This is such a throwback to Dark Souls. Not because of the lore, but because of having to deal with someone who calls "miracles" "maracles" like my friend did back in the Dark Souls days.
@@Elden_dorK Jokes aside, great video. I am deeply disturbed by your ability to tie an idea as wild as "Radagon is Elden Ring's Velka" together so well.
@@jacobperry2491 thank you!! Hehe this one is just where the evidence led me. I've been obsessed with that statue since Dark Souls 3 and recognized it in my first Elden Ring playthrough. I at first thought it must have something to do with Rennala and/or Ranni because of Velka's ties to the Darkmoon. But, the more I looked into it, the more I realized Radagon fits mold over and over again o.O
Absolutely brilliant video, incredible attention to detail! I absolutely adored some of the shots in this video, huge production quality my friend! Wild you did this all by yourself!
19 minutes in almost at the end of the video and I’m waiting waiting waiting and then RADAGON IS MARIKA! The idea that Marika parallels Velka is so amazing and cool. With everything we know about Marika the depth of Dark Souls just expanded, excellent work and I look forward to hearing who you think the Sun Realm King is! Personally, I think it’s a previous iteration of Radagon
All things yearn eternally to converge, including our minds! I thought I was crazy for thinking "I think Radagon may have lived and died before Radagon appeared leading the golden host." haha then here you are in my comments.
I am absolutly blown away! I knew dark souls and Elden rings had rich backstory and lore but when I finished the video my jaw was in the floor! Can"t wait for the search for the missing lord of sunlight!
Idk why the idea that Radagon veiled the land of shadow never occurred to me. Although it does make alot of sense. Possibly another tragic reason for Marika to break the Elden Ring
It's pretty understandable that the common interpretation is that Marika veiled the Land of Shadow. Messmer's Remembrance heavily implies that she did... but even so there is some wiggle room to allow for it being Radagon who did the veiling. And if nothing else, Radagon is Marika so.. If Radagon is the one who actually did the act of the veiling then it would still be in line with Messmer's Remembrance.
@ yea there’s a lot of characters naming “Marika” specifically in the dlc. Could be an effect of the veil itself even that for some reason his name is totally unknown to them all. Even the individuals like Leda and Ansbach who should be be somewhat aware of him as lord.
I'm not gonna lie, mos of this feel to me as a meta reference than a clue for solving the lore. But at the same time, there's so much that could be done by following this idea. I was thinking about the idea of Velka marring Manus just to betray him against gwyn
After seeing how Radagon leaves Rennala in Elden Ring, I suspect that Velka may have left Manus in similar fashion. Perhaps she was bound by a duty to protect or govern the world.
Thank you for this comment! I know what you mean! Like Velka's Rare Ring of Sacrifice being stored in a chest right next to Gwynevere's Divine Blessing in a room in Sen's Fortress. The stuff in DS3 mentioning the queen of Lothric often implies that she was Gwynevere, but Velka frequently fits the mold as well. My headcannon has been that Gwynevere is a daughter of Velka and Gwyn. But I can totally see a case for Gwynevere being the same person as Velka - or an illusion/persona produced by her. Very interesting to think about!
I was thinking you were going to say Radagon is the Blood Star but this did take a surprising swerve. There are definitely many parallels between him and Velka.
Oh! I hadn't thought of that before. I always associated the blood star with the Formless Mother in my mind... But now that you mention it, it is the red Fire Monks who have Radagon thorn sorceries that are connected to the blood star. Actually yeah, now I don't know why I thought the blood star had to do with the Formless Mother... I guess because of thorns cause bleeding. Dude! Thanks for this tip! I have to ponder on this more.
Welp, I'm here for this theory train! Also, I'll post here too that now that youve shown Radagon casting the thorn sorceries, I'm convinced that's not destined death impaling Marika, but a giant barb of Briars of Punishment and that Radagon is the one who cast it. Great video!
Couldn't be happier to have you onboard! I've been thinking the same thing about that red spear lately!! And and! It makes me think maybe all those dead giant corpses on the Mountaintops of the Giants who are so uniformly impaled while kneeling... Maybe dying in battle isn't the best explanation for them. Maybe they ritually sacrificed themselves o.O similar to how the Fire Monks in the area do when they cast their thorn sorceries. My head's totally in the same place yours is on that!
