it all started in a Shaman village 👀

so accustomed to knowing miquella's character from the inside out as "good intentions, good motives, ultimately doomed to fail based on faulty ideology alone", that it's all the more crazy to me whenever i remember half the fandom really truly believes he's just an incestuous crazy power-hungry villain idk. like oh y'all are Still there........ it's been like 3 months now

@alberichfanpage mentioned that Freyja talks about Jerren but even if we had the option to ask Ansbach about Varre, I’d imagine we’d get something like this

Watercolor go brrrr

I wish there were quest-locked ways to end certain boss encounters in Elden Ring that didn't necessary involve killing them. Trade me the last 10% of their HP bar for a get-out-of-killing them-jail-free card.

If I have it, then let me give Miquella's Needle to Midra. Let me end his long vigil; let him rest after enduring for so long at Nanaya's request.

If I have entered the Erdtree, let me tell Messmer where his mother is. Maybe he will go kill the Elden Beast for me, just to release her. Maybe I trade him a Blessing of Marika, apologizing that no one can craft any more.

Let me lull Malenia into a healing sleep with a Lulling Branch or five, or perhaps Thiollier's Concoction. Let me grant her the peace of sleep that St. Trina may have, had Miquella returned.

Trina's Lily 💤

Yeah he had a sad story, who could've doubt

Poor psychotic mass murderer

Let me guess, he is fandom's new beloved

Oof.

'Sainthood' in the Shadow Realms

When I was exploring Enir-Ilim, the pillars made of humans reminded me of stories of the 'Hitobashira' in Japan (which literally means 'human pillar'.) Hitobashira was the practice of sacrificing humans before a grand project (such as bridges or castles) to appease gods and ensure the success of the project. In some stories, the sacrifices are entombed/buried alive in the structure as part of the ritual. It was also said that the hitobashira gave the building more structural integrity (with a side effect of the occasional vengeful spirit because not all sacrifices were willing participants.) You can read the wikipedia entry for hitobashira here if you're interested.

Bringing this back to Elden Ring, I felt like this was the most straightforward explanation to what sainthood meant; becoming human pillars for the gate of divinity to usher in a new god. If building Enir-Ilim required a large number of sacrifices, and the shamans somehow acted as catalysts that stuck more bodies together, it'd make sense why the hornsent would hunt them to extinction. It would also make sense why it wasn't just the numen put in jars, it was as many people as they could fit to complete the project.

If this is correct, then it makes sense why it wouldn't matter if the people in the pots were willing or not, their sacrifices would ensure the Gate of Divinity would be made and have their deaths honored in the name of 'sainthood'. The parallels of unwilling sacrifices and direct visual wordplay on hitobashira/human pillars make me think that this explanation is as simple as it gets. It was also shown that in The Lands Between, jar folk were used to bring bodies back to the Erdtrees, so it would make sense if their predecessors in the Shadow Realm also had a role in bringing bodies to Enir-Ilim.

Every shred of Rykard lore from Shadow of the Erdtree

So, naturally, I went through the DLC completely focused on looking for Rykard lore. I never expected much, but despite him not ever being directly mentioned, I still discovered a lot of interesting implications about him… here is everything I found!

My brother went the unga-bunga route through his first and most recent playthrough. I gotta say it is hilarious watching him absolutely demolish his enemies with (mostly) a single bonk to the face.

He loves his "bonk" stick.

Me with my super advanced bleed, sleep, faith, black knife and dragon communion character builds be like:

-

My unga-bunga brother on his latest strength build with 89 poise:

Elden Ring, Rejection of Authority, and Transcendentalism

Elden Ring rejects authority as a final solution to the ills of the world, and then offers a message of transcendental hope that such lowly creatures as ourselves might be able to effect real change.

I like to think Miquella cried one last time when he abandoned Trina, giving up his love and all kind of emotions~

Also Trina would slowly sink into dark water

Decided to paint the realm of shadow! This game is so beautiful 😍

Miquella the brat

Lol I wish Malenia came flying out of nowhere to save the day! 😭

Tbh, I have a headcanon about something similar.

Malenia, being Miquella's twin and also an Empyrean, is immune to her brother's bewitching/charming ability. She is also aware of when it happens or has happened to others, recognizing the signs, sensing her brother's powers at work and knowing Miquella's motives/personality well enough to discern the truth.

