The Crystalians: The Enemy Even Elden Ring Calls “Mysterious”
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- Elden Ring has some surprisingly deep connections to Judaism (and I'm not just talking about Bill Clinton).
The design of the Crystalian bears a striking resemblance to Der Golem, an influential trilogy of German Expressionist cinema. Der Golem tells the famous legend of Rabbi Judah Löw, who forms a golem out of clay to defend his community. By alluding to the Golem film trilogy through the visual design for the Crystalians, Elden Ring connects them to the centuries old tradition of the Golem in Jewish folklore.
Footage is from Der Golem: Wie Er in die Welt Kam, directed by and starring Paul Wegener. This 1920 film, now in the public domain, was technically a prequel to the first Golem movie, which came out in 1915.
I only scratched the surface of the Golem, so if you're interested in learning more, I'd highly recommend this great interview with Dr. Justin Sledge of @TheEsotericaChannel: • Kabbalah - Reboot Gole...
As well as this fantastic video essay by @JacobGeller on the Golem’s social and cultural legacy: • The Golem and the Jewi...
(Or maybe Michael Zaki is just a fan of Ongo Gablogian, the aht collector.)
#eldenringlore #dergolem #eldenring #golem
I love when a random video comes out of nowhere from a smaller channel and makes a wildly valid point.
Nice work.
yup. RUclips's algorithm was update some time ago to randomly recommend low view/low sub channels in hopes of recommending hidden gems. Certainly a good change!
Me too
Thank you! I was so convinced that the crystalions head and hair was pulling up a deep memory. The golem could totally be the design inspiration for these guys, it looks unmistakable. The connection is part of my head cannon now, thank you for your contribution
What's really mysterious is how the Crystalian could walk out the barber with that yee yee ass cut and not be embarrassed to fight the Tarnished.
True
How about the floating balls of electricity that shoot lasers? Those are the real mystery.
MadLuigi did a great video about them! ruclips.net/video/6GJ3hFKCqxg/видео.html
Either that or FromSoft is a fan of Stalker.
@@garrulousgoldmask I though of stalker immediately.
will o wisp?
Jewish space laser
I unintentionally killed every crystalian boss in my first play through thinking all bosses had very little information on them. Turns out I’m destroying a magical civilizations work. What’s new in The Lands Between..
Awesome video, really interesting ideas. I'm not entirely surprised by the repeated references to Judaism throughout the game, particularly the occult elements. The meaning of Shabriri is already well known (Demon of blindness, if you were unaware), and many of the areas draw heavily from real life cultures that had some degree of impact on the ancient Semites that would eventually become the modern, monotheistic Jews. Also, these ancient societies, including the ancient Semites, were all polytheists that more or less worshipped the same pantheon, derived from the religious beliefs of the ancient Sumerians, Assyrians, and other local religious ideology, much of which was very similar to the others anyways. While that's definitely an oversimplification on my part, generally speaking, the gods and demigods we (westerners anyways) connect with ancient Greeks such as Zeus, Pan, Heracles (Hercules), Apollo (Hermes) etc all have analogs within the religions of many of their contemporaries developing in that region, spanning thousands of years and thousands of kilometers. While the prime deity within each culture often varied based on the culture, the time period, and even differed within a single group, such as the various cults of the ancient Greeks. These cults were based on the worship of not only a specific god, but often a specific aspect of that god. Since each god was often the god of multiple concepts, the gods that were the main focus of the majority of the population s cults of the ancient Greeks. These cults were based on the worship of not only a specific god, but often a specific aspect of that god. Anyways, the "Zeus" of the ancient Semites was known as "El," which in Hebrew roughly translates to "God," with its cognate in Arabic "Al" having more or less the same meaning. Sometime between being rounded up and enslaved by the Egyptians and returning from their long ass walk through the desert back to the lands of Judah/Israel (assuming that this is indeed their historical origins. I'm going to stick with it for now since its the claim within the Old Testament, but if anyone with more knowledge on the subject wants to add anything or correct me I encourage it), they converted from polytheism to monotheism, a truly radical transformation. This radical transition in belief structure, the perception of gods and God, and the massive cultural impact this newly adopted religion is a major plot point in Elden Ring. While the intolerance towards the beliefs and cultures of those that held beliefs not in line with the tenants of Erdtree worship and eventually the Golden Order is a clear parallel with the decision of the late Roman empire to adapt and adopt the teachings and beliefs of the man we know as Jesus and the major impact this decision would have on Asia, Europe, and eventually Africa and the Americas, this would have never happened had Judaism not emerged as a monotheistic religion, the first of what would be called Abrahamic religions. Given the clear eastern flourishes in many of the architectural designs throughout ER, including places such as Leyndell, a city clearly designed to evoke ancient Rome, Fromsoft really did their homework on world history, and the importance and impact of Asia on the nascent religions that would come to be the dominant religions for the entire world. I could ramble on because I find this stuff fascinating, but this is already a wall, so I'll end it here.
