@@prodigygaming9810 I just wish I didn’t have to end him that i could explain that I was going to go and end this cycle with the help of a 4 armed blue woman who had a good working relationship with lord of volcano manor and that he’s doing nothing but stopping me from doing what we both wanted.
I don't think bernahl was really out for vengeance against you, he drops the Blasphemous Claw an item specifically meant for rykard to be used to defeat maliketh, so it's likely the last duel was meant to just be a challenge to see if ur really worthy, if you aren't then that's that, if you are then he hands over an item meant to aid you in defeating maliketh. It doesn't make sense for him to help you pass the god skin duo and attack you in vengeance when he could've easily stabbed you in the back at any point. Plus it suits his creed his strength mattering above all else so he wouldn't just hand it over to you without you having proved yourself one last time.
I concurr. Also Bernahl always talks about how recusants meet wretched ends; a bit too often, so i surmise he has a death wish ever since his maiden died and he had to live with the guild of spurning her to a senseless death. Its a perfect end to his tale, he can finally rest in piece knowing he was bested by somebody stronger than him, who will set out to fulfill the purpose he was denied and his maiden gave her life for.
I figured it was similar to this but instead of the fight being a test to see if the player's Tarnished it worthy, he was simply defending the important item from the player stealing it.
Under the ideal circumstances, I'd agree. However, you find what I'm guessing to be the body of your original finger maiden in the very beginning of the game, dead. You find what I assume to be Vyke's finger maiden dead, too, in the Church of Inhibition. So it sounds a bit more complicated and tragic.
@@nunyobidness571 yes, I’m sure the fingermaidens don’t have the same power as Melina, the ability to teleport or turn ethereal which could obviously lead to a tarnished worrying about their maiden or getting killed in battle because of them.
I don’t think a Bhernal felt betrayed at the tarnished. You can summon him in Farum Azula to fight the godskin duo and when he invades us, it’s more of an honorable fight. Also, Bhernal was fully aware of the volcano manor when he was at a shack in Limgrave. If you kill him in Limgrave, he’ll say “The Volcano Manor awaits you”. He also drops the Devour's Scepter if you kill him in Limgrave, so he was already a recusant. He used the word knight so that he doesn’t get killed.
One thing that stuck out to me before the fight with Bernahl were all the fresh bodies of the beastmen on the way to the small tower. There's a lot of them all piled up and you start wondering what could have done it until you find Bernahl right in front of the chest at the end of the path. I don't know if Bernahl was exploring Farum Azula alongside us and wanted the talisman for himself or laid it out as bait.
One of the weirder and confusing characters. Didn't help I never caught onto the name nor recognized him in the manor. It was only hours later I was like, "oh hey, whatever happened to that warmaster dude? Thought he would be around more..."
For anyone asking about the runes needed to become Elden lord and how the bosses are still arround after Vike or in this case Bernahl remember that there can be more children of Marika and also in farum azula the elden ring carvings on the wall has a lot more runes in it than we see in Marika´s Elden ring (I think one depiction is on the boss arena of maliketh), so there might be a few more great runes out there that we don´t get to see on our journey...
My theory - this image of great runes in Farum Azula refers to an old times, to first attempt of Golden Order rule The Lands Between. So, what we see now is a second rebelion against Golden Order. During first rebellion Farum Azula was destroyed, we can remember dead Two Fingers at the top of a tower in Stormveil Castle, and architecture of this tower similiar to Farum in sime way, at least it made with the same stone. That can explain why first Elden Lord is dragon. Looks like during this first rebellion many great runes were lost, this image is all what remains of their first amount.
There were also a lot of minor demigods, lots killed by the black knives (those bodies in the mausoleums) some may have held great runes, not to mention Ranni’s rune is unaccounted for.
There is cut content that shows that Bernhauls finger maiden doesn't know she's supposed to burn herself in the giants forge, just that she's supposed to burn, and she talks about burning herself in the smoldering church, where she's found, and how it isn't working to set the Erdtree aflame. So Bernhaul is probably done with the Greater Will since his maiden is burning herself alive over and over trying to set the Erdtree aflame.
I met Bernahl at volcano Manor the other day. I guess that is how it feels to be disappointed with someone you considered a good person. Also the white light he radiates at the warmaster's shack is comforting safety after you've been terrified by the Bell Bearing Hunter. He felt trustworthy 😭 I think they deliberately make you confused when he talks to you at Volcano Manor. I could not work out who it was under the helmet. Then I felt genuinely shocked when I realised. It actually shows how humans just take things on surface value
3:35. going into that "maybe tarnished can't become elden lord" perhaps this little story-note of the tarnished come before, is a hint towards what Gideon was saying about "Marika has plans for us, to struggle for eternity"
Now that you mention it, it seems that the whole guidance of grace telling tarnished to become Elden Lord was a scam (as Morgott pretty much figures out). Maybe a way to feed the erdtree with worthy warrior souls, and the only one who could actually make it a reality was Melina not exactly because of her connection to Marika but because of her even more mysterious relation to the rune of Destined Death that finally allowed the tree to be burned once unleashed.
Well... how did he reach Farum Azula then? If he was betrayed once by the greater will? He most likely failed to beat Maliketh & The fire his maiden created eventually died out. And it takes 1000 years to communicate with It. Imo Elden beast and radagon's remnants were barely holding on Without any direct link with the greater will . And guidance of the grace was probably governed by marika since they couldn't replace her even after the shattering
Bernahl is such a perplexing character to me, all his actions are seemingly contradictory. First he helps you, then he tries to stop you, with seemingly no trigger. Bernahl is bitter that his quest as a Tarnished bore no fruit and as such, turned to the path of the Recusant. You can tell from his harsh words towards his fellow Recusants and nonchalant manner regarding Rykard’s death that he doesn’t even like what he himself has become. Perhaps his actions are so polar because he sees himself as a villain, a product of bitterness and hatred. My take is that it’s a situation similar to that of Godfrey, a Tarnished taking advantage of the opportunity you provided. When you manage to light the Forge and travel to Farum Azula, perhaps you open the floodgates for other Tarnished to hijack your progress. But at this point in the game, what other Tarnished are there left to do so, besides Gideon, Godfrey, and perhaps Bernahl? My theory is that Bernahl didn’t see the player’s actions after Volcano Manor as a betrayal, but rather, he saw that the path had been forged, so his hope must have been rekindled, and he was trying to complete the quest he had long ago abandoned. But by this point the once-honorable Bernahl has stained his honor too much, and is no longer worthy to be Elden Lord. Meeting him upon the road to Destined Death, it’s a duel of the fates.
I like this theory. We all thought Gideon or even Godfrey was trying to take advantage of the fact we have all of the runes to be granted audience with the greater will. But maybe it was always Bernahl, since he was prepared to have faced Malekith with the item he drops thats used to counter Malekith.
@@ravencarino6115 Godfrey absolutely was trying to take advantage of your hard work. You traveled to all the places and did all the things, while Godfrey sat around at a furry convention with Serosh in the Badlands. He shows up on the precipice of your ascension to Lordship just to run you for your foams and take the throne with no competition. You essentially did all Godfrey’s work for him. Bernahl did the same, but at least he was kind enough to give you an assist beforehand and was prepared to fight Maliketh all by his lonesome
@@BB-ks6bk Well it clearly says on the Beast Champion set that Bernahl’s maiden DID throw herself into the fire. Maybe he allowed her, maybe she did so behind his back, it hardly matters. We know she did so, and we know that it didn’t work. His quest, everything he had done to get there, ended because it wasn’t possible to light the Forge.
@@MeanAndPristine As far as i understood it Godfrey was Dead (as were all other Tarnished) but got resurrected by the Greater Will to come back and take his Place as Elden Lord again. Because Marika saw your normal sized Ass and called her Ex. For Bernhal, i always thought he came as far as we did, to Faram, in his own World. I dont know where its mentioned that his Maiden burned herself before we meet him the first Time.
Knight Bernahle is just another reminder of what you could’ve become, a beast that has been betrayed by Grace, left entirely alone, We’re only The blood of his fellow tarnished was The only thing that gave him purposed in life.🐱
He’s one of my favorite characters we meet from any From game. He reminds me of the crestfallen knights but instead of going hollow he becomes a dark wraith
Bernahl probably didn't get the 2 great runes, though he did reach the mountaintops. According to Vyke's fingerprint set "No other Tarnished was closer to the throne of the Elden Lord than Vyke," which would imply that Vyke, not Bernahl, was the one to gain 2 great runes. Though I do believe both have burned the Erdtree. In two locations in Leyndell, before we unleash destined death to burn the wall of thorns, 2 areas within the Erdtree capital are already ashen, the road to the grand lift of Rold, and the exterior of the fortified manor. This, I assume, is because twice before has the Erdtree burned, once by Bernahl, and once by Vyke, who both betrayed the greater will for their maidens, whether before or after they were to burn.
