I Actually Stopped Watching A Gaming Youtuber A While Ago Because They Were Playing A Horror Game And

Ingo and Akari spinoff series of the two travelling through space and time trying to get back to their present day

call it "conductor who"

It's absolutely heart breaking.

something else that I can't stop thinking about is how good Ansbach is despite being a follower of the Mohgwyn dynasty. Throughout the entire base game, all of Mohg followers are so cruel and twisted. All they care for is shedding blood, no matter who's it might be. But Ansbach is different. He's kind, and loyal and forgiving. And seeing someone like that hold Mohg in such high regards… It just makes me wonder what he and his dynasty might have been like before Miquella sunk his claws into Mohg's heart.

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This isn't even touching upon the fact that Radahn himself almost definitely rejected Miquella's request to be 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.

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I feel so incredibly bad for everyone Miquella used his powers to manipulate. They all deserved better.

Mohg deserves an apology

Knowing that he was used and manipulated all along hurts, but the fact that his corpse was violated and disrespected in such a way actually makes me want to vomit. Mohg didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve to be bewitched he didn't deserve to be fed pretty lies that made him go mad he didn't deserve to be used as fodder for the tarnished and he didn't deserve to treated like this in death. It makes me so sad. At least morgott had a choice, at least morgott died in his father's arms. Mohg gets nothing. Nothing but desecrated and disrespected. The only one who fought for his honor was ansbach. the amount of pain he must have felt knowing his beloved lord and master was used as a puppet for so long, only to be desecrated and used to feed miquellas selfish wish. Miquella was never once a victim. Mohg was the victim all along. And we don't even get a fitting consolation prize after avenging him.

Do you know how grossed out I am. I was like wait why does radahn have horns on his arms and then the realization hits me because it's mohgs body they used. Miquella used mohgs dead body as the vessel for radahn. And you kill them both. In the end I guess radahn got what he wanted he wanted to be related to Godfrey. Just sucks he had to violate mohgs body to do that.

Something curious I noticed recently while exploring Farum Azula is that some of the curtains draped around the area share a passing resemblance to the fabrics seen in Marika's bed chamber, and of the ones seen in the depiction of Marika from the opening cutscene.

I'm sure this isn't a particularly new discovery, and the designs aren't exactly the same, but they're just similar enough that it got me thinking.

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Funnily enough Maliketh also shares a very similar veil to Marika's (the thing connected to his elbows and looping around his back.) His even seems to have the same golden edges as the ones from Farum azula.

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To me it seems like black fabric with golden plant detailing's are a bit of a motif with Marika. Which is nice to know, considering how little we actually know about her. (It's also pretty sweet that she has matching outfits with Maliketh)

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But if this design is a running theme with Marika specifically and not just a mistake I'm making then it begs the question. Why does this ancient, timeless, crumbling city in the sky that's presumably much older than every other area in the game have Marika's favourite design decorating its walls?

Is Marika from the time of Farum Azula? The time of Placidusax? Is Marika his missing god who he's been waiting for? That should be impossible, and maybe it still is, but she seems to have some sort of connection to this place. If not for her design adorning its walls then certainly for her godly appointed body guard living here.

Her body guard who, by the way, uses a weapon that has cultural significance to the society of Farum Azula.

You know, the society that was blasted off the map by a meteor long before the age of the erdtree even began.

This was just supposed to be a nice little post about a small detail I noticed, and now it's turned into this. I don't even know if any of this actually makes sense but I've tried my best to put it together in an understandable way.

There's still so much to go into regarding this theory (why did Marika wage war against the dragons if they have a history like this? could the meteor that destroyed Farum be one of the ones the GW sent down to bury the eternal cities? If so then could that event possibly be one of the first things that shook Marika's resolve in the GW?)

But for now I think I need to just post this and let it simmer for a while. If you got this far then thank you for coming down this rabbit hole with me. I'd love to hear your thoughts because I am thoroughly lost in just what this could mean.

Honestly I’m surprised by the amount of people who think Mohg’s character was at all reduced by the DLC— if anything, the introduction of a character like Ansbach and the reveal that he was bewitched adds a lot to his story.

