The Color Theory of Elden Ring | Elden Ring Lore
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- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- From the Lore of the Tarnished to the Elden Ring, from Raani to Mohg and Miquella, and from Dragons to Outer Gods, Color is a secret key to understanding the Lore of the Lands Between.
In this universe, created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and G.R.R.Martin, Color is essential. It means much more in the world of Elden Ring than in ours. Color has proven to be a pillar of every part of reality in the Lands Between: gods, humans, beasts, body, mind, soul, emotion, chaos, order, life, death, time… and much more.
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Soundtrack:
Elden Ring OST - Opening
Titan Souls OST - Between Our World & the World Beyond
Rome Total War OST - Intro Rome Brutii
Conan the Barbarian - Tower of Set
Elden Ring OST - Song of Honor
Kameo: Elements of Power OST - Fire Dance
Rome Total War OST - Mobilize
Rome Total War OST - Melee Cafe
Reus OST - The Human Spirit
Croc 2 OST - Climb the Devil’s Tower 1
Eastshade OST - Bloomsacs
Abzu OST - No Destinies Ordained
Monument Valley Forgotten Shores OST - Forgotten Shores
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword OST - Lady of the Sealed Grounds
Kingdom 2 Crowns OST - After the Rain
Elden Ring OST - Regal Ancestor Spirit
Subnautica OST - In Bloom
Elden Ring OST - Subterranean Shunning-Grounds
Hades OST - Scourge of the Furies
Age of Empires OST - Hunt
Savage: The Battle for Newerth OST - The Legion Advances by Moonlight
Hollow Knight OST - Greenpath
Elden Ring OST - God-Devouring Serpent
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST - Goron Village
Age of Mythology OST - (Fine Layers Of) Slaysenflite
Elden Ring OST - Divine Tower
Ico OST - Collapse
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess OST - Palace of Twilight
Ico OST - Continue
Croc OST - Bonus Area C
Hollow Knight OST - Fungal Wastes
Titan Souls OST - Depths
Stardew Valley OST - Spirit’s Eve Festival
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess OST - Ordon Village
Elden Ring OST - Altus Plateau
Hollow Knight OST - Crystal Peak
Shadow of the Colossus OST - Commandment
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds OST - Hilda’s Theme 2
Avatar: The Last Airbender - Season 3 Trailer
Kingdom 2 Crowns OST - Circle of Sparrows
Aragami OST - House of the Raven
Abzu OST - Seriola Lalandi
Abzu OST - Delphinus Delphis
Ice OST - Castle in the Mist
Rome Total War OST - Intro Greek
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild OST - Recovered Memory
Hollow Knight OST - Queen’s Gardens
Eastshade OST - Mudwillow’s Lair
Kameo: Elements of Power OST - Forest Glade
Elden Ring OST - The Final Battle
Reus OST - A Steady Start
Dark Souls 2 OST - King Vendrick
Outer Wilds OST - Outer Wilds
Timestamps:
00:00 Colour is Everywhere
02:12 Foundations of Colour
06:13 Red
23:23 Blue
35:47 Yellow
52:27 Black
56:06 White
1:00:48 Purple
1:09:10 Green
1:14:22 Scarlet
1:15:14 Shades of Colour
1:19:24 Silver
1:21:57 Amber
1:23:02 Gloam
1:23:23 Copper
1:25:05 Colourless
1:27:08 Multicoloured
1:33:55 Gold
#eldenringlore #eldenring #gaming
Hawkshaw. 
Игры
We loved making this, both for the dive into Elden Ring, and for the thoughts it gave us on our nature.
What colours do you relate to most?
Fuck you guys are geniuses of symbolic analysis. Thank you for this feature length feat.
Orange, brown, blue, and purple.
Copper
truly the chadest of all the colors
colourless, as i'm still searching of what I want to be
and copper, as I don't see any means to give up my search
Yellow
THIS is what I want in analysis. Concrete “lore” is one thing but subjective artistic themes are just another world. This absolutely bangs
I'd recommend a fellow called TBSkyen in that case. He does a lot of character design analysis focusing on themes and specific readings instead of concrete lore.
@@caolanmoore4027THANK YOU SOMEONE TALKIGN ABOUT TBSKYEN, he's how I discovered my favorite game of all time and how I discovered a passion for analysis
Just realized, the Glintstone bedrock beneath Raya Lucaria has been tainted by scarlet rot; much like the Crystallians in the Haligtree. This has cause its hue to turn a dark mix of blue and purple; purple, the color of gravity. The color that sinks.
It doesn't help that the Academy was build directly above the Lake of Rot.
OH MY GOD
Very good observation skills, my guy. 👍 Would’ve never caught that, or the implications, either.
