It's So Unfair That They Dropped Nightreign Halfway Through The Game Awards Because There Was No Way

Elden ring endgame spoilers

You guys wanna know what I think the scariest thing about Radagon is? It’s the fact that in the bossfight against him he fights us using Marika’s hammer. He’s not even using his own weapon. There’s a very real possibility that he may have never even wielded that hammer before in his life (except when he was trying to fix the ring) and he is still a terrifying force with it.

From what I’ve come to understand Radagon seems to actually prefer greatswords when it comes to his choice in weapon since he has pretty substantial connections to multiple greatswords in the lore. For example there’s the moonlight greatsword that he got from Renalla and also the golden order greatsword which he reforged it into. On top of both of these there’s also the form he takes as the sacred relic sword that the elden beast wields. These may seem like rather superficial details but considering that all the major weapons he has connections too are greatswords I feel that it has some meaning to it.

Even after being sealed away for centuries, having his body crumble to pieces, not being able to use his sorcery knowledge and quite possibly not even using a weapon that he’s familiar with or fond of he still wrecks shit when the time comes down to it.

Nothing in monster hunter wilds feels worse than someone joining your hunt (uninvited) right at the end and stealing literally half your Zenny from doing nothing.

Kind of beating a dead horse (goat?) here but does anyone else find the interaction between Kris and Ralsei in chapter 2, before bringing all the Darkners to castle town kind of weird?

Just to refresh your memory, I'm talking about when he ushers Susie away, approaches Kris and whispers-

"(Kris, I have something to ask of you.)

(I need you to return to the Light World...)

(And go to the old classroom, to the EAST of the closet doors.)

(Inside, gather everything on the ground...)

(And bring it back here. Could you?)"

Most people have seen this interaction and have come away wondering how Ralsei knows the layout of the Light World, but I don't think that's the most important issue here. Mainly because knowledge of the Light World seems innate for certain Darkners, as Queen also references her light world location being the Library several times.

No, the thing I find weird about this interaction is his insistence on keeping Susie entirely in the dark.

This, by all accounts of reason doesn't make any sense.

Not only would two Lightners realistically have a much easier time transporting all of those items than one, but Susie is their team mate, there's absolutely no reason to keep this a secret from her, even with their rocky first encounter. But despite this, Ralsei goes to great lengths to make sure only Kris hears this advice, not only talking well out of earshot of Susie but also whispering as to negate any chance of her overhearing him.

It's just weird. I know a lot of people playing chapter 2 for the first time picked up on the uncomfortable vibe Ralsei was giving off in the beginning but I don't see much discussion on this interaction in particular.

And it's not only this either. From what I can tell, he seems to have a bit of a habit of keeping secrets from Susie. Even more so than his normal secrecy.

My memory is admittedly kind of foggy, so I can't pinpoint all examples of this, but a specific one that comes to mind is his secret conversations with Kris from chapter 1 and 2, which even we haven't been able to see yet. (Though you could easily argue that it's the player he doesn't want overhearing the conversation that time.)

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What do you think? Is there a totally reasonable explanation behind these actions? Am I just reading too far into things, or does something actually seem off with his exclusion of Susie in this conversation?

Plot twist:

Radahn initially agreed to be Miquella's consort in order to spare Ranni of her fate of becoming a god, knowing that she wouldn't have to if another were to rise instead. However after she 'died' during the night of the black knives Radahn lost all incentive to uphold his end of the bargain, leading to the battle of Aionia

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.

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

Isn’t it crazy how Link is like, almost definitely sick throughout most of TOTK? I mean, gloom canonically makes you very ill just by walking in it for a while, hell just getting close to it is enough to render you bed ridden and Link ended up touching enough of it to lose his entire arm. He’s so infected with gloom that normal anti gloom remedies do nothing to bring him back to his former strength, while they’re capable of completely revitalising others.

I’m not sure if I’m reading this wrong or not but by all accounts and purposes link should probably be bed ridden after his encounter with the gloom that sapped his strength to nearly nothing under Hyrule castle. But instead of resting he’s much more concerned with finding Zelda and saving Hyrule again.

Poor guy's really been through a lot.

One detail I really like about Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss is that you can tell he's not fully there... (lore analysis under the cut)

...because his horse isn't with him! What you learn in the base game is that Radahn would never willingly separate from his horse. This man mastered a new school of magic fully so he could keep his horse with him at all times. He's the prime horse girl of the lands between. And yet when we meet him he is on his own, no horse in sight.

For the people saying Radahn being the final boss is somehow a cop-out, i vehemently disagree. This part of the lore was always going to be present, and it was clearly planned out since the start. There's a lore reason Malenia and Radahn fought now. Miquella was always going to be an evil little shit. Long before the DLC came out people had already figured out that Miquella as a character is heavily inspired by Griffith from berserk. Griffith, the quintessential betrayer of hopes in modern Japanese fiction. The guy who murdered everyone he ever loved for a shot at godhood. Sorry Miquella simps, but Miquella is right: it was his very fate to betray you.

Speaking of which! I really like the contrast between Miquella and Ranni in that aspect. Someone else already discussed how they mirror each other in terms of love and how they treat those who love them, but fate is another really interesting contrast between the two. Where Ranni in the base game goes to absurd lengths to escape her fated godhood, to the point of killing the most beloved man in the lands between just to get a shot at killing herself too; Miquella goes to even more absurd lengths to achieve his. Ironically, this, too involves getting rid of his body.

And the narrative supports Ranni over Miquella. She's right to escape her fate, she's right to value the love of others as much as she does, she's right in her attempts to stop people from sacrificing themselves on her altar. But she also deserves to not be alone. She deserves to have trustworthy companions at her side. If you choose to stick with her, she ends the game victorious, with a trusted consort of any gender at her side*.

Miquella meanwhile uses those who love him as tools and sacrifices everyone who ever valued him in his bid to follow the path fate laid out for him. He gets rightfully stomped into the ground at the end of the DLC for his troubles. zombie spouse and all.

*=unless you got the frenzied flame ending, you naked maniac!

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...

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.)