Nice, someone finally has a Radagon connection. Great find. I wonder what you would think of the lore theorist Firelink Conspiracy. He is my favorite for Dark Souls lore. He has Velka as part of a conspiracy to drain the sun of souls and leave it as the drained black-void. That the Occult rebellion was successful, and Gwen was forced to link the fire. Linking the fire will return souls from the sun, and lessening the amount of dregs or the pooling abyss. I generally see Radagon as a type of Luciferian "fallen-star" who is trying to usurper a crown. Radagon conspiracy
Thanks! I have seen a couple of The Firelink Conspiracy's videos and really like his perspective! I learned a couple interesting things and think we share some parallel thinking. I diverge a bit when it comes to who is and isn't a nefarious actor. But I really like his analysis!
Extraordinary!!! I’m so fucking glad you agree about Radagon being the gos of the sun!!’ EEEKK!!!!! The evidence goes even further when you consider that the Nox and the shaman and the giant throne sitters in the eternal cities all have hair like Marika’s, not Radagon’s. Almost like the matriarchal “lord” figure they were trying to create may have been another Marika or Marika herself instead of the inverse which I used to think a couple of years ago! I’m so thrilled with this video and where I think the next one is going, SCOTT!!!!
Thanks so much K8!! The trouble will be deciding which video to make next. Because I was imagining making several videos that back up the claims I made about Dark Souls and Elden Ring without relying on one informing the other. But maybe I'll figure out how to make a poll or something to see what folks would be more interested to see first. Go straight into the the lord of sunlight, or take some time building the foundation of evidence first.
The Academy seal is not the moon at its top. It is a rift / microcosm. (Eternal Darkness) is a hint that a great calamity occured in the past. And the origins of the Academy are from its survivors. The astrologers who imbued their souls with glintstone (becoming immortal) aka. Eternal. The oldest Conspectus is Karolos; founded by Azur. The second is Olivinus by Lusat Lusat is said to hail from Sellia, town of sorcery. And if you look at the Sellian Seal Breaker, and Sellian (Night sorceries). What looks like the moon in other Glintstone seals becomes those Giants seats in Nokstella and Nokron. I believe the original people who founded the Academy, were all one single people. The Numen Who diverged into a variety of peoples. Including the Nox, Edtree people and Hornsent. This aligns with the idea of going against the Greater Will. In the spirit or idea that they may have manipulated and made a (mistake). Regardless, there seems a period before the (procession of stars) as Spirit ashes of: Yosh. Where they coukd predict the future. And whatever was beheld has caused ALOT of trouble: The creation of a great tree, The flame, destined death, the procession of stars. Etc... A seemingly classical example of "fall from heaven". Or destruction of Atlantis or utopia. In self-fulfilled prophecy of somesort.
Very interesting take! There's nothing I'm aware of that definitively states what the moon-or-microcosm is on top of the Academy's sigil. So your take is as good as mine. But, I still think it's meant to be interpreted as the full moon. All the depictions of lightless voids are black or empty circles. Eternal Darkness and Metyr's microcosm are black circles. Ymir's high priest hat is a hollow circle that represents a "lightless void". The Maternal Staff and Staff of the Great Beyond both have a black orb. Rennala's Full Moon icon is a bright circle. The top of the Academy's sigil is the same as the top of the Carian sigil. Rennala is the Fullmoon queen of the Carians. The circle on top of the Academy sigil is white filled circle. I think it would be an odd design decision to depict lightless voids consistently as black or empty circles, but for this one on top of the Academy sigil its suddenly white. Meanwhile, the fullmoon is consistently depicted as a white circle or orb. Also worth noting: there is a black circle on the Academy sigil similar to all the lightless void depictions. At the bottom in the center of the sun. I'm curious, if you suppose the Nox, Erdtree people, and Hornsent are all descendants of the Numen, do you think there are any groups of typical bipedal humanoids in the Lands Between who existed prior to the Numen then coexisted with them? Or do you suppose the Numen mark the arrival of typical humanoid life in the Lands Between?
Thanks! Most of the parallels I find between Fromsoft games I don't consider particularly strong evidence for lore-hunting. But when they put the statue right there in the world. I think then it's fair assume it's a hint from the devs and the correlations are worth factoring into the bigger lore-picture.
