Do They Really Have That Of Different Goals? As Far As I'm Aware The Only Goals We Know The GEQ Had Were

btw I'm calling it now that those eye markings that Melina and Ranni have are actually marks of empyreans. (which would also make Melina herself one aswell.)

I just think it's slightly too suspect that we never see the full face of a living empyrean in the game.

Marika has her eyes covered in the intro and is missing one half of her face in the ending (the perfect place for an eye marking to have been without leaving any evidence)

Malenia's upper face has been affected by the rot and thus no eye marking would be visible.

Miquella's face is also never properly shown in game. Even in the shadow of the erdtree teaser it is kept out of shot of the camera.

And while Ranni does have an eye marking on her puppet body, we have no idea what her original one might have had, as it's been burnt beyond recognition and no depictions of living Ranni exist in game.

Even if it isn't the eye marking, there's been a very deliberate choice to keep empyrean's faces hidden throughout the game and I feel like it means something.

I need to check with all the NPCS just to make sure, but…

The fact that Ansbach, the Hornsent, and even arguably Thiollier seem to have forgotten certain things due to Miquella’s enchantment is rather curious.

Ansbach forgot that Mohg was bewitched. He forgot that he challenged Miquella.

Hornsent forgot about his need to specifically go after and kill Messmer— something arguably even more huge than the former revelation. Messmer has led a campaign where hundreds of thousands were slaughtered, where Hornsent’s own family was taken from him. His hatred was arguably dampened as well.

Thiollier seems to have forgotten about Saint Trina, immediately remembering her upon the charm being broken. Haunted by memories of her.

Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem that any other had forgotten anything. Maybe Leda one could say Leda “forgot” her paranoia, but it just seems like that was dampened. But regardless, those who had their memories altered are those Miquella would have felt would go against him for what he’s done— which makes sense, even for Hornsent. The guy can end up thinking that Miquella deserves to die too (if I’m remembering the end of his quest correctly). EDIT: Killing Messmer also means acquiring his kindling which means accessing the means to stop Miquella!

This revelation means that Miquella’s charm is strong on multiple levels. It doesn’t just make you like him and not want to hurt him, it’s intensity can vary from “forgetting the crush you have” to “forgetting your desire to kill the man who has tormented your people for hundreds of years at this point”.

Which is the kind of thing that makes me look at Mohg and consort Radahn and ask, “what exactly did you end up doing to them, Miquella?”

It’s all good, I’m happy to answer them!

Marika very much does seem to be incredibly distant with her family (even her golden child Godwyn) which is rather interesting. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was hardly present, which would also explain why no one caught on to her and Radagon being the same person.

Radagon seems to be more connected with his children (at least in the past) but the only other connection I remember being explicitly mentioned other than Miquella is Radahn, who despite heavily looking up to Godfrey, still wore the red hair he inherited from his father with great pride.

Rykard and Ranni however seem to be mama’s boys/girls respectively so Radagon breaking Renalla’s heart and leaving abruptly very likely struck a wedge in their relationship with him, which is probably why he’s hardly mentioned in their history’s.

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As far as I’m aware the wandering mausoleums house some of the demigods slain in the night of the black knives. The beings inside are described as “soulless” in a few places, which makes me think they were other victims targeted during the assassination, but due to not dying at the same time as Ranni, were lucky enough to just fully die.

They also seem to be somewhat possessed by a great deal of spirits, as they have glowing face shaped rocks littering their bodies, which makes me believe they’ve been animated through restless souls residing in them. Bells in elden ring are also pretty synonymous with raising the dead (spirit tuning bells specifically) so I wouldn’t be surprised if they had something to do with it too.

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The Nox are incredibly interesting. They seem to be one of the first civilisations that caught on to the finger’s corruption and forged the finger slayer blade in order to rebel, but unfortunately they were found out and literally buried beneath the lands between as punishment before they could ever use it (which would have been extra awful for them as much like the modern day Carians, they too used to worship and chart the night sky). The only remnants of their society left on the surface are a handful of ruins and the town of Selia in caelid. Which funnily enough Radahn is very closely tied too.

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As for your final question, unfortunately it’s anyone’s guess. I can’t say for certain how Marika and the Nox connect. However I do think it’s likely that the Nox and Carians have some sort of inherent link due to their similar cultures regarding the night sky and moons, how Radahn was so protective of Selia and how Ranni uses the Nox’s finger slayer blade to slay her fingers and bring forth the “age of night” that the Nox are said to be waiting for.

I don’t think I ‘hate’ a single Elden Ring character. Each and every one is designed so compellingly, their stories are so varied, their interactions while sparse are the type to carry magnitudes of meaning.

Example:

For the longest time I did not realize that the scene we stroll into at Castle Morne is a slave rebellion. The misbegotten are treated as chattel. My first go around I assumed “ah yes, monster attack castle, understand”

It wasn’t until I watched a random lore video that only referenced it that I got it. I went back and read the descriptions of stuff and I’ll be damned.

There’s a lot of little tidbits hidden here and there that flip entire perspectives on their heads. Preaching to the choir on this point.

Even the characters that I generally dislike/disregard (dung-eater, (hot take) Varre, selvus) I still find fascinating. One of the cool parts about the game is you can just kill the character you don’t like. If you’re doing a run and you want to get a little roleplay in, sometimes murder freak be murdering.

Personally, I’m not on twitter, instagram (used to be), deviant art (do people still use that), or anywhere else ((I Do have a blue sky but I think I’m too dim to use it just yet)) . I’d love to be in a space where people talk more about lore or art things! I haven’t the foggiest clue where to go though. When I hear people say “everyone hates on xyz character” or “this fandom is so nuts” or whatever I am genuinely confused. I’m only seeing a portion of the stuff here, and so far it’s been more than pleasant! Big ups to the people on here, so far you’ve all been very kind 😊

So I guess, could I ask anybody to fill me in? Or where to go to get filled in?

