The Shadow of the Erdtree concerns

The much awaited Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Downloadable content releases in a month, and we just received a a brand new trailer from developer FromSoftware to unbox while we wait.

The trailer delves into Miquella’s story, brother of the hardest boss in the game, Malenia, and son of Marika, former queen of the Between Lands and vessel of the Elden Ring itself. However Ancient Ringthe story (which was created with the help of Game Of Thrones author George RR Martin) is notoriously dense, there are many links to the medieval period, particularly regarding the treatment of those born with deformities and afflictions. From what we see in the trailer and what we know Ancient RingIn the world of , I believe we can draw pretty clear lines between Miquella, the Omen, and Messmer, the red-haired, snake-wrapped antagonist of the DLC, and establish that Shadow of the Erdtree It is about the redemption of the excluded from this world.

But first, let’s try to untangle the tightly wound ball of wool that is Ancient Ringit’s tradition.

Explain Ancient Ringthe story, briefly

At some point, before the events of Ancient Ring, the Great Will appeared. The Great Will is a sort of otherworldly parasite or “outer God” that does not come from the Middle Earths. His will and influence are manifested in the golden light, or grace, that you can see scattered across the land, in the Erdtree (the central tree of the Midlands) and elsewhere. The Great Will’s chosen vassal, Queen Marika, receives the Elden Ring, which is the physical manifestation of her power made up of several different runes. Marika also establishes the Golden Order, a theological belief system. The Ring also lends its power to the Erdtree.

Learn more: 15 Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Trailer Details You May Have Missed

Marika took Godfrey to be her consort king and put him at the head of her armies. As Lord Elden, he helped establish the Golden Order as the supreme law of the land, and they had three children together: Godwyn the Golden and the twins Morgott and Mohg, who were both born under the name ‘Omen, cursed creatures with horns (we’ll come back to that). we will come back to this later). Godfrey killed all of Marika’s enemies, solidifying his rule, just to be banished from the Lands Between by her (presumably because he had achieved his goal), becoming the very first Tarnished.

Marika then took Radagon, another of her most fearsome warriors, as her second husband, except that Radagon is technically Also Marika, yet another example of Ancient RingTwin/split personality themes. It is unclear how they become two halves of the same whole, but their duality is canonical. Marika and Radagon had two children (as far as we know): twins Miquella and Marika, both born cursed like Mogh and Morgott.

Miquella, determined to combat the afflictions he and his sister were born with (permanent childhood and scarlet rot respectively), rejects the fundamentalism of the Golden Order and grows a golden tree by watering a seed with his own blood to create an Erdtree unmoved by the Great Will. This Haligtree has become a symbol of hope for all the outcasts of this world – those like the albinaurics and Omen who, before the establishment of the Golden Order, lived among the citizens of the Between Lands without problem.

Misfits, Misbegotten and Omen

Let us now return to the Omen, which recall the “monstrous births” of primitive and medieval Christianity. At the time, babies born with deformities were seen as the result of a sinful mother – as Rebecca Kukla writes in Mass hysteria: medicine, culture and mothers’ bodiesauthors of texts written between the 16th and early 18th centuries believed that “the desires, desires and experiences of a future mother… were capable of directly inscribing itself on the body of the fetus, producing deformities and monstrosities and retaining the semantic content of the original impression.

As author Jessica Thomas wrote in a graduate article blog titled “Medieval Monsters: Distorted Birth in Medieval Times” The term “monster” comes from the Latin word “monstrum” which means, you guessed it: omen.

In Ancient Ring, The Omen are born looking like ogres and covered in horns, and are considered monstrous things that must be driven from the Lands Between. Omen children born into the population must have their horns removed, which kills them, while Omen born into the nobility are locked underground to live, but in shame.

Like both GameRant and one detail of the very involved Reddit post, before the Golden Order and the flourishing of the Erdtree, the Primordial Crucible was the foundation of all life, and those born with its marks (horns, tails, etc.) were considered blessed. The Omen were allowed to live normal lives among the other inhabitants of the Midlands, but once the rule of the Primordial Crucible ended, the Omen’s existence is a reminder of the powers that ruled over them. Before the Great Will, hence the desire to drive them out.

Marika banished her first twins, Morgott and Mohg, to the underground escape grounds. But her second twins, Marika and Miquella, were not born Omen, but simply cursed, so they were allowed to stay on the surface. It is unclear why Marika continues to produce these afflicted children: is it because the Great Will wants to keep her under control, or is she guilty of unknown horrors? Technically, her second set of twins were born solely to her, since she’s both Radogan and Marika – did she inscribe some of her “sin” into them? It’s not clear, but she’s out of luck…

Miquella’s desire to heal himself and his sister of their afflictions set him on a path directly opposed to the Great Will. His creation of the Haligtree usurped the power of the Erdtree, and although the tree withered after its cocoon was stolen from it by Mohg (who hoped to be able to use Miquella’s power to usher in a new dynasty which, one can presume, would not shun Omen), he still gains a fairly loyal following of outcasts. I believe Miquella was fighting against the discrimination imposed on the people of the Midlands by the Great Will, which ultimately caused his demise and led him to flee (or be banished) to the Shadow Realm.

How does Messmer the Impaler fit into all of this?

Messmer the Impaler is a brand new antagonist introduced in the Ancient Ring DLC. He lives in the Shadowlands, shares some similarities with Lord Rykard (snakes) and Malenia (red hair) and is considered “on par with these other demigods and children of Marika”, according to a report. IGN interview with game director Hidetaka Miyazaki. I think Messmer could be Miquella and Malenia’s brother, conceived between her and Radogan out of wedlock, because suggested by Reddit paperboatboibanished to the Shadowlands rather than the Underground Flight Grounds so that he cannot be found.

In the official FromSoftware art for the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, Messmer sits on Morgott’s throne. And in the trailer, we see several Omen skewered on huge spikes because of Messmer’s tyranny. Does he harbor anger towards the Omen because they were at least allowed to live in the Lands Between while he was not?

Or is he some kind of religious extremist from the Golden Order, determined to gain (or regain) a foothold in Marika’s world, driven mad by the prospect that anyone could be born who would be considered Omen or Other ? If so, this would explain his anger towards Miquella, whose creation of the Haligtree went against the Golden Order and also sought to help those who were disenfranchised.

Anyway, I don’t think Messmer is a very nice guy, but I think we’ll learn a lot more about the Golden Order issue. And maybe when Shadow of the Erdtree releases on June 21, we will help restore Miquella to the base of the Haligtree and usher in a new era in the Lands Between.