I can't believe we're still having Velka identity discussions in 2024 LOL. Truly one of the mysteries of all time. I'll be scooping your ideas into my headcannon, since I also came up with the idea Radagon was some sort of Sun God (from the sounds of it that's where you're going?), but with significantly less evidence. I don't really follow why that section of Shadow Keep would've been flooded to contain Life Drain... as far as I remember there isn't anything associated with the art down there. It requires less assumptions to conclude it was flooded to block access to the tree. I'm curious how you reconcile Velka wanting to protect the gods by sealing the Painted World and the Abyss, while also plotting to kill the gods. There's also the equivalent contradiction with Radagon, though I assume you'll reconcile them by saying some were Marika's motives and others were Radagon's.
haha I know what you mean! I was reluctant to tackle the subject at all because I was like "No one's going to take me seriously if I start talking about Velka in Elden Ring"... but I've been obsessed with that statue of Caitha ever since Dark Souls 3 days. So when I saw it on my first Elden Ring playthrough I've been like "what does it mean!?" And chasing that thread revealed piles of similarities. Regarding the flooded section of Shadow Keep: I'm planning to elaborate in a future video. I was intending to just make claims as kind of a teaser without justifying them in that section. But! Since you brought it up :) Elemer of the Briar uses the same kind of red energy as the Life Drain Ash of War. And the Life Drain Ashe of War is found in close proximity to the Regalia of Eochaid which has Elemer's telekinetic moveset as well as the same red glow. Basically, I think Elemer's red telekinetic powers and Life Drain are part of the same eh.. school of magic. And when you un-flood the temple district there's one of those fire priest guys with a fire dagger and he spawns a bunch of exploding fire zombies. His mask (which he drops) are the same type of mask found on Elemer's helmet. Elemer and this drowned necromancer fire priest guy where the same mask. So, I think the temple district was flooded at lest in part to contain whatever that necromancer guy was up to. And Elemer was likely from the same culture. And great question about reconciling Velka wanting to preserve the world AND her followers plotted to kill the gods. My favorite explanations: 1. Chronology. At some point in history Velka was maligned against the gods. And at some point she changed an aligned with them. Like how Radagon went to war with Liurnia but then allied with them instead. 2. It was the followers of the occult who committed the ill-fated plot to destroy the gods. Perhaps it was Velka's followers acting against Velka's wishes - a mutiny of sorts. Perhaps Ranni - daughter of Radagon - conspired to commit the Night of Black Knives against Radagon's wishes. I think you nailed it with "there's also the equivalent contradiction with Radagon"! Exactly this! If we can discover a solid explanation in one game to resolve this contradiction then I think we can apply it to the other game as well! And solve two mysteries!
@@Elden_dorK I assume you'll do a video on this but: How do you think Gods in DS actually work? Because as far as I understood, Gods are separated from Humans by the souls they inhereited, in their original state they're both Hollows. Gwny got the Light Soul, the Pigmy got the Dark Soul, and they both shared it with their followers (friends?) creating their respective species. We do learn from item descriptions that all the 4 Knights got fragments of Gwyn's soul, likewise with Seath and the 4K. But for Anor Londo to a be a city of Gods of that size, there'd have to be hundreds of "gods", people walking around with fragments of Gwyn's soul and a fraction of his power. Do you think those fragments just manifested into specific powers for a chosen few, thus allowing Velka to create her specific miracles?
@highlightermarca-texto3281 my headcannon is that there are some different species in Dark Souls. Like dragons, drakes, giants, demons, humans. Giants like the blacksmith and Gough have not-quite-human proportions - it's not just that they're larger. Whereas the gods of Anor Londo have perfectly human proportions even if they're a larger size. And that the intro cutscene calls it "the furtive pygmy" makes me think that humans and gods are the same species and humans are just a smaller subsect. I'm not really sure about how much Gwyn fragmented his soul amongst the gods of Anor Londo. I'm inclined to believe that its limited to the examples Dark Souls mentions explicitly - the ones you mentioned. I suspect that gods generally refers to the royal family - Gwyn's family - and the majority of the residents of Anor Londo were probably Black/Silver Knight sized humanoids who didn't have any godlike qualities beyond casting the miracles of the gods (like the army of silver knights launching lightning spears in the into). My take on Velka, I think lots of folks would consider unhinged, and I'll have to make videos to present my case - I don't think I'll manage with text alone. But I think Velka did not derive her power from Gwyn like the 4 Kings, and Nameless, and Seethe. I think she possessed a god-like soul of her own and may have been the With of Izalith. She fragmented her Lord Soul much like Gwyn did when she produced the Bed of Chaos. That's how Velka can continue to be a goddess even after the birth of the Bed of Chaos. To keep it brief, almost every mention of sin in Dark Souls is either related to Velka or Izalith. And she's a witch who knew both sorceries and miracles. I think Velka became the Goddess of Sin because of her own past sins.