So Raya Lucaria will soon fall to scarlet rot... oh boy.
What's stopping the whole land be consumed by rot ? Surprised we've never fought the rot other than malenia
I’m 45 minutes in and this is the most well written, researched, explained, and thought out videos on Elden ring I have ever seen. Deserves at least a milli views
Beautiful work
Nah, it deserves at least a view per copy of Elden Ring sold.
To quote Robert Frost:
"Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay."
Gosh I remember first hearing that in Outsiders
Which is ironic because gold is actually one of the few substances which never tarnishes, decays, or erodes into other elements unless forced to by man.
It's a fitting symbol of the eternal.
I can only admire From's sofisticated and intertwined storytelling design. Also, the eyes and interest one must have to think, grasp, articulate and SHARE in video format, all its nuanced meaning. Not in the "explanation" sense, but spoken and visually presented meaning. Trully amazing, this is special.
It's very primal. He managed to get us to go back to oral story telling. And guessing trying to make sense of things we are unsure if. It's beautiful
Keep in mind that everything covered in this video is speculative. We'll never know if any of it was intentional design.
It's insanely unlikely, but imagining Miyazaki might sit somewhere, giggling and calling Hawkshaw a dumbdumb because the entire thing is wrong, would be hilarious :D
@@Cracks094It's not about conscious, metric, analytical intentionality (if such an expression has any meaning). It's about internalizing principles and manifesting them through art (making).
It's not like Mozart calculated every note he wrote. He spoke music. Coherence is just a consequence of clarity of vision, purpose, meaning.
Jesus Christ.
Other lore hunters may piece together the stories we see fragments of, but you show the subtle ones, the ones that the rest of us don't see.
Truly amazing work.
It’s honestly CRIMINAL how underrated he is
Best souls lore RUclipsr
@@TheTalesOfRyujin if you think he's criminally underrated then check out The Tarnished Archeologist's documentaries.
My only problem with this theory is that it's nearly impossible to dissect lore from basic use of color as a game-design tool.
You didn’t see it because it’s pretty arbitrary and self-confirming
I replayed ds3 for the first time in a few years. I was shocked at how stark and bleak the colors and visuals are compared to the hyper saturated lands between. This is such a great commentary on why
I know what you mean. I was playing ds3 for the first time when Elden ring was announced, and made myself finish it before starting ER. I remember starting ER up like the weekend after I finished DS3 and being astonished by how beautifully intense the colors were in comparison to ds3
Despite being very colourful, Elden Ring is still a very dark and gritty game, it's basically a middle finger to all the people that claimed the piss-filtered games from the seventh generation were "grittier", I like how Miyazaki changed his mind about colour, going from the very desaturated Demon's Souls to the colourful Elden Ring.
Staggering depth of analysis, visuals and thoughtful editing. If only humans could perceive more colours so the video could've been longer. Though if it never stopped we wouldn't have that touching ending. Bloody well done.
This community is beautiful. Vaati still does his lore stuff, but he’s focused more on becoming the best game footage director out there. The deep dive lore weaving torch has been passed to Hawkshaw.
The deep dive was never vaatis thing.
Hawkshaw has been doing lore dives deeper than others for awhile now.
They have a video on DS1 that helped to change community understanding of demons.
People mostly accepted the word of an NPC that the chaos flame drove demons to a form of animalistic insanity. Hawkshaw helped show the demons had culture and rituals. To the best of my knowledge, they were the first ones to argue that.
So yeah, they have been seeing parts of the lore others missed for a few years now.
While I mostly agree, SmoughTown has by far been the best lore channel for ER. He produces great videos at an insane output. Vaati has been super disappointing
Quelaag is really interesting!
Nah man the community is way bigger then vaati and even hawkshaw. Sooo many people are and have been doing this forever.
I am absolutely speechless at the amount of thought, time and effort put into this video. It is absolutely glorious and inspiring. I've never thought that ER would contain such subtlety. No complement would do this video justice, so I'll just say one word - awesome.
Awesome
"Anyone, even if you feel your colors are Tarnished, can transcend to Gold."
These words will stay with me, near to my heart.
I cannot believe this. This is a milestone of lore theory and philosophy. Simply outstanding.
ive just commented this on the video, but i dont understand what you mean? its just basic colour theory and how the game adheres to it. The large marjority of every media uses these techniques to communicate things with the viewer
@@declancampbell1277 This sounds like you've just watched the beginning part about HP, FP and stamina and nothing else.
