connection, which is like 1 of the 4 traits we know of him. The whole mimic tear thing on the other side is pretty unhinged speculation with no real proof.
Seeing that Godwyn casts death magic when you attack his adoring fangirl this shows that despite being essentially brain dead he still has instincts, therefore it's entirely possible that the form isn't a mutation but entirely self casted as a mean to defend himself, like a beast that is scared of prey his body is casting all the crucible magics it can so that it will intimidate everyone away from it
I need to push back a little: The reason the Dragonkin have open guts and tree roots is because they are augmented trolls that the Nox used in an attempt to create their own dragons. This is why we see a Silver Tear transform into a Troll near the Fingerslayer Blade. Godwyn's tail is not a Lamprey tail, but a Basilisk's tail, and Basilisks are native to the LB, which is why the 2nd Dancing Lion has a Basilisk/Deathroot phase in the dlc. Godwyn was used by Marika as a vessel to contain Deathroot, just as she used her other children and Shadowbound Beast to contain Rot, Destined Death, the GEQ, and the Abyssal Serpent. This is why Deathroot writhes out of his eye when he perishes in soul. His will/soul no longer restrains Deathroot.
Oooo great point about the troll. So you think those things that i showed right next to roots on the dragonkin are actually just roots? What about the lamprey like tails coming from the roots near his corpse? And the eyes? And his FACE 👀 I love the idea of him sealing ANOTHER portion of death and it being released when he was killed- into the great tree roots, and sealed in there. I guess that's why the finger crone at the elevator to the mountain top of the giants says burning the tree will unseal death.
Fun thing that i recently also noticed, i think the dragonkin skull is actually just a regular dragon skull turned upside down and both halves are then flipped.
So, a few things: It's worth noting that the helmet's design predates that version of the lore. In the 1.00 version of the game whose lore is SIGNIFICANTLY more dragon-centric, this is also an armor set that belongs to a completely unique character. (Also, the Dragonkin Soldiers' bodies are born from the Trolls whose stomachs are also hollowed out while they're alive and are wholly unrelated to the Lampreys & finger Sorceries from the Land of Shadow). First, it's worth recalling the description of the Tree Sentinel Set: _“Golden armor of a Tree Sentinel, stout knights who serve the Erdtree. Imposingly sturdy and nigh unbreakable, the blessing of old yet lingers.”_ as this will help to contextualize the power being represented in the transformation. The Malformed Dragon Set in 1.00 and specifically the helm in question is described as follows: _“The malformed, golden helm of Gnarrl, misshapen Tree Sentinel heretic. Once a dragon worshipper from the capital, it's said he pulverized his golden armor with his bare hands in a fit of religious fervor, covering it in his own blood as he reshaped it in the likeness of a dragon.”_ In this version of the game, the Banished & Exile knights were dragon worshippers who were attempting to fuse themselves with enough draconic elements in order to reach Farum Azula, formerly known as the Storm Aerie. This is the reason for the storm around Stormvale Castle, as well as the horns & thorns on their armor. Even as the lore changed to the release version, the armor designs didn't. While it's almost certain that there is still an intentional link to Godwyn as the Dragon Temple is burgeoning with Deathroot, and a copy of his body is growing below Stormvale castle, in this version of the game Lansseax & Fortissax are one entity (Fortissax's remembrance text listing Lansseax's name), explaining why the Lichdragon uses a female Ancient Dragon model rather than a male one. This intertwining of the both of them most likely is what's being represented in that helm. The aquatic bits match Godwyn's Deathroot with several forms of parasitism, but the core design is also a parallel to the victim of the Japanese Genpei War, child emperor Antoku. He died when his retainer Taira no Tokkiko dove into the straits rather than being captured alive, and Antoku came to be venerated and worshipped at the Suitengu shrine (水天宮) as a god of water and safe birth (水の神、安産の神). Godwyn's corpse worshipped as the Prince of Death is a water-logged and oceanic god, while still having links to the Golden Lineage and the draconic immortality. Even the theme of safe birth is key to Fia's Quest when she kills D, and tells the Roundtable not to come after Godwyn, as she is devoted to having his child to produce a Mending Rune. Afterwards, when Fia is murdered by D's twin brother, this is showing the division between the Golden Order Fundamentalists & Those Who Live in Death as being a direct parallel to the Minamoto & Taira clans' feud in the Genpei War, which is a core staple of Japanese fiction drawing from history, but especially when it comes to the themes of the undead and a blessed imperial heir whose reign was cut short before it began - hence his Erdtree root burial placing him upon a Throne as the "Prince of Death" Additionally, the Nameless Eternal City is the only one of the Eternal Cities whose sky was stolen, and the location of Astel Stars of Darkness's meteor beneath Yellough Anex Ruins actually sits within Deeproot Depths, while the captured sky is held in the cave of Astel Naturalborn of the Void. In 1.00 the Nox armor was called "Descendant of Marika" and that in tandem with the Golden Lightning clad Mimic Tears are likely an indication of what Marika & Radagon are in that version of the lore. This 1.00 content was early enough that the bloodlust of the red-eyed feral berserk state was not yet fully differentiated from Frenzied Flame's madness as while the status existed, it was only partially implemented as yellow eyes. The maddened Trolls weep Red Lightning rather than Frenzied Flame, and even the Beastmen wield Golden rather than Red Lightning - hence Vyke as a failed Lord who was closest to succeeding at the throne wielding both Red Lightning & Frenzied Flame as well as having cut content involving Stormvale Castle. As such, I'd say that a significant portion of what you're pulling from are design elements from old 1.00 lore that've been intentionally rewritten in the release version. It's important to look at the removed content to understand which links have been purposefully pulled back from in order to not make an association that draws a parallel that's not a purposeful connection any more, but which still has shared patterns from when it was.
I agree that the 1.00 content is an important context giver, but in that version, the Dragon Cult was still established by Godwyn. Therefore, a helmet depicting him is still a very likely possibility. Pointing out the hair and scales that closely match Godwyn's current form is a valid observation since the eternal dragons we encounter neither have scales (certainly not shaped like the depicted ones) nor hair. Additionally, I don't fully understand the aquatic connection to some random Japanese emperor in this context. Clearly, Godwyn is somewhat of a Crucible Knight himself, given that his piece of cloth features the "Herb of Many Aspects," which is only associated with Godfrey and the Crucible Knights. We also see the transformative powers that the Aspect of the Crucible can have, as evidenced by Devonia's cursed horse, which has an additional pair of hands. This suggests that in his undead state, Godwyn is casting various random Crucible aspects, giving him this mermaid-like appearance. He is likely doing this because, based on the depiction of the Malformed Dragon Helmet, he once transformed himself into a dragon chimera-a combination of many different animals, much like Chinese dragons. This could explain the Breath Crucible Aspect; he may have used them all together to achieve the form of a "Malformed Dragon" to defeat the dragons in war. Even his golden lightning seems to derive from the power of those golden goats we see in the Shadowlands; his signature lightning is also borrowed from animal aspects. And in death he just casts those aspects randomely resulting in this mermaid-monster form.
@@hinkelstein1494 The Basilisks that have Godwyn's false eyes growing on their heads, have that webbed mermaid tail look to them, and breathe out Deathblight rather than flames. They're also crawling all over the Nameless Eternal City where his corpse is kept, and even the Mimic Veil will transform you into one in that area. Another important element is that in the release version, the Dragon Cult only uses the Golden Lightning, but explicitly does NOT practice physical transformation, as that would have been an anathema, and is tied into very different story elements with addiction to power and Dragon Communion (which is further expanded upon in the DLC). In the release version, Godwyn's link to Fortissax attempting to keep him alive is likely still the factor to how that disease & Deathblight spread to Farum Azula, since their shared link is very much in the vein of *_Dragonheart_* & *_Drakengard._* Godwyn's death triggered the Shattering, but he's mostly just a symbol of the severed imperial lineage whose corpse leads to the emergence of Those Who Live In Death. His link into the Draconic elements aside from his corruption that tainted Fortissax are HEAVILY scaled back. The lore that's extremely dragon-centric and the intertwining elements between Farum Azula & Stormvale post-1.00 are overtly no longer kept in the release version - and all of those bits of lore are explicitly removed & rewritten. That's why it's not really something where it makes sense to view it as still intended lore for the story of the current game. As examples of this are how Stormvale and the Godwyn corpse there were initially a point of a literal "storm veil" where they were attempting to access the Storm Aerie, and where you find the Mimic's Veil which is all about physical transformation. Here are some more direct examples of their 1.00 lore that heavily overlaps with Godwyn's designs, but again - none of these were kept. The Banished Knights are Stormvale knights and they and the Exiles were scored by salt winds and skirmishes. _“Long ago, those who sought the Storm Aerie traveled far from the capital, and settled in Stormveil. The Stormveil knights are their descendants.” but especially importantly the design of their armor, “Features an engraved crest of thorns meant to ward against the curse.”_ Their full armor: _“The twisted horn in the right shoulder, patterned after that of a dragon, signifies adherence to a forbidden form of worship; the consumption of dragon flesh.”_ Banished (Exile), _“Expose thyself not, but govern thyself to be whole hid; else the curse slip inside thee.” “…have started to fall apart, suffering now a moth-eaten appearance.”_ This explains their presence at the Dragon Communion temple, why in 1.00 they had invaded Leyndell and were worshipping Gransax (the whole city has different enemies in 1.00), Godrick Grafting dragon flesh to himself in Stormvale to attempt to get into the Storm Aerie, and even the thorny decay on the Castle itself that's potentially connected to Godwyn's living decay in Fortissax/Lansseax fused with him tainting the winds themselves. This is further reinforced by the Drake Knight Armor: _“Malformed Armor fused with dragon flesh. Worn by Ondrej the Dragon Tracker. The cape is made of dragon wing membrane, but alas, has failed to provide flight.”_ (other pieces) _“Not a proud hunter's trophy, but rather ah obsessive object of ritual metamorphosis. Ondrej seeks the Storm Aerie, a place that only dragons can reach.”_ This emphasizes how the lore that is intertwined to physical dragon transformation, Farum Azula, Godwyn, Vyke, Stormvale, and all of those elements was completely cut out and rewritten for the canon lore in the release version. While the helm & Godwyn's body still have some shared features from how the story was designed at the time, there isn't really any compelling evidence that those elements are still intended to be true to the story as-is. The Rock Heart & Priestess Heart connected to physical transformation and Bayle were also elements where there are a lot of lore that seem to have changed, as even the drakes that circle Farum Azula also circled Jagged Peak in the Shadow Lands, and were removed from all aside from a few maps (on top of Shadow Keep as well as the Divine Staircase). As such, while that helm may have been a symbol tied to Godwyn at one point in the 1.00 & earlier, there's far too much that HEAVILY removes all of those design links to the lore of the release version to place any stock in it still.
@PierceArner Unfortunately, the draconic influences from the 1.00 version of the game do not explain his current form. Honestly, I’m still not convinced by the random Japanese emperor-water deity theory as inspiration for him. It's a fact that he bears the Crucible Knight symbol, the "Herb of Many Aspects," on his remaining piece of cloth, and we clearly see the strange forms that Crucible aspects can create, like Devonia's horse-humanoid centaur form. I'm not entirely set on the helmet theory, but I'm very sure it's not related to some vague historical instance of Japanese mythology.
After the DLC I was under the impression that after Godwyn made peace with the Ancient Dragons, They inducted Godwyn into Dragon Communion as well as the tree sentinals that were inspired by him. Since they were given red lighting and their horses can breath fire from being fed dragon hearts.
@TranquilOG369 No, I don't think they are since albinurics are discriminated pretty heavily by the Gilden Order. I imagine the selection process to be a Tree sentinal would exclude them specifically unless their albinuric heritage was super hidden . Loretta and Gaius had pretty close ties to Carian Royalty, so them getting training in sorcery and mounted combat makes sense.
0:07 I’m only a little bit into this one, but Godwyn’s fishiness was never inexplicable. In Japanese folklore, death, the afterlife, and water are more connected than we are used to thinking in the west. I think it was Zullie who pointed out that he was likely inspired by the Ningyo, a sort of mermaid-water spirit sort of thing. Sometimes, things are more imagery or symbolism rather than lore. 6:00 okay two things here. We see ancient dragons and humans connecting elsewhere in the game, I don’t think Godwyn needs to be a dragon mimic to bond with Fortissax. Unless Vyke was one too…? And second, aren’t the dragonkins chests like that because they’re trolls? The enemies we see all throughout the game with open chests filled with roots who happen to be roughly the same size as the dragonkin? I thought the implication was just that the nox experimented on a few trolls to make them. Lamprey are also not a chestburster type of parasite, they just cling and bore into flesh from the outside. Think ticks or leeches. Also I don’t think they’re what’s infesting Godwyn, those are probably just regular worms, who have a strong association with death. Worms are also used regularly by From to signify stagnation/corruption, ala Bloodborne. 10:22 I think a slightly more believable scenario for Godwyn’s location is that he was given the most honourable burial possible: right at the roots of the Erdtree. We are told by tomb ghosts that the most honourable heroes got the burials closest to the roots, so of course Marika is going to give the first of her children to die the most honourable burial possible. There is also a thematic element where he is representative of the literal “rotten roots” of Marika’s enterprise.