@@Elden_dorK No take on Velka's identity is unhinged at this point. I've heard it all. Though with the context of Elden Ring and Jarring, Velka being a split of the Witch does sound more plausible.
18:10 YOU BETTER BE SHARING THE EVIDENCE AFTER THAT SOUNDTRACK as a person who never got to play Dark Souls series myself I appreciate the work you put into this video, it explains a lot and gives me food for thought! definitely subscribing for further education ✍️
Thank you so much! I will post a poll soon to see what folks are most interested in seeing next. Because I don't think I justify all the claims I made in just one video. I'll have to split them up a bit :)
@ my head cannon is Marika is GEQ too, because of the rune of marika vs rune of death compared with statues of Marika in Lands between versus realm of shadow and also that Messmer and Melina are in f Radagon and GEQ, not Radagon and Marika(each have a motif associated with GEQ, messmer with serpent and melina with destined death) and also Renalla’s egg looks like a serpent amnion The umbilical chord behind Marika’s statues looks like shed skin of snakes somewhat, not to mention the shed skin in realm of shadow The jars in realm of shadow have squirly seals instead of tree seals, a lot more of these I made a reddit post about it a while ago lol
@@sandrafransson3072 I'm not sure! I think it depends on the mechanics of how and when exactly Radagon and Marika were the same person. I lean towards that they do somehow share the same goals and are working in cooperation. Therefore both are responsible for each others' sins.
Im sorry man. But I have to say this whole thing is a REACH. Marika doesnt Parallel Velka. There is a MUCH closer match to Darksould Lore. No reaches required. Marika parallels Fina. Who is Laurtecs Goddess. And she does it in several very odvious ways. They both offer Favor and Protection. They are both godesses of Gold. They are both 'Fickle' and toss away their champions when they are done with them. If you remove FAP in Darksouls you lose Finas favor. And Marika discards her husbands when she is done with them, and doesnt care for her children either. Furthermore they both kill firekeepers. Anastacia and the Fire Giant respectivly. But they are both opposed to the Firekeepers. And dont tell me it cant be because Laurtrec is a bad guy. Because Marika is the bad guy. There are no good guys in the lands between. Fina is Marika.
I don't disagree at all with what you're saying. And very cool insight with the Fire Giant. I've never thought about him as a Fire Keeper before. But that totally makes sense! And! Don't forget it's the Erdtree's Favor talisman that does the same thing as the Fina's ring of FAP - which is explicitly Marika's blessing: "It is said that when the Age of the Erdtree began, such blessings were personally bestowed upon their recipients by Queen Marika herself." The only place I disagree with you is I don't think this contradicts my whole thing at all :) What if Velka is Fina? Just like Radagon is Marika. Lautrec is from Carim, same as Velka's pardoner Oswald and Caitha's knight Eygon. Lautrec uses a parrying dagger just like Oswald of Carim AND the Darkmoon Knightess. They all three have a very similar fighting style and equipment. These gods live forever and change identity and motivation over time. Dark Souls 2 says it explicitly that the same gods go by different names.
@@Elden_dorK Wouldn't the Finger Readers be a closer match to the Fire Keepers? Or the Finger Maiden companions, their purpose is much closer to the Fire Keeper's since they would sacrifice their own body to tend to the flame.
This is such a throwback to Dark Souls. Not because of the lore, but because of having to deal with someone who calls "miracles" "maracles" like my friend did back in the Dark Souls days.
haha I did record takes where I pronounced it "meeracles".. but it felt a bit inauthentic for my a-mar-ican accent :P
@@Elden_dorK Jokes aside, great video. I am deeply disturbed by your ability to tie an idea as wild as "Radagon is Elden Ring's Velka" together so well.
@@jacobperry2491 thank you!! Hehe this one is just where the evidence led me. I've been obsessed with that statue since Dark Souls 3 and recognized it in my first Elden Ring playthrough. I at first thought it must have something to do with Rennala and/or Ranni because of Velka's ties to the Darkmoon. But, the more I looked into it, the more I realized Radagon fits mold over and over again o.O
@@jacobperry2491 .. hehe and really, thank you for this comment. I was not expecting such potent flattery :P Feels good, man. I appreciate it!