For that reason she tries to nip this behavior in the bud by either talking Miq out of it, finding an alternative way for whatever he is planning or flat out requesting he stop this.

Now, thanks to SOTE's ending, it's become rather evident that Miquella is a extremely morally grey person. He's not evil but he is an anti-villian— an antagonist who does bad things for the right reasons (I love this trope so much but it took me a while to realize Miq fit this trope perfectly).

He doesn't want to hurt anyone or cause pain- which why he just removes that possibility by bewitching his "allies" and being kind to everyone he crosses paths with (I don't think he charms everyone he meets but he does probably play up the "Kindly Miquella" persona, which is still part of his real personality, however if all else fails, he brings out the big guns and *KABLAM* you've been brainwashed). He wants so badly to create this perfect future of his, that he resorts to the "by any means necessary" that many typical anti-villains perpetuate (think Magneto from X-Men, Gellert Grindelwald from Fantastic Beasts and Jinx from Arcane). Despite Miquella's lofty dream of this wonderful future and new age, his way of achieving it is definitely suspect and morally wrong.

Malenia knows this and she is aware of the lengths her brother will go to accomplish his goals.

This could be why Miquella left her out of his plan involving godhood and the Land of Shadow.

He knows she'd disapprove or try to stop him (not physically but to talk him down or reason with him and at this point, I think Miquella has no intention of being "reasoned" with). He's desperate for this to go off without a hitch because this plan has likely been several centuries in the making. So he leaves his sister out of it, likely resolving to return to her after it is all said and done. With his new status as a god perhaps there is a greater chance of curing Malenia's rotting sickness. Malenia would only get in the way despite his intention to cure her ("I wanted your help but not like this" vibes) and he doesn't want her to get hurt anymore for his sake (it is probable that he's painfully aware of what state his sister is in and knows she's mentally compromised). Unfortunately for him, he wouldn't be able to charm or bewitch her into sitting on the sidelines even if it was just with her health and condition in mind and not the getting-in-his-way part.

In this event, it is probable that before Malenia and Radahn fought each other to a standstill in Caelid, Miquella gave Finlay instructions that if and when his sister became compromised (aka blooms into Aeonia), to take her to the Haligtree and keep her there. Miquella is hoping Malenia will be protected there but also unable to stop him from carrying out his plans.

Everything falls into place, Mohg "steals" Miquella away, he makes it into the Land of Shadow and begins his journey with Malenia none the wiser, using his bewitching ability to secure his allies without anyone to stop him.

He always planned to go back for his sister and in the last battle when he's defeated, it probably occurs to him that Malenia's fate is sealed with his death. She'll never be cured and she'll die waiting for him, having depended on a lie to keep her going just like everyone else in Elphael.

Personally I'd like to think one of the biggest reasons for Miquella's transition into that of an antagonist is because of Malenia. That his determination to achieve godhood was centered around trying to cure his sister (and perhaps find a way to help Godwyn as well).

I mean, his whole personality and plan revolve around helping people even if they don't want to be helped (in the bewitching case, forcibly so).

Miquella leaving Malenia behind is also very similar to his discarding of St. Trina. She knows Miquella can't be allowed to achieve godhood and she also likely knows (just like Malenia) that his methods are wrong and would only come back to bite him later. Malenia wouldn't want this, St. Trina doesn't want this but both of them love and understand Miquella all the same— they are two people who love him so much, they have to stop him.

Over all, Miquella really is the perfect anti-villian... benevolent in his goals but his methods are morally wrong.

Miquella has to be stopped by someone regardless of his reasoning and his altruistic goals. He's desperate and very alone (sorely lacking real allies and friends who aren't bewitched). With his twin sister and other-half safely out of the way (that's very important— that they are safe, seemingly awaiting his return), it falls to our Tarnished to stop him.

I don't want to undo his anti-villian arc but I do wish there had been some sort of saving grace moment in the final battle instead of more slaughter. Perhaps a way to cure Malenia is given to us by Miquella or even some additional dialogue from him explaining his reasoning further so it is flat out established that he's not evil, just very misguided, so the player feels conflicted for killing him and Radahn. It would've at least saved him from getting labeled "evil" by everyone who isn't a Miquella fan.

Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk about why Miquella left Malenia behind! 🙂🥲

“Who renounced her lineage to chase after Messmer”

oh. i get it now

Godsdamnit.

Now I get to be sad about SOTE's ending even more.