Vykes set saiys he was the closest but the descriptions are pretty often written by unreliable narrators; Vyke might just be the on that came closes that the wider world knows about. Maybe Bernahls attempt was expunged from the histories of the lands between, to keep the fact finger maidens cant burn erdtrees and the cardinal sin in the first place hush-hush.
@@napzilla I'm trying to add to the conversation, if you cant handle something developing beyond a video, I'm sorry but you shouldn't be in a lore video's comments. Oh btw people, and even teams, can forget some lines that may seem minor after a while, it's normal and probably what happened.
@@SophiaLilithUwU that's an interesting thought but I'd assume that, due to his proscription with the frenzied flame, Vyke would also be expunged from records?
@@aeoli Possibly. One explanation could be that since Vyke was imprisoned rather than escaping, his story could be used as a cautionary tale to other tarnished. Especially since the whole affair can be wholly blamed on a meddling third party, the three fingers and shabriri. Vyke also never made it to the forge, so his story doesnt challange the nation that fingermaidens can burn erdtree. I imagine the golden order also considers the three fingers a contained threat since morgott sealed the conscription. Bernahl on the other hand hasnt been detained and is working with an uncontained threat in rykard. So the history on him might have been more thoughouly scrubbed away. But i realise that this is maybe just me twisting things to explain away a whole in my theory.
Thank you! It's only been out there for an hour and we're really happy with our channels growth. Maybe one day we'll be one of the big players, but for now we just love making the content.
Forgot to add this, and didn't wanna remove anything on the original comment, but I love it's implied that Bernahl was in fact closer to becoming Elden Lord than Vyke was. The furthest we find Vyke is in the mountaintops of the giants, but the furthest we see Bernahl is in Farum Azula which means he'd have had to of made it all the way past the Fire Giant, to be able to light the forge. It's really cool that despite the fact that Bernahl made it further than Vyke, Vyke is the one who's known because Bernahl intentionally tried to erase his presence. Figuratively of course.
The thing is though: If you kill Bernahl at the Warshack, he drops the scepter. Juno and Vyke also made it to the Mountaintop of Giants. I think Bernahl is one of the character's whose past will be uncovered in DLC or were scrapped in development,
So this is why we say his welcoming presence at the warmasters shack is a facade. By the time we meet him, he is already a recusant. It's likely he waits there to help tarnished grow stronger, just as rykard does with the volcano Manor. Defeating a stronger enemy adds to your own strength.
@@square-table-gaming Since Bernahl's Finger Maiden was a cut NPC, I'm going to assume that his entire questline was cut short. Really makes you wonder why FromSoft didn't keep most of their questlines...
@@equilibrium5280 @Hello I'm Jordan They sound ahead of developement right now. Like the bones of the DLC are in the game already and might be similar to master quest and offer us a slew of new runes talismans etc but also new endings and story arcs. They are hiring people to finish other games currently.
Plenty of Demigods existed before the shattering . Goldwyn and Ranni weren't the only ones slayed ,so it makes sense how ppl like Bernahl and Vykke had great runes of their own .
I think the purpose of the tarnished have always been one thing, Accept the frienzed flame light the tree kill radagon/Marika and the elden beast then be killed by Melina thus completely taking out the greater will. But this never comes to pass because Melina eventually rejects that plan due to journeying along side us and the only other person to ever accept the flame vyke was driven completely mad by it from a incomplete pact. We weren't supposed to become elden lord but we did.
Interesting read on the his final invasion against us. I read it more as him having realized we, the tarnished, are better, stronger than him, having fulfilled the purpose he was denied, and deciding his own tale needs to come to an end at our own hands. After all, the credo of the recusants is: "The strong take." So, the tarnished, having bested Bernahl in every capacity imaginable, in his eyes might have earned to right to take his life. After all, Bernahl clearly has a death wish based on his dialogue. He essentially died back at the forge when his maiden took her own life and the who recusant thing was just a way for him to take out his anger on those around him, until one day he would meet his match and be struck down in self defense by somebody better, stronger, more purposeful then he. I dont see him repeateadly talking baout how all recusants are fated to meet a wretched end as just a warning to the player; its the reason he became a recusant in the first place. Bernahl went out like he wanted to, one one final duel to the death against a worthy opponent. As befits a lord
Well that wouldn't make us stronger than him, just luckier that we had Melina, unless you went the route of the frenzied flame which would prove you're stronger than him
I love the way his final invasion is simply and honourable duel to see if you're worthy or not. Seems extremely fitting for Bernahl. He lived by the sword and died by the sword.
Is it possible that the finger maidens just didn't know they had to burn the Erdtree? Being finger maidens, it seems unlikely they would commit a cardinal sin against the two fingers and the greater will. However, Melina isn't a finger maiden. She suggests we burn the Erdtree, and we're subsequently sent to Farum Azula to find Maliketh to get the rune of death. Maybe Melina was the only one who knew what was actually supposed to happen next once you reached the forge.
Without the the legs and helmet, yes. The helmet looks like a Clocker head, and the ldgs have duck feet, like the Banished Knight legs and Veteran Legs. I know, its more protection, but aesthetically it looks lame af imho
What makes this tragic is that his finger maiden survived the fire and face was heavily burned in cut content that could be restored maybe up to From Software. Anyway his maiden is looking for him and mistakes us for him since we have the same powerful aura as he did and wants travel with him again but he couldn't bring himself to do it.He needed someone who can become which he knew he could not from the betrayal of the greater will a champion who could slay a god.
I’m highly content that someone finally mentions about the infamous recusant himself. Furthermore, the theory that there could be more of Queen Marika’s offspring out there, where maybe they are banished or choose to remain hidden from the tarnished. I’m excited for the upcoming DLCS! Keep up the great work!
Melena was able to leave you with the ability to transform runes into power when she leaves you after delivering her to the Erd Tree. Is that exclusively a thing that Melena alone can do? If not, why wouldn't any of the fingermaidens do this before choosing to sacrifice themselves into the fire?
Maybe none of them knew what was supposed to happen next? Maybe they didn't know they had to burn the Erdtree or go to Farum Azula? Melina seems to know a lot about all of this, and her connection with Destined Death may play a role in that. Maybe she was the only one who knew what was supposed to happen next.
I didn't put two and two together when meeting Bernahl at the volcano manor. I was super confused when trying to buy an ash of war, and it showed me that I had already purchased it from when I met him at the war masters shack.
I think the most tragic thing is that according to gideon conflict just plays into the greater will's hands so ultimitely the recusant's struggles are futile and just helping the enemy.
I feel like we should have gotten to fight bernahl in a boss fight instead of the awful godskin duo as he’s trying to stop us from becoming elden lord because he thinks our efforts will be in vain and doesn’t want the tarnished to feel the same pain and failure he did when his maiden died and couldn’t light the forge
Loving your lore videos! Really like how you do a video on each character and not just the main ones like the demi gods but the less popular ones. Been watching your vids since you did one on the knights of zamor! Keep it up!
Also with the Rold medallion, maybe the lift was still active, maybe he found another way, or hell, fucking Climbed. Or maybe Hand maidens just have a copy of the medallion, because i mean how did Melina Get it?.
Should definitely look into godrick, and grafting more thoroughly like this if possible, the revenants, the scions, ect. With the way you do your videos I think you'd do it justice
I was planning on killing him early at the warmaster's shack for the armor, but now that I know he'll help with godskin duo, I think Ill keep him around
maybe it’s possible that Bernahl’s maiden was able to partially burn the Erdtree (likely in addition to Vyke) as Leyndell, for all it’s gold and lustre, is still coated in ash.
Fun detail I discovered while replaying DS3. The champions bones item is Bernahls ashes and cape. The item description says "Long ago, an undead declared a fight. A fight to celebrate their undeath, and so to preserve what remained of their souls". I think this refers to Bernahls personal vendetta against the greater will. What a cool detail
Not sure that's the intent since the Champions bones seems to directly reference the undead of the Dark Souls universe, but if it were the case wouldnt it be the other way around? Bernhal woud be a reference to the champions bones.
Tell me how the bones directly reference Dark Souls and not Elden Ring? The bones were added to DS3 while Elden Ring was being made. It's likely they already had characters written. It's possible the bones were from our Tarnished or another who wore the Beast Champions armor, but it's clearly the same cape. Do you know why Bernahl is a "Beast Champion?" because I don't and we don't have his full story, or what he was really like before his maiden died. The bones unlock the dueling arena in DS3, which fits with Bernahls role as a fighter of tarnished. I believe Elden Ring is (in spirit) the prequel to Dark Souls, and while Miyazaki might tell us the games aren't connected, I believe that's simply because people hate the idea of sequels.