Absolutely brilliant video, incredible attention to detail! I absolutely adored some of the shots in this video, huge production quality my friend! Wild you did this all by yourself!
Thanks so much Scum!! And thank you for your encouragement and inspiring videos as well!
19 minutes in almost at the end of the video and I’m waiting waiting waiting and then RADAGON IS MARIKA!
The idea that Marika parallels Velka is so amazing and cool. With everything we know about Marika the depth of Dark Souls just expanded, excellent work and I look forward to hearing who you think the Sun Realm King is!
Personally, I think it’s a previous iteration of Radagon
All things yearn eternally to converge, including our minds!
I thought I was crazy for thinking "I think Radagon may have lived and died before Radagon appeared leading the golden host." haha then here you are in my comments.
I am absolutly blown away! I knew dark souls and Elden rings had rich backstory and lore but when I finished the video my jaw was in the floor!
Can"t wait for the search for the missing lord of sunlight!
Thanks man!! I appreciate it!
Theory: Miriel screamwd at varre when he enetred , varre immediately teleported away
Idk why the idea that Radagon veiled the land of shadow never occurred to me. Although it does make alot of sense. Possibly another tragic reason for Marika to break the Elden Ring
It's pretty understandable that the common interpretation is that Marika veiled the Land of Shadow. Messmer's Remembrance heavily implies that she did... but even so there is some wiggle room to allow for it being Radagon who did the veiling. And if nothing else, Radagon is Marika so.. If Radagon is the one who actually did the act of the veiling then it would still be in line with Messmer's Remembrance.
@ yea there’s a lot of characters naming “Marika” specifically in the dlc. Could be an effect of the veil itself even that for some reason his name is totally unknown to them all. Even the individuals like Leda and Ansbach who should be be somewhat aware of him as lord.
This discovery huge! Amazing work! I really hope this video gets much more recognition.
Thank you very very much!
I'm not gonna lie, mos of this feel to me as a meta reference than a clue for solving the lore.
But at the same time, there's so much that could be done by following this idea.
I was thinking about the idea of Velka marring Manus just to betray him against gwyn
After seeing how Radagon leaves Rennala in Elden Ring, I suspect that Velka may have left Manus in similar fashion. Perhaps she was bound by a duty to protect or govern the world.
THE GOAT
Намёков на то, что Велка это Гвиневер полно и в самих DS.
А эта параллель в Elden Ring, ещё одно дополнительное доказательство. :)
Thank you for this comment! I know what you mean! Like Velka's Rare Ring of Sacrifice being stored in a chest right next to Gwynevere's Divine Blessing in a room in Sen's Fortress. The stuff in DS3 mentioning the queen of Lothric often implies that she was Gwynevere, but Velka frequently fits the mold as well.
My headcannon has been that Gwynevere is a daughter of Velka and Gwyn. But I can totally see a case for Gwynevere being the same person as Velka - or an illusion/persona produced by her.
Very interesting to think about!
I was thinking you were going to say Radagon is the Blood Star but this did take a surprising swerve. There are definitely many parallels between him and Velka.
Oh! I hadn't thought of that before. I always associated the blood star with the Formless Mother in my mind... But now that you mention it, it is the red Fire Monks who have Radagon thorn sorceries that are connected to the blood star. Actually yeah, now I don't know why I thought the blood star had to do with the Formless Mother... I guess because of thorns cause bleeding.
Dude! Thanks for this tip! I have to ponder on this more.
You got yourself a subscriber! I definitely think this opens up a lot more theories that can be verified or not. Super cool!
Thanks so much!!
Welp, I'm here for this theory train! Also, I'll post here too that now that youve shown Radagon casting the thorn sorceries, I'm convinced that's not destined death impaling Marika, but a giant barb of Briars of Punishment and that Radagon is the one who cast it. Great video!
Couldn't be happier to have you onboard!
I've been thinking the same thing about that red spear lately!! And and! It makes me think maybe all those dead giant corpses on the Mountaintops of the Giants who are so uniformly impaled while kneeling... Maybe dying in battle isn't the best explanation for them. Maybe they ritually sacrificed themselves o.O similar to how the Fire Monks in the area do when they cast their thorn sorceries.
My head's totally in the same place yours is on that!
Nice, someone finally has a Radagon connection. Great find.
