The Lore of Elden Ring's Dragons

Azula, but most wield his trademark curved sword, a weapon forged from dull iron but so well crafted that, despite its weight, it is "comparatively easy to wield for the damage it causes." This blacksmithing skill seems to extend to her throwing weapons as well, which boomerang through the air at you like no other in The Lands Between. As Beastman's own blade says: "It is clear that beastmen possess knowledge beyond human knowledge." As you begin to progress into the second half of Farum Azula, you will begin to be attacked by a red beam wielded by the beastmen clergy.

Some warriors even carry weapons blessed with its effects. This is significant because the red beam is explicitly called "the weapon wielded by the ancient

dragons

." Lightning bolts in Fromsoftware games have always been a weapon of divinity, and those who wield it are naturally the blessed followers of that divinity. In this case, the divine ones were the ancient

dragons

who wielded this lightning within the storms of Farum Azula. So for beastmen to wield it, they were probably taught the art. For additional context, one of the only characters to wield a weapon imbued with red lightning is Vyke, a Tarnished loved by an ancient dragon.

In fact, certain beastmen were, quote, "chosen" or blessed in a similar manner, and the Ashes of the Spirit of Beastman Azula states that the giant mausoleum of Farum Azula was "guarded by chosen beastmen who wield weapons clad in good heavens". For more evidence of the beastmen's reverence for ancient dragons, we can look at the five grace sites at Farum Azula that mark different sections of the "Dragon Temple." A sprawling place of worship featu

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multiple statues of beast clerics bowing in reverence towards ancient dragons. statues of dragons, and the central part of the Dragon Temple is the place where you would have fought the Godskin Duo, an altar overshadowed by a huge dragon skeleton.

For reference, these skeletal remains dwarf even Placidusax and are matched in size only by the Dragon. Greyoll and the ancient dragon Gransax, of whom we will talk a little later. The Ashes of the Spirit of Beastman Azula states that Farum Azula "is said to be the remains of a giant mausoleum enshrining an ancient dragon" and given the prominent location of this dragon. in the "Dragon Temple" of all places, I actually think the Consecrated Dragon in question could be this one, although one could certainly argue that the "ancient consecrated dragon" was Placidusax. But regardless of what exactly it's enshrining, Farum Azula is actually nothing more than a massive mausoleum with funerary customs literally around every corner.

Conside

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all the jars here, one such type of burial that comes to mind is jar burial, a practice documented in ancient human cultures around the world. Now, this practice would appear more explicitly later in the Elden Ring timeline with the living jars, which are literally filled with the buried remains of powerful warriors. But beyond the powerful funerary images of Farum Azula, I can't actually find any explicit evidence to suggest an actual burial within these vessels. By contrast, the Beastman Jar Shield makes it quite clear that "beastmen have always fired clay jars for the express purpose of making shields." The description comments that these shapes are "strange" and I feel like I can offer a strange theory here.

We know that beastmen value golden stone scales, right? And we know that there are literally ancient dragons buried in the land of Farum Azula. So what if beastmen value dragon-infused land for this reason? Shooting vessels from this dragonland in an early funerary custom and then breaking them to use as sacred shields. We have previously established that golden-scaled ancient dragons are a symbol of protection. And considering that these are mud shields splashed with the same golden hue as their scales, I feel like this theory is fine. Anyway, it's the only way I can rationalize making shields with pots made of earth.

Unsurprisingly, beastmen also practice burial of their own kind, and I'm not just talking about their gold-adorned tombs. I am also referring to the burial in the architecture itself. The skeletal remains of beastmen appear frequently within the architecture of Farum Azula itself. This reminds me of the historical practice of confinement, which was a kind of horrible form of capital punishment, usually in which the subject was buried in a structure while alive. That said, there are historical examples where confinement has more to do with human sacrifice. In some cultures it is part of a large funeral ceremony, and in others it is believed to make buildings more resistant.

And I feel like it would have been the beastmen who built the architecture of Farum Azula, not the dragons themselves. After all, it is structured to be a mausoleum, and since it is the beastmen who worship the ancient dragons, it is naturally the beastmen who would have filled the working roles in the society. That said, I suppose humans could have built it too, since humans are represented in the architectural reliefs of Farum Azula. So it stands to reason that humans were also a part of this culture, even in this early prehistoric period, which is a little crazy considering how much humans contrast with beastmen here.

As with much of the architecture of Fromsoftware's games, I think it would be a bit dishonest of me not to mention that these in particular are reused assets that are also present in Bloodborne. So it's possible that Fromsoftware didn't expect us to look at these resources too closely. But let's give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they at least wanted to suggest that there was once a human presence on Farum Azula. So not only were humans present, but they were worthy of being consecrated. Who were they? Well, our biggest clues about the different types of humans come from the source text on the character creation screen.