12:49 Also, Godwyn does have graves and monuments to his legacy. There are the sword monuments in the lands between, but there are also the tombs in the shadowlands. A “cadaver surrogate” is actually a historical term used to indicate a body buried in place of a person of important to prevent desecration or graverobbing, with the implication here being that Marika didn’t want anyone to know what Godwyn’s corpse became, so she created surrogate graves for him. She might have sealed these away in the shadowlands when even they began to take on the shape of his face, and he infests the roots of the erdtree itself… maybe he was even “called” by his image there. 14:40 The staff doesn’t say “Wisdom beyond stone,” it says “those who have glimpses what lies beyond the wisdom of stone.” ‘The Wisdom of Stone,’ actually refers to the wisdom of the Crystallians, as per the crystal staff. Lusat’s staff is for those who have glimpsed beyond crystal sorceries, difficult sorceries to master. 15:30 okay I know I’ve been a little critical so far but I do really love the idea that Godwyn being put at the roots of the Erdtree served a dual purpose, and that Marika might have been using him to attack the tree. She couldn’t have acted openly without Maliketh turning on her, but if she was just allowing her heroic golden boy to “return to the roots” he wouldn’t have been suspicious. 18:37 wait but. That’s not Godwyn’s rune. The great runes weren’t separate from the elden ring until the shattering, which occurs post-Godwyn’s death. It’s not passed down through the golden lineage or anything, godrick presumably just grabbed it and ran. If they were any older than that, why would Morgott and Mohg have them? Also, if godwyn is artificial, how could he have children who would become the golden lineage? You have some great insights into the lore, like for example I adore the whole Rauh Burrow/Primal Glintstone thing, but I don’t know about this one chief 😅
@@adagio9230 6:00 1) What other dragons do we see use gold lightning, any? It seems then, to originate from the Eternal cities- No? 2) The trolls point is very possible, which is probably why their vessel couldn’t handle the Lamprey 3) As for Lamprey’s being chest busters- Sea lamprey attach to a host fish, rasp and puncture its skin, and drain its body fluids, often killing the host fish - Now picture that from the inside if you ingested a fingerprint nostrum. 4) Worms can be CLEARLY seen in the death root, not in those lamprey-esque tail things lol 10:22 1) Sure that sounds nice, but the results speak for themselves. We aren’t going to pretend what happened to the erdtree as a result of the deathroot was unintentional, are we?.. 12:49 1) Or maybe she sealed him away to hide what it what she was doing. 14:40 1) The slight change of wording genuinely changes nothing - The hint is the cognition of the crystalians which is the fact they clearly harbour consciousness, as stone. Hence, primal glinstone spirit transfers being the ‘wisdom of stone’ 15:30 1) A great point. You cannot ignore either, the position he is sitting in. 18:37 1) It is implied it is what WOULD have been Godwyn’s rune as the third child of that set. As for his descendance, I am not convinced Godrick is - But it would definitely make him calling the dragon ‘kindred’ make more sense LOL and also, why couldn’t a mimic have babies? Radagon apparently does. Thanks for taking the time to comment 😊
@@ScumMageInfa Oh wow, thanks for taking the time to address all of those!! I hope I didn't come across too negatively lol. while i might not agree with you on some stuff in this video, i think you're right on the ball a lot of the time and you're willing to point things out that no one else does. Keep doing ur thing!!
@@ScumMageInfa Death lightning is gold, so Fortissax. And Bayle's flame lightning maybe? Also, regular lightning from storms, fulgurblooms, and the stormhawk axe are all gold, so assuming it originates in the eternal city is just wrong.
One thing the DLC made clear is that things having to do with death or the afterlife take on an oceanic theme. We have the mariners, we have lingering spirits around graveyards turning into jellyfish, spirit eels in the shadow lands, and even the giant coffins are build to resemble giant boats. For whatever reason, things tied to spirits begin to take on an oceanic theme.
On the wriggling on godwyns body in the intro cutscene: Had seen some theories that perhaps godwin was not in fact the perfect heir and was too cursed from birth with death root.
I mean that's plasuable but he is not born from a single god to be cursed like that. His soul got killed and that caused the deathroot to sprout out of his body, in my opinion it's just depicted like that to look more horrifying. He is a curse himself to be honest he cursed the erdtree roots with his neverdying flesh which also endlessly would attract parasites.
Would make sense, all her other kids have some vestiges of “impurities”. The Omen Twins have vestiges of the old hornsent order Mesmer with the abyssal serpent Melina with the flame of death Malenia with the scarlet rot Miquella is Miquella And finally Godwyn would potentially have the curse of death blight It works well
This mad man comes out of nowhere two months ago and is now about to explain the story of Elden Ring that no one else could. God bless ya, bud. This is impressive, I’m looking forward to the future video and shorts you mentioned
Cept a few giant glaring holes in his logic and making crazy jumps to conclusions. Like Radagon is not a mimic tear but he think all the demi gods are just horcurxes. Wtf. There isn't even an example of such things outside of Harry Potter. Do we really think Fromsoft is copying JK Rowling lore. Lmfao.
The more and more I see of this stuff, the more of a surefire bet it is to call Ranni’s ending the true ending. It also does help that it is one of two endings with a meaningfully different cutscene
Speaking of ending cutsceens, If the Frenzy Flame burns everything, even souls, how da fuk did Melina survive? Not to mentionh how she looted Torrents charged whistle from Erdtree Ash? Wasnt that place flooded in Frenzy?
Oh man the things I have yet to show.... I have some things in ranni I haven't seen ANYWHERE else and it is gonna be beautiful how it ties in with everything.
@@kamantariq2513 my uneducated guess is that Melina might be closer to a god than we know and perhaps not even the frenzy flame can kill a god unaided. It does sort of fit with the idea that gods are imprisoned. She can only speak to you via certain gracepoints where the echoes of Marika are at their strongest, or where Marika would be the most adamant about keeping people out. She can only truely manifest at the base of the Erdtree
The way FromSoft lore works, the detail of the lamprey eyes and the eye of Godwyn could either be the kind of detail Miyazaki planted like "This will be the key to a well of lore", or something the developers will see and go "Huh, I never noticed that. Neat". Could go either way. 50/50
Considering you literally have to line up the faces from completely separate locations this is definitely not Intenional. Also there are more faces of Godwin than the 4 he showed. Lmao. There are 3 in the DLC alone.
People and animals of the world had the ability to transform into dragons by consuming their hearts. You can find this lore starting in Caelid. Godwyn's mutated appearance is not only a result of a soulless corpse being buried at the roots of the Erdtree, but also because it's a Japanese game. In Japan, Ningyo's bring about misfortune, and well, shortly after Godwyn dies, Marika broke the rune. His body is meant to represent a Ningyo.
I'd like to see a video on something I've not seen anyone talk about yet: the bodies grafted into the structures at 5 locations. Those locations are: Nokron, Nokstella, Rykard's Lair, Farum Azula, and Enir Elim. Farum Azula is the key location amidst the other 4. I'm not sure if there's any significance to there being 5 locations, maybe something that references the One Great. Worth noting is that the merchant bodies locked away underground kind of mimic those 5 locations, but they're not grafted into the underground structure. However, maybe that's the point, since the 3 Fingers are different from the 2 Fingers. I've seen you talk about Nokron, Nokstella, and Rykard's Lair (which I hadn't seen anyone else do), and I've seen I think the Tarnished Archaeologist talk about the Beastmen's bodies incorporated into Farum Azula's architecture as part of a burial ritual. Having completed both the DLC and then the base game in my only playthrough, I ended up going to Farum Azula after Enir Elim with a fresh pair of eyes. Having Enir Elim fresh in my memory, it stuck out to me that the Beastmen look like they're fused into the architecture instead of buried within it. Perhaps a huge number of Beastmen had to be sacrificed in order to elevate Placidusax's spouse to godhood just as Marika later replicated?
@chrisharris5658 I have spoken about all of them in both my crucible videos, and also my grandmother spirit transfer video :) I also have a video coming out soon that will be touching on the concepts again ♡
I think the type of dragon Goldwyn is a Makara. In Asian cultures, dragons are composite creatures that aren’t exclusively reptilian. A makara is a water-based dragon with a fish body, head of a crocodile, and feet and trunk of an elephant. A qilin is another dragon with fish scales, deer antlers, an ox body, and horse hooves. All Asian dragons usually have some association with water whether it be bodies of water, rain, or floods. This also makes them associated with vitality, fertility, and life since society is built around water, crops need rain, and water cleanses - sound familiar? I think Goldwyn is a broken makara with the powers of resurrection through water tainted by his influence. *I thought I sent the comment but I didn’t see it later! Good thing it saved in my clipboard 😅
I think the Age of Plenty ended quite a while before Godwyn's death tbh. His was not the signal of its ending, but part of the Shattering's beginnings. The Deeproot Depths finger-reader says something that has always puzzled me: "My poor, sweet lordling should have died a true death. As the first of the demigods to die. As a martyr to Destined Death. But why must it yet bring such disgrace?" Nobody was supposed to die, in Marika's golden order. Why would the crone be saying this? Because Godwyn was set to be a sacrifice of some kind even before the Black Knives. I think your video comes close to something that most people ignore.
Apologies for this, but the Scadutree is indeed pronounced "shadow tree". "Scadu" is Old English for "shadow", and that's basically how it's pronounced, as well. Well... "shadu", technically, but yeah. It's "shadow tree".
The Nameless Eternal City fell from Layendel . It's directly below the lake behind we're city's main gate. The layout of its buildings are a near prefect match for the missing section.
I dunno man. I feel like you're making really great observations each and every video, but then spin them into semi-unhinged speculation that your delivering as if it were stone-cold fact. I can buy that there's a mimic character somewhere in the lore, probably even a big one hidden in plain sight. There's lots of hints and teases of exactly that, but to say that Godwyn specifically must be a mimic dragon SPECIFICALLY, just because a single item description talks about dragon cultists wanting to become a dragon (a recurring idea in Fromsoft games long before Godwyn) on a helmetwith a dragonish statuette that has hair is too much for me when there's equally or even more plausible alternative interpretations. Frankly, that statuette looks more like Radagon and the Leonine Misbegotten than anyone.
OFF TOPIC but Something I have been thinking about a lot recently is the spiritcaller snail who summons the godskin duo, if you look at the model it is the exact same as messmers base serpents. I dont know what conclusion can come of it, but that plus the shadowkeep/helphens steeple(there are snails all around where you gat that weapon) seems like its pointing to something. I feel like there is a reason these snails(basically snakes) are tied to spirits. And even the gloam eyed queen if you wana get unhinged with it (her consort was a serpent, and marika trapped them inside messmer and melina) ALSO THERE ARE RUGS IN ENIR ILIM THAT LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THE GODSKIN SWADDLING CLOTH okay ranting finished
This was a really interesting theory. I really like the observations found within the helmet. The Malformed Dragon on top of the Helmet looks like a cross between a Lion and a Dragon. DLC also teaches us that Godwyn is acknowledged as transfigured so who is to say he didn't transfigure into that Lion Dragon to fight that battle. Awesome catch! I take a different stance though when looking at the Nameless Eternal City. The Nameless Eternal City was part of Leyndell. When you look at the map of Leyndell there is a big section that the map marks as water within the walls. We can't go out the gates near Gransax's corpse that would lead to that part of the city. We also can't get through the front door from the outside, instead having to divert to a side entrance. To get to the Nameless city most will end up fighting the Corpse Wax Golem duo. When get to the city we find Corpse Wax golems down there as well in various states of broken. Those enemies are typically found in and associated to the capital. Aside from the Nameless city, which I'm trying to convince you was part of the capital, the only time we typically see outside the capital is the Black Corpse Wax Golems of Malekith. Another thing to note when looking at this particular underground city is comparing it to Nokron and Noxstella. Both of those cities are for the most part upright, Nokron has some knocked over buildings when we first get there but it did just get hit by a meteor. The Nameless city is crumbling though some would blame Astel for that I blame the earth collapsing from under it. The trees in the Nameless city aren't the characteristic silver instead they are yellow of Altus and green bushes. The reason there are no petrified corpses is because that was a practice of the Nox not the people of Leyndell. Instead the entire population died all at once as a section of the city dropped. Their corpses all getting washed away to Nokstella. You might be saying "That's crazy how could that even happen?" The DLC teaches us. The Shattered Stone Talisman: "...Linchpin stones are spiritual anchors said to hold the ground in place and quell the fury of earthquakes-when this one shattered, the surrounding town fell into the broken earth. One account claimed that the moon itself had come tumbling down." Destroy the Linchpin stone and the ground falls out from beneath you. When it happened in Leyndell it was probably not even on purpose. it could have been when the Elden Ring was shattered. It could have been during one of the defenses. The Linchpin Stone, combined with the realization that the Greater Will has been gone since before Marika, it almost makes we wanna say the GW didn't banish the Nox. But we have no idea when on the timeline they got sent underground, and they are still alive, at least like 8 of them I think. Linchpin collapse might have been the fall of the ancient dynasty.