I wonder what you would think of the lore theorist Firelink Conspiracy. He is my favorite for Dark Souls lore. He has Velka as part of a conspiracy to drain the sun of souls and leave it as the drained black-void. That the Occult rebellion was successful, and Gwen was forced to link the fire. Linking the fire will return souls from the sun, and lessening the amount of dregs or the pooling abyss. I generally see Radagon as a type of Luciferian "fallen-star" who is trying to usurper a crown. Radagon conspiracy
Thanks!
I have seen a couple of The Firelink Conspiracy's videos and really like his perspective! I learned a couple interesting things and think we share some parallel thinking.
I diverge a bit when it comes to who is and isn't a nefarious actor. But I really like his analysis!
@Elden_dorK Nice. I am looking forward to your future videos! Exciting times for the lore community
Extraordinary!!! I’m so fucking glad you agree about Radagon being the gos of the sun!!’ EEEKK!!!!!
The evidence goes even further when you consider that the Nox and the shaman and the giant throne sitters in the eternal cities all have hair like Marika’s, not Radagon’s. Almost like the matriarchal “lord” figure they were trying to create may have been another Marika or Marika herself instead of the inverse which I used to think a couple of years ago!
I’m so thrilled with this video and where I think the next one is going, SCOTT!!!!
Thanks so much K8!! The trouble will be deciding which video to make next. Because I was imagining making several videos that back up the claims I made about Dark Souls and Elden Ring without relying on one informing the other. But maybe I'll figure out how to make a poll or something to see what folks would be more interested to see first. Go straight into the the lord of sunlight, or take some time building the foundation of evidence first.
@ LORD OF SUNLIGHT LETS GOOOOOO
The Academy seal is not the moon at its top. It is a rift / microcosm.
(Eternal Darkness) is a hint that a great calamity occured in the past. And the origins of the Academy are from its survivors. The astrologers who imbued their souls with glintstone (becoming immortal) aka. Eternal.
The oldest Conspectus is Karolos; founded by Azur.
The second is Olivinus by Lusat
Lusat is said to hail from Sellia, town of sorcery.
And if you look at the Sellian Seal Breaker, and Sellian (Night sorceries). What looks like the moon in other Glintstone seals becomes those Giants seats in Nokstella and Nokron.
I believe the original people who founded the Academy, were all one single people.
The Numen
Who diverged into a variety of peoples. Including the Nox, Edtree people and Hornsent.
This aligns with the idea of going against the Greater Will. In the spirit or idea that they may have manipulated and made a (mistake).
Regardless, there seems a period before the (procession of stars) as Spirit ashes of: Yosh. Where they coukd predict the future.
And whatever was beheld has caused ALOT of trouble:
The creation of a great tree, The flame, destined death, the procession of stars. Etc...
A seemingly classical example of "fall from heaven". Or destruction of Atlantis or utopia. In self-fulfilled prophecy of somesort.
Very interesting take! There's nothing I'm aware of that definitively states what the moon-or-microcosm is on top of the Academy's sigil. So your take is as good as mine.
But, I still think it's meant to be interpreted as the full moon.
All the depictions of lightless voids are black or empty circles. Eternal Darkness and Metyr's microcosm are black circles. Ymir's high priest hat is a hollow circle that represents a "lightless void". The Maternal Staff and Staff of the Great Beyond both have a black orb.
Rennala's Full Moon icon is a bright circle. The top of the Academy's sigil is the same as the top of the Carian sigil. Rennala is the Fullmoon queen of the Carians.
The circle on top of the Academy sigil is white filled circle.
I think it would be an odd design decision to depict lightless voids consistently as black or empty circles, but for this one on top of the Academy sigil its suddenly white. Meanwhile, the fullmoon is consistently depicted as a white circle or orb.
Also worth noting: there is a black circle on the Academy sigil similar to all the lightless void depictions. At the bottom in the center of the sun.
I'm curious, if you suppose the Nox, Erdtree people, and Hornsent are all descendants of the Numen, do you think there are any groups of typical bipedal humanoids in the Lands Between who existed prior to the Numen then coexisted with them? Or do you suppose the Numen mark the arrival of typical humanoid life in the Lands Between?
Instant sub, im so excited for future videos
Hellllll yeah! Thank you so much!!
Fascinating correlations
Thanks! Most of the parallels I find between Fromsoft games I don't consider particularly strong evidence for lore-hunting. But when they put the statue right there in the world. I think then it's fair assume it's a hint from the devs and the correlations are worth factoring into the bigger lore-picture.