Sure, many types of media base their colors on our associations with them to guide our emotions and comprehension. But Elden Ring goes further than that. Some of them match up with real life interpretations of colors. But all of them? Red is also associated with fear, purple with power or luxury, yellow with hope etc. These don't match up with the video or Elden Ring. And what about black, white, copper, gold? The overlapping and interactions of these colors and states?
It feels less like they just based colors on human association and color theory and more like they used these elements to create consistent laws of nature for a fictional world, with some of their own twists and ideas. A fictional kind of alchemy. Creating a system like this that is internally consistent is very impressive. So is understanding it. Even with some understanding about color, it can mostly go unnoticed.
Which is why I like this video so much.
@@omega_sol Exactly. The depth in games made by FromSoft is just insane, and the lore experts who unravel and do presentations of the lore and the world made by Miyazaki that is impossible for most to unravel is also damn insane, if not more insane lol. It's really impressive.
at 1:08:00 just thought about the red lantern mentioned by Helphen's Steeple, and the red glow emitted by the Tibia Mariner when he calls forth the dead.
Red is vitality, vigor, warmth and life. The dead must surely crave the warm flame of life.
Similarly, the unalloyed Gold Miquella is known for is pure gold. An alloy is made when a metal mixes with other metals to strengthen it. Unalloyed Gold is weaker than alloyed gold, but it is pure, untainted by any other colors. What better way to ward off the colors of the other gods than absolute pure gold?
And the crusible knights red and gold but more red.
It’s also the outer god of death which means the rune of death essentially has its power
That's what I've started speculating:
That Red is not only Death but also Life as well as you _cannot_ have one without the other. This is why, imho, when a fragment of Death was stolen the Erdtree released seeds, as this was the only point where new life could have been made.
This also explains the weird "offshoot" phenomena as offshoots are essentially 'clones' of a particular plant, sort of like how runners of a strawberry branch off. To me, this was always an attempt to create new life by making new souls yet failing to do so to completion. This is why offshoots come off looking like small clones, character-wise at least, no "new" life can be made life is "recycled" rather than created new.
Then again, this makes sense to me from the principle of what the Greater Will enjoys: total order. New life is chaotic, a chaotic mix of gametes into a chaotic swirling of genes into a chaotic mad dash to split cells. Such things must be abhorrent to a creature of pure order, with too many variables of instances of unconstrained growth. It's much more orderly to take an old product, recycle it into essentially the same product; nothing is lost yet nothing is gained.
This is why Those Who Live In Death are also despised by the Greater Will and the Golden Order, they are a mirror of the futility of the system of order. They simply choose not to be rehashed anymore knowing that they'll just come back the same. It defies the principle of "new death" that the Golden Order established through Erdtree burial.
Bearer
Seek
Seek
Lest
So i'm a big fan of Martin’s work, and just for some context:
He often mentions eye color.
There is a God worshipped in Braavos whose priests only wear white and black, and their god is a many faced god, and all the gods are, they believe, their god in different guises.
George R R Martin also said in an interview: "Fire is love, fire is passion, fire is sexual ardor and all of these things”… This video really made me respect how much Martin did for the foundation of the world in Elden. He’s obsessed with color. The seven gods of his books..seven colors..
Martin also said he’s been inspired by Robert Frost's poem, which i think speaks for itself:
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Thankyou for this video!
Fuck grrm! But thanks for sharing the poem, its excellent
Thanks for the insight! GRRM is the GOAT
Kinda like how he went into intense and glorious detail about diarrhea. Truly highbrow. The browns and their runny consistency were to die for.
"Nothing gold can stay". Now, that's a quote that describes Elden Ring perfectly
This is more of Miyazaki work don't glorify Martin too much he just built the back stories nothing more nothing less
Damn it's been a year and I still remember how beautiful Elden Ring was, not just through pure graphics, but through the art design. Now with all the attention to color, it feels like a work of art, as if the whole world was painted.
9 months*
well graphically elden ring doesn't have these modern features like RT etc but it still looks gorgeous because art direction is just out of this world
@@lala-kq5honow it does
This video is phenomenal. Really gets the cogs turning. Godfrey/ Hourah Loux is such a complicated and interesting character, aside from being an awesome boss as well. Always a joy seeing the background details and From's subtlety in framing or defining his story, a story which is represented in his soundtrack as well. Earned a sub and lifelong fan
Miyazaki is a huge Magic: the Gathering fan, so it is little surprise that color having immense emotional and symbolic meaning appears here. Interestingly, multicolored cards in Magic have golden backgrounds--practically the same meaning you came to about gold in this video. Furthermore, the more muddled hybrid mama cards who's cost can be paid in any mix of colors, rather than set proportions of each color, are devoid of gold entirely.
source?
