Even with the recent developments with Messmer, I personally still believe that the smouldering butterfly is supposed to represent Melina. The main reason is because of the butterfly's main use as kindling.
Messmer might have a lot of fire stuff going on, but Melina embodies the butterfly much more. Not only was she seemingly born burned and bodiless, much like the smouldering butterfly is born eternally burning, but she also acts as kindling to burn the erdtree in a similar way the butterfly does for crafting items.
The butterfly's represent the main curses of all 3 of the youngest siblings. Malenia's being rotted, Miquella's appearing eternally young and Melina's being burned and inevitably used as kindling.
I personally don't see the connection to Messmer other than the fact that they both share fire motifs. And even then, he's presumably not a part of Malenia and Miquella's sibling group as he's likely one of the oldest demigods, so it wouldn't make too much sense for him to be the third butterfly in the trinity.
How are you really going to be so terrible at your job as supreme god that your vassal successfully planned to overthrow you and betrayed you right under your nose and one of her possible replacements went to some seriously extreme lengths just to get away from you?
Wouldn’t be surprised if the GW abandoned the lands between out of embarrassment tbh. The other outer gods are never going to let it live this down. The formless mother has a very loyal pawn and the rot god has wormed its way back into the system. What does the GW have again? Two problem children that wont listen to it?
Oh what Radagon? Radagon's probably it's self insert it made/possessed to try and looks slightly less pathetic /hj
I'm sure Rex is going to be very normal about his daughter being turned into a child soldier with a few years to live and no other reason to exist outside being a glorified weapon, especially after everything his wives have been through.
oh... the butterfly that Kinger's trying to catch on the tote bag is brown and red huh?
I uh... wonder why that could be.
Been thinking about HTTYD 3 recently (mainly about how much I dislike it) and man, it really is just the antithesis of the rest of the series isn’t it?
The whole franchise of HTTYD from the movies, to the specials, to the 2 TV shows is all about building the relationship between humans and dragons. It’s about them learning how to coexist and how to support each other.
1 was learning that coexistence was possible.
The first TV series was getting a deeper understanding on how to make coexistence work, and where it might not be possible in certain cases.
The second TV series largely built on this and also involved deeper conflicts with other human civilisations.
And 2 is basically the apex of everything they’ve learned. Where they’ve fully developed a symbiotic society for both people and dragons on berk and the only threats they really face at this point are from other, more aggressive and exploitative dragon users.
It ends with Hiccup becoming the chief of Berk and Toothless becoming the Alpha for the dragons.
That is until 3 comes along and basically says “coexistence is too hard, let's send every dragon in the world to a secret underground cave, sometimes the fight to exist is just not worth it and it’s better to roll over and give the oppressors and the extremists what they want”.
Which is a horrible message for the end of a series that largely revolves around how humans and dragons deserve to share the same space and that it’s possible for them to live harmoniously with one another.
He gave me bad vibes from the very beginning tbh.
Like, after killing mad donkey P seems to be in some sort of shock/conflicted state as he stares down at his bloody hands (likely because that was the first human he had to kill) and Geppetto just doesn't acknowledge this at all. He doesn't even seem to register that his puppet, someone he sees as his own son has just killed in his defence.
Which imo reads at them being slightly misaligned from the start.
P is silently processing that he just killed a person (showing the first major flicker of emotion from him) and Geppetto doesn't even bat an eye at this fact.
I could see this tiny little dissonance between them growing larger if the two are faced with similar problems in the future.
Ok i have to share toughts but Lets talk about Geppetto, in convinced that somehow that guy is gonna play the villain role AT LEAST IN A FINALE. The idea of him being a good dad its cute yes, but think about the first lop trailer.
THE LAUGH-? THE FACT THAT HE TOOK DOWN AN WHOLE AS ANGEL? And again THE EVIL LAUGH AT THE END? No no guys, he doesnt give me a good vibe at all
They're dating!? Oh my god that's fantastic! I really need to get around to playing Celeste 64 properly soon. Wasn't expecting there to be such major lore drops!
Some Maddy X Alex art i did for valentines day after hearing the news that shes dating Alex in CELESTE64
There is one more thing I’d like to add to this theory.
In the chapel of anticipation, if you’re skilled enough to strike down the grafted Scion, you can actually avoid being killed by it and chucked over the side of the island. Now why is this important?