@ and you made an excellent video out of it, hope to see more from you in the future you’re killing it
great stuff here looking forward to hearing more about this
Thanks! I've got more to share!
I can't believe we're still having Velka identity discussions in 2024 LOL. Truly one of the mysteries of all time.
I'll be scooping your ideas into my headcannon, since I also came up with the idea Radagon was some sort of Sun God (from the sounds of it that's where you're going?), but with significantly less evidence.
I don't really follow why that section of Shadow Keep would've been flooded to contain Life Drain... as far as I remember there isn't anything associated with the art down there. It requires less assumptions to conclude it was flooded to block access to the tree.
I'm curious how you reconcile Velka wanting to protect the gods by sealing the Painted World and the Abyss, while also plotting to kill the gods. There's also the equivalent contradiction with Radagon, though I assume you'll reconcile them by saying some were Marika's motives and others were Radagon's.
haha I know what you mean! I was reluctant to tackle the subject at all because I was like "No one's going to take me seriously if I start talking about Velka in Elden Ring"... but I've been obsessed with that statue of Caitha ever since Dark Souls 3 days. So when I saw it on my first Elden Ring playthrough I've been like "what does it mean!?" And chasing that thread revealed piles of similarities.
Regarding the flooded section of Shadow Keep: I'm planning to elaborate in a future video. I was intending to just make claims as kind of a teaser without justifying them in that section. But! Since you brought it up :) Elemer of the Briar uses the same kind of red energy as the Life Drain Ash of War. And the Life Drain Ashe of War is found in close proximity to the Regalia of Eochaid which has Elemer's telekinetic moveset as well as the same red glow. Basically, I think Elemer's red telekinetic powers and Life Drain are part of the same eh.. school of magic.
And when you un-flood the temple district there's one of those fire priest guys with a fire dagger and he spawns a bunch of exploding fire zombies. His mask (which he drops) are the same type of mask found on Elemer's helmet. Elemer and this drowned necromancer fire priest guy where the same mask. So, I think the temple district was flooded at lest in part to contain whatever that necromancer guy was up to. And Elemer was likely from the same culture.
And great question about reconciling Velka wanting to preserve the world AND her followers plotted to kill the gods. My favorite explanations:
1. Chronology. At some point in history Velka was maligned against the gods. And at some point she changed an aligned with them. Like how Radagon went to war with Liurnia but then allied with them instead.
2. It was the followers of the occult who committed the ill-fated plot to destroy the gods. Perhaps it was Velka's followers acting against Velka's wishes - a mutiny of sorts. Perhaps Ranni - daughter of Radagon - conspired to commit the Night of Black Knives against Radagon's wishes.
I think you nailed it with "there's also the equivalent contradiction with Radagon"! Exactly this! If we can discover a solid explanation in one game to resolve this contradiction then I think we can apply it to the other game as well! And solve two mysteries!
@@Elden_dorK I assume you'll do a video on this but:
How do you think Gods in DS actually work? Because as far as I understood, Gods are separated from Humans by the souls they inhereited, in their original state they're both Hollows.
Gwny got the Light Soul, the Pigmy got the Dark Soul, and they both shared it with their followers (friends?) creating their respective species. We do learn from item descriptions that all the 4 Knights got fragments of Gwyn's soul, likewise with Seath and the 4K.
But for Anor Londo to a be a city of Gods of that size, there'd have to be hundreds of "gods", people walking around with fragments of Gwyn's soul and a fraction of his power.
Do you think those fragments just manifested into specific powers for a chosen few, thus allowing Velka to create her specific miracles?
@highlightermarca-texto3281 my headcannon is that there are some different species in Dark Souls. Like dragons, drakes, giants, demons, humans. Giants like the blacksmith and Gough have not-quite-human proportions - it's not just that they're larger. Whereas the gods of Anor Londo have perfectly human proportions even if they're a larger size. And that the intro cutscene calls it "the furtive pygmy" makes me think that humans and gods are the same species and humans are just a smaller subsect.
I'm not really sure about how much Gwyn fragmented his soul amongst the gods of Anor Londo. I'm inclined to believe that its limited to the examples Dark Souls mentions explicitly - the ones you mentioned. I suspect that gods generally refers to the royal family - Gwyn's family - and the majority of the residents of Anor Londo were probably Black/Silver Knight sized humanoids who didn't have any godlike qualities beyond casting the miracles of the gods (like the army of silver knights launching lightning spears in the into).