@@ThommyofThenn The source is probably actual magic cards, just take a look at any 3+ coloured card compared to the colourless ones you can use any mana to cast
Honestly take a look into the colour wheel and MTG colour theory, it's really interesting and worth a read
@@pipersmith2338 I think they were asking for a source about Miyazaki being a Magic fan
@@kyler.windhorst Oh yeah lol, I just geek out at MTG stuff way too quickly
That would be... unsurprising and explain a lot
I don't know how to play, but I have cards that I pull to base random encounters as well as large plot points if I'm stuck on story ideas.
Make a vague story map, with physical spots for notable events and character. Then place magic cards face down at random on these places. Flip them and work with it! Though it may be hard to fit "ravenous scourge" in a protagonist or wise mentor slot...
This is genuinely one of the best videos I've ever watched, your analysis is great and the production is amazing. Thank you
On the note of the black and white, during character creation/modification we are given base templates of Draconian for black and for which "...among whom life is typically *short* ." as well as Numens and Nightfolk for white and silver which typically are few in number/potency but have a reference to long time frames and have ties to the Eternal Cities.
This was an absolutely amazing, well researched, well theorized video and you deserve so many accolades. The editing alone must have been hell.
I know you touched upon the relation of Gold with (madness inducing) Yellow a little. The colour yellow has long been associated with mania, sickliness, and the choleric temperament. But, interestingly enough, it is also the colour of safety, reliability, and industry. Especially when paired with black, from the industrious bee-hive to the warning signs and construction.
This is a personal observation, but for a while now, I've felt that safety and madness are inseparably linked. In modern societies, we have come to abhor danger. We have come to say "stay safe" in almost the same way that older peoples would instinctively say "God bless".
I feel like an overindulgence in safety results in an increased tendency to mania. When one lives entirely seperate from danger, their mental state is ill-equiped to handle disorder when it arises. Or, alternatively, one might become increasingly manic, in a desperate need to experience chaos.
hoooooooooly, actually so true
Not to be reductive of your entire statement, but... that's sort of the exact reason why video games and movies and various other violent media exists.
I know the "video games make you killers" discussion is severely old news by now, but looking back, the argument is even more frustrating.
One thing a lot of people like to conveniently forget, is that humans are not just animals, but *predators.* Humans are persistence predators who, for most of history, hunted or relied on hunters for sustenance and faced an equal amount of danger.
I feel as though it's probably *beneficial* for these types of violent media to exist; it's a way to indulge in these instinctual behaviors in an environment that is objectively safe. It's *enrichment,* the same way a housecat plays with a string or a sled-dog runs around in an open space.
@@TwighlightLugia I totally agree. As much as certain people might like to deny it, our obsession of violence is not learned behaviour, or a symptom of a bad upbringing, it's in our DNA. It's why we live in settled societies instead of cowering in fear of predators. That's why it's hilariously hypocritical of politicians who condemn violent video-games, when they rely on the threat of violence to enforce their policies upon others.
I do agree that depictions of violence in media is a cathartic outlet. But unfortunately it's not always sufficient. Young men especially need a physical outlet for their energies. I think most non-combat sports are boring as hell, but they are still a great way for young men to fulfil their more primal needs for competition and danger.
yellow & black is also the color of anarcho-capitalism, interesting that it’s also associated with industriousness/wealth
@@trashketchum9782 that falls under the "madness" category, pretty sure
Just found your channel. Man this was so eye opening. Right when you mentioned "tarnished" definition and how almost every item has a color in the description, so many dots started to connect in my head. Also the part on Godfrey and Sorosh is just really all the evidence you need. It's so subtle but so blatant at the same time. I feel dumb not realizing it myself because it's absolutely everywhere now that I think about. Like Rannis quest takes you through the 4 most blue sections of the game. Luinaria, Carian manor, Nokron, and the tower you flip upside-down. Good stuff man 👍
You absolute SOB you've done it again. This video answered nearly every mystery I've been thinking about since playing the game. "A most vivid coloration". Such a strange line. Trina being miquella in the dream world, and what that says about why he's been sleeping and what that could mean for his transformation. The way a certain city is practically painted in grey. Not to mention sarrosh.
I'm not someone who has any care for color associations other than how they relate to energy/temperature. I was stuck thinking inside the box. What a box it proved to be.
Thank you for the video. The info here combined with the tarnished archeologist's discoveries paints a most vivid picture of the story.
i love the surface level lore, as in the actual story of the game and events in the world, but actually diving deep into the emotional implications of everything is amazing. it isnt very important to the overall world, but just studying how different colours can represent more than just a faction or status is so interesting
Hawkshaw and The Tarnished Archeologist have been my 2 favorite Elden Ring content creators... The editing and music selection in the transition to Blue was art.