Because if you do manage to do this, then you can progress slightly further into the area, where a lone set of butterflies will likely lead you to your fall, where things continue as normal.
Specifically a set of Nascent butterflies.
The butterfly that represents Miquella and by extension, St. Trina.
Right there at the start of our journey.
To guide us towards Torrent.
To guide us towards Trina.
Thinking about how St. Trina only talks to the player tarnished despite Thiollier's undying loyalty to her.
Thinking about how before traveling with Melina, Torrent belonged to Miquella (and by extension, also Trina)
Thinking about how at some point Torrent was sent out in search of a new master
Thinking about how Ranni's doll body requires her to sleep
Thinking about how St. Trina can visit people in their dreams
Thinking about how “torrent’s former master” asked Ranni to deliver the spirit tuning bell to whoever he chose to serve next
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Did St. Trina put everything in motion? Was she the one who set Torrent out on his search for a new master? Was she the one who asked Ranni to give us the spirit tuning bell? Could it have been one final, desperate plea to find anyone capable of stopping her other half before it was too late for him? Does St. Trina only commune with us because she knows that we're the one who Torrent chose as his new master? Is that why this character, that we never meet before now seemingly has full faith in requesting our aid? because her trusted steed was the one to bring us to her? From the very moment Torrent found us washed up in the lands between, were we destined to find our way to Miquella's/St. Trina's path?
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.
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.
Elden ring DLC ending spoilers
It's really interesting how Ranni and Miquella’s goals for godhood are basically polar opposites.
Ranni wants to create a better world through absolute freedom while Miquella wants to create a better wolrd through absolute control.
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Ranni believes in and strives for absolute freedom. Both for herself and for all other residents of the world. She doesn’t want to use her power of godhood to rule over the lands between as queen, but instead decides to watch on from a distance and let the people of the world decide for themselves how to live. For better or for worse.
You can also see this in the way she treats her followers. She never forces anyone to do anything. She's borderline remorseful of just how loyal Blaidd and Ijji are towards her, and says in her own words that they are "willing to give to much for her."
It also extends to how she interacts with the tarnished. She holds unimaginable power over them. Able to kill them instantly with a mere glance if she so chooses. But she very rarely does. No matter what you do in her questline, the only time she'll get truly furious enough with them to the point of using that power is if the Tarnished attempts to use Seluvis' tonic on her.
You can ignore her orders in the second half of the questline, betray and attack her right at the end and even straight up not summon her at the end of the game, and the only time she'll ever actively be a threat to you is if you attempt to take away her bodily autonomy.
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Miquella however has no qualms with controlling others to benefit himself, and to force them to do his bidding.
Whether you're friend or foe, you're never truly safe from his powers.
He uses his powers to force his followers to get along and follow in his footsteps. Even ones that are unshakingly loyal to him aren’t spared from having their rougher edges smoothed off by his ability.
He uses his powers to make connections and further his goals. Stealing Mohg’s heart and taking advantage of him to enter the lands of shadow and then later, after he's taken all he can, goes on to desecrate his corpse.
He also likely uses his powers on Radahn, as I wholeheartedly believe that he did not accept Miquella’s proposal to become his consort.
The dude's a golden order loyalist that thrives on the battle ground. I don't see him suddenly siding with Miquella to make the world a "gentler place." Especially since him and Malenia got into such a violent battle during the shattering. And how there's no record anywhere in the game about the connection between Miquella and Radahn.
Because it's entirely one sided.
And the worst part of it all is that he'll convince you that it was your thoughts and feelings all along.
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Ranni's age is an age of doubt and fear because there's truly no knowing how people will chose to move forward with their strings severed. You've just got to put your trust in the good of people and hope that they can manage make the world a better place now that they're free of the god's petty power squabbles.
Miquella's age would be akin to a gilded cage. Peaceful and gentle, but the furthest thing from free that the lands between has ever been. You can't even trust that your own thoughts, feelings and devotion are genuine, because no matter your stance or standing, Miquella the god is all too willing to twist your mind if it will in any way benefit him. And if he for some reason can't? Well, he's got one of the most terrifying and powerful demigods in existence under his control.
If you don't agree with him or like him, Yes you do! Remember? You always have silly! And you always will...