I like the first parts of this, particularly the idea that Godwyn might have had help in becoming something more, and inspired the dragon cult specifically by becoming one. Not as much a fan of the idea he was constructed, and definitely not the suggestion Ranni was as well, but that's just me.
I think that the form of Godwyn may also relate to the Greek god Proteus. This strongly relates to the idea of Godwyn as a shapeshifter and is a better source of the scaled looks than the scaleless lampreys.
This is such a paradigm shift. Every time feel like I'm on the cusp of understanding the lore, I fall through the floor. How many stories is this damn building
Nameless eternal city misses many things because it's a fallen portion of Leyndell. It corrisponds to the missing part where there is the abyss near the walls/original entrance (and since the war cutscene is in front of those we can presume the portion of the city fell after). Nice observations about that malformed helm!
There's so many leaps in this that make no sense. The giants had frenzy flame faces that the trolls carved out to betray the giants and they all have tablets rooted into their missing stomachs.
In ER death is associated with boats and water. Godwyn, Prince of Death, is a mermaid because death is his element. Death is water and he's the only one who can swim. It's symbolic.
Currently watching and don't know if it'll be addressed but the "third- eye" on Godwyn's faces also looks like the fingerprint nostrum. Both having that little, circular opening.
@@ScumMageInfai would also talk about the strange serpent face that is show in the dlc cinematic trailer, idk but the face of godwyn and that strange face that marika touches is kinda similar and it makes sense since marika takes from that face a rune arc wich may implies that that face was a god( the first god to die??)
You have something really interesting here with the malformed dragon connection to Godwyn, but I think it starts to fall apart with the lamprey & finger stuff.
@ScumMageInfa Another support is the Golden Epitaph sword. In the description, it states "Infused with the humble prayers of a young boy; 'O brother, lord brother, please die a true death.'" Which seems to imply that there may have been a belief that Godwyn may come back again in the same way silver mimics do. Silver Tear husk state that "Silver tears make mockery of life, reborn again and again into imitation." Maybe Miquella is the young boy who pitied his brothers fate and did no want to see him come back as somwthing other than himself.
16:52 Apart from looking similar to Godwyn, I always found it strange that after his health pool reaches half, Radagon begins to fight in the style reminiscent of a lightning user with Golden spears similar to Godwyns trademark golden lightning. He literally becomes it with his teleport attack which might be a form of Honed Bolt, uses the Storm Stomp AOW, and manifests spears that have lightning sound effects. He also has a statue in Stormcaller Church which is very Godwyn influenced with his monument detailing the routing of the Ancient Dragons. Lightning is intrinsically linked to the storm judging from a Placidusax’s arena which Godwyn might’ve been the heir of(red to gold lightning).
I think rather than Dragonkins exploding from inside, I think denizens of Eternal cities experimented on Trolls. Trolls have a tree-like fleshy branches in their exposed belly.
At the rate things are going, you and Jack are going to form a grand universal Elden Ring theory that everything in the Lands is a) a piece of Marika and b) engineered into a mimic.
Great theory on Godwyn being able to transform into a dragon! The only thing I disagree with is the connection to the Nox, I think it's more plausible that Godwyn engaged in dragon communion.
Also is it just me or does it almost seem like there was a planned wedding between Ranni and Godwyn. Also, sun + moon would possibly = eclipse? I forgot who's idea it was but the idea of a planned wedding between Godwyn and Ranni has stuck with me for a while.
We have to keep in mind that we face and receive the Rememberence of Fortissax when we enter Godwyns mind. And since we never see a body of Fortissax in the overworld, don't see a grave for him or anything, I suspect that he actually fused with Godwyn. The DLC tells us that Shaman Flesh has this habit of merging with other lifeforms after suffering a wound, and we see that happening with at least two, maybe three of Marikas descendants. When Godrick cuts off his own arm and rams it into a dragons neck, their flesh merges and the head becomes an extension of Godrick. When Rykard is fed to the Goddevouring Serpent in pieces, his arms, legs and head fuse into the snake at various places, and so does every subsequent sacrifice. Thats also why Tanith eats him in the end, not just symbolically absorbing his flesh, but quite literally masticating the shaman flesh of Rykard, so that it fuses to her insides. And Godwyn, ancestor of Godrick, appears merged with some weird fish thing, which honestly... might be a Manifestation of Fortissax fusing into his back wound. The webbed hands could very well be an intermediate between dragon wings and human hands, but the tail clearly has ganoid scales on them, which Fortissax doesn't, so... fuq.
Yo, I actually can explain why he has a fish tail. I do like your theory for in game lore reasons. My personal lore reason was that death and water are associated, as a reflection of Chinese mythology with floods ending the world each time. The real life reason is also Chinese mythology, as the divine beasts get corrupted and mutated, can't recall the name at the moment, but I'll try to find it.
You're right The exact same scaly underneath with a fish like tail, and the long blond hair don't remind me of godwyn AT ALL His face? You mean the one warped by deathblight? Hahaha
Great video and interesting connections. Looking forward to the incoming content. :) As an aside, I would suggest watching 'TheCenteredTarnished' playlist on the game as he actually presents some compelling reasons as to why Godwyn takes on aquatic traits and is associated with (dark) water themes, etc. It doesn't invalidate anything you present here, as the game contains multiple layers of interpretation, and some of the conclusions align, especially when it comes to the 'Godwyn being a part of Marika' idea.
Great video due, I never notice the helmet and it makes a lot of sense. Godwin is not born from a dragon an Marika but, he did create the Dragon Cult, and a branch of the Dragon Cult is the Church of Dragon Communion. So maybe he was on his way to become a true dragon.
Not quite, Dragon communion was pre-dragon cult, as it was founded after Bayle and Placidusax's clash, long before the Draconic War. Additionally, dragon cult incantations, and dragon communion are fundamentally different, and were created for different purposes, even requiring different stats. However, the idea that Godwyn was becoming a dragon is plausible, but considering he did not look like a dragon when he died, he was not a user of a stone heart, or if he was, it had a different effect on him than on the tarnished, it's possible that he could freely change form, similar to Lannseax (Glaive of Lannseax item desc.), as opposed to being stuck in a form, like the tarnished.
Great video ! now that i could see that helm closely i think you're right on the money about who it is depicting but silver/mimic tear shenanigans didn't come first to my mind as i saw the that malformed dragon tbh we know at least 2 dragons who turned humanoid for various reasons those being one in capital city and dlc and we have description of several items showing how dragon communion led to transformation into dragon out of these 2 dragons we reach the second one after defeating dragon man a form we can attain by using rock heart "original form of dragon communion" it's not too far-fetched to think that the dragon who was friend of godwyn & able to change forms also taught him a similar communion to turn into dragon
One word: good fucking shit, really really good shit. You and a couple other lore psychos suddenly just appeared and stirred some life into the lore scene, loving it.
@@jerrbear5958 i agree, but why does it look like one of the eyes on godwyns corpse, i think it might be the eye of a giant lamprey even tho we cant see any lampreys in the white version of the divine gate
I'm gonna have to argue a bit here that it makes no sense for Marika to have set up Godwyn as a sacrifice. Its highly likely that Marika herself knew that that the Greater Will was already long gone but we know for a fact that Ranni doesn't know this. Ranni's plan was flawed from the start since it had always been about getting away from the Greater Will, a deity that had already gone. We even know that Marika's rule was flawed from the start due to that same fact.
@@BeeAre But why would she need to escape the fingers? they don't actually -DO- anything. Anyone who thinks the greater will is still around thinks they do, but we know they never have.
With your discussion of holes in gravestones and trees, there's a bit of contradicting evidence in Ymir's helm, the High Priest Hat, which has the same sort of hole in the top of it, but its description states: "The circular design at the top represents the Greater Will and its lightless abyss" Which doesn't seem to square with holes merely being a vessel for spirit. Just wondering about your thoughts.
I came to this same conclusion with Godwyn being a mimic, but I based this off of the cut content item Carrier Pigeon Letter (2). Question: how did you come to the conclusion that rebirth removes one memories?
As if all these theories weren't good enough, then he drops the announcement of a huge video to come! This is becoming one of my fave channels quickly! Anyway, I wanted to share this with you all to see if anyone can make sense of this: just yesterday I was exploring caelid tower and behind the chest with the GEQ sword, after beating the godskin in the basement, there is a depiction of a fetus-like creature on the wall.. it looks a lot like this godwyn-dragon creature.. did anyone connected the depiction to something else in the game yet?
I always love your deep dives! You explore where others over look or don’t talk about enough. There was supposed to a mimic tear questline that was cut that we would’ve helped raised to lordship instead (that’s why we have the summon.) I wonder if your theory has a role to play in why it wasn’t included, let alone not referenced at all. I do have a theory how Empyrean shadows are made and I feel they aren’t talked about enough. There’s a chest in Castle Ensis that contains the Wolf Crest Shield emblazoned with a silver wolf and the moon upon it. Blatantly, the description tells us, “The wolf is the beast of the Carian royal covenant; a symbol of the moon's pride that none can forget, no matter what remote lands they may arrive in.” And it is widely known sorcerers used the moon pools to study the stars to read fate. The Greater Will chose the shadows for Marika and Ranni, told the sorcerers who read Gurranq and Blaidd’s fates. If not by the moon pools, I’d wager Ymir had to have some involvement with it. The Beast Men of Farum Azula are these disciples of the Greater Will who await the day when they are called to be shadows. I think it would mirror the progression of the Liondancers in the Shadow Lands. We’re first met with the first stage the Ascetics, then the Horned Warriors in Belurat, onward to the progressed Lion-like Horned Warriors prowling the Divine Gate Tower, to finally the Divine Dancing Beast. Except, the Farum Azula Beast men are Beasts turning into men instead of men becoming beasts. The Cinquedea was a sacred blade modeling 5 fingers in rememberance of when the Greater Will gave them intelligence. I think it’d go from Wolf to Base Beastman then the Lightning wielding Beastmen, evolving to the larger Beastmen, then waiting as Clergymen to be chosen. But, when Radahn defied his heritage and froze the stars, that’s when I think Farum Azula floated away. Trapping the Beastmen and sealing their fates as not even a memory as the dragons picked them off. Only to be resurrected by Godwyns influence to Live In Death. It’s not entirely filled out but it’s what I have so far
I buy the dragon form as seen on the malformed dragon helm and the rebirthing technology of the shamans being used to facilitate his transformation but I dont think theres enough information to substantiate anything else.
That fish/lamprey tail is also on the sealed GEQ door at the bottom of Caelid tower behind the chest where you get her sword. Lots of interesting motifs that became more clear with the DLC.
I’m pretty sure his body is a reference to some spirit or something in Shintoism. I believe they might have used this spirit as inspiration for another’s mob in sekiro as well.
For those discreting the horcrux idea; Miyazaki himself stated that the rotating staircases in Seeths castle in DS1 were DIRECTLY inspired by HP. HP is CONFIRMED as a source of inspiration for souls games.
The Nameless City is just a chunk of Leyndell. Selia is just a Nox city above ground that is connected to Nokron, which is likely why the Selia throne is empty, the inhabitant is still in Nokron. Leyndell on the other hand is built above an underground river, something favored by the Eternal Cities. It's just above ground and there's no Nox throne because of Marika. The Nameless City is missing all of that stuff because there was never a city down there until that bit of Leyndell collapsed
Marika is the Canaanite and Wicca Triple Goddess. Who are the 3 bodies of the triple goddess? The Maiden, The Mother and The Crone(perhaps a snowy one?)..
WAAAAYYYYYY ahead of you with that hahahahaha My upcoming grandmother video will hit on ALL of those notes ♡ I wasn't aware of the Canaanite triple goddess though, I tend not to delve into things outside of the game as that isn't REALLY my area kf expertise hahahah but I will definitely have a look since you took the time to suggest it :)
@@ScumMageInfa sweet!! Ya, the early jewish people were originally into polytheism Yahwea and his Goddess counter part and others are in inspiration for the Wicca Horned Lord and Triple Goddess. The Triple Goddess is actually the origin of the holy trinity in Christianity they just swapped the sex from female to male. Also idk if you saw but there is a literal depiction of the Mother, Maiden and Crone on the doors of the Prayer Room in Elphael. The Ashera Poles that culture made which probably inspired the minor erdtrees were also sometimes shaped or carved into women who look exactly like the Grandmother in SotET.