I can believe that there were more demigods or great runes acquired by Vyke and Bernald, after all the finger reader has seen two runes once before. But both Vyke and Bernahl have gone past Lyendell which requires 2 great runes to enter yet the finger reader has only seen two great runes once. Giddeon also tells us the fingers prevent us from entering Lyendell until we personally have 2 great runes. Perhaps this barrier was placed after one, or both of the other tarnished
My guess as to how bernhal got to the mountaintop of giants are, either morgott hadn’t sealed off certain places in it, which bernhal could have been gifted the medallion by a finger reader or his maiden, and make his way through, which would prompt morgott to seal off the areas Option 2 is the more likely one, we know the golden lineage had more than the handful we see now, we also know that the great runes don’t entirely make up the elden ring, bernhal and morgott were most likely the reasons why there’s so few demigods left.
I feel bad for killing him. When I went to his location in the middle of the night the Bell-Bearing Hunter appeared and killed me, then I returned when it was morning and Bernahl was there, I killed him because I tough he was the Bell-Bearing Hunter at night and he wasn't friendly at all. Then I discovered that the Bell-Bearing Hunter were another thing and not Bernahl. Sorry bro, maybe if I replay the game I'll do your questline
As wholesome and adventures as it sounds, a Tarnished and his fingermaidwn only serve one ultimate pourpous, best described in the words of Gideon Ofnir: "Queen Marika has high hopes for us. That we continue to strugle, unto eternity." With this revalation why would you not rebel against the greater will?
I didn’t even know he had a quest and I’m like 450 hours in to the game, probably because I’ve made a tradition for myself to kill him whenever I find him after I start a new game, but he seems like an interesting character
2:30 how? Where did the 2 Great Runes come from? All the DemiGods have theirs. This is a major oversight in the writing of the game IMO, and not the only one.
It's strongly implied that the demigods we face were not the only demigods. There are likely other great runes given to lesser members of the family. Hence the dead gods in the wandering mausoleums and Marikas line saying something like, "but if you make nothing of yourself you will amount to naught but a sacrifice."
Both him and vyke essentially made it to the same point… right before becoming elden lord both of them where thrown off the path by the same reason, losing their maiden.
I spent the night getting two Noble slender straight swords and anything I could with a 5% chance of drop I've collected almost all the hardest things along with doubles on most of the curved swords and any weapon that I want a power stance so it was a long night one of many
something makes me think that melina is another kid of marika and radagon, because of the pink hair, like a mix of red and blonde. shes like the perfect kid from them that wasnt cursed, to be given to one chosen tarnished to burn the tree, the other tarnished were just there as fodder probably.
I have a feeling that once your maiden lighted the forge, he may have saw an opportunity to once again follow the guidance of grace or at least become elden lord and was prepared to fight Maliketh given that he has the blasphemous claw. Like with other tarnished such as Gideon and Godfrey, they sought to stop you as now that the path was clear and there was a real chance someone could become elden lord.
I role played my blood lord character kinda like bernahl without even knowing it… kinda. My tarnished dropped into an unfamiliar world, weapons in hand willing to do anything good to get this world back to normal. I met so many npc’s that became good friends of mine, some being Yura, Blaidd, Alexander, Iji. Eventually I start to go mad from progressing through higher levels of evil. Eventually, The npc’s i once saw as friends were no more to me, except for bernahl. He was a brother to me a Recusant through and through. When my tarnished took up his idea to attempt to slay his own, they both fell in love with each other. Eventually, i started killing npc’s i found onward, and got to leyndell, and took up the frenzied flame upon my bare self. By this point my tarnished went full mad. I will say, when Bernahl was helping me fight the godskin duo, it was like brothers playing again, which quickly turned into a death battle with my own brother, Bernahl. I was devastated, but my tarnished in his maddened stated made it no issue getting over those feelings and slaying Bernahl for his betrayal to what I thought was our brotherhood. I will say, after learning about Bernahl in this video, i do feel a little sorry for the man, he deserved no such fate. Love you Bernahl, you will always be remembered as one of the first, first fit to become a Lord. 🖤
Actually, there is a channel called The Tarnished Archeologist, and he has a video showing evidence that what we see of the Erdtree durng the game is only an illusion, and that the original Erdtree was burned well before we arrive at the Lands Between. (An evidence for example: if you take a look at the houses in Leyndell, their doors and windows are locked shut by a golden vax. It is quite likely because, similarly to a volcano eruption, there were so much ash in the air that the inhabitants barred themselves into their homes. There is also a noticable amount of ash in Leyndell, if you take a closer look.) The channel speculated that it happened because of the shattering of the ER, or something else around that time. But it could have been Bernahl who did it. He possibly didn't want his maiden to die, while the maiden wanted it and done it, and Bernahl was left disillusioned and shocked. It could even have been Melina herself, as we know that she has been burned before, but since her "purpose was lost" her soul still lingered for another Tarnished.
I think Your theory about Bernahl supports the fact that melina was the only one who could burn the tree because merika was behind her purpose. Also I think rani’s ending is the cannon ending because it was actually merika who pushed rani into her quest. It was all merika in the end, she probably even had your real maiden killed so you could meet Melina. You, Melina, and even rani were all part of her plan ….. if you chose that route.
hey just so you know, there are multiple rold medallions and secret haligtree medallions each person to enter the haligtree or go up the lifts needs one, or each group i guess so there isnt just a single one in the lands between
I have a running theory that I conversed about with a friend through one big text message. This is gonna be a copy-paste of that text, so excuse me for any typos. "I should also note that the Beast Regent Serosh has a crown, and the Farum Beastmen have crowns as well. Serosh could be from Farum Azula. It seems Farum Azula has much more lore importance than what people tend to put together, especially since fucking Maliketh is there, and you can only see the entire symbol of either The Golden Order, or the Elden Ring before it was shattered in his bossroom. The Guardian Golems may have originated from there, and it may have been where the Elden Ring was shattered, considering that it seems to be the most closely related area to the Elden Ring other than Leyndell. Even then, there were Elden Lords before the Erdtree existed, so I think Dragonlord Placidusax may have once been what held it. Marika may have possibly tried to kill him, hence his 3 other heads being gone. It's also quote interesting to note that he used to have 5 by counting the amount of necks on his body, yet the Talisman that is designed after him, the Old Lord's Talisman, shows only 4. Another intriguing thought is that Bernahl guards it, and he's a Recusant. Perhaps the Volcano Manor, more importantly Rykard, may have had some connection to Placidusax. If Marika had indeed tried to kill him, this would make sense as to why Bernahl is particularly against the Erdtree. It could be that what Rykard did that was considered Blasphemy, is in fact not so Blasphemous at all. That's considering that even Placidusax had a god, one that even back when you fight him in a time that preserves Farum Azula, had kept him waiting for their return. This is somewhat reminiscent of The Fell God that incapsulates itself within the Fire Giants. Let's also consider that The Flame of Frenzy may have existed all that time ago, but was simply never unleashed. When you get ending for The Flame of Frenzy, it deliberately burns the entire Erdtree, ripping it in half. Melina opens her second eye, which depicts a claw-esc mark upon it. There is also some interesting lore with the Ravenmount assasins, in which they specialize in airborne attacks. They are the human deliverers of death, and there seems to be a species called the Lampwood, which guides the dead to the spirit world. The Erdtree seems to have the uncanny ability to draw spirits it it's roots, found in many catacombs with bodies clung onto it in mass. It could be that the Black Knife Assasins originate from Ravenmount, which could be gathered by not only the fitting blackness of their weaponry, but that they also have special agility in their movements, particularly in the way that they leap around you. The chest piece of their armor seems to have some strange blue-tipped Feather shaped decorations around the front of the shoulder plates, closer to the chest and some on the back of the left shoulder plate. The hood also features this design. It should be noticed that Ravenmount takes after the duty of Deathbirds, which harbor the powers of Ghostflame. Ghostflame is also related to the inhabitants of Nokron, more specifically, the Company of the Fallen Hawk. Those are the little white guys that have the greatshields and arrows. It says in the description of the Spiritflame Arrow that they were once ordered to explore the Eternal City. It's also concerning how there are so little of them, and they are only found in the higher levels of Nokron. It could be that any power that creates these phenomenal beings is only made by the collection of spirits. This could be connected to the Regal Ansestral Spirit, which has many spirits of animals within it, and the normal Ancestral Spirit gives you the Ancestral Follower Ashes, which may be a hint that these spirits are indeed related to the Lampwood. The only thing that has been conformed to be a Lampwood is the Helphen, and the Helphen's Steeple is also completely black, save for a glowing red jewel. The red jewel could be reminiscent of the Lamplight, which