I wonder if there’s any correlation between those who believe his character was taken away from and those who very staunchly believed that he kidnapped Miquella all on his own? Because in my personal experience, I’m someone who always thought it was more likely that it was either a mutual agreement or manipulation + bewitchment on Miquella’s end rather than kidnapping— otherwise, there’s a lot going on in terms of the environment and story details that just don’t make sense (IE; why is nobody at the Haligtree concerned about there being a kidnapping, and are simply waiting for Miquella to come back)! And also, since GRRM has a quote discussing how he’s not fond of the “here’s the good guys, they dress in white and look pretty while the bad guys dress in black and are ugly” trope, I would’ve been more shocked if that was played straight and it WAS a kidnapping.

Another thing, I fell in love with his character before I knew anything about his involvement with Miquella. Varré’s quest, the subtle buildup of his presence you see throughout the world of the game and the characterization it provides! As soon as I saw the Bloodroses for the first time, I knew he was going to be a favorite of mine. They alone clue us in on so much about him as a character, painting this mysterious Lord of Blood as a romantic, but morbid figure.

He has so much character without Miquella, he has a fully fleshed out backstory that I can’t help but to adore. Then, the DLC comes in and makes you confront any pre-conceived notions of what Mohgwyn was like prior to Miquella, it makes you ask what this blood cult was like before it got extra bloody, it makes you ask where this love for Miquella came from, and so on. I personally subscribe to “it was a combination of genuine manipulation from Miq’s end along with bewitchment— which played horribly well with Mohg’s idea of and need for love”, but there’s so many ways you can go about it! So many fun possibilities to explore that add further depth to these characters and their relationship!

So I find it surprising as hell that people would think the DLC took anything away from his character, when it really just fleshed him out further.

One of my favourite concepts I don’t think I’ve really seen before is characters trading/lending their weapons to each other. There’s just something I find really sweet about that act (especially if the weapon has sentimental value to the owner and letting someone else use it is a big deal.)

Castle Morne | Le château de vent hurlant

Words cannot actually describe how much I am interested in this whole scene of Marika doing....something important.

Is she ascending to godhood? Sealing the Land of Shadow? Creating the Golden Order? Fucking summoning the Elden Beast? I don't know, but it seems like a greatly significant moment.

The way she walks through that massive pile of bodies, and then stands there looking all gold and holy and powerful in front of that portal of flesh and blood. Her divinity being born of such vileness, created in a scene that Rykard would find appalling.

Also how the trailer says that the war happened after this. It feels like whatever she is doing here is so horrible that a war was bound to start from it. Is that why this war was completely hidden? Because there is no angle where Marika is not 100% at fault?

It is weird. Zelda lore in general is just kinda a nightmare. For example Zelda is apparently the descendant of Sonia and Rauru but the game literally makes no reference to a child of the two existing up until and after the point where Sonia is killed.

Even as a stand alone BOTW/TOTK have a lot of little weird inconsistencies. Hell, there's really no way to know whether I'm actually right about this or not because the games seem to just pick and choose when they're pulling from previous lore and when they're doing something different.

Like, with the existence of Fi and Zelda's goddess power, I think It's safe to assume that an event similar to skyward sword happened in lore, meaning that ganon could have demise' curse. But at the same time, like you said the origin of hyrule has been rewritten and we're in an entirely different timeline so it's entirely impossible to tell just how much of the pre established stuff actually plays into it. (Though I do personally believe that Demise is cannon in BOTW/TOTK due to the immense amount of power the secret stone was able to grant Ganondorf despite them only being able to enhance someone's innate abilities and not grant them totally new ones)

I actually kind of like how gen 1 pokemon handled the elite 4. Having a team roughly based around the trainers’ type alongside their personality, but not having it revolve entirely around 1 type allows for a lot more variety in team composition, which naturally lends itself to needing more complicated strategies.

It makes me think about how far an elite 4 with teams solely based around the trainer's personality can go. For example an astronomer trainer who uses a team of space related pokemon like Clefable, Minior, Starmie and Beheeyem.

Or a historian trainer with a team of Golerk, Spiritomb, Relicanth and Sigilyph. Pokemon with significant and also mysterious historical value.

I just think it’d be pretty neat. I’m interested in what could be possible if most major trainers weren’t relegated to using 1 type each.

Queen Marika the eternal and the power of bewitching

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Y'know, it's interesting that Marika also seemed to have a similar "mind control" power that Miquella is often sited as having.

"The Empyrean Miquella is loved by many people. Indeed, he has learned very well how to compel such affection."