@hankskorpio5857 YESSSS I JUST finished a giant review of the haligtree and found MANY interesting things there hahahaha You seem like you're very much on the same page as me lmao refreshing Had NO idea about the origin of the holy trinity that's wild lmao
@@ScumMageInfa wait till you stumble into the connections with the Star of David/Shatkona, Euclaidian Tiling and the Kagome Lattice I tried to get into it but I need to find a mathematician to Virgil me through that hellscape... Also you may want to take a very close look at Rykard's Takers Cameo namely the symbols to the left and right Rykard's image. I think that may be further evidence to your God of Life and Death theory
10:22 Since Marika also seems to be cumbling and made of stone too, I figured that their appearance has more to do with the shattering of the Elden Ring.
The Giant Seal depicts the "one eyed God of the Fire Giants" as an eye within a triangle. With Radagon's association to the Fire Giants, it is hilarious that the Golden Order sigil shows an inverted triangle. I'm not totally convinced that the statue holding Marika's braid in Shaman Village is the actual "grandmother" figure. It could be a case of "misdirection" as a technique of storytelling. Metyr is identified as a "mother" so the Greater Will could be a "grandmother". Idk really, I think there are possibilities. Nice video
0:57 the crucible knights were under Godfreys command so maybe he was mentored by one and he is the son of Marika the being closest to the erdtree which is a crucible so what if Godwyn used the power of the crucible to transform into a dragon that was capable of controlling or creating that yellow lightning. Some of those crucible spells used in game kinda seemed draconic with all the horns tails and fire breath. And the upper half of the malformed dragon ornament looks to me at least like the dragon had feathers on that half
Miyazaki to the concept designers for the next souls-like game: MIYAZAKI: "Make that guy have the head of a naked mole rat with antlers." CONCEPT ARTIST: "Wait, why?" MIYAZAKI: "So we can see what those weirdo lore youtubers come up with to explain it, it'll be hilarious."
Godwyn is a giant mushroom of death. He spreads like a mushroom and his face reflects the structure of a mushroom. This is why you find more faces all over and especially in the lands of death, the mushrooms growing in the land can be used in place of flesh. I think the vailing of the tower and separation of the land of shadow was to contain his growing influence
I am quite convinced that Godwyn the Golden went into Death willingly. He may have even entered a pact with Ranni, who i suspect he was expected to be Consort to. Neither likely wanted to inherit their mother's legacy; a lie built on the Grace of Gold and beautiful monuments glorifying mass genocides against all who refused to conform or converge. Godwyn befriended the Ancient Dragons rather than vanquish them. And i suspect he witnessed the plight of Those Who Live In Death. He likely asked Ranni, who he would know to be the smartest person in the realms. Seeking her own removal from the grip of The Two Fingers and The Greater Will (if it ever had any say at all) she likely deduced they could split the Death Rune between themselves; Godwyn becoming One Who Lives In Death as Prince of Death, and Ranni, whose Empyrean Flesh could be separated from her Soul, which would live on in a masterfully constructed doll. This is just a fun theory. But it would explain why Godwyn hardly put up a fight when he was slain.
Ye ngl this feels super out there rather than the more obvious thought that godwyn just has mastered access to aspects of the crucible (easy link because of Godfrey and the fact the leader of the crucible knights is so close to him)
7:45, wild theory but what if the eyes open or eyes closed link could be based on the amount of elden Lords that have failed/succeeded in the modern age? Almost like when/if all eyes close all 4 elden Lords have failed to commune properly with the greater will? Placidusax, Godfrey, promised consort, and then us? I know there's also vyke but I assume in this theory that originally the open eyes were watching the biggest potentials at elden lord? Maybe when/if we fail at our task the last eye closes and Godwyn can properly return like ranni did to become the new god? I don't know, a few holes but seems like it could be linked maybe?
Suppose placidusax can be swapped with vyke if you think that the faraam azula fight dosent count as a modern age fight, but seeing as malikath recognises us I'd say it's more of a place without time entirely rather than in the past or future
I noticed on the Death Knight helm that the sun ring with the rays on the back has 3 rays at the top that aren't rays once you look. They looked barbed. And yea I know lightning arc can look like that but these are made to stand out and they could've picked a more lightning-esque look like the rest of the rays but they didn't. it looks like it does and it's echoing the the eclipse sun with the rays shared between Midra and GoldMask. Idk it's not left my mind since I saw it. Just wanted to put that here. Thanks S.M.I. Oh and get out of my head lol If you ever need any b footage, hit me up. Ill do it for free, yo.
So if that's true about Godwyns true form I guess that might explain why he appears to be the only one of her children not effected by some kind of curse. Seems odd that the only hint of this is a suit of armor that's found nowhere near his corpse though. That's vague even for Fromsoft. And how does this fit in with the Order's usual stance on artificial beings? Exceptions were made for royal Omen children but they were still locked away underground. I doubt the Rune of the Unborn is Raani's rune, as her rune would have been destroyed when she destroyed her body. Miquella does basically the same thing she did in order to ascend, hers being a more extreme method because she wanted to make sure her Fingers had no control over her. But we know part of the process for Miquella is breaking his great rune, so why should it be different with Ranni? More likely the amber egg was given to Renalla because Radagon knew it would drive her insane and make sure the Carians would never be a threat to Leyndell again. That was probably the whole point of the marriage to begin with, the Carians couldn't be conquered by warfare so they were conquered with diplomacy, and once the Academy was integrated into the Order then leave the only leader who was a threat broken and harmless with everyone turned against her. Remember this is a story GRRM had a hand in, so a lot of things like the intrigue are going to appear complicated when in actuality things are a lot more straightforward. Just assume everyone is different flavors of manipulative spiteful backstabbing a-hole and don't trust anyone who doesn't appear to be, like Miquella and Godwyn.
I really like the theory and explanation, but godwyn is simply transforming into a huge basilisk, he has the tail and claw hands with a basilisk finger joint, also the eyes are the same type, not to mention the scales and the basilisks spreading death
Makes sense that Godwyn's coprse, despite "being granted the honor" of burial right at the Erdtree roots, had absolutely no one from the Golden Order defending his corpse unlike the other crypts; because he wasn't exactly the golden boy that they tried to sell to everyone. I think it relates to Ranni deciding to murder him specifically out of all the demigods
Maybe godwin was able to turn into a dragon, or had a curse related to them (he wasnt a perfect child as we tought), thats why golden lightning its related to him, while lightning its mostly related to dragons, and dragons can take an humanoid form, maybe the first time he could use his dragon form in public was in his fight againts grandseax wich then inspired some of those knights, but i believe no one knows that malformed dragon was godwyn himself. I believe he being related to lightning its key to make the connections.
14:05 What is your take on the grave at the very south of the lands between (Morne Moangrave) having the same hole (with fingerprint too) as the graves of the land of shadow ?
VERY IMPORTANT EXTRA NOTES:
A BRILLIANT Reddit comment from 'ErzherzogHinkelstein' point out: The Nox NPCs and Silver Tears are called MarikaLineageMan/MarikaLineageWoman and MarikaLineageSlime in their AI.
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Some commenters mentioned that this makes Godrick calling the dragon he grafts a 'true born heir', but also... '*Kindred*' make sense 👁👄👁
I believe the first was: josearturocastrejonespinos7933
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In response to a brilliant critique from "falgalhutkinsmarzcal3962" -
I agree with comments that the tail of godwyn is more akin to a Basilisk tail, for sure.
I also agree the body of the dragonkin are likely trolls, hence the hole.
However I still believe the roots are NOT the same as the flesh root-like lamprey-like worms on the dragonkin AND the grown ones on godwyns corpse (Not a forked tail like basilisks) which I compared to the Deathroot itself in the video.
Marika's GOLDEN flesh being used as the ingredient leading to success would make sense as the flesh of shaman would harmoniously meld these many aspects, and with the flesh of a god, contain them.
Also in regards to the lampreys, the comparison of the number and state of the eyes is still outrageously compelling to me.
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THANKYOU ALL for the AMAZING comments and debates, I live for the comments section after posting a video, your insights are often profound and I truly enjoy reading them.
Fun notes: the etymology for basilisk goes back to old Greek roots meaning "Young Ruler" of "Little Royal" with a construction that lends itself almost to "Kinglet". :)
The cryptid Basilisk is also often historically conflated with a similar mythical being, the cockatrice.
From Shakespeare's Richard the 3rd, Richard's mother curses herself for her awful son:
O ill-dispersing wind of misery!
O my accursed womb, the bed of death!
A cockatrice hast thou hatch'd to the world,
Whose unavoided eye is murderous.
So you're saying I can greet Ranni, Godwyn, or any other artificial being by saying "What's up my slime?"
Ok, I am coming around to your way of thinking but if you're right that Marika was able to harmoniously meld Godwyn from disparate aspects that provokes a very important question: Why does his name begin with a "G" instead of an "M"? Because the G name implies that he is a child of Godfrey but not of Marika. Or at the very least that Godfrey was more important to his origin than Marika was.
@@jonathanspalding6973 kinds gived me "mossling" item description throwback 😂
@@ScumMageInfa i think hes all water creature like because his soul died, but his flesh came back to life. and there's also the tibia mariners, who are undead but have boats. so when godwym "died" since he was branded with only half the cursemark of death his body died as the flesh of a demigod, which made him kinda immortal, so it adapted to cross back to the world of the living and "swam" across the river between life and death, like the river styx maybe while escaping from this river, the river as a guardian tried to infect him and stop the body from coming back, infecting it with parasites, or lampreys. and when ranni "died" it was the other half of the cursemark of death so only her flesh died, giving her soul free reign in the realm of the living with them being opposites where her body is dead but her soul is free from it and able to adapt to other vessels, and godwyns soul died and without that meaning and what makes someone truly alive, his body is free to adapt however it needs to. and these tibia mariners are agents of death against the golden order, because as we know with the golden order if someone dies they just return to the erdtree, making these ferriers of the dead shackled and unable to release the dead. and in the age of the duskborn ending we make undeath a thing for everyone, giving these tibia mariners free reign to release the dead and godwyn becomes the lord of undeath, being unable to die as a demigod and possibly immortal with his undeath, already breaking the shackles so the rune of death and its effects are possibly useless against himg
lore community slowly descending into insanity since the dlc dropped
Miyazaki what have you done
Slowly?
always has been
radagon is anagram for a dragon.
marika is radagon.
marika is a dragon
@@deathandrebirth-y8xthis is so stupid that I thought Radagon really was an anagram for Drag Queen
@@deathandrebirth-y8x if you look closely at the chairs Rogier sits on there's a relief depicting what seemed to be a woman with two long scaly fish tails, resembling Marika and her veil like cloths behind her.
The thing with Godwyn is that he is essentially THE Crucible Knight.
He is the son of Godfrey, who is the leader of the Crucible Knights, and he bears their icon, the Herb of Many Aspects (the 1.00 name of the description of the Crucible Knights Armor), on his piece of cloth. His corpse is also guarded by the leader of the Crucible Knights, and he was placed at the Great Roots, which are clearly connected to the Crucible in some way. Furthermore, both of his brothers are Omen, beings that are essentially forced to bear certain signs of the Crucible permanently.
What is happening to his body in undeath is that he is perpetually casting all the aspects of the Crucible, which is why he has become a fish/clam/whatever person (imagine if the DLC Crucible Knight that just grows a weird horse body, but never changes back because he has brain damage or whatever). The helmet most likely depicts the form he took with the power of the Crucible to fight Fortissax. He took on a form resembling a dragon, which is, in truth, a culmination of multiple animals, representing the many aspects of the Crucible. The clam head and his fishtail are part of an aspect of the Crucible that is connected to sealife. This is the whole deal with the malformed dragon knights as well-they are trying to imitate Godwyn, but they don't possess the Crucible aspect powers. This is somewhat proven to be connected to the Tree Sentinels since Godwyn's personal guard are also just Tree Sentinels, much like the malformed dragon knights, as evidenced by their music being just a remix of the former.
While I think Marika is involved in the production of the Dragonkin Soldiers, I believe they are an entirely different subject on their own. However, I agree that the helmet clearly depicts Godwyn's fish form from a time before his undeath.
what the heck this makes so much sense…
@@Tazdingoyahahahahaha Well since it is building on the obviouse cruciable connection, which is like 1 of the 4 traits we know of him. The whole mimic tear thing on the other side is pretty unhinged speculation with no real proof.