Smoughtown has had some very good videos as well!
@@chopsandtoots Yeah Smough is a prolific worker. He has covered so much item description lore. He is a dedicated resource of information to the lore community.
While they do theirs in a different style, Quelaag and SinclairLore find additional unique things that nobody else does. It’s a good tapestry along with Hawkshaw, Tarnished Archaeologist, and Smoughtown. Max Derrat also really clearly excavates the alchemical aspects of SoulsBorne to the most detailed level.
@@Pitchfallis I love Sophie and Sin! Sophie has done some phenomenal Bloodborne lore videos.
This is so criminally underrated. This deserves millions of views with how much effort is put into this. Also with how eye-opening this color theory is. I'm otherwise speechless from trying to put into words how much I love this.
Elden Ring IMHO made the most sense through the metaphors and imagery of alchemy as I learned from some other lore channels. That said, I think the icing on the cake, is this colour theory approach. Alchemy + colour theory truly gets to the heart of Elden Ring, and nobody can tell me otherwise! haha This was amazing! Great job!
Seeing the red in the robes in the Rennala fight dim to the moon in the second phase fits so perfectly. You move away from her children, a scene/fight with lots a reds and her kids being her creations to her fully relying on the power of her intellect and in you are enveloped in a world of blue. Very cool
Just when you think Hawkshaw can't get any better, he uploads the best work he has ever done.
Man, after I discovered your channel and watched DS1 videos I can't watch any other lore hunters (except Zullie and few others). They feel like a cheap clickbait.
This video not only was a super-deep take on Elden Ring, but also on life itself. I don't know what else I can write here, I'm amazed, inspired, and almost speechless.
Thank you.
this channel was already one of my favorites due to the detailed and deep dive into the lore of DS1 and it's characters and i was happy to see you making a video this long on ER and despite the high expectations for it this has surpassed it so much, it is without a doubt the most insightful and profound take on the world of ER with an amazing message to it, one of the best vids i ever watched tbh and i am so glad to have experienced it 🙏
I don't know why but hearing "creativity" described as chaos not only blows my mind but makes so much sense. Thank you for enlightening~
This whole video is enlightening not just for elden ring lore but for lore building in general! Very well done!!
this... this is what i was waiting for, every other youtuber just scratch the surface, but you, you go deeper, even more far away of what a normal person will hope, and how i love these videos of yours. Keep with the good work
Fromsoft lore videos have ascended into the realms of poetry and philosophy. Truly golden.
Great analysis on ER’s color theory! Very evident from the beginning of the game but no one’s gone as in depth and eloquent as you have. Being a Tarnished, one who has lost luster, is the furthest away from the rich vividness of gold. Awesome video!
Hands down the best Elden Ring theming video out there. It connects everything together, and yet, it has little to do with the gameplay or lore. Its about the fractures of light that make up the world and what they symbolize. Very well done. 👏
Playing the goron theme during the discussion about madness was very strange and unhinged. Well done
It’s been confirmed that the Fromsoft Team/MIAZAKI himself have been directly inspired by Magic the gathering, the cornerstone of which is color.
Very interesting analysis.
The color is literally my favorite element of Elden Ring.
Every frame is an old Fantasy Novel book cover.
Man. That Outer Wilds music at the end really captures that exact feeling.
An amazing video, through and through.
That last minute... I think that's the theme of Elden Ring. Our own definitions of "order"
I've gone through this about 5 times already and I find it amazing how wonderfully driven authors are capable of distilling real life into entertaining fantasy worlds. The best keep us engaged in such a way we strive to dive in deeper into our understanding of this mirrored fantasy, simply because it drives an innate need within ourselves to understand our own reality. The distilled version is enticing and knowledgeable but only a drop in the true bucket of life.
Also, it's amazing how an enlightening piece of content like this is able to make the rounds and reach me within 2 months of publishing. This is a new age of exploration of thought.
I don't comment on RUclips videos much but this is one of the best videos I've ever seen. Put this on for background noise and ended up watching every minute of it and now I'm reloading Elden Ring for another playthrough.
100/10
What's the bet for a DLC accouncement this month?
I think we will get an announcement for dlc over anything else personally
Do people honestly believe it's impossible for there to be no dlc?
50/50
Miquella and Godwyn I'd hope, Miquella is almost an anti-Artorias in a lot of respects and I'd like to see that fleshed out, as they seem to be the most lore-heavy anchors that have massive gaps
My bet is Past Lands Between + sealing the Scorpion Rot God.
I expect Helphen + Godwyn and/or Miquela in later DLCs.