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While it's something that isn't heavily explored in game (to the point where I don't see anyone discussing it) Roderika theorizes that Marika cursed Hewg to eternally craft weapons for the remainder of his life. And it's straight up stated that this "cursing power" was used on the fire giant to force it into protecting the giants forge in the name of the erdtree.

"The Fire Giant is a survivor of the War against the Giants. Upon realizing the flames of their forge would never die, Queen Marika marked him with a curse. "O trifling giant, mayest thou tend thy flame for eternity.""

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So Marika definitely seems to have a similar power, possibly even being the person Miquella inherited his off of in the first place.

But could this go even further than just Hewg and the fire giant? How many others could she have cursed over the years? What are the chances that Radagon suddenly up and leaving his family to become second elden lord wasn't actually his decision at all? Miriel himself states that it's a ongoing mystery as to why Radagon would do it.(alongside why he was chosen to become elden lord at all)

"The mystery endures, to this day... As to why Lord Radagon would cast Lady Rennala aside... and moreover...why a mere champion would be chosen for the seat of Elden Lord"."

The thing I find really important is that the question isn't just about why he'd be chosen as elden lord, but also why he'd cast Rennala aside at all. To me, this implies that Radagon did indeed care for Rennala, to the point where even with the temptation of becoming the second lord of the order he loved so much, it still seemed strangely out of character for him to take that opportunity over his family. As if he would never do that.

That is unless, he didn't take that opportunity by choice.

Afterall, even after leaving Rennala, he still clings to the only thing he has left of her, the golden order greatsword. And on top of that, he left his red wolf to protect her from harm, and even gifted her the amber egg before his departure. (Though I'd argue that that did far more bad than good for her mental state.)

"Telltale signs betray that this was once the greatsword bequeathed to him by his first wife, Rennala."

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Ok so Radagon could have been cursed by Marika, and much like Hewg with his smithing and the fire giant with the forge, Radagon might have been cursed to protect the golden order as its elden lord, which would eventually backfire horrendously when Marika decided to turn against that very same order.

Admittedly I am kind of stretching here but everyone she cursed seems to be "cursed" with a specific goal in mind. Forge a god slaying weapon, Protect the giants forge. So it's not totally out of the question that she also cursed Radagon with the goal of "be the elden lord."

It would certainly explain why even after years trapped in the tree and barely even being alive anymore, he still fought tooth and nail to protect his order. He cannot give up because he's no longer physically capable of giving up. Much like Hewg and the giant. That is unless they die of course.

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But it could go even further than that. What about Maliketh? It appears he's just loyally following the orders of Marika but that's what it always looks like! It looks like that with Hewg. It looks like that with the fire giant and it looks like that with Maliketh aswell. Despite seeming utterly miserable both as Maliketh and Gurranq, he carries on following her orders for years.

We have no idea how long he spent in the Farum Azula. Time doesn't work properly there. For all we know, he could be the oldest being in the game by the time we get to him. And yet after all that time his resolve never wavers. Even after being "betrayed" by Marika.

"Maliketh was a shadowbound beast given to his Empyrean. Marika's sole need of her shadow was a vessel to lock away Destined Death. Even then, she betrayed him."

And much Like Hewg, Fire Giant and Radagon, Maliketh is also ordered to carry out a specific goal. Which is protecting destined death.

Forge the god slaying weapon.

Protect the Giants Forge.

Be elden lord.

Guard Destined death.

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Many people, including myself have sited Miquella's connection to the bewitching branch and power to "compel affection" as evidence that he might not be as benevolent as he seemed. But what if we've got it all wrong? What if we shouldn't be being suspicious of Miquella for having this power, but instead the person he inherited it off of?

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Now there is someone else that Marika may have cursed. Well, a group of someone's actually. I saved this till the end because it's the most "out there" part of this theory but...

Spoken echoes of Queen Marika linger here as well.

Shall I share them with you?

In Marika's own words.

Hear me, Demigods. My children beloved. Make of thyselves that which ye desire. Be it a Lord. Be it a God. But should ye fail to become aught at all, ye will be forsaken. Amounting only to sacrifices...

...What if it wasn't the power from shards of the elden ring that corrupted the Demi-gods and led to the shattering wars?

What if it was the power of suggestion? The power of bewitchment?

What if it was Marika?