is similar to grace in appearance, yet can only be seen by those who met their death in battle. The Erdtree Burial is eerily similar in how it is done, and it may have stolen the souls of the dead away from the spirit world. The Ancestral Spirit's Horn even says, "A number of new growths bud from the antler-like horns of the fallen king, each glowing with light. Thus does new life grow from death, and from death, one obtains power." The Erdtree is using the souls of the dead to gain power, leaving beings like the Deathbirds powerless without endless murder. The Erdtree effectively destroyed primordial life, and forced new laws amongst it. This could have been the true goal of the Night of the Black Knives, and their attempt at killing Godwyn and taking back the Rune of Death. So that the spirit wolrd and all of its blessings and nature can be restored. But then, there begs another question. How did Godwyn hold any ownership of Death in the first place?" Edit#1: This is a continuation of the previous statement. "Godwyn is the only demigod known as "The Golden". The Erdtree brought about the Golden Order. He could've manifested Death by collecting the souls that have been sacrificed to the Erdtree. The Mending Rune of Death depicts white lines that look like cracks, that lead into an Eclipse. Eclipses are also related to the mythology of Vampires. Vampires live off of blood, just as he may have lived off of the ones buried under the Erdtree, or fed the Erdtree with the souls of others which would've sparked the idea of Erdtree Burial." Edit#2 Here's is some more theory on the nature of the Deathbirds. "It's also interesting that the Explosive Ghostflame spell reads, "In the time when there was no Erdtree, death was burned in ghostflame. Deathbirds were the keepers of that fire." It seems that death was realized as a burden by the primordial laws of the world, and did not belong to the living. The name "Deathbirds" could have a very different implication. Not that the bring death, but that they relieve it from you and burn it away. It seems as if Death was something that the Deathbirds wanted to keep away from the living, and that they were always close to death themselves. 2 of them drop the Red and Blue Feathered Talismans, and one drops a shield that has a passive effect of both at half efficiency. This shows that they were actually quite merciful creatures that only wished you to live longer and be stronger by merit of defeating them. It seems they needed their own counterparts to the sheer amount of death stored within them to continue their duty of saving the living from death." Edit#3: Stuff on Crucible Knights. "My going theory is that the bringing of Death has some connection to the Tarnished, and the Crucible Knights originated from the people of old when Death was misplaced. This refers to the Crucible talismans, which all have protective abilities and were said to have once grown on the human body long ago. The Tarnished could be the decendents of such people, but have been Tarnished by the Golden Order and it's new laws of life. This would explain why our character never truly dies. If Crucible Knights are the true, pure blood of those ancient people, this would explain why you find one accompanying Lady Tanith in her quest against the Erdtree, and why you find a good few at Farum Azula, one seemingly mourning the loss of an Ancient Dragon. It would seem that most have resorted to the Golden Order, but a few have stuck to their old ways. Their age is evidenced by the fact that they served Godfrey, who led the Long March as the leader of the Tarnished. It looks like our characters are related to the Crucible Knights, and Godfrey was the most misled amongst them all." Edit#4: Godfrey, and Rykards Aligance with Dragonlord Placidusax. "Godfrey must've tried to bring hope to his people. He declared himself as the "First Elden Lord", and led a ware against the Giants. Note that this war doesn't mention "Fire" Giants. That's because it seems it was a different kind of giant. You see absolutely towering corpses molded into the cliffsides and ground within old battle fields. Those were probably the giants that were spoken of. He faced the Storm Lord, which could be in fact, Dragonlord Placidusax. This would bring merit towards his missing heads, and the Volcano Manor's rebellious nature. It is in fact this alliance with Dragonlord Placidusax that could be why Rykard was called Blasphemous, as he was directly betraying the Greater Will. This could be why he wished to be devoured by the serpent, as he wished to live along side Dragonlord Placidusax and be sure to reign terror and defeat upon the Erdtree. He talks about family a bit, and together, they will devour the very gods. It can be implied that who he refers to is the Tarnished who are willing to help, and Dragonlord Placidusax. When you look at his lore, Rykard was actually extremely knowledgeable. So knowledgeable in fact, that he has a spell that calls upon the Rancor of the warriors who have become family within him. This act is only ever done by the Deathbirds and their spells, granting further evidence towards his established alliance with Dragonlord Placidusax. In truth, the thing that was Placidusax's God could very well be death itself. Fittingly, he awaited its return." I know that was an extremely long read, so thank you for reading it all and seeing my interpretation of some aspects of the past of Elden Ring. Again, I apologize for the typos and quick hit-and-run nature of the topics, but I hope it will suffice.
Wait so what demigods did Bernhal kill? And who replaced them? Did the demigods he kill come back? Did the fire giant he must’ve had to kill come back too?
It's entirely possible bernal either didn't kill any demigods. As we know from the depiction of the Elden Ring in crumbling farum azula, it used to be much larger. It's entirely possible there are ruins that aren't currently held by demigods out there in the world somewhere.
@@square-table-gaming we really need a dlc exploring these other lands. We also know that there were other demigod children that Marika had in the mausoleums. So maybe they had tubes of their own that he took.
Maybe.. no one told him he needs two runes to become Elden Lord. He just went to the Fire Pit.. and.. well failed.. because he did not have all the materials needed.
I might have just imagined this but I could’ve sworn he had a voice line where he spoke about avenging a fallen brother it may have been while in the war masters shack
He says he is the inheritor of his brothers will, but we believe he's referring rykard and it's more of a "brother in arms" sentiment than a literal brother.
@@square-table-gaming maybe but isn’t that a bit inconsistent with how he feels about Rykard and the other recusants during his volcano manor quest line, seeing as he doesn’t care that Rykard died or seem like he feels like a brother with any of the other recusants?
@@pootisdispenser9725 that's fair. I wouldn't say he doesn't care rykard died, more that he sees it as the ultimate fate of all who walk the path of blasphemy, himself included.
Meeting Bernahl at Volcano Manor after meeting him at the Warmaster's Shack radiates the same energy as meeting your teacher outside of school to me.
Hahaha, so true 🤣
Lmao facts one of the few npc i held no ill will against
Probably more like meeting your conservative teacher at something like a strip club or gay bar lol
@@prodigygaming9810 I just wish I didn’t have to end him that i could explain that I was going to go and end this cycle with the help of a 4 armed blue woman who had a good working relationship with lord of volcano manor and that he’s doing nothing but stopping me from doing what we both wanted.
@@RomanvonUngernSternbergnrmfvus facts man 😂
I like how if you kill him in warmasters shack he's not even mad, he's just like "yooooo my homies at volcano manor would fuckin love you"
Hahaha
I don't think bernahl was really out for vengeance against you, he drops the Blasphemous Claw an item specifically meant for rykard to be used to defeat maliketh, so it's likely the last duel was meant to just be a challenge to see if ur really worthy, if you aren't then that's that, if you are then he hands over an item meant to aid you in defeating maliketh. It doesn't make sense for him to help you pass the god skin duo and attack you in vengeance when he could've easily stabbed you in the back at any point. Plus it suits his creed his strength mattering above all else so he wouldn't just hand it over to you without you having proved yourself one last time.
Good take
I concurr. Also Bernahl always talks about how recusants meet wretched ends; a bit too often, so i surmise he has a death wish ever since his maiden died and he had to live with the guild of spurning her to a senseless death.
Its a perfect end to his tale, he can finally rest in piece knowing he was bested by somebody stronger than him, who will set out to fulfill the purpose he was denied and his maiden gave her life for.
I figured it was similar to this but instead of the fight being a test to see if the player's Tarnished it worthy, he was simply defending the important item from the player stealing it.
This is now in my head cannon
😢 my favorite FromSoft npc, was Greirat and he is still a good boy but Bernahl is my master
Is it just me or does the whole concept of a tarnished and a finger maiden adventuring together throughout the lands between sound super wholesome?
Under the ideal circumstances, I'd agree. However, you find what I'm guessing to be the body of your original finger maiden in the very beginning of the game, dead. You find what I assume to be Vyke's finger maiden dead, too, in the Church of Inhibition. So it sounds a bit more complicated and tragic.
a real G and a solid chic to hold it down
@Ger Vang i think the sacrifice and both of them knowing whats coming makes it more emotional and significant
@@nunyobidness571 yes, I’m sure the fingermaidens don’t have the same power as Melina, the ability to teleport or turn ethereal which could obviously lead to a tarnished worrying about their maiden or getting killed in battle because of them.
Heh, finger maiden in the lands between
I don’t think a Bhernal felt betrayed at the tarnished. You can summon him in Farum Azula to fight the godskin duo and when he invades us, it’s more of an honorable fight. Also, Bhernal was fully aware of the volcano manor when he was at a shack in Limgrave. If you kill him in Limgrave, he’ll say “The Volcano Manor awaits you”. He also drops the Devour's Scepter if you kill him in Limgrave, so he was already a recusant. He used the word knight so that he doesn’t get killed.