Seeing that Godwyn casts death magic when you attack his adoring fangirl this shows that despite being essentially brain dead he still has instincts, therefore it's entirely possible that the form isn't a mutation but entirely self casted as a mean to defend himself, like a beast that is scared of prey his body is casting all the crucible magics it can so that it will intimidate everyone away from it
This is more like it. The whole horcrux, nox stuff made little to no sense.
but its not even glowing like an aspects of the crucible incantation, does fromsoft usually forget about small details like that
I need to push back a little:
The reason the Dragonkin have open guts and tree roots is because they are augmented trolls that the Nox used in an attempt to create their own dragons. This is why we see a Silver Tear transform into a Troll near the Fingerslayer Blade.
Godwyn's tail is not a Lamprey tail, but a Basilisk's tail, and Basilisks are native to the LB, which is why the 2nd Dancing Lion has a Basilisk/Deathroot phase in the dlc. Godwyn was used by Marika as a vessel to contain Deathroot, just as she used her other children and Shadowbound Beast to contain Rot, Destined Death, the GEQ, and the Abyssal Serpent. This is why Deathroot writhes out of his eye when he perishes in soul. His will/soul no longer restrains Deathroot.
Oooo great point about the troll.
So you think those things that i showed right next to roots on the dragonkin are actually just roots?
What about the lamprey like tails coming from the roots near his corpse? And the eyes? And his FACE 👀
I love the idea of him sealing ANOTHER portion of death and it being released when he was killed- into the great tree roots, and sealed in there. I guess that's why the finger crone at the elevator to the mountain top of the giants says burning the tree will unseal death.
Fun thing that i recently also noticed, i think the dragonkin skull is actually just a regular dragon skull turned upside down and both halves are then flipped.
what's LB
@@ScumMageInfathey said they aren’t lamprey tails. It’s basisilisk. He’s less fishy more amphibious, especially when looking at his hands
@@muramasa870 Lands Between
So, a few things: It's worth noting that the helmet's design predates that version of the lore. In the 1.00 version of the game whose lore is SIGNIFICANTLY more dragon-centric, this is also an armor set that belongs to a completely unique character. (Also, the Dragonkin Soldiers' bodies are born from the Trolls whose stomachs are also hollowed out while they're alive and are wholly unrelated to the Lampreys & finger Sorceries from the Land of Shadow).
First, it's worth recalling the description of the Tree Sentinel Set: _“Golden armor of a Tree Sentinel, stout knights who serve the Erdtree. Imposingly sturdy and nigh unbreakable, the blessing of old yet lingers.”_ as this will help to contextualize the power being represented in the transformation. The Malformed Dragon Set in 1.00 and specifically the helm in question is described as follows: _“The malformed, golden helm of Gnarrl, misshapen Tree Sentinel heretic. Once a dragon worshipper from the capital, it's said he pulverized his golden armor with his bare hands in a fit of religious fervor, covering it in his own blood as he reshaped it in the likeness of a dragon.”_
In this version of the game, the Banished & Exile knights were dragon worshippers who were attempting to fuse themselves with enough draconic elements in order to reach Farum Azula, formerly known as the Storm Aerie. This is the reason for the storm around Stormvale Castle, as well as the horns & thorns on their armor. Even as the lore changed to the release version, the armor designs didn't.
While it's almost certain that there is still an intentional link to Godwyn as the Dragon Temple is burgeoning with Deathroot, and a copy of his body is growing below Stormvale castle, in this version of the game Lansseax & Fortissax are one entity (Fortissax's remembrance text listing Lansseax's name), explaining why the Lichdragon uses a female Ancient Dragon model rather than a male one. This intertwining of the both of them most likely is what's being represented in that helm.
The aquatic bits match Godwyn's Deathroot with several forms of parasitism, but the core design is also a parallel to the victim of the Japanese Genpei War, child emperor Antoku. He died when his retainer Taira no Tokkiko dove into the straits rather than being captured alive, and Antoku came to be venerated and worshipped at the Suitengu shrine (水天宮) as a god of water and safe birth (水の神、安産の神).
Godwyn's corpse worshipped as the Prince of Death is a water-logged and oceanic god, while still having links to the Golden Lineage and the draconic immortality. Even the theme of safe birth is key to Fia's Quest when she kills D, and tells the Roundtable not to come after Godwyn, as she is devoted to having his child to produce a Mending Rune.
Afterwards, when Fia is murdered by D's twin brother, this is showing the division between the Golden Order Fundamentalists & Those Who Live in Death as being a direct parallel to the Minamoto & Taira clans' feud in the Genpei War, which is a core staple of Japanese fiction drawing from history, but especially when it comes to the themes of the undead and a blessed imperial heir whose reign was cut short before it began - hence his Erdtree root burial placing him upon a Throne as the "Prince of Death"
Additionally, the Nameless Eternal City is the only one of the Eternal Cities whose sky was stolen, and the location of Astel Stars of Darkness's meteor beneath Yellough Anex Ruins actually sits within Deeproot Depths, while the captured sky is held in the cave of Astel Naturalborn of the Void. In 1.00 the Nox armor was called "Descendant of Marika" and that in tandem with the Golden Lightning clad Mimic Tears are likely an indication of what Marika & Radagon are in that version of the lore.
This 1.00 content was early enough that the bloodlust of the red-eyed feral berserk state was not yet fully differentiated from Frenzied Flame's madness as while the status existed, it was only partially implemented as yellow eyes. The maddened Trolls weep Red Lightning rather than Frenzied Flame, and even the Beastmen wield Golden rather than Red Lightning - hence Vyke as a failed Lord who was closest to succeeding at the throne wielding both Red Lightning & Frenzied Flame as well as having cut content involving Stormvale Castle.
As such, I'd say that a significant portion of what you're pulling from are design elements from old 1.00 lore that've been intentionally rewritten in the release version. It's important to look at the removed content to understand which links have been purposefully pulled back from in order to not make an association that draws a parallel that's not a purposeful connection any more, but which still has shared patterns from when it was.
I agree that the 1.00 content is an important context giver, but in that version, the Dragon Cult was still established by Godwyn. Therefore, a helmet depicting him is still a very likely possibility. Pointing out the hair and scales that closely match Godwyn's current form is a valid observation since the eternal dragons we encounter neither have scales (certainly not shaped like the depicted ones) nor hair.
Additionally, I don't fully understand the aquatic connection to some random Japanese emperor in this context. Clearly, Godwyn is somewhat of a Crucible Knight himself, given that his piece of cloth features the "Herb of Many Aspects," which is only associated with Godfrey and the Crucible Knights. We also see the transformative powers that the Aspect of the Crucible can have, as evidenced by Devonia's cursed horse, which has an additional pair of hands. This suggests that in his undead state, Godwyn is casting various random Crucible aspects, giving him this mermaid-like appearance.
He is likely doing this because, based on the depiction of the Malformed Dragon Helmet, he once transformed himself into a dragon chimera-a combination of many different animals, much like Chinese dragons. This could explain the Breath Crucible Aspect; he may have used them all together to achieve the form of a "Malformed Dragon" to defeat the dragons in war. Even his golden lightning seems to derive from the power of those golden goats we see in the Shadowlands; his signature lightning is also borrowed from animal aspects.
And in death he just casts those aspects randomely resulting in this mermaid-monster form.
@@hinkelstein1494 The Basilisks that have Godwyn's false eyes growing on their heads, have that webbed mermaid tail look to them, and breathe out Deathblight rather than flames. They're also crawling all over the Nameless Eternal City where his corpse is kept, and even the Mimic Veil will transform you into one in that area.
Another important element is that in the release version, the Dragon Cult only uses the Golden Lightning, but explicitly does NOT practice physical transformation, as that would have been an anathema, and is tied into very different story elements with addiction to power and Dragon Communion (which is further expanded upon in the DLC).
In the release version, Godwyn's link to Fortissax attempting to keep him alive is likely still the factor to how that disease & Deathblight spread to Farum Azula, since their shared link is very much in the vein of *_Dragonheart_* & *_Drakengard._* Godwyn's death triggered the Shattering, but he's mostly just a symbol of the severed imperial lineage whose corpse leads to the emergence of Those Who Live In Death. His link into the Draconic elements aside from his corruption that tainted Fortissax are HEAVILY scaled back.
The lore that's extremely dragon-centric and the intertwining elements between Farum Azula & Stormvale post-1.00 are overtly no longer kept in the release version - and all of those bits of lore are explicitly removed & rewritten. That's why it's not really something where it makes sense to view it as still intended lore for the story of the current game.
As examples of this are how Stormvale and the Godwyn corpse there were initially a point of a literal "storm veil" where they were attempting to access the Storm Aerie, and where you find the Mimic's Veil which is all about physical transformation. Here are some more direct examples of their 1.00 lore that heavily overlaps with Godwyn's designs, but again - none of these were kept.
The Banished Knights are Stormvale knights and they and the Exiles were scored by salt winds and skirmishes. _“Long ago, those who sought the Storm Aerie traveled far from the capital, and settled in Stormveil. The Stormveil knights are their descendants.” but especially importantly the design of their armor, “Features an engraved crest of thorns meant to ward against the curse.”_ Their full armor: _“The twisted horn in the right shoulder, patterned after that of a dragon, signifies adherence to a forbidden form of worship; the consumption of dragon flesh.”_
Banished (Exile), _“Expose thyself not, but govern thyself to be whole hid; else the curse slip inside thee.” “…have started to fall apart, suffering now a moth-eaten appearance.”_ This explains their presence at the Dragon Communion temple, why in 1.00 they had invaded Leyndell and were worshipping Gransax (the whole city has different enemies in 1.00), Godrick Grafting dragon flesh to himself in Stormvale to attempt to get into the Storm Aerie, and even the thorny decay on the Castle itself that's potentially connected to Godwyn's living decay in Fortissax/Lansseax fused with him tainting the winds themselves.
This is further reinforced by the Drake Knight Armor: _“Malformed Armor fused with dragon flesh. Worn by Ondrej the Dragon Tracker. The cape is made of dragon wing membrane, but alas, has failed to provide flight.”_ (other pieces) _“Not a proud hunter's trophy, but rather ah obsessive object of ritual metamorphosis. Ondrej seeks the Storm Aerie, a place that only dragons can reach.”_
This emphasizes how the lore that is intertwined to physical dragon transformation, Farum Azula, Godwyn, Vyke, Stormvale, and all of those elements was completely cut out and rewritten for the canon lore in the release version. While the helm & Godwyn's body still have some shared features from how the story was designed at the time, there isn't really any compelling evidence that those elements are still intended to be true to the story as-is.
The Rock Heart & Priestess Heart connected to physical transformation and Bayle were also elements where there are a lot of lore that seem to have changed, as even the drakes that circle Farum Azula also circled Jagged Peak in the Shadow Lands, and were removed from all aside from a few maps (on top of Shadow Keep as well as the Divine Staircase). As such, while that helm may have been a symbol tied to Godwyn at one point in the 1.00 & earlier, there's far too much that HEAVILY removes all of those design links to the lore of the release version to place any stock in it still.
@PierceArner Unfortunately, the draconic influences from the 1.00 version of the game do not explain his current form. Honestly, I’m still not convinced by the random Japanese emperor-water deity theory as inspiration for him. It's a fact that he bears the Crucible Knight symbol, the "Herb of Many Aspects," on his remaining piece of cloth, and we clearly see the strange forms that Crucible aspects can create, like Devonia's horse-humanoid centaur form. I'm not entirely set on the helmet theory, but I'm very sure it's not related to some vague historical instance of Japanese mythology.
After the DLC I was under the impression that after Godwyn made peace with the Ancient Dragons, They inducted Godwyn into Dragon Communion as well as the tree sentinals that were inspired by him. Since they were given red lighting and their horses can breath fire from being fed dragon hearts.
Do you think tree sentinels albinaurics like Loretta and Gauss ?(always riding never walking)
@TranquilOG369 No, I don't think they are since albinurics are discriminated pretty heavily by the Gilden Order. I imagine the selection process to be a Tree sentinal would exclude them specifically unless their albinuric heritage was super hidden . Loretta and Gaius had pretty close ties to Carian Royalty, so them getting training in sorcery and mounted combat makes sense.
@@TranquilOG369no they have legs
0:07 I’m only a little bit into this one, but Godwyn’s fishiness was never inexplicable. In Japanese folklore, death, the afterlife, and water are more connected than we are used to thinking in the west. I think it was Zullie who pointed out that he was likely inspired by the Ningyo, a sort of mermaid-water spirit sort of thing. Sometimes, things are more imagery or symbolism rather than lore.
