Honestly SAO:A Has Always Been Capable Of Being Increadibly Heartfelt And Genuine. To This Day That Final

Y'know I'm usually quite apprehensive to consider cut content as canon material... But I make an exception for Radahns cat and Rykards boyfriend. They're just too good not to have in the story and they're such minor details that considering them as canon effects nothing.

idc whatever the fuck else fromsoft cut or changed in elden ring I demand to know why this was changed:

LET THE MAN HAVE HIS CAT FROMSOFT PLEASE I BEG OF YOU.

Thinking about how despite all the suffering Leonard has gone through, he never abandoned Radahn. He never left or stopped carrying him around. And even after all of this time he’s still just as willing to fight by his master's side as he was during the shattering. Leonard isn’t some poor old steed forced to carry a giant, and I think his actions in the fight paint a very particular picture. The first opportunity he gets in our fight he fucking charges at us, the two move so harmoniously that it’s sometimes hard to remember that they’re two separate entities. I wouldn’t be surprised if he enjoyed combat just as much as Radahn tbh.

Thinking about how despite being driven mad by the scarlet rot and long since having lost his mind, Radahn never stopped using his gravity magic to make himself lighter for his steed. How he’s gone so far that he’s cannibalised both his enemies and allies but never laid a finger on Leonard. How despite being a hulking mindless beast, the frail creature eternally beneath him doesn’t seem to have any injuries. He’s definitely exhausted and starving but he’s doing surprisingly well for himself for a steed that has seen multiple Radahn festivals and the battle of Aionia, especially when compared to how many injuries Radahn himself has.

The two of them were inseparable until the very end.

Moving Gransax's corpse in the convergence mod to the other side of Leyndell's inner wall is such an odd choice. It’s such a visually striking feature of the city and it almost looks bare without it.

I can’t even really figure out why the decision was made. There hasn’t been any major changes to the design of that segment of Leyndell from what I can tell and he and his spear don’t connect with their new environments very well at all. Overall a very weird choice from what is usually a very consistently high quality mod.

mfw I completely rejected Harpae in my first playthrough, expecting her to turn on me at some point and ended up latching onto Enjel instead because "the only person you should trust is yourself"

(I feel like I've been played like a damn fiddle)

having a little refresher of the pocket mirror's main storyline with manly's let's play and look who's finally here!!

Something I'd also like to add that didn't fit well into the initial post is that whatever it was that he discovered while looking into Marika, didn't just scare him beyond his breaking point. Whatever it was it also got him absolutely convinced that

a tarnished cannot become a lord

2. and a man cannot kill a god

which is rather odd, considering that no matter what ending we choose, we prove him wrong on both accounts.

There’s something so terrifying about Gideon’s downfall. At the end of his near-constant research he discovered something about Marika and her will that made him shudder in fear.

Gideon Ofnir. The man that ordered the full destruction of an entire village for a key fragment and then abandoned his adopted daughter for daring to question him. The man who’s henchmen died trying to take that very key from us, only to shrug it off like it was nothing.

The man who lives in a world of monsters and suffering eternal. The man who’s so dedicated to learning everything there is to know about The lands between’s blood soaked history that it’s literally part of his name. The man who probably knows of, witnessed or directly contributed to some of the most horrific atrocities in the lands between.

Gideon Ofnir, the all knowing. The man who took one look into Marika’s will and was rendered so terrified at his discovery that he almost immediately gave up on the goal he had worked so hard for, instead choosing to confront, and eventually fall to our tarnished character.

Gideon is one of the most unempathetic and uncaring characters I’ve seen in media. He’s largely unshaken by the state of the world around him, seems to lack any semblance of morals or values and his interactions with just about anything begin and end with trying to figure out how he can personally benefit. No matter what he'd have to do.

What could he have possibly figured out to make him of all people horrified to such an extent?

Do they really have that of different goals? As far as I'm aware the only goals we know the GEQ had were to "raise apostles to slay the gods" and presumably to keep destined death unbound. This aligns pretty neatly with Melina's goals for us to take on the demi-gods and later to unbind destined death.

The similarities between them are even stronger in the FF route, where she threatens to come after us with the GEQ's own power (destined death). Following in her footsteps as a GEQ waring with a god. If she's not already the GEQ in some shape or form (either via the art of rebirth or her being created from what was left of the previous GEQ) then I do believe that she at least claims that title by the end of FF.

Out of curiosity, what are the major rebuttals to the "Melina = GEQ" theory?

Because honestly, the more I think about it the more it just makes perfect sense for her to be the GEQ, and I can't really think of any counter arguments that are all too convincing for me.

y'know, it only just hit me recently but like... Marika would definitely have fucking hated modern Godrick right?

Forcing weaker and more vulnerable individuals into horrific experiments of fusing flesh is basically exactly the sort of thing she dealt with growing up under the Hornsent. The practice of grafting would have been a really sore spot for Marika, which is probably why it seems like it only came into practice during the shattering.

Godrick is lucky he started experimenting with grafting after Marika was imprisoned because if she was still around she probably would have come crashing through his roof with her hammer and make Radagon's grab attack look soft.

also ummm.... Maybe St. Trina? The area has the general color scheme of the sleep effect in Elden Ring, they're surrounded by Trina's Lilly's and the character in shot seems like they could be sleeping. They're also about the right size to be an alter ego of Miquella with the right hair along side it.

Honestly when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense that the lands between and land of shadow don't connect perfectly when you try to overlay the maps, even though they were once part of the same landmass.

The two have been separated for many years by the time the game takes place, and have both developed independently through untold years of turmoil, war, natural disasters and weathering.

I'd be more surprised if they did connect properly after all of that.

that's a really interesting interpretation! I could totally see that being the answer

Y'know, I've been thinking about the vow between Miquella and Radahn a lot recently, and I feel like I've come up with a possible explanation for why Radahn seemingly agreed at first but later backed out of the deal.

If Radahn truly did agree to become Miquella's consort, what are the chances that it was made under the pretense that he'd be the next elden lord in the golden order? Continuing the legacy and age of both his personal hero and father, alongside Miquella as the new god of the age, but things remaining overall the same.

Once Miquella became disillusioned with Marika's age and decided to do his own thing, and create his own age, Radahn probably lost interest in becoming his consort because he wouldn't be the lord of the age he loved anymore, infact he would be a major factor in it ending. Something that he historically does not stand for.

This probably lead to a disagreement between the two that lead to Malenia invading Selia. Miquella feeling betrayed because Radahn was now refusing to uphold his promise, and Radahn feeling betrayed because Miquella turned his back on the golden order he loved and was now trying to bring it to an end.