One thing that stuck out to me before the fight with Bernahl were all the fresh bodies of the beastmen on the way to the small tower. There's a lot of them all piled up and you start wondering what could have done it until you find Bernahl right in front of the chest at the end of the path. I don't know if Bernahl was exploring Farum Azula alongside us and wanted the talisman for himself or laid it out as bait.
it's possible they were guarding it and he decided to replace them knowing you would come.
One of the weirder and confusing characters. Didn't help I never caught onto the name nor recognized him in the manor. It was only hours later I was like, "oh hey, whatever happened to that warmaster dude? Thought he would be around more..."
the man behind the mask
Yeah, I didn't make the connection either until this video, lol.
Lol, so you didn't even notice he wears the same armour set?
@@hideous_taco_michael_zacki no, we didn't notice he wears the same armor set😂
For anyone asking about the runes needed to become Elden lord and how the bosses are still arround after Vike or in this case Bernahl remember that there can be more children of Marika and also in farum azula the elden ring carvings on the wall has a lot more runes in it than we see in Marika´s Elden ring (I think one depiction is on the boss arena of maliketh), so there might be a few more great runes out there that we don´t get to see on our journey...
That's true, plus Maybe Radagon had more kids than we knew of, before and after merging with Marika
It’s more like Goldwyn and the golden lineage had more kids like godrick and godofroy who claimed other great runes
Perhaps Bernahl just entered NG+ and the demigods came back again...
My theory - this image of great runes in Farum Azula refers to an old times, to first attempt of Golden Order rule The Lands Between. So, what we see now is a second rebelion against Golden Order. During first rebellion Farum Azula was destroyed, we can remember dead Two Fingers at the top of a tower in Stormveil Castle, and architecture of this tower similiar to Farum in sime way, at least it made with the same stone. That can explain why first Elden Lord is dragon. Looks like during this first rebellion many great runes were lost, this image is all what remains of their first amount.
There were also a lot of minor demigods, lots killed by the black knives (those bodies in the mausoleums) some may have held great runes, not to mention Ranni’s rune is unaccounted for.
There is cut content that shows that Bernhauls finger maiden doesn't know she's supposed to burn herself in the giants forge, just that she's supposed to burn, and she talks about burning herself in the smoldering church, where she's found, and how it isn't working to set the Erdtree aflame. So Bernhaul is probably done with the Greater Will since his maiden is burning herself alive over and over trying to set the Erdtree aflame.
I met Bernahl at volcano Manor the other day. I guess that is how it feels to be disappointed with someone you considered a good person. Also the white light he radiates at the warmaster's shack is comforting safety after you've been terrified by the Bell Bearing Hunter. He felt trustworthy 😭 I think they deliberately make you confused when he talks to you at Volcano Manor. I could not work out who it was under the helmet. Then I felt genuinely shocked when I realised. It actually shows how humans just take things on surface value
It's funny cause when I fought him at farum azula I went up the ladder to get away from the birds, and he straight up returned to his world.
3:35. going into that "maybe tarnished can't become elden lord"
perhaps this little story-note of the tarnished come before, is a hint towards what Gideon was saying about "Marika has plans for us, to struggle for eternity"
Marika was such a bitch
Now that you mention it, it seems that the whole guidance of grace telling tarnished to become Elden Lord was a scam (as Morgott pretty much figures out).
Maybe a way to feed the erdtree with worthy warrior souls, and the only one who could actually make it a reality was Melina not exactly because of her connection to Marika but because of her even more mysterious relation to the rune of Destined Death that finally allowed the tree to be burned once unleashed.
Well... how did he reach Farum Azula then? If he was betrayed once by the greater will? He most likely failed to beat Maliketh & The fire his maiden created eventually died out.
And it takes 1000 years to communicate with It. Imo Elden beast and radagon's remnants were barely holding on Without any direct link with the greater will . And guidance of the grace was probably governed by marika since they couldn't replace her even after the shattering
Bernahl is such a perplexing character to me, all his actions are seemingly contradictory. First he helps you, then he tries to stop you, with seemingly no trigger.
Bernahl is bitter that his quest as a Tarnished bore no fruit and as such, turned to the path of the Recusant. You can tell from his harsh words towards his fellow Recusants and nonchalant manner regarding Rykard’s death that he doesn’t even like what he himself has become. Perhaps his actions are so polar because he sees himself as a villain, a product of bitterness and hatred.
My take is that it’s a situation similar to that of Godfrey, a Tarnished taking advantage of the opportunity you provided. When you manage to light the Forge and travel to Farum Azula, perhaps you open the floodgates for other Tarnished to hijack your progress. But at this point in the game, what other Tarnished are there left to do so, besides Gideon, Godfrey, and perhaps Bernahl?
My theory is that Bernahl didn’t see the player’s actions after Volcano Manor as a betrayal, but rather, he saw that the path had been forged, so his hope must have been rekindled, and he was trying to complete the quest he had long ago abandoned. But by this point the once-honorable Bernahl has stained his honor too much, and is no longer worthy to be Elden Lord. Meeting him upon the road to Destined Death, it’s a duel of the fates.
I don’t think it’s about not bearing fruit, I think it’s because when he realized his maiden had to burn herself he turned against the erdtree
I like this theory. We all thought Gideon or even Godfrey was trying to take advantage of the fact we have all of the runes to be granted audience with the greater will.
But maybe it was always Bernahl, since he was prepared to have faced Malekith with the item he drops thats used to counter Malekith.
@@ravencarino6115 Godfrey absolutely was trying to take advantage of your hard work. You traveled to all the places and did all the things, while Godfrey sat around at a furry convention with Serosh in the Badlands. He shows up on the precipice of your ascension to Lordship just to run you for your foams and take the throne with no competition. You essentially did all Godfrey’s work for him.
Bernahl did the same, but at least he was kind enough to give you an assist beforehand and was prepared to fight Maliketh all by his lonesome
@@BB-ks6bk Well it clearly says on the Beast Champion set that Bernahl’s maiden DID throw herself into the fire. Maybe he allowed her, maybe she did so behind his back, it hardly matters. We know she did so, and we know that it didn’t work. His quest, everything he had done to get there, ended because it wasn’t possible to light the Forge.
@@MeanAndPristine As far as i understood it Godfrey was Dead (as were all other Tarnished) but got resurrected by the Greater Will to come back and take his Place as Elden Lord again. Because Marika saw your normal sized Ass and called her Ex.
For Bernhal, i always thought he came as far as we did, to Faram, in his own World. I dont know where its mentioned that his Maiden burned herself before we meet him the first Time.
Knight Bernahle is just another reminder of what you could’ve become, a beast that has been betrayed by Grace, left entirely alone, We’re only The blood of his fellow tarnished was The only thing that gave him purposed in life.🐱
He’s one of my favorite characters we meet from any From game. He reminds me of the crestfallen knights but instead of going hollow he becomes a dark wraith
Finallyyy, I've been waiting for someone to make a video on Bernahl for forever, to the point I was thinking if it'd be too hard to make one myself 🤣
Bernahl probably didn't get the 2 great runes, though he did reach the mountaintops. According to Vyke's fingerprint set "No other Tarnished was closer to the throne of the Elden Lord than Vyke," which would imply that Vyke, not Bernahl, was the one to gain 2 great runes. Though I do believe both have burned the Erdtree. In two locations in Leyndell, before we unleash destined death to burn the wall of thorns, 2 areas within the Erdtree capital are already ashen, the road to the grand lift of Rold, and the exterior of the fortified manor. This, I assume, is because twice before has the Erdtree burned, once by Bernahl, and once by Vyke, who both betrayed the greater will for their maidens, whether before or after they were to burn.
Look he also has a video that said Vike was closer... it's just entertainment not a actual history lesson!
Vykes set saiys he was the closest but the descriptions are pretty often written by unreliable narrators; Vyke might just be the on that came closes that the wider world knows about. Maybe Bernahls attempt was expunged from the histories of the lands between, to keep the fact finger maidens cant burn erdtrees and the cardinal sin in the first place hush-hush.
@@napzilla I'm trying to add to the conversation, if you cant handle something developing beyond a video, I'm sorry but you shouldn't be in a lore video's comments. Oh btw people, and even teams, can forget some lines that may seem minor after a while, it's normal and probably what happened.
@@SophiaLilithUwU that's an interesting thought but I'd assume that, due to his proscription with the frenzied flame, Vyke would also be expunged from records?
@@aeoli Possibly. One explanation could be that since Vyke was imprisoned rather than escaping, his story could be used as a cautionary tale to other tarnished. Especially since the whole affair can be wholly blamed on a meddling third party, the three fingers and shabriri. Vyke also never made it to the forge, so his story doesnt challange the nation that fingermaidens can burn erdtree. I imagine the golden order also considers the three fingers a contained threat since morgott sealed the conscription.
Bernahl on the other hand hasnt been detained and is working with an uncontained threat in rykard. So the history on him might have been more thoughouly scrubbed away.