Hey, I just wanted to say that this video is one of the best ones I've seen this year throughout the whole RUclips, and I've watched it in one go. It was a pleasure.
Hawlshaw.. You guys are something else. I imagine this video has Miyazaki nodding silently, with a wry smile :)
Interesting! I never really thought of colors themselves being a big player in the lore but I think you're onto something here. I don't necessarily believe that Color itself is everything, but I do believe that color is important and deliberate with what it's associated with. Here's some speculation I want to add:
I interpreted Blackflame as a sealed version from the one wielded by Black Knives and Maliketh, since they're directly utilizing shards of Destined Death. So Destined Death's true color is Dark Red that fades to Black within. The Gloam Eyed Queen once wielded Destined Death in her Godslayer Greatsword, which is now a hollow scabbard, and the Godskins would harness their Blackflame from this very sword. The Blackflame Godskins now harness is colorless, for the Rune of Death is no longer in their possession, instead locked away in the timeless realm of Farum Azula. The Blackflame losing it's Red in favor of White may allude to their power being "trapped in time" represented by White (eternity) and Black (the End).
I already held this belief but the color aspect is new to me, so thank you.
But I never considered that Ghostflame is also sealed in some way, perhaps cut off from its fuel... souls. Souls that are being intercepted by the Erdtree and denying true Death.
The undead in the Lands Between are explicitly what's left behind of soulless corpses. Godwyn being the Prince of Death is a good example, as he's truly dead. His soul was destroyed yet he still... lives in death... as a literal husk of his former self. For his body was not killed along with his soul.
True death in Elden Ring is two things: The death of the soul and the body. Which fits very nicely with the theme of duality that's seen everywhere.
We're given a direct parallel to Godwyn with the other person who was assassinated on the same night, which is of course Ranni, whom killed her own body but her soul lived on because she chose Godwyn's soul to complete the death "wheel" of the centipede which had two halves, likely representing the body and soul.
That was a small tangent from color but here's a question: If Ghostflame's true color is purple then does that mean St. Trina's torch is secretly true Ghostflame. And that the true aspects of Ghostflame are Sleep and not Frost? Considering Miquella/St. Trina's significance, Miquella was obsessed with creating a true Utopia for all, while St. Trina may have been exploring the ideal death. Through St. Trina's dreaming she may have discovered that the best option was the original option, a true and honest death. Her association with sleep, specifically Miquella's alter ego as he dreams, feels deliberate. Especially if the purple associated with sleep is the same as the one associated with Ghostflame. Does Elden Ring consider sleep to be a state between life and death? To bring back my theory on true death, sadly Miquella is all but dead in body, rotting in Mohg's chamber, but perhaps St. Trina lives on in the dream. Maybe his story isn't so bleak and perhaps we'll meet St. Trina in the future, hopefully as an ally.
Here's a crackpot theory:
What if the Mountaintops of the Giants are only frozen over because of the Erdtree's interference with the true afterflife? The Mountains are a spiritual place, surrounded by phantasms of trees and animals and supposedly has a connection to the Helphen, an important symbol to the true dead. If Ghostflame has lost it's soporific traits and been reduced to dormant ice, then some things associated with ice/ghostflame become more interesting as they weren't always this way. What if the Mountains aren't supposed to be frozen over?
What if the Giants were tending Ghostflame specifically? The lore for the Fallen Hawks in Nokron states that they accidentally discovered Ghostflame once they started to burn each other's corpses for torch fuel. What if Giants used their flames to tend to swaths of dead and were technically gatekeepers to the afterlife? It seemed odd to me that Giants would live in such harsh conditions with no architecture of their own to speak of, but I think before the Mountains froze over it might have been a fantastical realm of violet spirits and buildings, all hanging in the balance of this delicate system. Not quite physically there, but you could still touch it, like it's between life and death.
This could explain the giant corpses in the Eternal Cities, as giants were important religious figures to many. While they lived they may have been leaders that conducted funerals with Giant's Flame.
This also helps explain why Marika wanted the Giants dead so badly. It wasn't just the fire she feared, but the afterlife they tended to. It's direct competition with her Golden Order. By killing all of the Giants and snuffing the Flame of Ruin, she cut off the world from the true afterlife.
Miquella, seeking an order better than the Golden Order, may have discovered the original way of the world while he dreamt. It's possible that the Haligtree stands where the Helphen would in the afterlife (assuming it's a tree), similar to the Erdtree standing where the Great Tree was (The Great Tree is implied to predate the Erdtree).
If the Helphen was truly present in the material world, it definitely would've been burned down during the war with the Giants.
And as St. Trina, Miquella may have discovered the old ways of death and embraced it for what it was. Perhaps this revelation would have been the final step for Miqella's era of Unalloyed Gold. A world of truly living, as it should be, as it once was. But before he could awake, Mohg effectively killed him.