TLDR ancient Jewish/Semetic history and beliefs are referenced numerous times in ER, as the monotheistic Jews descended from polytheistic Semites, the radical shift in cultural belief and relationship/understanding of the Divine providing the foundation for the other Abrahamic religions to emerge. This radical change and the subsequent rejection of the old gods and rituals and beliefs is a key moment in the lore of Elden Ring, and of our own world, just one of many.
Fun fact: Pretty much every named demon in Christian occult belief (Beelzebub, Pazuzu etc.) are actually the names of the old gods of Sumer, and many were held in high esteem among the ancient Semites, among others. I find it so fascinating that the old gods were rebranded as demons and the worship of them as heresy, especially given how widespread the belief in and prayer to these old gods were in the ancient Eurasian and north African subcontinents. The inability to allow any remnants of the old ways remain within the new Order, combined with the huge overlap between the beliefs of most people in what was the "known world" was central to both the brand of Christianity that emerged from Europe and to Marika's conquest, another surprising parallel between the game and real history.
Insightful, thoughtful, and succinct. You truly are the Goldmask.
Whenever I saw them, their head and face just kept making me think of Lord Farquaad
You had the exact same theory I did. I think lusat and azur were very close to transcending their forms, hints their armor descriptions. But the main point is that azur was almost completely made of glintstone... Hmmmmm
Nah, the puppets were invented by the Nox, but have nothing to do with the crystalians. Puppets are a way of summoning the spirit without destroying the body. Normal spirit ashes are a product of bodily death, which interns their spirit in the erdtree as is the naturally cycle of the order. The Nox created puppets as a way to circumvent the erdtree. Seluvis abuses this technique to his own ends, using puppets as agents and possibly being a puppet himself if theories are to be believed.
Edited for clarity.
Dude, I had no Idea crystallian lore was that cool. Thank you for the video
You can't unironically connect the game to judaism and then present your evidence, that's illegal!
shut up, fundamentalist
@@DonnieDaise why no get it
one can reference religion without being offensive, you're too deep in and can't see a difference anymore
fromsoft is famous for referencing the styling and ideas of time periods and the religions of the past, why it is surprising to you?
am i missing something?
@@0m3GAARS3NAL op was clearly being sarcastic for comedic effect.
Dang, that's such a good observation on Sellen's primal glintstone, well done. You basically pull it right out of her womb. Personally, I don't know why, but I always found her pained sounds to be kind of funny-I say this not because I have psychopathic tendencies, but because I just thought the voice acting was a little odd. So maybe it was meant to stand out, if I took notice to it.
I also liked your observation on the Crystalians all being close to the eternal cities. Not sure if you mentioned it but to complete the trio, there are also Crystalians in the Altus tunnel which is close to the Nameless Eternal City.