But i realise that this is maybe just me twisting things to explain away a whole in my theory.
As someone who just started playing 3.5 months ago I greatly appreciate your channel and the Lore you put out. ✝️🙌🏼🙏🏻
Why do few views? Ur video is phenomenal. Simple. Elegant. Well explained. Coherent. 2 thumbs up
Well they're growing decently quick, so we shall see
*phenomenal
Your mominal? Sorry felt like I require to do that
Thank you! It's only been out there for an hour and we're really happy with our channels growth. Maybe one day we'll be one of the big players, but for now we just love making the content.
Lets go Bernahl! One of the coolest, and debatably one of the strongest, tarnished in the lore. Good Video!
Forgot to add this, and didn't wanna remove anything on the original comment, but I love it's implied that Bernahl was in fact closer to becoming Elden Lord than Vyke was. The furthest we find Vyke is in the mountaintops of the giants, but the furthest we see Bernahl is in Farum Azula which means he'd have had to of made it all the way past the Fire Giant, to be able to light the forge. It's really cool that despite the fact that Bernahl made it further than Vyke, Vyke is the one who's known because Bernahl intentionally tried to erase his presence. Figuratively of course.
The thing is though:
If you kill Bernahl at the Warshack, he drops the scepter.
Juno and Vyke also made it to the Mountaintop of Giants.
I think Bernahl is one of the character's whose past will be uncovered in DLC or were scrapped in development,
So this is why we say his welcoming presence at the warmasters shack is a facade. By the time we meet him, he is already a recusant. It's likely he waits there to help tarnished grow stronger, just as rykard does with the volcano Manor. Defeating a stronger enemy adds to your own strength.
@@square-table-gaming Since Bernahl's Finger Maiden was a cut NPC, I'm going to assume that his entire questline was cut short. Really makes you wonder why FromSoft didn't keep most of their questlines...
@@nobuffer101 Bandai rushing elden ring to appease investors
@@equilibrium5280 @Hello I'm Jordan They sound ahead of developement right now. Like the bones of the DLC are in the game already and might be similar to master quest and offer us a slew of new runes talismans etc but also new endings and story arcs. They are hiring people to finish other games currently.
Plenty of Demigods existed before the shattering . Goldwyn and Ranni weren't the only ones slayed ,so it makes sense how ppl like Bernahl and Vykke had great runes of their own .
Bernhal is my favorite Tarnished
finally something about bernahl i had the feeling that he was overlooked completely and i guess to a certain extent he is by most but good on you
I think the purpose of the tarnished have always been one thing, Accept the frienzed flame light the tree kill radagon/Marika and the elden beast then be killed by Melina thus completely taking out the greater will. But this never comes to pass because Melina eventually rejects that plan due to journeying along side us and the only other person to ever accept the flame vyke was driven completely mad by it from a incomplete pact. We weren't supposed to become elden lord but we did.
Interesting read on the his final invasion against us. I read it more as him having realized we, the tarnished, are better, stronger than him, having fulfilled the purpose he was denied, and deciding his own tale needs to come to an end at our own hands.
After all, the credo of the recusants is: "The strong take." So, the tarnished, having bested Bernahl in every capacity imaginable, in his eyes might have earned to right to take his life.
After all, Bernahl clearly has a death wish based on his dialogue. He essentially died back at the forge when his maiden took her own life and the who recusant thing was just a way for him to take out his anger on those around him, until one day he would meet his match and be struck down in self defense by somebody better, stronger, more purposeful then he. I dont see him repeateadly talking baout how all recusants are fated to meet a wretched end as just a warning to the player; its the reason he became a recusant in the first place.
Bernahl went out like he wanted to, one one final duel to the death against a worthy opponent. As befits a lord
Well that wouldn't make us stronger than him, just luckier that we had Melina, unless you went the route of the frenzied flame which would prove you're stronger than him
Hey, thanks for making this video about my favorite Tarnished, and my favorite npc in Elden Ring.
I love the way his final invasion is simply and honourable duel to see if you're worthy or not.
Seems extremely fitting for Bernahl.
He lived by the sword and died by the sword.
Is it possible that the finger maidens just didn't know they had to burn the Erdtree? Being finger maidens, it seems unlikely they would commit a cardinal sin against the two fingers and the greater will. However, Melina isn't a finger maiden. She suggests we burn the Erdtree, and we're subsequently sent to Farum Azula to find Maliketh to get the rune of death. Maybe Melina was the only one who knew what was actually supposed to happen next once you reached the forge.
One of the coolest armor sets in the game.
Can we all agree that he's got the coolest armor set... Thanks for this STG - I enjoyed the take on Bernahl.
Without the the legs and helmet, yes. The helmet looks like a Clocker head, and the ldgs have duck feet, like the Banished Knight legs and Veteran Legs.
I know, its more protection, but aesthetically it looks lame af imho
only the helmet is weird
@@ErkanZH so true... 😁
D twims armor is the most cool of all
What makes this tragic is that his finger maiden survived the fire and face was heavily burned in cut content that could be restored maybe up to From Software. Anyway his maiden is looking for him and mistakes us for him since we have the same powerful aura as he did and wants travel with him again but he couldn't bring himself to do it.He needed someone who can become which he knew he could not from the betrayal of the greater will a champion who could slay a god.
I’m highly content that someone finally mentions about the infamous recusant himself. Furthermore, the theory that there could be more of Queen Marika’s offspring out there, where maybe they are banished or choose to remain hidden from the tarnished. I’m excited for the upcoming DLCS!
Keep up the great work!
Melena was able to leave you with the ability to transform runes into power when she leaves you after delivering her to the Erd Tree. Is that exclusively a thing that Melena alone can do? If not, why wouldn't any of the fingermaidens do this before choosing to sacrifice themselves into the fire?
Has to be exclusive to Melina, also for video game convenience reasons
Maybe none of them knew what was supposed to happen next? Maybe they didn't know they had to burn the Erdtree or go to Farum Azula? Melina seems to know a lot about all of this, and her connection with Destined Death may play a role in that. Maybe she was the only one who knew what was supposed to happen next.
Melina isn't really a finger maiden, she just takes the role of one. It's possible this is just a Her thing.
Big cape bonk merchant man
I didn't put two and two together when meeting Bernahl at the volcano manor. I was super confused when trying to buy an ash of war, and it showed me that I had already purchased it from when I met him at the war masters shack.
Benalth has such a tragic story. I am so sorry that he had such a tragic end by our hands.
I think the most tragic thing is that according to gideon conflict just plays into the greater will's hands so ultimitely the recusant's struggles are futile and just helping the enemy.
Imagine how every other Tarnished felt about us getting the only maiden that could burn the Erdtree lmao
I feel like we should have gotten to fight bernahl in a boss fight instead of the awful godskin duo as he’s trying to stop us from becoming elden lord because he thinks our efforts will be in vain and doesn’t want the tarnished to feel the same pain and failure he did when his maiden died and couldn’t light the forge
That would have been way better NGL but it probably felt too close to Gideon bossfight.
Why does he look like a certain brazilian man that has broken memories that forgot his name?
That wants to kill a politician
Loving your lore videos! Really like how you do a video on each character and not just the main ones like the demi gods but the less popular ones. Been watching your vids since you did one on the knights of zamor! Keep it up!
The man is so pro, just looking at his unused sword trains you for battle.
Also with the Rold medallion, maybe the lift was still active, maybe he found another way, or hell, fucking Climbed. Or maybe Hand maidens just have a copy of the medallion, because i mean how did Melina Get it?.
Should definitely look into godrick, and grafting more thoroughly like this if possible, the revenants, the scions, ect. With the way you do your videos I think you'd do it justice
I was planning on killing him early at the warmaster's shack for the armor, but now that I know he'll help with godskin duo, I think Ill keep him around
Nothing better than finding an amazing channel that covers a game you love!
We love making this content! Thanks for checking us out
Already subscribed haha! definitely going on a lore binge tonight 😂
Smoked him like a swisher for that fashion on the first playthrough.
He kinda reminds me of Paladin Leroy in DS1, he first lets you summon him for a boss fight and then he invaded you after. Coincidence? I think not!
maybe it’s possible that Bernahl’s maiden was able to partially burn the Erdtree (likely in addition to Vyke) as Leyndell, for all it’s gold and lustre, is still coated in ash.
Waited for this one. Loved Bernie
Fun detail I discovered while replaying DS3. The champions bones item is Bernahls ashes and cape.
The item description says "Long ago, an undead declared a fight. A fight to celebrate their undeath, and so to preserve what remained of their souls". I think this refers to Bernahls personal vendetta against the greater will. What a cool detail
Not sure that's the intent since the Champions bones seems to directly reference the undead of the Dark Souls universe, but if it were the case wouldnt it be the other way around? Bernhal woud be a reference to the champions bones.
Tell me how the bones directly reference Dark Souls and not Elden Ring?