In the meantime I want you to know I’ve started working on a pair of drawings centered around Malenia and Miquella - ooooo be so tragic oooooo

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!!

There's something painfully funny that Avatar Aang, master of all 4 elements and protector of the world doesn't even attempt to nudge a single fucking drop of water for the entirety of the season dedicated to him learning how to bend water!!!

Like fuck. By the end of season 1 in the OG Aang was a master at airbending, was decent at water bending and had even attempted some fire bending a few times. But this time I don't think he did any water bending at all (The ending of the season doesn't count imo since it was the ocean spirit bending the water, not Aang himself.)

I'm pretty sure even the movie dedicated some time to showing Aang practicing water bending but this time he just doesn't fucking bother I suppose (despite the fact that everyone keeps telling him how important it is that he becomes stronger.)

With recent revelations about security breach’s development, it’s honestly impressive Steelwool managed to develop a functioning game at all.

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What the fuck do you mean he didn’t tell them the plot of the game that they were working on!?!?

I'm not sure what the general concensus on the "Melina is the Gloam-Eyed Queen" theory is here, but I think it would be pretty cool considering that Melina helped our tarnished to grow and become the death of the gods, much like the GEQ did for her apostles.

Even while stripped of her power, her memories and her very body she was still unwavering in her own convictions. Even if she didn't fully remember what they were for a lot of her journey with us.

Y’know, something peculiar I’ve noticed while looking through item descriptions is how absent Marika seems to be in all of her children's lives. Rennala, Radagon and Godfrey are all either outright mentioned in things revolving some of their children, or are heavily hinted at within other parts of the game

i.e Abductor virgin’s protecting Rya Lucaria academy, something Rykard likely chose to do to protect his mother. 

Rykard and Radahn both once having high standing positions in the golden order, likely due to Radagon.

Despite Radahn directly looking up to Godfrey he still wore his fathers red hair with incredible pride, even though it was something Radagon hated about himself.

Rennala was the one to introduce Ranni to the dark moon and other celestial entities.

Radagon and Miquella have both gifted each other incantations that they had developed for one another.

While brief, Godfrey holds Morgott in his arms as he fades into grace, being there for him in a way he was unable to when he was younger.

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But Marika… doesn’t seem to have anything. No comment of her doing anything or developing anything with any of her children, no small interactions that made it into item description flavour text. Even when it comes to her golden child Godwyn, there’s practically nothing.

For a while now I’ve wondered why this was. Why did Marika seem to be so absent in all of her children's lives? She has 9 direct descendants and not one seems to have a notable experience with her. But then after watching the new cinematic trailer, something dawned on me.

What if it was Messmer?

What if the things Messmer did in the name of Marika and her order during the shadow land war were so monstrous and unforgivable, to the point where the land of shadow was hidden away and he himself was erased from history that she just couldn’t bring herself to attempt a connection with the rest of her children?

Afterall, Marika seems to hate fire with a passion. Anything and everything in the lands between that has any connection to it is something she tries to snuff out. The giants and their forge, the crucible and their fire breathing abilities, the dragons, even the omens have bloodflame magic if Morgott and Mohg are anything to go off of. Even the phrase “flame of ambition” seeming to be a very negative term is something that’s throwing shade at the idea of fire.

And what is it that Messmer is so well known for?

His flame. Messmer's flame. The very same flame he used to purge the land of shadows.

One thing that I really like about elden ring is how devoid of anything noteworthy our character is because it opens up a lot of opportunities to make the character truly my own. Too many times in games like this, where you’re expected to project a personality onto a character the developers also muddy that character with a predetermined story or personality, and you end up with a really awkward mix of too little personality so it's hard to be invested in the character but just enough personality that it makes it hard to project something onto the character. Elden ring (and by extension the rest of soulsborne) doesn't do this. Your character is a completely blank slate outside of the many class origins you can pick for it and it’s up to you to determine who they are, what their past is and what they want.

I think the endings of elden ring and how loose the story is also helps with this since they’re all ideology based. Is your character a noble fighter looking to grow powerful and lead the lands between? Well then you’ve got the normal ending where you become elden lord. But what if your character is disillusioned with the gods and wants to be rid of their rule? Well then you can team up with Ranni and bring about the age of stars, removing them all together. What if you’re character's just a murder hobo that wants to kill and destroy everything in their path? Lord of frenzied flame is great for them then.

There’s so much personality you can put into these characters and it really shows with how much fan work has come out of the characters people have made for their playthroughs. It's really the first time I've actually liked having a blank slate protagonist.

Considering the vast majority of the fandom calls Ranni a spoilt, selfish little princess for not wanting to play nice with the god and order that destroyed her home and drove her mother insane, it really doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that many would also not see what’s wrong with how the other races in the lands between are treated.

It seems like anyone who tries to break the status quo in the lands between is often painted out to be a villain in the fandom's eyes, unless they do it in a purely pacifistic way. Including the tarnished themselves. 

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Side note but this is also why I feel like any ending that reninstates the golden order as it was (including goldmasks ending) are some of the worst in the game. The persecution of many of the other races in the lands between aren’t going to stop if the golden order is put back in power. The golden order at its core was about trying to brute force control and "order" into the world by assimilating everyone else into it.

It kind of shocks me how people in the Souls fandom do not see Albinaurics as real people. Or even the Misbegotten rebelling in the Castle Morne as something they had to do.