A thought I had while watching: the Frozen Needle is confirmed to be made by Iji, and ice is a crystal
Great point! Never thought about it like that but it could definitely help bolster the links between the trolls and the Crystalians.
And the frozen needle can be a lot of fun to wield! But I keep forgetting it exists, mostly because I repress everything to do with those revenants... 😅
What earns them the title of mysterious to me is in the lore, they may have come from space with the stars that fell or were birthed from the stars.
Why am I not surprised fromsoft got inspiration from some random black and white movies from a hundred years ago
Good video, but i think this theory is not very likely. The Crystalians are connected to the cosmos. A connection that the trolls don't share. They are friends with people who are connected to the cosmos, but i don't think that counts. And Iji's mirror helm is likely made of polished metal like most mirrors. I don't believe that the golems where created by the trolls either. Trolls in Elden Ring are famous for their metalwork and not their work with stone, clay or crystal. Before the shattering, most golems seemed to work for the golden order and the allied Carian royal family. Doing stuf like guarding the crypts and protecting the capital with giant bows. But still well done video!
Correction: Sorry I didn't read right. Iji's helm is made of crystal. The rest still stands tho.
Thank you for watching!
So there is evidence tying the trolls to being skilled in stone and clay as well as smithing and crystal. The stonedigger trolls use the troll's hammer "to crack bedrock," according to its description. And the trolls can hurl massive pots that deal magic damage (like at 8:10). Since those pots are so huge, I think it's fair to assume they were made by them.
The trolls also served both the Carian Royal Family and the Golden Order (see the Sword monument in the Mountaintops of the Giants), so the fact that the golem would be guarding locations tied to both wouldn't be too surprising.
@@garrulousgoldmask I have to admit, the golems actually do make sense. They seem to be powered by the fire inside them, wich kind of is the giants thing. And the trolls are the descendents of the giants after all.
But the Crystalians still seem very unlikely. Based on their visual design alone, they just don't fit to the trolls. I still believe that their creater is some kind of cosmic entity.
And thanks for replying!
This was a great video on the historical influences on the game
Thank you so much!
Glad I wasn't the only one that noticed the haircut they share with Der Golem.
1st 2minutes got me hooked. I love some good digging and lore exposing
Excellent video, even with your speech impediment everything you said was clear, engaging, insightful, and succinct. You did amazing on all the research and presenting all your evidence in a well structured format. All your references were layed out beautifully. If all your videos will be like this youve definitely earned a hardcore fan and subscriber in me!! Im excited to see what else you throw together!!
Thank you so much! And this format is definitely the plan for my Elden Ring lore vids!
The Flame of Chaos questline and related-stories surrounding it are referencing or reflecting Judaism's concepts and lore
Heck, even The Crucible and it's infective life natures can be traced to both Mystical Trees of Kabbalah, with Ranni's breakouts, Crucible and Chaos Flame representing one of the path of circuits of Qliphoth all while The Goldmask, The Dung Eater and Fia's questline are three variants can be analogous to the circuits of Sefirot, with those akin to Mohg's blood and Melania's rot can be parts of the unrippened paths of Greater Will's orders, belonging to the lower parts of Sefirot
Never thought about them like this but it makes a lot of sense
Very few fantasy settings handle golems right. Discworld is one of the few cases of staying close to the original lore instead of just making them magic robots.
Perhaps I'm wrong but I was certain these were linked to Egypt somehow. Their weapons and hair styles seemed to be a dead giveaway that they were something to do with Egypt.
I also thought this. They remind me of the hieroglyphics. That golem shown totally has their hair style, and Elden Ring has a lot of other Jewish undertones though.
There is some interesting cross over with Egyptian mythology but mostly with the primal glintstone. Mummies had all organs removed except for the heart, because it was considered the seat of thought and feeling, a container for the essence of a person. The Egyptian religion far precedes Jewish religion and I wouldn't be surprised if basic concepts that went into Golem myths were influenced by the Egyptians. I believe the Greeks, who were heavily interested in the mathematics and philosophy of ancient Egypt, also wrote about a Golem type creation in Egypt.