The bones were added to DS3 while Elden Ring was being made. It's likely they already had characters written.
It's possible the bones were from our Tarnished or another who wore the Beast Champions armor, but it's clearly the same cape.
Do you know why Bernahl is a "Beast Champion?" because I don't and we don't have his full story, or what he was really like before his maiden died.
The bones unlock the dueling arena in DS3, which fits with Bernahls role as a fighter of tarnished.
I believe Elden Ring is (in spirit) the prequel to Dark Souls, and while Miyazaki might tell us the games aren't connected, I believe that's simply because people hate the idea of sequels.
I killed him at the beginning for his armor. I guess I’ll 100% the volcano manor in NG+
I was still able to finish most of the manor and kill Rykard.
Got to mention you got the perfect narrating voice for these videos by the way keep it up can't wait to see the one on mausoleum knights and more.
The better question is who's runes did he take? Because all the demigods we meet still have theirs.
I can believe that there were more demigods or great runes acquired by Vyke and Bernald, after all the finger reader has seen two runes once before. But both Vyke and Bernahl have gone past Lyendell which requires 2 great runes to enter yet the finger reader has only seen two great runes once.
Giddeon also tells us the fingers prevent us from entering Lyendell until we personally have 2 great runes. Perhaps this barrier was placed after one, or both of the other tarnished
My guess as to how bernhal got to the mountaintop of giants are, either morgott hadn’t sealed off certain places in it, which bernhal could have been gifted the medallion by a finger reader or his maiden, and make his way through, which would prompt morgott to seal off the areas
Option 2 is the more likely one, we know the golden lineage had more than the handful we see now, we also know that the great runes don’t entirely make up the elden ring, bernhal and morgott were most likely the reasons why there’s so few demigods left.
As always, STG, my good friend. You ha e made a video 2 hrs ago that I was just looking for. Hats off mate.
I feel bad for killing him.
When I went to his location in the middle of the night the Bell-Bearing Hunter appeared and killed me, then I returned when it was morning and Bernahl was there, I killed him because I tough he was the Bell-Bearing Hunter at night and he wasn't friendly at all.
Then I discovered that the Bell-Bearing Hunter were another thing and not Bernahl.
Sorry bro, maybe if I replay the game I'll do your questline
Another awesome video. Was wondering why he fights us . Makes sense now . Ur my favorite lore channel keep it up.
As wholesome and adventures as it sounds, a Tarnished and his fingermaidwn only serve one ultimate pourpous, best described in the words of Gideon Ofnir: "Queen Marika has high hopes for us. That we continue to strugle, unto eternity." With this revalation why would you not rebel against the greater will?
I think he meant Marika itself, not the Greater Will, if this was a Greater Will goal then Marika wouldn't be punished
I didn’t even know he had a quest and I’m like 450 hours in to the game, probably because I’ve made a tradition for myself to kill him whenever I find him after I start a new game, but he seems like an interesting character
2:30 how? Where did the 2 Great Runes come from? All the DemiGods have theirs. This is a major oversight in the writing of the game IMO, and not the only one.
It's strongly implied that the demigods we face were not the only demigods. There are likely other great runes given to lesser members of the family. Hence the dead gods in the wandering mausoleums and Marikas line saying something like, "but if you make nothing of yourself you will amount to naught but a sacrifice."
Unreal video bro! Bernahl is easily one of my favourite npcs in the game
What's funny is that I always was somehow able to slip past Bernahls invasion and spare him.
Both him and vyke essentially made it to the same point… right before becoming elden lord both of them where thrown off the path by the same reason, losing their maiden.
I spent the night getting two Noble slender straight swords and anything I could with a 5% chance of drop I've collected almost all the hardest things along with doubles on most of the curved swords and any weapon that I want a power stance so it was a long night one of many
rykard probably smells like grilled fish
I imagine it’s spicier actually
something makes me think that melina is another kid of marika and radagon, because of the pink hair, like a mix of red and blonde. shes like the perfect kid from them that wasnt cursed, to be given to one chosen tarnished to burn the tree, the other tarnished were just there as fodder probably.
I have a feeling that once your maiden lighted the forge, he may have saw an opportunity to once again follow the guidance of grace or at least become elden lord and was prepared to fight Maliketh given that he has the blasphemous claw. Like with other tarnished such as Gideon and Godfrey, they sought to stop you as now that the path was clear and there was a real chance someone could become elden lord.
Made a Bernahl character so he could become elden lord. It's fun using zweihander
ur voice is nice to listen to while just grinding audio, like vaati, you are good white noise. Keep it up
if you take Bernahl'd recusant outfit and add his zweihander he looks alot like giant dad ported to elden ring imo
Melina is a kindling maiden, allowing her to be kindling to the giants flame to burn the erd tree
Now I feel bad for killing him for his armor. I’ll avenge you Berhnal 💪🏾
I role played my blood lord character kinda like bernahl without even knowing it… kinda. My tarnished dropped into an unfamiliar world, weapons in hand willing to do anything good to get this world back to normal. I met so many npc’s that became good friends of mine, some being Yura, Blaidd, Alexander, Iji. Eventually I start to go mad from progressing through higher levels of evil. Eventually, The npc’s i once saw as friends were no more to me, except for bernahl. He was a brother to me a Recusant through and through. When my tarnished took up his idea to attempt to slay his own, they both fell in love with each other. Eventually, i started killing npc’s i found onward, and got to leyndell, and took up the frenzied flame upon my bare self. By this point my tarnished went full mad. I will say, when Bernahl was helping me fight the godskin duo, it was like brothers playing again, which quickly turned into a death battle with my own brother, Bernahl. I was devastated, but my tarnished in his maddened stated made it no issue getting over those feelings and slaying Bernahl for his betrayal to what I thought was our brotherhood. I will say, after learning about Bernahl in this video, i do feel a little sorry for the man, he deserved no such fate. Love you Bernahl, you will always be remembered as one of the first, first fit to become a Lord. 🖤
You jist earned a sub due to your soothing voice relaxing atmosphere and great intellect in describing videos
I slayed him because I through he was the ring bearer during the night
Would love to see an episode on the vulgar militia
Actually, there is a channel called The Tarnished Archeologist, and he has a video showing evidence that what we see of the Erdtree durng the game is only an illusion, and that the original Erdtree was burned well before we arrive at the Lands Between.
(An evidence for example: if you take a look at the houses in Leyndell, their doors and windows are locked shut by a golden vax. It is quite likely because, similarly to a volcano eruption, there were so much ash in the air that the inhabitants barred themselves into their homes. There is also a noticable amount of ash in Leyndell, if you take a closer look.)
The channel speculated that it happened because of the shattering of the ER, or something else around that time. But it could have been Bernahl who did it. He possibly didn't want his maiden to die, while the maiden wanted it and done it, and Bernahl was left disillusioned and shocked. It could even have been Melina herself, as we know that she has been burned before, but since her "purpose was lost" her soul still lingered for another Tarnished.
I think Your theory about Bernahl supports the fact that melina was the only one who could burn the tree because merika was behind her purpose. Also I think rani’s ending is the cannon ending because it was actually merika who pushed rani into her quest. It was all merika in the end, she probably even had your real maiden killed so you could meet Melina. You, Melina, and even rani were all part of her plan ….. if you chose that route.
I wish that they had made another ending at the end of the Volcano manner Quest line
Yes ! I really wanted to know about this guy
hey just so you know, there are multiple rold medallions and secret haligtree medallions each person to enter the haligtree or go up the lifts needs one, or each group i guess so there isnt just a single one in the lands between
My favorite armor set btw.
7:32 in the japanese version Bernhal simply says friend (友) so it's even more likely that he's talking about Rykard
Offer Pickle
Don't worry, Bernie: I always go Ranni route.
I am firmly convinced that Bernahl's maiden was the Gloam Eyed Queen, which we see revealed in the Flame of Frenzy ending.
That wouldn't really make sense if true, as the gloam eyed queen died well before the time of the tarnished.
@@square-table-gamingI can confirm that the message above was a joke
I think we are just a tool to gather the runes together, i dont think anyone even beleives its possible but its marrikas last ditch effort
May be the wound on the fire giant leg was from Bernahl fight?
i think it's possible that his maiden 'throwing herself into the flame' may potentially be related to the flame of frenzy
I have a running theory that I conversed about with a friend through one big text message. This is gonna be a copy-paste of that text, so excuse me for any typos.
