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.
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...
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.
Really not a fan of the elden ring convergence talismans that give you full immunity to certain status effects. It feels like they’re not particularly balanced well at all, especially when paired with spells that build up those status effects to offset all the positive effects they give, like the deranged fury incantation in the frenzied flame class. With the ability to nullify all madness build up it just becomes an incredibly powerful buffing spell with no downsides (which lasts for two minutes).
Not to mention how the rot immunity talisman completely trivialises areas like caelid’s swamp and the lake of rot, which is an area that’s actually worth exploring and spending quite a bit of time in now because of the changes the mod also makes to the area. Having full immunity to rot turns a very hostile and tricky area to traverse without taking too much damage into a much less interesting location to explore.
I could also go into how I think it effects the new bossfight "Scion of the rot god" but it's basically just my opinion on the rot lakes. By allowing the player to essentially "turn off" the boss' unique feature, it just makes it a far less interesting fight overall.
I just realised that this idea also tracks with their remembrance. The remembrance we receive from beating them isn’t “remembrance of the promised consort” or “remembrance of the kind” it's “remembrance of a god and a lord” it’s Radahn(Mohg) and Miquella together, as one.
It’s the only remembrance in the entire game that names multiple beings in its title, and to my knowledge, the only one that grants items related to different characters.
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This is sort of an unrelated thought but It’s also worth mentioning that in its description it refers to its owner as “Radahn, consort of Miquella” as if it were one being it was related to, despite it clearly being two. Which reminds me of how Godfrey is in some capacity, Serosh and Hoarah Loux together as one. Neither is ultimately more or less important in making up “Godfrey” as the other. Which could also further explain the striking similarities between Godfrey and Consort of Miquella.
Thinking about how Miquella and Radahn as a single boss are the perfect representation of all 3 demigod sibling groups.
Miquella - Marika & Radagon
Radahn - Rennala & Radagon
Mohg - Marika & Godfrey
Not only that but they also represent all 3 magic types.
Faith - Miquella’s holy magic
Intelligence - Radahn’s gravity magic
Arcane - Mohg’s bloodflame magic
The 3 of them converge into one being. Mohg’s body, Radahn’s soul and Miquella’s mind all working in perfect harmony. To become one.
This quote makes me think a lot of things...
If Miquella has removed all things golden from his very being, then I wonder if St trina and/or Messmer could be what remains of his respective halves.
If he removed everything "golden" (I assume erdtree/Marika/Golden order related) then how much of Miquella would actually remain? Would it be so little that it may as well be a different person entirely? I mean, Miquella is very golden. From his design, his lore, his lineage, his power and the very blood that runs through his veins, it all just screams "Golden." If Godwyn the golden hadn't already been born I'm half convinced Miquella would have been called "The golden".
After removing "everything golden" from himself would he even be "Miquella" anymore? Would he even want to be?
And what of the other half? Would that contain so much discarded contents that it itself could also be a new person? How would they feel or act knowing that they're merely the discarded, unwanted scraps of a larger, fiercely more powerful whole? Would they feel bitter? Wronged? Would they come to terms with it? Would they even care? They themselves were once part of the being that discarded them, so they may very well agree with what was done. Or they could despise the act and long for the day when the two could be reunited.
Malenia was able to (while likely accidentally) remove large portions of herself via her first aeonia bloom, which took the form of Millicent and her sisters, so what would happen if an Empyrean did the same with prior knowledge and full intent in what they were going to do?
I'd wager they'd be able to split themselves cleanly, and possibly become something entirely new in the process.
Messmer, Miquella's strength and flesh and lineage
And St. Trina, Miquella's other half and what remains of his ambitions and goals, but likely no means of carrying them out due to discarding their power.
It's not really implied very heavily in lore but I've always subscribed to the theory that the greatrunes negatively affect their demi-gods, since most greatrune holders have been trapped into never ending cycles of trying to amass power/accomplish a specific goal.
Rykard, Mohg and Godrick are all similarly running in circles trying to gain power without actually doing anything with it and Rennala is endlessly trying to birth something before we take her greatrune off of her.
The only real exceptions to this are Radahn, because he's lost his mind, Malenia, because she's only just woken up for the first time since the shattering wars and Morgott because... IDK, I've got nothing for Morgott, he's just built different I guess. (Though you could argue that him hunting tarnished and perpetuating the status quo is his endless cycle)
All active people who own a greatrune shard, demi-god or not, have fallen into some sort of self destructive, never ending cycle.
fuck, if you really wanna push this theory Maliketh is holding a greatrune in the form of the rune of death and he's litterelly been stuck in a timeless structure for the entire shattering.
I feel like this is also implied because Ranni decided to cast aside her greatrune, this being significant because she’s the only demi-god who can actually accomplish their end goal by the finale of the game and isn't just running in circles.
It just hit me that this mass bewitchment ability we see in the trailer is almost definitely an incantation, judging by what looks to be a golden seal in the tarnished's hand.
Which has got me thinking. Miquella has ties to both the bewitching branches ability and incantations, which means this is very likely an incantation connected to Miquella in someway, even possibly being a reward for his remembrance.
I'm not sure I like the implications that Miquella has a bewitchment spell that works on summons/spirit ashes that he could use against us in a possible fight.
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.
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.)
I've had a bit of a mixed opinion on the newest doctor who stuff for a while now, and for most of that time I've really struggled to pin point what exactly it is that's been missing. The writing isn't bad (for the most part), the actors are great, the settings are interesting and overall its felt like a very needed breath of fresh air for the show... but there is something missing, and I think I've finally figured out what it is.
The aliens are gone.
No seriously, look back on all of 15's episodes from both the current season and the last and count how many of them include some sort of alien civilisation or society. Not just a singular monstrous alien that acts as an antagonist but an actual collective. There are very few. And no, aliens that are visually indistinguishable from regular humans do not count.
from what I can tell, there are three. Just three. Three alien species across an entire season and a half of doctor who.
There's the slugs from dot and bubble, the birdmen in Rouge and the singular Silurian in joy to the world.
And from those three all of them act as antagonistic forces.
Just as a quick comparison, the first season of new who, which came out in 2005 and had a significantly smaller budget had at least 6.
Sorry, wait, did I say first season? My mistake what I meant was first two episodes.
Where have they all gone? The universe of Doctor Who used to be teeming with so many different reoccurring and one off alien races that all interacted and coexisted. They weren't just throwaway villains, they were living, breathing creatures.
It used to be so rich with so much diverse life. The living plastic, The Slitheen, Daleks, Adipose, Sontaran's, The Catkind, The Ood, Silurians, The Silence, The Atraxi, The Racnoss, The family of blood, The mighty Jagrafess, The Reapers, The Judoon, The Hath, The Ice warriors, The vashta nerada, The Sycorax, The tree people, The Zygon.
But now the best they can do is regular humans and sometimes the odd robot or two. It's kind of depressing when you really look at it. The universe of doctor who has lost its magic, the life that was once abundant wherever the doctor landed is now sparse and non-existent. We don't visit alien civilisations anymore, we don't even encounter aliens anymore.