@@bplus2625 I think you're right that makes a lot of sense
Very interesting, great research! Subscribed. Do you have any thoughts on why there are Crystallians in the Haligtree, and why they are susceptible - or, perhaps, able to live symbiotically - with Scarlet Rot?
Great questions! Since the Crystalians are immune to Bleed, I think the fact that they're susceptible to both Scarlet Rot and Poison is meant to show that they're still alive, even if inorganic.
On a more unhinged speculative note, it's intriguing that Scarlet Rot is an Outer God. If we assume that means Outer in a Lovecraftian cosmic horror sense, the fact that Crystalians can be infected with Scarlet Rot could indicate that Scarlet Rot first came to the Lands Between through glintstone falling from the sky. (Think the Andromeda Strain.)
And it is interesting that the Lake of Rot, where the Outer God of Rot is supposedly locked up, surrounds a giant stockpile of glintstone under Raya Lucaria. But that's veering off into wild, Mirrorhelm-wearing speculation territory...
Oh man, the Crystalians at the Haligtree really stumped me. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why they're there and unfortunately I couldn't come up with anything really satisfactory.
There is some cut content from the 1.0 version that says Loretta was part of a contingent from Raya Lucaria sent to the Haligtree by Radagon. Since there are still some Haima Battlemages patrolling about, the Crystalians could have been part of the force.
Miquella was also looking to treat Malenia's Scarlet Rot with unalloyed gold, so the Crystalians might be looking for a cure as well.
Hey I love this film reference so much! Especially the dark souls door opening animation ahhaha
Had no idea about the golem film trilogy, thanks for mentioning it! I'm an old film buff and always want to know more 👍🙂
Absolutely! And I love the fact that FromSoft included such a deep cut in the game. It's also amazing just how many movies make visual allusions to Der Golem, from Frankenstein to The Shining.
good ass video man. extremely underrated
Good video, but I can’t help but hear “Castilians” every time lmao
He has minor Rhotacism it’s barely noticeable. Look it up
I don't think Sellen has bodies made for her, I think she has people effectively murdered and takes over their corpses, or otherwise has their free wills annihilated by Starlight Shards potions (the "puppets" aren't puppets at all, but victimized people) then tries to hijack their bodies from there. As such, the Crystalians probably have no relation to that art and are indeed true golems. Also, based on the location for the Primal Glintstone Blade, I got the impression that the jellyfish sisters were murdered by astrologers to try using their life energies to make Primal Glintstones for the mages in question, or to otherwise try stealing their bodies in a failed effort.
i saw similar connections i love to see your expanded findings with the movie
Edna, Mode.
the jellyfish has a sidequest??!?!?!?!!?!
The mention of jews summoned my inner neckbeard
This game really is the Moby Dick of games.
Well this channel will blow up soon enough.
Thank you! Here's hoping!
Bruh this made so much sense that I subscribed
excellent video and breakdown !
subscribed !
Amazing job! Great lore video, with references from both inside and outside the game! 100% worth the subscribe!
Great work, thank you for sharing!!!
Solid video man! Well thought out and really interesting!
Many thanks!
Wtf is even up with the crystal dart. I've been told they work on the stone gargoyle guys in the catacombs, the watchdog statue guys and the crystalians and iv'e literlaly used 30 of them at once on some of these guys and not once has it ever turned one over to my side. They seem to be a bugged or worthless item at least when I was playing the game when it came out.
You might have just been very unlucky.
it just causes them to go berserk and attack everything, which still includes the player.
so if there's no other enemies around, it won't make much of a difference.
@@the_Red_Star There were always other enemies around.
I always called them pearls because they remind me of pearl from Steve universe
Congrats on the algorithm win man I wish you luck
Thank you!
Very interesting. Not sure why you took the "o" out of "God" when quoting scriptures, though. Or was it written in an analogous way to that in the original writing for some reason?