6:00 okay two things here. We see ancient dragons and humans connecting elsewhere in the game, I don’t think Godwyn needs to be a dragon mimic to bond with Fortissax. Unless Vyke was one too…? And second, aren’t the dragonkins chests like that because they’re trolls? The enemies we see all throughout the game with open chests filled with roots who happen to be roughly the same size as the dragonkin? I thought the implication was just that the nox experimented on a few trolls to make them. Lamprey are also not a chestburster type of parasite, they just cling and bore into flesh from the outside. Think ticks or leeches. Also I don’t think they’re what’s infesting Godwyn, those are probably just regular worms, who have a strong association with death. Worms are also used regularly by From to signify stagnation/corruption, ala Bloodborne.
10:22 I think a slightly more believable scenario for Godwyn’s location is that he was given the most honourable burial possible: right at the roots of the Erdtree. We are told by tomb ghosts that the most honourable heroes got the burials closest to the roots, so of course Marika is going to give the first of her children to die the most honourable burial possible. There is also a thematic element where he is representative of the literal “rotten roots” of Marika’s enterprise.
12:49 Also, Godwyn does have graves and monuments to his legacy. There are the sword monuments in the lands between, but there are also the tombs in the shadowlands. A “cadaver surrogate” is actually a historical term used to indicate a body buried in place of a person of important to prevent desecration or graverobbing, with the implication here being that Marika didn’t want anyone to know what Godwyn’s corpse became, so she created surrogate graves for him. She might have sealed these away in the shadowlands when even they began to take on the shape of his face, and he infests the roots of the erdtree itself… maybe he was even “called” by his image there.
14:40 The staff doesn’t say “Wisdom beyond stone,” it says “those who have glimpses what lies beyond the wisdom of stone.” ‘The Wisdom of Stone,’ actually refers to the wisdom of the Crystallians, as per the crystal staff. Lusat’s staff is for those who have glimpsed beyond crystal sorceries, difficult sorceries to master.
15:30 okay I know I’ve been a little critical so far but I do really love the idea that Godwyn being put at the roots of the Erdtree served a dual purpose, and that Marika might have been using him to attack the tree. She couldn’t have acted openly without Maliketh turning on her, but if she was just allowing her heroic golden boy to “return to the roots” he wouldn’t have been suspicious.
18:37 wait but. That’s not Godwyn’s rune. The great runes weren’t separate from the elden ring until the shattering, which occurs post-Godwyn’s death. It’s not passed down through the golden lineage or anything, godrick presumably just grabbed it and ran. If they were any older than that, why would Morgott and Mohg have them? Also, if godwyn is artificial, how could he have children who would become the golden lineage?
You have some great insights into the lore, like for example I adore the whole Rauh Burrow/Primal Glintstone thing, but I don’t know about this one chief 😅
@@adagio9230
6:00
1) What other dragons do we see use gold lightning, any? It seems then, to originate from the Eternal cities- No?
2) The trolls point is very possible, which is probably why their vessel couldn’t handle the Lamprey
3) As for Lamprey’s being chest busters- Sea lamprey attach to a host fish, rasp and puncture its skin, and drain its body fluids, often killing the host fish - Now picture that from the inside if you ingested a fingerprint nostrum.
4) Worms can be CLEARLY seen in the death root, not in those lamprey-esque tail things lol
10:22
1) Sure that sounds nice, but the results speak for themselves. We aren’t going to pretend what happened to the erdtree as a result of the deathroot was unintentional, are we?..
12:49
1) Or maybe she sealed him away to hide what it what she was doing.
14:40
1) The slight change of wording genuinely changes nothing - The hint is the cognition of the crystalians which is the fact they clearly harbour consciousness, as stone. Hence, primal glinstone spirit transfers being the ‘wisdom of stone’
15:30
1) A great point. You cannot ignore either, the position he is sitting in.
18:37
1) It is implied it is what WOULD have been Godwyn’s rune as the third child of that set. As for his descendance, I am not convinced Godrick is - But it would definitely make him calling the dragon ‘kindred’ make more sense LOL and also, why couldn’t a mimic have babies? Radagon apparently does.
Thanks for taking the time to comment 😊
@@ScumMageInfa Oh wow, thanks for taking the time to address all of those!! I hope I didn't come across too negatively lol. while i might not agree with you on some stuff in this video, i think you're right on the ball a lot of the time and you're willing to point things out that no one else does. Keep doing ur thing!!
@@adagio9230 I agree, this one's kinda shaky, does have a couple of good insight nuggets though.
@@ScumMageInfa Death lightning is gold, so Fortissax. And Bayle's flame lightning maybe?
Also, regular lightning from storms, fulgurblooms, and the stormhawk axe are all gold, so assuming it originates in the eternal city is just wrong.
One thing the DLC made clear is that things having to do with death or the afterlife take on an oceanic theme. We have the mariners, we have lingering spirits around graveyards turning into jellyfish, spirit eels in the shadow lands, and even the giant coffins are build to resemble giant boats. For whatever reason, things tied to spirits begin to take on an oceanic theme.
Apparently just a thing in Japanese mythology, I've been lead to believe from less speculative deep dives.
On the wriggling on godwyns body in the intro cutscene:
Had seen some theories that perhaps godwin was not in fact the perfect heir and was too cursed from birth with death root.
I mean that's plasuable but he is not born from a single god to be cursed like that. His soul got killed and that caused the deathroot to sprout out of his body, in my opinion it's just depicted like that to look more horrifying. He is a curse himself to be honest he cursed the erdtree roots with his neverdying flesh which also endlessly would attract parasites.
Would make sense, all her other kids have some vestiges of “impurities”.
The Omen Twins have vestiges of the old hornsent order
Mesmer with the abyssal serpent
Melina with the flame of death
Malenia with the scarlet rot
Miquella is Miquella
And finally Godwyn would potentially have the curse of death blight
It works well
@@bingusmingus2937 Isn't Miquella cursed with eternal youth, unable to grow up ?
@@adrien9670
He's cursed with being a creep that wants to turn his half-brother into a mindless zombie husband
I think so, too. All of Marikas children have the power over one status effect of the game.
This mad man comes out of nowhere two months ago and is now about to explain the story of Elden Ring that no one else could. God bless ya, bud. This is impressive, I’m looking forward to the future video and shorts you mentioned
Cept a few giant glaring holes in his logic and making crazy jumps to conclusions. Like Radagon is not a mimic tear but he think all the demi gods are just horcurxes. Wtf. There isn't even an example of such things outside of Harry Potter. Do we really think Fromsoft is copying JK Rowling lore. Lmfao.
The more and more I see of this stuff, the more of a surefire bet it is to call Ranni’s ending the true ending. It also does help that it is one of two endings with a meaningfully different cutscene
Speaking of ending cutsceens,
If the Frenzy Flame burns everything, even souls, how da fuk did Melina survive?
Not to mentionh how she looted Torrents charged whistle from Erdtree Ash?
Wasnt that place flooded in Frenzy?
Oh man the things I have yet to show....
I have some things in ranni I haven't seen ANYWHERE else and it is gonna be beautiful how it ties in with everything.
@@ScumMageInfa hell yea!
I.. No we'll be waiting.
I got popcorn!!!
@@ScumMageInfa I’m ready, boss
@@kamantariq2513 my uneducated guess is that Melina might be closer to a god than we know and perhaps not even the frenzy flame can kill a god unaided. It does sort of fit with the idea that gods are imprisoned. She can only speak to you via certain gracepoints where the echoes of Marika are at their strongest, or where Marika would be the most adamant about keeping people out. She can only truely manifest at the base of the Erdtree
The way FromSoft lore works, the detail of the lamprey eyes and the eye of Godwyn could either be the kind of detail Miyazaki planted like "This will be the key to a well of lore", or something the developers will see and go "Huh, I never noticed that. Neat". Could go either way. 50/50
Considering you literally have to line up the faces from completely separate locations this is definitely not Intenional. Also there are more faces of Godwin than the 4 he showed. Lmao. There are 3 in the DLC alone.
People and animals of the world had the ability to transform into dragons by consuming their hearts. You can find this lore starting in Caelid.
Godwyn's mutated appearance is not only a result of a soulless corpse being buried at the roots of the Erdtree, but also because it's a Japanese game.
In Japan, Ningyo's bring about misfortune, and well, shortly after Godwyn dies, Marika broke the rune.
His body is meant to represent a Ningyo.
I'd like to see a video on something I've not seen anyone talk about yet: the bodies grafted into the structures at 5 locations.
Those locations are: Nokron, Nokstella, Rykard's Lair, Farum Azula, and Enir Elim. Farum Azula is the key location amidst the other 4.
I'm not sure if there's any significance to there being 5 locations, maybe something that references the One Great.
Worth noting is that the merchant bodies locked away underground kind of mimic those 5 locations, but they're not grafted into the underground structure. However, maybe that's the point, since the 3 Fingers are different from the 2 Fingers.
I've seen you talk about Nokron, Nokstella, and Rykard's Lair (which I hadn't seen anyone else do), and I've seen I think the Tarnished Archaeologist talk about the Beastmen's bodies incorporated into Farum Azula's architecture as part of a burial ritual. Having completed both the DLC and then the base game in my only playthrough, I ended up going to Farum Azula after Enir Elim with a fresh pair of eyes. Having Enir Elim fresh in my memory, it stuck out to me that the Beastmen look like they're fused into the architecture instead of buried within it. Perhaps a huge number of Beastmen had to be sacrificed in order to elevate Placidusax's spouse to godhood just as Marika later replicated?
@chrisharris5658 I have spoken about all of them in both my crucible videos, and also my grandmother spirit transfer video :)
I also have a video coming out soon that will be touching on the concepts again ♡
I think the type of dragon Goldwyn is a Makara. In Asian cultures, dragons are composite creatures that aren’t exclusively reptilian. A makara is a water-based dragon with a fish body, head of a crocodile, and feet and trunk of an elephant. A qilin is another dragon with fish scales, deer antlers, an ox body, and horse hooves. All Asian dragons usually have some association with water whether it be bodies of water, rain, or floods. This also makes them associated with vitality, fertility, and life since society is built around water, crops need rain, and water cleanses - sound familiar? I think Goldwyn is a broken makara with the powers of resurrection through water tainted by his influence.
*I thought I sent the comment but I didn’t see it later! Good thing it saved in my clipboard 😅
Nice mimics 😎
I think the Age of Plenty ended quite a while before Godwyn's death tbh. His was not the signal of its ending, but part of the Shattering's beginnings.
The Deeproot Depths finger-reader says something that has always puzzled me:
"My poor, sweet lordling should have died a true death. As the first of the demigods to die. As a martyr to Destined Death. But why must it yet bring such disgrace?"
Nobody was supposed to die, in Marika's golden order. Why would the crone be saying this? Because Godwyn was set to be a sacrifice of some kind even before the Black Knives. I think your video comes close to something that most people ignore.
Apologies for this, but the Scadutree is indeed pronounced "shadow tree". "Scadu" is Old English for "shadow", and that's basically how it's pronounced, as well. Well... "shadu", technically, but yeah. It's "shadow tree".
The Nameless Eternal City fell from Layendel . It's directly below the lake behind we're city's main gate. The layout of its buildings are a near prefect match for the missing section.
I dunno man. I feel like you're making really great observations each and every video, but then spin them into semi-unhinged speculation that your delivering as if it were stone-cold fact. I can buy that there's a mimic character somewhere in the lore, probably even a big one hidden in plain sight. There's lots of hints and teases of exactly that, but to say that Godwyn specifically must be a mimic dragon SPECIFICALLY, just because a single item description talks about dragon cultists wanting to become a dragon (a recurring idea in Fromsoft games long before Godwyn) on a helmetwith a dragonish statuette that has hair is too much for me when there's equally or even more plausible alternative interpretations. Frankly, that statuette looks more like Radagon and the Leonine Misbegotten than anyone.
OFF TOPIC but Something I have been thinking about a lot recently is the spiritcaller snail who summons the godskin duo, if you look at the model it is the exact same as messmers base serpents.
I dont know what conclusion can come of it, but that plus the shadowkeep/helphens steeple(there are snails all around where you gat that weapon) seems like its pointing to something.
I feel like there is a reason these snails(basically snakes) are tied to spirits. And even the gloam eyed queen if you wana get unhinged with it (her consort was a serpent, and marika trapped them inside messmer and melina)
ALSO THERE ARE RUGS IN ENIR ILIM THAT LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THE GODSKIN SWADDLING CLOTH okay ranting finished
This was a really interesting theory. I really like the observations found within the helmet. The Malformed Dragon on top of the Helmet looks like a cross between a Lion and a Dragon. DLC also teaches us that Godwyn is acknowledged as transfigured so who is to say he didn't transfigure into that Lion Dragon to fight that battle. Awesome catch!