My take on Velka, I think lots of folks would consider unhinged, and I'll have to make videos to present my case - I don't think I'll manage with text alone. But I think Velka did not derive her power from Gwyn like the 4 Kings, and Nameless, and Seethe. I think she possessed a god-like soul of her own and may have been the With of Izalith. She fragmented her Lord Soul much like Gwyn did when she produced the Bed of Chaos. That's how Velka can continue to be a goddess even after the birth of the Bed of Chaos. To keep it brief, almost every mention of sin in Dark Souls is either related to Velka or Izalith. And she's a witch who knew both sorceries and miracles. I think Velka became the Goddess of Sin because of her own past sins.
@@Elden_dorK No take on Velka's identity is unhinged at this point. I've heard it all.
Though with the context of Elden Ring and Jarring, Velka being a split of the Witch does sound more plausible.
This is so freaking cool dude holy shit
Thanks so much! Really, my goal was to make something people would think is cool. So your comment feels real good! 😁
18:10 YOU BETTER BE SHARING THE EVIDENCE AFTER THAT SOUNDTRACK
as a person who never got to play Dark Souls series myself I appreciate the work you put into this video, it explains a lot and gives me food for thought! definitely subscribing for further education ✍️
Thank you so much! I will post a poll soon to see what folks are most interested in seeing next. Because I don't think I justify all the claims I made in just one video. I'll have to split them up a bit :)
Could Radagon be the gloam eyed queen😭
haha! Unironically... MAYBE!!
Because I think Marika is a pretty solid candidate to be the Gloam Eyed Queen. And Radagon is Marika ;)
@ my head cannon is Marika is GEQ too, because of the rune of marika vs rune of death compared with statues of Marika in Lands between versus realm of shadow and also that Messmer and Melina are in f Radagon and GEQ, not Radagon and Marika(each have a motif associated with GEQ, messmer with serpent and melina with destined death) and also Renalla’s egg looks like a serpent amnion
The umbilical chord behind Marika’s statues looks like shed skin of snakes somewhat, not to mention the shed skin in realm of shadow
The jars in realm of shadow have squirly seals instead of tree seals, a lot more of these I made a reddit post about it a while ago lol
17;40
Huh?
So are radagon marikas sins?
@@sandrafransson3072 I'm not sure! I think it depends on the mechanics of how and when exactly Radagon and Marika were the same person.
I lean towards that they do somehow share the same goals and are working in cooperation. Therefore both are responsible for each others' sins.
Im sorry man. But I have to say this whole thing is a REACH. Marika doesnt Parallel Velka. There is a MUCH closer match to Darksould Lore. No reaches required.
Marika parallels Fina. Who is Laurtecs Goddess. And she does it in several very odvious ways.
They both offer Favor and Protection. They are both godesses of Gold. They are both 'Fickle' and toss away their champions when they are done with them. If you remove FAP in Darksouls you lose Finas favor. And Marika discards her husbands when she is done with them, and doesnt care for her children either.
Furthermore they both kill firekeepers. Anastacia and the Fire Giant respectivly. But they are both opposed to the Firekeepers.
And dont tell me it cant be because Laurtrec is a bad guy. Because Marika is the bad guy. There are no good guys in the lands between.
Fina is Marika.
I don't disagree at all with what you're saying. And very cool insight with the Fire Giant. I've never thought about him as a Fire Keeper before. But that totally makes sense!
And! Don't forget it's the Erdtree's Favor talisman that does the same thing as the Fina's ring of FAP - which is explicitly Marika's blessing:
"It is said that when the Age of the Erdtree began, such blessings were personally bestowed upon their recipients by Queen Marika herself."
The only place I disagree with you is I don't think this contradicts my whole thing at all :)
What if Velka is Fina? Just like Radagon is Marika.
Lautrec is from Carim, same as Velka's pardoner Oswald and Caitha's knight Eygon. Lautrec uses a parrying dagger just like Oswald of Carim AND the Darkmoon Knightess. They all three have a very similar fighting style and equipment.
These gods live forever and change identity and motivation over time. Dark Souls 2 says it explicitly that the same gods go by different names.
@@Elden_dorK Wouldn't the Finger Readers be a closer match to the Fire Keepers? Or the Finger Maiden companions, their purpose is much closer to the Fire Keeper's since they would sacrifice their own body to tend to the flame.