When it comes to DLC, my money is on exploring the dreams of St. Trina and possibly truly exploring the Land of the Dead, probably in it's true Purple state.
I got carried away typing this but it's thanks to this amazing video! Color really helps to tie things together and helps theory crafting quite a lot.
Hawkshaw came when we needed him the most, thanks for the lore man.
Now I’m questioning the fabric of my existence
Wow... Just... Wow...
There are so many ideas and thoughts dancing around inside my mind after watching this video, yet I cannot put the in order.
All I'm going to say is that I'm mind-blown by this video. You guys have essentially deconstructed the nature of the whole world of Elden Ring. It's so consistent. I'm just amazed.
A new 2-hour Hawkshaw Video? Thank you God.
Ever since Quelaag's video "Red and Blue" some months ago (which isn't watchable anymore, unfortunately) I haven't been able to unsee all the different colours in the game. Very stoked to see someone tackle it in detail! great video!
how do you still manage too blow my mind with every video you make. Your are by far the greatest souls lore youtuber ever, keep up the great work.
Rape
The gorons theme song fits so well into dominula I will always put the two together now.
You have drawn my attention to something which, shockingly, I have never heard discussed in any lore video.
When you spoke of the importance of the moon, and the contrast between the sun and moon, I realized just how little the sun is mentioned in game.
A search on the wiki reveals the Sun Realm Shield which states: "Much like the wear on the shield, the realm of the sun has long faded away." There are those who worship the "eclipsed sun, drained of color" but not the living, red sun. Perhaps an affirmation of the rejection of red, perhaps something more interesting yet to be explored.
3 minutes in and I already know this a special Hawkshaw video, can’t wait to finish and have my third eye opened
Good lord, what did we do to deserve you dropping this magnificent morsel in our laps to enjoy? I cannot wait to sit back and chill to this, what a treat!
What a beautiful and unifying narrative, this video is so clear and poignant. Thank you Hawkshaw!
Babe wake up, new color lore dropped.
I knew we'd have to wait a while for something like this, but I'm glad it eventually came.
The excitement is palpable. I'm so stoked for this
You guys actually went nuts for this, pulling apart the themes related to colour, good.
... I just realized that the introduction of the Elden Beast, the Erdtree and the Golden Order itself can be seen as Elden Ring's equivalent to the primordial soup being enriched by meteors with microbial life, evolution separating said life into divided, distinguished species and so on.
Holy shit.
Commenting for the algorithm.
I have always appreciated your intelligent and insightful videos. I will always appreciate the way you helped shine a light on demon culture in DS1. Your approach to ER does not disappoint.
I hope this video gets a lot of views. Best of luck in your future projects.
Ima watch this whole thing and have more to say but since im so excited you caught the color connection i am hoping this also includes the sources of lights, such as the light created by a flame, versus the sun or electricity. Then materials like crystals and even blood refract that light uniquely, the outer god of blood craves wounds and if light is needed to refract into it for that to evoke their power it cant really do that sitting in a blood bag of a body. I have been thinking of a tarnished as being categorized by us the player controlling them, and that is the physical manifestation of tarnish on metal, and i think we occupy a corpse in the chapel of anticipation, how the body got there isn't the point how and why we got that body is.
What can I say mate? Just the top tier of content 🤌
Thanks man! We’ve been holding off watching proper lore dive videos until we get our general interpretation out there, the reverse of what we did with Dark Souls, but we can’t wait to watch the unbelievable archive on your channel, especially after the endless recommendations!
@@Hawkshaw Thanks my friend! Can't wait to hear your thoughts when you get round to it!
No joke, this is my favourite Elden Ring lore video and theory. I love colour theory
Everyone who’s played this game needs to watch this video in its entirety, I’m blown away. Getting all misty eyed at the ending lmao. I always had a feeling Goldmask was a heroic figure, and that his ending was the best, morally. Thank you for your hard work.
Thank you for your thorough and genius videos. Your videos on DS1 changed the way I and many others think of the lore in that game, and this gives similar revelations for Elden Ring
babe not now, new hawkshaw video dropped
Goldmask would be proud. The true journey was the colors we made along the way.
Funnily, the first time I played Elden Ring, my first thought when walking into Limgrave was "OMG this is so colourful and vibrant compared to other soulsborne games..."
Absolutely incredible...!! 🤯🤯🤯
This could even be my fav video of 2022... 💙🙏❤️
There are so many lore channels, big and small doing such amazing work. This is perhaps the best macro-level theory I've heard.