"I should also note that the Beast Regent Serosh has a crown, and the Farum Beastmen have crowns as well. Serosh could be from Farum Azula. It seems Farum Azula has much more lore importance than what people tend to put together, especially since fucking Maliketh is there, and you can only see the entire symbol of either The Golden Order, or the Elden Ring before it was shattered in his bossroom. The Guardian Golems may have originated from there, and it may have been where the Elden Ring was shattered, considering that it seems to be the most closely related area to the Elden Ring other than Leyndell. Even then, there were Elden Lords before the Erdtree existed, so I think Dragonlord Placidusax may have once been what held it. Marika may have possibly tried to kill him, hence his 3 other heads being gone. It's also quote interesting to note that he used to have 5 by counting the amount of necks on his body, yet the Talisman that is designed after him, the Old Lord's Talisman, shows only 4. Another intriguing thought is that Bernahl guards it, and he's a Recusant. Perhaps the Volcano Manor, more importantly Rykard, may have had some connection to Placidusax. If Marika had indeed tried to kill him, this would make sense as to why Bernahl is particularly against the Erdtree. It could be that what Rykard did that was considered Blasphemy, is in fact not so Blasphemous at all. That's considering that even Placidusax had a god, one that even back when you fight him in a time that preserves Farum Azula, had kept him waiting for their return. This is somewhat reminiscent of The Fell God that incapsulates itself within the Fire Giants. Let's also consider that The Flame of Frenzy may have existed all that time ago, but was simply never unleashed. When you get ending for The Flame of Frenzy, it deliberately burns the entire Erdtree, ripping it in half. Melina opens her second eye, which depicts a claw-esc mark upon it. There is also some interesting lore with the Ravenmount assasins, in which they specialize in airborne attacks. They are the human deliverers of death, and there seems to be a species called the Lampwood, which guides the dead to the spirit world. The Erdtree seems to have the uncanny ability to draw spirits it it's roots, found in many catacombs with bodies clung onto it in mass. It could be that the Black Knife Assasins originate from Ravenmount, which could be gathered by not only the fitting blackness of their weaponry, but that they also have special agility in their movements, particularly in the way that they leap around you. The chest piece of their armor seems to have some strange blue-tipped Feather shaped decorations around the front of the shoulder plates, closer to the chest and some on the back of the left shoulder plate. The hood also features this design. It should be noticed that Ravenmount takes after the duty of Deathbirds, which harbor the powers of Ghostflame. Ghostflame is also related to the inhabitants of Nokron, more specifically, the Company of the Fallen Hawk. Those are the little white guys that have the greatshields and arrows. It says in the description of the Spiritflame Arrow that they were once ordered to explore the Eternal City. It's also concerning how there are so little of them, and they are only found in the higher levels of Nokron. It could be that any power that creates these phenomenal beings is only made by the collection of spirits. This could be connected to the Regal Ansestral Spirit, which has many spirits of animals within it, and the normal Ancestral Spirit gives you the Ancestral Follower Ashes, which may be a hint that these spirits are indeed related to the Lampwood. The only thing that has been conformed to be a Lampwood is the Helphen, and the Helphen's Steeple is also completely black, save for a glowing red jewel. The red jewel could be reminiscent of the Lamplight, which is similar to grace in appearance, yet can only be seen by those who met their death in battle. The Erdtree Burial is eerily similar in how it is done, and it may have stolen the souls of the dead away from the spirit world. The Ancestral Spirit's Horn even says, "A number of new growths bud from the antler-like horns of the fallen king, each glowing with light. Thus does new life grow from death, and from death, one obtains power." The Erdtree is using the souls of the dead to gain power, leaving beings like the Deathbirds powerless without endless murder. The Erdtree effectively destroyed primordial life, and forced new laws amongst it. This could have been the true goal of the Night of the Black Knives, and their attempt at killing Godwyn and taking back the Rune of Death. So that the spirit wolrd and all of its blessings and nature can be restored. But then, there begs another question. How did Godwyn hold any ownership of Death in the first place?"
Edit#1: This is a continuation of the previous statement.
"Godwyn is the only demigod known as "The Golden". The Erdtree brought about the Golden Order. He could've manifested Death by collecting the souls that have been sacrificed to the Erdtree. The Mending Rune of Death depicts white lines that look like cracks, that lead into an Eclipse. Eclipses are also related to the mythology of Vampires. Vampires live off of blood, just as he may have lived off of the ones buried under the Erdtree, or fed the Erdtree with the souls of others which would've sparked the idea of Erdtree Burial."
Edit#2 Here's is some more theory on the nature of the Deathbirds.
"It's also interesting that the Explosive Ghostflame spell reads, "In the time when there was no Erdtree, death was burned in ghostflame. Deathbirds were the keepers of that fire." It seems that death was realized as a burden by the primordial laws of the world, and did not belong to the living. The name "Deathbirds" could have a very different implication. Not that the bring death, but that they relieve it from you and burn it away. It seems as if Death was something that the Deathbirds wanted to keep away from the living, and that they were always close to death themselves. 2 of them drop the Red and Blue Feathered Talismans, and one drops a shield that has a passive effect of both at half efficiency. This shows that they were actually quite merciful creatures that only wished you to live longer and be stronger by merit of defeating them. It seems they needed their own counterparts to the sheer amount of death stored within them to continue their duty of saving the living from death."
Edit#3: Stuff on Crucible Knights.
"My going theory is that the bringing of Death has some connection to the Tarnished, and the Crucible Knights originated from the people of old when Death was misplaced. This refers to the Crucible talismans, which all have protective abilities and were said to have once grown on the human body long ago. The Tarnished could be the decendents of such people, but have been Tarnished by the Golden Order and it's new laws of life. This would explain why our character never truly dies. If Crucible Knights are the true, pure blood of those ancient people, this would explain why you find one accompanying Lady Tanith in her quest against the Erdtree, and why you find a good few at Farum Azula, one seemingly mourning the loss of an Ancient Dragon. It would seem that most have resorted to the Golden Order, but a few have stuck to their old ways. Their age is evidenced by the fact that they served Godfrey, who led the Long March as the leader of the Tarnished. It looks like our characters are related to the Crucible Knights, and Godfrey was the most misled amongst them all."
Edit#4: Godfrey, and Rykards Aligance with Dragonlord Placidusax.
"Godfrey must've tried to bring hope to his people. He declared himself as the "First Elden Lord", and led a ware against the Giants. Note that this war doesn't mention "Fire" Giants. That's because it seems it was a different kind of giant. You see absolutely towering corpses molded into the cliffsides and ground within old battle fields. Those were probably the giants that were spoken of. He faced the Storm Lord, which could be in fact, Dragonlord Placidusax. This would bring merit towards his missing heads, and the Volcano Manor's rebellious nature. It is in fact this alliance with Dragonlord Placidusax that could be why Rykard was called Blasphemous, as he was directly betraying the Greater Will. This could be why he wished to be devoured by the serpent, as he wished to live along side Dragonlord Placidusax and be sure to reign terror and defeat upon the Erdtree. He talks about family a bit, and together, they will devour the very gods. It can be implied that who he refers to is the Tarnished who are willing to help, and Dragonlord Placidusax. When you look at his lore, Rykard was actually extremely knowledgeable. So knowledgeable in fact, that he has a spell that calls upon the Rancor of the warriors who have become family within him. This act is only ever done by the Deathbirds and their spells, granting further evidence towards his established alliance with Dragonlord Placidusax. In truth, the thing that was Placidusax's God could very well be death itself. Fittingly, he awaited its return."
I know that was an extremely long read, so thank you for reading it all and seeing my interpretation of some aspects of the past of Elden Ring. Again, I apologize for the typos and quick hit-and-run nature of the topics, but I hope it will suffice.
This mans whole story us that he became maidenless
Wait so what demigods did Bernhal kill?
And who replaced them? Did the demigods he kill come back? Did the fire giant he must’ve had to kill come back too?
It's entirely possible bernal either didn't kill any demigods. As we know from the depiction of the Elden Ring in crumbling farum azula, it used to be much larger. It's entirely possible there are ruins that aren't currently held by demigods out there in the world somewhere.
@@square-table-gaming we really need a dlc exploring these other lands.
We also know that there were other demigod children that Marika had in the mausoleums. So maybe they had tubes of their own that he took.
So if our maiden wasn’t killed we’d basically end up as bernahl
Maybe.. no one told him he needs two runes to become Elden Lord.
He just went to the Fire Pit.. and.. well failed.. because he did not have all the materials needed.
I might have just imagined this but I could’ve sworn he had a voice line where he spoke about avenging a fallen brother it may have been while in the war masters shack
He says he is the inheritor of his brothers will, but we believe he's referring rykard and it's more of a "brother in arms" sentiment than a literal brother.
@@square-table-gaming maybe but isn’t that a bit inconsistent with how he feels about Rykard and the other recusants during his volcano manor quest line, seeing as he doesn’t care that Rykard died or seem like he feels like a brother with any of the other recusants?
@@pootisdispenser9725 that's fair. I wouldn't say he doesn't care rykard died, more that he sees it as the ultimate fate of all who walk the path of blasphemy, himself included.
This is awesome. Thanks you!
Happy you dig the content!