Thank you! Not fully writing out the divine name is a pretty common custom of showing respect in Judaism. (I'm not Jewish myself but I'd figured I'd follow suit for this video.)
@@garrulousgoldmask Jewish tradition usually prohibits the speaking of the Tetragrammaton of God’s name uttered to Moses, “YHWH”, which in the majority of English translations is identified as LORD. The usage of LORD in all capitals is when YHWH or “Yahweh” was used in the original text. So most likely when they omit the O, creating G-d I would imagine it refers to the Tetragrammaton or “sanctified name” of the LORD which is usually considered too holy to be spoken normally in Judaism.
The hair is a dead giveaway.
Mizayaki probably dont know what this enemy is ?
Elden ring has other obvious connections to Christianity as well
Like the weird pope turtle 🐢 with the hat that signifies a fish 🐟
And the artwork of Merika looking like a pseudo Jesus Christ on the cross with the thorn crown and all.
I'm sure many other parallels exist I still haven't beaten the game so I still don't have all the data
Japan had made a giant Samurai golem movie way back in the days. There were even sequels. The design was strikingly similar as well
This is wild and I love it
I'm very impressed with your observation that they're visually based on the Golem. However, I'm pretty sure they're just meant to be aliens.
Subscribed
That intro
All I can say is bruh,
the mystery of all time!
Mhh I don't know about the troll/cristelian/golem Connection. About the simbols i believe is more likely to be because they are all under the banner of the carian royalty.
About the golems that they are more in places where the golden order is doesn't make sence with your explanation because they don't seem to see trolls in the same way as the carians who see them as a race worthy of being knights while the golden order seems to se them as not much more than cargo horses.
The trolls did once fight for both the Carian Royal Family and the Golden Order (see the Sword Monument in the Mountaintops of the Giants). So the trolls could have shared their golem technology with the Golden Order before they were betrayed and brutally subjugated by them.
Hey bro your channel mmm is really interesting
Thank you so much!
great video
In real life Americans are golems.
sad but true
He’s like Superman, but for Jews! That rocks!
Walter white made them
You're goddamn right.
I once had a dream where rabbi in gas chamber wrote emet on a piece of pipe and hundreds years later the pipes came to live and formed a rockabilly pipe golem roaming the wasteland. He runs very fast and his pipe feet skrape on what remains of the highway sparking, he helps biker gang lead by levitating with tiny wings crocodile chimera guy fight a tar demon, red demon, and two demon children riding a muscle car.
The dream chese was so intense i jumped out of bed.
ijis helm is mirrors not crystals
It's both! "Helm fashioned from a crystal looking-glass, said to have never left War Counselor Iji's head."
@@garrulousgoldmask huh.. I didn't see that before
@@Imminent_Wrath in fact mirrors is not a material
@@PierreLucSex mirrors can be mirrors... u know that thing made of sand u have in ur bathroom... 🙄
@@Imminent_Wrath Haha indeed. I was joking. Though silicium can be cristalized.
america is the modern day golem
Mesewious uwu
Funny how there's a lot of death footage in the video.
Me,who underslept several hours:"omg that is Vladimir Putin on the preview!"
Thank you,tovarish!
I dont believe in any god vut i love religions knowledge ijust had to come back cause i bever thought i would hear about golen with Elden ring
In french :je te leve mon chapeau
Aka im impressed and wow good job
v
just dont mention what else the talmud says :)
This is hard to listen too my dude
Where's this "Codia" and the "Codians"? Are they the ultimate fish worshippers?
I know of Ca-RIA and the drama between them and Raya LucaRIA, why don't you call them Daya Lucadia?
Seriously, flip-flopping between pronunciations of the letter R doesn't feign intelligence.
You are the first person to ever make fun of a speech impediment. Thanks for breaking new ground in comedy.
You are the goldmask indeed! Awesome video
The lisp is unbearable
Elden wing