My oh my Hackshaw did it again. This channel inspired me to be lore hunter and I went into Elden Ring completely blind,spent 600 hours on two playthroughs and my lore notes ended up 75k words.
And still, it doesn't come even close to this level.
This changed my perspective of the world of Elden Ring greatly, especially the green yellow red connections. I actually delved deep into the yellow color myself but I did not think to look a little elder and see the red and yellow connection in rot and the rest of the points in this video.
Truly, you guys are epic.
This has probably been one of the best thought out lore videos I had yet seen. Fantastic job!!!
I find that Godfrey emitting steam constantly might be a reference to the totality of 'white'- Godfrey is the only creature/being in the Lands Between to be whole, more or less. ADDING things to him, weapons, armor, Serrosh...that depletes him, like additive colors. It makes him turn more grey than white, not whole in himself. It's like he splits himself amongst a few things to limit how all-destructive he is; there's a reflection of all the things in the world, present in him.
I kid you not this is one of the greatest videos I've ever and will ever experience. I deeply thank you Hawkshaw for this incredibly complex yet unfathomably resonant message of our essence. That is unity itself.
coming back a third time because this deserves ALL the views :P
All I can say is this is absolutely brilliant. Just brilliant.
I love this kind of analysis. You did an amazing job of delving into it too. Very detailed and convincing.
Intriguing! A world-building concept introduced at least as early as Demon's Souls with "colorless fog" and "colorless demon soul". Interpretation may vary some but I think you're onto something. Alchemy has also been in play with the colors and metals displayed but perhaps both are most significantly magnified in Elden Ring.
That's a really beautiful conclusion. These lore dives make the games so much more enjoyable for me. Thank you for the videos.
I'm struggling to believe this is the greatest video I have ever watched. I almost skipped it but lo' and behold, this helped me understand Alchemy better 😵
I knew I was going to gripped into another of your videos as soon as I saw the comparison to alchemy. Truly love everything you've produced on this channel. Awesome work.
Six minutes in and my mind is all ready exploding.
That bit about being devoid/drained of color is interesting in terms of Miquella. Just like how the nascent butterflies that represent him are used to create dappled meat that can be all colors at once, Miquella had a philosophy that all things should be able to flourish, be they natural or malign… or something to that effect.
Fantastic video - really great deep dive on the meaning of color, and explains a lot of lingering questions about the Lands Between. That said, there is one thing I’d like to propose an alternative theory for, and it’s the Scarlet Rot. The thing that bothers me is that the rot is specifically tied to stagnation. The Lake of Rot is a giant underground pool of stagnant water, where Malenia’s teacher locked the influence of the God of rot away. Malenia herself fights off the rot by learning a fighting style that emulates flowing water, the opposite of stagnant movement. It’s literally called rot, i.e. the thing that happens when you let things sit for a long time. The proposal in this video is that the Scarlet Rot is between the yellow of the Frenzied Flame and the red of fire, blood, and vitality - a disordering of the body. If that’s the case, why all the stagnation imagery? Shouldn’t it be chaotic life, like overgrown plants or mutated animals? In my mind, Scarlet Rot is red tempered by white - the color of flawed eternal existence. The rot is alive and eternal, always blooming anew after consuming itself - at the cost of its host. This also might offer some explanation as to why Marika’s children with Radagon are all flawed in some way: because they only have one parent, their “colors”, so to speak, came out paler than they would have otherwise. Malenia’s red of passion and vitality goes to the scarlet of rot and stagnation. I’m less sure about Miquella or Melina, but there’s something there, I think.
The king has returned
no one does better lore than you. hands down. vati may have some nice presentation but you have that intense depth and factual research that's honestly rare for souls lore videos.
That ending really hit home for me, thank you for that.
I’ve been on a Souls game lore binge lately and coming to the end of it. Always felt something was missing in the Elden Ring lore discussion. So glad I clicked on this video.
This is one of the best Elden Ring videos on RUclips. Very concise analysis of the hints the game gives. Good use of color theory. It's super long, but I was interested the whole way.
Nothing better than getting surprised by a new hawkshaw
I'm at purple and I'm already blown away, this is incredible
And here I thought no one could be as compelling as Smoughtown. Amazing breakdown of the colors. 100/10
A week or two ago I binged a bunch of your ds1 lore after I beat that game, and plan to watch the ds2 lore after I finish it also. Idk why I didn't bother to check if you were still making videos but I am glad to see you are.
I can't wait to play elden ring to rewatch this contents and understand better the obsure lore of this tipe if games.
This video and channel deserves So many more views than it has. I feel this way about almost no other youtuber on the site.
I love the subtle and abstract nature of this theory my man. Love listening while nodding to sleep!!