I take a different stance though when looking at the Nameless Eternal City. The Nameless Eternal City was part of Leyndell. When you look at the map of Leyndell there is a big section that the map marks as water within the walls. We can't go out the gates near Gransax's corpse that would lead to that part of the city. We also can't get through the front door from the outside, instead having to divert to a side entrance. To get to the Nameless city most will end up fighting the Corpse Wax Golem duo. When get to the city we find Corpse Wax golems down there as well in various states of broken. Those enemies are typically found in and associated to the capital. Aside from the Nameless city, which I'm trying to convince you was part of the capital, the only time we typically see outside the capital is the Black Corpse Wax Golems of Malekith. Another thing to note when looking at this particular underground city is comparing it to Nokron and Noxstella. Both of those cities are for the most part upright, Nokron has some knocked over buildings when we first get there but it did just get hit by a meteor. The Nameless city is crumbling though some would blame Astel for that I blame the earth collapsing from under it. The trees in the Nameless city aren't the characteristic silver instead they are yellow of Altus and green bushes. The reason there are no petrified corpses is because that was a practice of the Nox not the people of Leyndell. Instead the entire population died all at once as a section of the city dropped. Their corpses all getting washed away to Nokstella.
You might be saying "That's crazy how could that even happen?" The DLC teaches us. The Shattered Stone Talisman: "...Linchpin stones are spiritual anchors said to hold the ground in place and quell the fury of earthquakes-when this one shattered, the surrounding town fell into the broken earth. One account claimed that the moon itself had come tumbling down." Destroy the Linchpin stone and the ground falls out from beneath you. When it happened in Leyndell it was probably not even on purpose. it could have been when the Elden Ring was shattered. It could have been during one of the defenses. The Linchpin Stone, combined with the realization that the Greater Will has been gone since before Marika, it almost makes we wanna say the GW didn't banish the Nox. But we have no idea when on the timeline they got sent underground, and they are still alive, at least like 8 of them I think. Linchpin collapse might have been the fall of the ancient dynasty.
I like the first parts of this, particularly the idea that Godwyn might have had help in becoming something more, and inspired the dragon cult specifically by becoming one.
Not as much a fan of the idea he was constructed, and definitely not the suggestion Ranni was as well, but that's just me.
I'd encourage you to watch Jack is a mimics video "how elden ring manipulates you"
I am certain it'll be eye opening.
@@ScumMageInfa I have seen it, but thank you for the suggestion anyway
@@ScumMageInfayeah it's not that great of a video to base all this crazy on. Lmao.
I think that the form of Godwyn may also relate to the Greek god Proteus. This strongly relates to the idea of Godwyn as a shapeshifter and is a better source of the scaled looks than the scaleless lampreys.
This is such a paradigm shift. Every time feel like I'm on the cusp of understanding the lore, I fall through the floor. How many stories is this damn building
Nameless eternal city misses many things because it's a fallen portion of Leyndell. It corrisponds to the missing part where there is the abyss near the walls/original entrance (and since the war cutscene is in front of those we can presume the portion of the city fell after).
Nice observations about that malformed helm!
There's so many leaps in this that make no sense.
The giants had frenzy flame faces that the trolls carved out to betray the giants and they all have tablets rooted into their missing stomachs.
In ER death is associated with boats and water. Godwyn, Prince of Death, is a mermaid because death is his element. Death is water and he's the only one who can swim. It's symbolic.
Currently watching and don't know if it'll be addressed but the "third- eye" on Godwyn's faces also looks like the fingerprint nostrum. Both having that little, circular opening.
That's a bloody good point, and one I wish I raised. 😂
@@ScumMageInfai would also talk about the strange serpent face that is show in the dlc cinematic trailer, idk but the face of godwyn and that strange face that marika touches is kinda similar and it makes sense since marika takes from that face a rune arc wich may implies that that face was a god( the first god to die??)
You have something really interesting here with the malformed dragon connection to Godwyn, but I think it starts to fall apart with the lamprey & finger stuff.
@ScumMageInfa Another support is the Golden Epitaph sword. In the description, it states "Infused with the humble prayers of a young boy; 'O brother, lord brother, please die a true death.'" Which seems to imply that there may have been a belief that Godwyn may come back again in the same way silver mimics do. Silver Tear husk state that "Silver tears make mockery of life, reborn again and again into imitation." Maybe Miquella is the young boy who pitied his brothers fate and did no want to see him come back as somwthing other than himself.
Your lore work being speculative vs definitive is what keeps the community asking questions. Good stuff man.
@Awful.Productions ♡♡♡ Thankyou, propelling discussions is what makes making these videos so gratifying 😁
The malformed dragon image on the helmet also has leonine facial features.
16:52 Apart from looking similar to Godwyn, I always found it strange that after his health pool reaches half, Radagon begins to fight in the style reminiscent of a lightning user with Golden spears similar to Godwyns trademark golden lightning. He literally becomes it with his teleport attack which might be a form of Honed Bolt, uses the Storm Stomp AOW, and manifests spears that have lightning sound effects. He also has a statue in Stormcaller Church which is very Godwyn influenced with his monument detailing the routing of the Ancient Dragons. Lightning is intrinsically linked to the storm judging from a Placidusax’s arena which Godwyn might’ve been the heir of(red to gold lightning).
Ooooooooo nice spot
I think rather than Dragonkins exploding from inside, I think denizens of Eternal cities experimented on Trolls. Trolls have a tree-like fleshy branches in their exposed belly.
At the rate things are going, you and Jack are going to form a grand universal Elden Ring theory that everything in the Lands is a) a piece of Marika and b) engineered into a mimic.
Great theory on Godwyn being able to transform into a dragon! The only thing I disagree with is the connection to the Nox, I think it's more plausible that Godwyn engaged in dragon communion.
Also is it just me or does it almost seem like there was a planned wedding between Ranni and Godwyn. Also, sun + moon would possibly = eclipse? I forgot who's idea it was but the idea of a planned wedding between Godwyn and Ranni has stuck with me for a while.
The weaving-like quality of this video is astounding. This was so good
6:23 love how the footage you got of this attack is followed by a death screen. truly lore accurate
We have to keep in mind that we face and receive the Rememberence of Fortissax when we enter Godwyns mind. And since we never see a body of Fortissax in the overworld, don't see a grave for him or anything, I suspect that he actually fused with Godwyn.
The DLC tells us that Shaman Flesh has this habit of merging with other lifeforms after suffering a wound, and we see that happening with at least two, maybe three of Marikas descendants.
When Godrick cuts off his own arm and rams it into a dragons neck, their flesh merges and the head becomes an extension of Godrick.
When Rykard is fed to the Goddevouring Serpent in pieces, his arms, legs and head fuse into the snake at various places, and so does every subsequent sacrifice. Thats also why Tanith eats him in the end, not just symbolically absorbing his flesh, but quite literally masticating the shaman flesh of Rykard, so that it fuses to her insides.
And Godwyn, ancestor of Godrick, appears merged with some weird fish thing, which honestly... might be a Manifestation of Fortissax fusing into his back wound. The webbed hands could very well be an intermediate between dragon wings and human hands, but the tail clearly has ganoid scales on them, which Fortissax doesn't, so... fuq.
Yo, I actually can explain why he has a fish tail. I do like your theory for in game lore reasons. My personal lore reason was that death and water are associated, as a reflection of Chinese mythology with floods ending the world each time. The real life reason is also Chinese mythology, as the divine beasts get corrupted and mutated, can't recall the name at the moment, but I'll try to find it.
I gotta be honest that malformed dragon’s head looks nothing like Godwin’s, I’m not sure you’re cooking here chief
You're right
The exact same scaly underneath with a fish like tail, and the long blond hair don't remind me of godwyn AT ALL
His face? You mean the one warped by deathblight? Hahaha
The Lamprey eyes connection to Godwyn is such a good catch. Definitely some hidden meaning there.
How when you have to force the faces to be on top of each h other to get that connection. It's reaching at best.
@@Eric-cj8sb Godwyn may be spread out, but he is one being. One body.
All this lore and we're debating which brother Miquella wanted to "consort" with more. This is maidenless behavior.
Great video and interesting connections. Looking forward to the incoming content. :) As an aside, I would suggest watching 'TheCenteredTarnished' playlist on the game as he actually presents some compelling reasons as to why Godwyn takes on aquatic traits and is associated with (dark) water themes, etc. It doesn't invalidate anything you present here, as the game contains multiple layers of interpretation, and some of the conclusions align, especially when it comes to the 'Godwyn being a part of Marika' idea.
Great video due, I never notice the helmet and it makes a lot of sense. Godwin is not born from a dragon an Marika but, he did create the Dragon Cult, and a branch of the Dragon Cult is the Church of Dragon Communion. So maybe he was on his way to become a true dragon.
Not quite, Dragon communion was pre-dragon cult, as it was founded after Bayle and Placidusax's clash, long before the Draconic War. Additionally, dragon cult incantations, and dragon communion are fundamentally different, and were created for different purposes, even requiring different stats.
However, the idea that Godwyn was becoming a dragon is plausible, but considering he did not look like a dragon when he died, he was not a user of a stone heart, or if he was, it had a different effect on him than on the tarnished, it's possible that he could freely change form, similar to Lannseax (Glaive of Lannseax item desc.), as opposed to being stuck in a form, like the tarnished.
Great video ! now that i could see that helm closely i think you're right on the money about who it is depicting but silver/mimic tear shenanigans didn't come first to my mind as i saw the that malformed dragon tbh
we know at least 2 dragons who turned humanoid for various reasons those being one in capital city and dlc
and we have description of several items showing how dragon communion led to transformation into dragon
out of these 2 dragons we reach the second one after defeating dragon man a form we can attain by using rock heart "original form of dragon communion"
it's not too far-fetched to think that the dragon who was friend of godwyn & able to change forms also taught him a similar communion to turn into dragon
One word: good fucking shit, really really good shit. You and a couple other lore psychos suddenly just appeared and stirred some life into the lore scene, loving it.
7:37 DING DING DING DING THIS IS THE SUSSY SHAPE FROM THE DLC TRAILER MIQUELLA PULLS THE GOLDEN HAIR FROM IT WAS ONE OF GODWYNS EYES
Nah that has to have been marika looks way too adult
@@jerrbear5958 i agree, but why does it look like one of the eyes on godwyns corpse, i think it might be the eye of a giant lamprey even tho we cant see any lampreys in the white version of the divine gate
Infa always has the best GILF content(Grandma I'd Lore For)
Damn, the lampreys insight was wild. Loved it! Cannot wait for your masterpiece!
I'm gonna have to argue a bit here that it makes no sense for Marika to have set up Godwyn as a sacrifice. Its highly likely that Marika herself knew that that the Greater Will was already long gone but we know for a fact that Ranni doesn't know this.
Ranni's plan was flawed from the start since it had always been about getting away from the Greater Will, a deity that had already gone. We even know that Marika's rule was flawed from the start due to that same fact.
Check my video "marikas great escape" and jack is a mimics video "how elden ring manipulates you"
If that combo doesn't convince you, nothing will
Does Ranni not just want to escape the fingers themselves? Is she specific in her decrying the Greater Will rather than the fingers?
@@BeeAre I don't think Ranni ever talks about the Greater Will, only the Two Fingers.
@@BeeAre But why would she need to escape the fingers? they don't actually -DO- anything. Anyone who thinks the greater will is still around thinks they do, but we know they never have.
@@zrswitch8434They sent multiple baleful shadows to go after ranni
Elden Prometheus. Incredible work, I very much like the reference to Frankenstein
BROOO!!! The title sounds scary but it kinda feels right, too... I'm here for this 🎉 hope you're well! 🌞
Bless you, sir ♡
Heavily sleep deprived, but alive hahahah
With your discussion of holes in gravestones and trees, there's a bit of contradicting evidence in Ymir's helm, the High Priest Hat, which has the same sort of hole in the top of it, but its description states:
"The circular design at the top represents the Greater Will and its lightless abyss"
Which doesn't seem to square with holes merely being a vessel for spirit. Just wondering about your thoughts.
I came to this same conclusion with Godwyn being a mimic, but I based this off of the cut content item Carrier Pigeon Letter (2). Question: how did you come to the conclusion that rebirth removes one memories?
Rennala's rebirthing of the academy mages
As if all these theories weren't good enough, then he drops the announcement of a huge video to come! This is becoming one of my fave channels quickly!
Anyway, I wanted to share this with you all to see if anyone can make sense of this: just yesterday I was exploring caelid tower and behind the chest with the GEQ sword, after beating the godskin in the basement, there is a depiction of a fetus-like creature on the wall.. it looks a lot like this godwyn-dragon creature.. did anyone connected the depiction to something else in the game yet?
Thrilled to watch ur vids ever since you responded to my silly hippo theory of all things 😭😭
Its like getting an autograph from a lore theorist
I never noticed the figure on that helm! And it DOES make more sense for Godwyn to turn into a dragonkin, than some sort of "mermaid".
I always love your deep dives! You explore where others over look or don’t talk about enough. There was supposed to a mimic tear questline that was cut that we would’ve helped raised to lordship instead (that’s why we have the summon.) I wonder if your theory has a role to play in why it wasn’t included, let alone not referenced at all.
I do have a theory how Empyrean shadows are made and I feel they aren’t talked about enough. There’s a chest in Castle Ensis that contains the Wolf Crest Shield emblazoned with a silver wolf and the moon upon it. Blatantly, the description tells us,
“The wolf is the beast of the Carian royal covenant; a symbol of the moon's pride that none can forget, no matter what remote lands they may arrive in.”
And it is widely known sorcerers used the moon pools to study the stars to read fate. The Greater Will chose the shadows for Marika and Ranni, told the sorcerers who read Gurranq and Blaidd’s fates. If not by the moon pools, I’d wager Ymir had to have some involvement with it.
The Beast Men of Farum Azula are these disciples of the Greater Will who await the day when they are called to be shadows. I think it would mirror the progression of the Liondancers in the Shadow Lands. We’re first met with the first stage the Ascetics, then the Horned Warriors in Belurat, onward to the progressed Lion-like Horned Warriors prowling the Divine Gate Tower, to finally the Divine Dancing Beast. Except, the Farum Azula Beast men are Beasts turning into men instead of men becoming beasts. The Cinquedea was a sacred blade modeling 5 fingers in rememberance of when the Greater Will gave them intelligence. I think it’d go from Wolf to Base Beastman then the Lightning wielding Beastmen, evolving to the larger Beastmen, then waiting as Clergymen to be chosen. But, when Radahn defied his heritage and froze the stars, that’s when I think Farum Azula floated away. Trapping the Beastmen and sealing their fates as not even a memory as the dragons picked them off. Only to be resurrected by Godwyns influence to Live In Death.
It’s not entirely filled out but it’s what I have so far
I buy the dragon form as seen on the malformed dragon helm and the rebirthing technology of the shamans being used to facilitate his transformation but I dont think theres enough information to substantiate anything else.
Just gotta say this is one of my favorite theories in Elden Ring like. Ever
I love the helm connection and the implication that they boned 🤣 but MAN do I hate cliffhangers. Left me feeling betwixt and between
Ba ba ba ba ba I’m lovin it. I love the way your brain works my friend. Keep it up!
That fish/lamprey tail is also on the sealed GEQ door at the bottom of Caelid tower behind the chest where you get her sword. Lots of interesting motifs that became more clear with the DLC.
I’m pretty sure his body is a reference to some spirit or something in Shintoism. I believe they might have used this spirit as inspiration for another’s mob in sekiro as well.
Bravo, Infa!!! What a colossal and I credible theorycraft! I can’t wait for the grandmother video!
I cannot wait to post it
It'll be WILDLY cathartic
For those discreting the horcrux idea; Miyazaki himself stated that the rotating staircases in Seeths castle in DS1 were DIRECTLY inspired by HP.
HP is CONFIRMED as a source of inspiration for souls games.
The Nameless City is just a chunk of Leyndell. Selia is just a Nox city above ground that is connected to Nokron, which is likely why the Selia throne is empty, the inhabitant is still in Nokron. Leyndell on the other hand is built above an underground river, something favored by the Eternal Cities. It's just above ground and there's no Nox throne because of Marika. The Nameless City is missing all of that stuff because there was never a city down there until that bit of Leyndell collapsed
Jack the mimic actually made a video discussing this, and so it isn’t exactly nobody who has caught on yet. Still a great video!
Marika is the Canaanite and Wicca Triple Goddess. Who are the 3 bodies of the triple goddess?
The Maiden, The Mother and The Crone(perhaps a snowy one?)..
WAAAAYYYYYY ahead of you with that hahahahaha
My upcoming grandmother video will hit on ALL of those notes ♡
I wasn't aware of the Canaanite triple goddess though, I tend not to delve into things outside of the game as that isn't REALLY my area kf expertise hahahah but I will definitely have a look since you took the time to suggest it :)
@@ScumMageInfa sweet!! Ya, the early jewish people were originally into polytheism Yahwea and his Goddess counter part and others are in inspiration for the Wicca Horned Lord and Triple Goddess.
The Triple Goddess is actually the origin of the holy trinity in Christianity they just swapped the sex from female to male.
Also idk if you saw but there is a literal depiction of the Mother, Maiden and Crone on the doors of the Prayer Room in Elphael.
The Ashera Poles that culture made which probably inspired the minor erdtrees were also sometimes shaped or carved into women who look exactly like the Grandmother in SotET.
@hankskorpio5857 YESSSS I JUST finished a giant review of the haligtree and found MANY interesting things there hahahaha
You seem like you're very much on the same page as me lmao refreshing
Had NO idea about the origin of the holy trinity that's wild lmao
@@ScumMageInfa wait till you stumble into the connections with the Star of David/Shatkona, Euclaidian Tiling and the Kagome Lattice
I tried to get into it but I need to find a mathematician to Virgil me through that hellscape...
Also you may want to take a very close look at Rykard's Takers Cameo namely the symbols to the left and right Rykard's image. I think that may be further evidence to your God of Life and Death theory
I love that fin tail on the malformed dragon and how it looks exactly like godwyns tail. Never noticed that before.
10:22 Since Marika also seems to be cumbling and made of stone too, I figured that their appearance has more to do with the shattering of the Elden Ring.
i wonder why radahn and godwyn are both referred to as lord brother by miquella, perhaps he first swore an oath to godwyn?
Because children of Kings and Queens are lords in their own rights. Do you know what a Feifdom is?
Great video!! Really enjoy your stuff.
I think we are missing some key origins
Numens/ shamans unique physical power is similar to mimic tears
The Giant Seal depicts the "one eyed God of the Fire Giants" as an eye within a triangle.
With Radagon's association to the Fire Giants, it is hilarious that the Golden Order sigil shows an inverted triangle.
I'm not totally convinced that the statue holding Marika's braid in Shaman Village is the actual "grandmother" figure. It could be a case of "misdirection" as a technique of storytelling.
Metyr is identified as a "mother" so the Greater Will could be a "grandmother". Idk really, I think there are possibilities.
Nice video
0:57 the crucible knights were under Godfreys command so maybe he was mentored by one and he is the son of Marika the being closest to the erdtree which is a crucible so what if Godwyn used the power of the crucible to transform into a dragon that was capable of controlling or creating that yellow lightning. Some of those crucible spells used in game kinda seemed draconic with all the horns tails and fire breath. And the upper half of the malformed dragon ornament looks to me at least like the dragon had feathers on that half
Miyazaki to the concept designers for the next souls-like game:
MIYAZAKI: "Make that guy have the head of a naked mole rat with antlers."
CONCEPT ARTIST: "Wait, why?"
MIYAZAKI: "So we can see what those weirdo lore youtubers come up with to explain it, it'll be hilarious."
Other youtubers: Fish represent death
You: NOBODY HAS EXPLAINED IT.
@evelynlamoy8483
That explains nothing.
🫠
Godwyn is a giant mushroom of death. He spreads like a mushroom and his face reflects the structure of a mushroom. This is why you find more faces all over and especially in the lands of death, the mushrooms growing in the land can be used in place of flesh. I think the vailing of the tower and separation of the land of shadow was to contain his growing influence
Wow you are deep in the sauce. Deeproot Depths isnt even an eternal city. It extisted befor them.
I am quite convinced that Godwyn the Golden went into Death willingly. He may have even entered a pact with Ranni, who i suspect he was expected to be Consort to. Neither likely wanted to inherit their mother's legacy; a lie built on the Grace of Gold and beautiful monuments glorifying mass genocides against all who refused to conform or converge. Godwyn befriended the Ancient Dragons rather than vanquish them. And i suspect he witnessed the plight of Those Who Live In Death. He likely asked Ranni, who he would know to be the smartest person in the realms. Seeking her own removal from the grip of The Two Fingers and The Greater Will (if it ever had any say at all) she likely deduced they could split the Death Rune between themselves; Godwyn becoming One Who Lives In Death as Prince of Death, and Ranni, whose Empyrean Flesh could be separated from her Soul, which would live on in a masterfully constructed doll.
This is just a fun theory. But it would explain why Godwyn hardly put up a fight when he was slain.
You missed something big!
The dragonkin bodies are identical to the bodies of the trolls minus the ward stones placed in their abdomens.
@@hankskorpio5857 100% agree, added that to my pinned comment :)
someone did explain why he has a tail tho, its because of how fish tie into death in Japanese culture or somethin like that
Ye ngl this feels super out there rather than the more obvious thought that godwyn just has mastered access to aspects of the crucible (easy link because of Godfrey and the fact the leader of the crucible knights is so close to him)
0:00 zulie the witch did a video on godwyn and explained how his fish tail might be related to japanese mythology
his arms look exactly like basilisks tho, not lampreys
Agree there are some major basilisk attributes.
Did I hear kingdom hearts background OST theme in this video? Took me back to the library stage
7:45, wild theory but what if the eyes open or eyes closed link could be based on the amount of elden Lords that have failed/succeeded in the modern age? Almost like when/if all eyes close all 4 elden Lords have failed to commune properly with the greater will? Placidusax, Godfrey, promised consort, and then us? I know there's also vyke but I assume in this theory that originally the open eyes were watching the biggest potentials at elden lord? Maybe when/if we fail at our task the last eye closes and Godwyn can properly return like ranni did to become the new god? I don't know, a few holes but seems like it could be linked maybe?
Suppose placidusax can be swapped with vyke if you think that the faraam azula fight dosent count as a modern age fight, but seeing as malikath recognises us I'd say it's more of a place without time entirely rather than in the past or future
Hope this gets a lot of attention, extremely good vid man.
I dont think Marika/Radagon is made of stone, I think at this point in the game they're both petrified (dead) wood.
I noticed on the Death Knight helm that the sun ring with the rays on the back has 3 rays at the top that aren't rays once you look. They looked barbed. And yea I know lightning arc can look like that but these are made to stand out and they could've picked a more lightning-esque look like the rest of the rays but they didn't. it looks like it does and it's echoing the the eclipse sun with the rays shared between Midra and GoldMask. Idk it's not left my mind since I saw it. Just wanted to put that here. Thanks S.M.I.
Oh and get out of my head lol
If you ever need any b footage, hit me up. Ill do it for free, yo.
So if that's true about Godwyns true form I guess that might explain why he appears to be the only one of her children not effected by some kind of curse. Seems odd that the only hint of this is a suit of armor that's found nowhere near his corpse though. That's vague even for Fromsoft. And how does this fit in with the Order's usual stance on artificial beings? Exceptions were made for royal Omen children but they were still locked away underground.
I doubt the Rune of the Unborn is Raani's rune, as her rune would have been destroyed when she destroyed her body. Miquella does basically the same thing she did in order to ascend, hers being a more extreme method because she wanted to make sure her Fingers had no control over her. But we know part of the process for Miquella is breaking his great rune, so why should it be different with Ranni? More likely the amber egg was given to Renalla because Radagon knew it would drive her insane and make sure the Carians would never be a threat to Leyndell again. That was probably the whole point of the marriage to begin with, the Carians couldn't be conquered by warfare so they were conquered with diplomacy, and once the Academy was integrated into the Order then leave the only leader who was a threat broken and harmless with everyone turned against her.
Remember this is a story GRRM had a hand in, so a lot of things like the intrigue are going to appear complicated when in actuality things are a lot more straightforward. Just assume everyone is different flavors of manipulative spiteful backstabbing a-hole and don't trust anyone who doesn't appear to be, like Miquella and Godwyn.
I really like the theory and explanation, but godwyn is simply transforming into a huge basilisk, he has the tail and claw hands with a basilisk finger joint, also the eyes are the same type, not to mention the scales and the basilisks spreading death
Makes sense that Godwyn's coprse, despite "being granted the honor" of burial right at the Erdtree roots, had absolutely no one from the Golden Order defending his corpse unlike the other crypts; because he wasn't exactly the golden boy that they tried to sell to everyone. I think it relates to Ranni deciding to murder him specifically out of all the demigods
Maybe godwin was able to turn into a dragon, or had a curse related to them (he wasnt a perfect child as we tought), thats why golden lightning its related to him, while lightning its mostly related to dragons, and dragons can take an humanoid form, maybe the first time he could use his dragon form in public was in his fight againts grandseax wich then inspired some of those knights, but i believe no one knows that malformed dragon was godwyn himself.
I believe he being related to lightning its key to make the connections.
Great speculation ❤
14:05 What is your take on the grave at the very south of the lands between (Morne Moangrave) having the same hole (with fingerprint too) as the graves of the land of shadow ?