And there are two human types in particular that I think could match the humans in these reliefs. First there are the Numen. The Numen are "supposed descendants of otherworlders," and the Rune of Numen tells us that "the Numen are said to have come from outside the Between Lands." Considering that Farum Azula experienced a cultural revolution with the arrival of the Great Will and the Elden Ring, which reached an alien star. I wouldn't be surprised if the Numenoid humans came with us too. Alternatively, the character's creator reveals the story of "the stony-faced people of the ancient dragons, among whom life is often short." It certainly seems to suggest that these humans are descended from ancient dragons.

Otherwise, he would highlight their "stony" faces or their short lives in contrast to the ancients. As we will discover later, ancient dragons can turn into humans, so perhaps they mixed together at some point in the past to create these humans. That being said, this is all just speculation and the human presence in Farum Azula is quite difficult to process considering the beasts are clearly the legacy of Farum Azula, as it was the beasts who would gain intelligence and shape the world around them, not the humans. . Ancient historians have long speculated that it was the development of long, opposable thumbs that helped facilitate early humans' use of tools.

Similarly, in Elden Ring, having "five fingers" is something worth celebrating, as revealed by the Cinquedea, a weapon of the Beast Cleric. The description of this article is one of those that are enormously significant to the story. The name "Cinquedea" means "five fingers" and visually shows five skeletal fingers on the leaf. The item description goes on to state that "the design celebrates the five fingers of a beast, a symbol of the intelligence once granted to its kind." So before beastmen existed, there were simply beasts here, and it was the granting of intelligence, which is equated with having five fingers, that led to beastmen.

Of course, this begs the question, who or what granted intelligence to the beastmen? And fortunately, the answer is simple. It was the Greater Will. The Greater Will has to do with the fingers. He speaks through the two fingers he hates. If he has three fingers, he will tolerate four, but five is the number to celebrate, or at least it was a long time ago. And if this finger veneration wasn't enough evidence for you, while Cinquedea version 1.0 literally states that "it was the Greater Will who granted intelligence to the beast." So that's it. The Greater Will clearly also has something to do with acting through the beasts.

Just look at the final boss, it's an "Elden Beast". One that the Greater Will sent hurtling to the Between Lands so that it could then "become the Elden Ring." And, in this prehistoric period, the ancient dragons would first be graced with the Great Will and then the beastmen would also be granted intelligence. All the better to revere the ancient dragons, according to bestial incantations, "the stones were the first weapons of the beasts that had acquired intelligence", and "once intelligence was acquired, the beasts must have felt their savagery fading as they civilization was taking hold." "Of course, this is yet another example of the Greater Will eliminating wildness or chaos in favor of order.

It seems to care little what form that order takes. It only cares that some order is established, preferably with a fist full In the game, Gurranq, the Beast Cleric, wields the five-fingered Cinquedea. According to the weapon, it is only "given to high-ranking clerics of Farum Azula", presumably marking Gurranq as one of them. , this means that he is, or was, a cleric of the ancient dragon faith before being "repurposed" by the Greater Will, instead becoming a shadow to Marika. After all, when we meet him in the game, the. Age of Ancient Dragons is long gone, but he still achieves relevance in this era, in another subordinate role, as is common to all beasts Except this time it is for Marika, and this time he is a "Shadow of the Empyrean." , which is a topic we should address next.

We first encounter Gurranq in the Shrine of Beasts, a location in Caelid that bears a striking resemblance to Farum Azula. There's even a bridge along the way called "Farum  Greatbridge", with a dragon defending it, no less. These are not mere ruins fallen from the sky. This architecture is intact and must have been built for and by the beasts at some point after they received intelligence. We'll talk about that point a little later, but for now let's focus on Gurranq. We first learn about Gurranq through his bestial incantations, which are given to us when we give him deathroot.

They say: "Long ago, Gurranq was a beast of such terrifying ferocity that his former name meant 'death of the demigods'." This previous name in question was "Maliketh". A new name that suited his new purpose, which was to seal the Death Rune Destined for Marika, who was his Empyrean. So, first it was Gurranq, then when the Age of Ancient Dragons ended and Marika became a force in the world, Gurranq became known as Maliketh, who was, and I quote: "A shadow-bound beast given over to his Empyrean." Who was Marika? Marika had one job for Maliketh, and it was to "keep the Destined Death under lock and key." To some extent, she fails in this task and a fragment of Destined Death is stolen, becoming the root of death that spreads across the lands.

So Gurranq has returned to the Between Lands, desperately trying to gather all the deathroot in the world. The Beast Claw charm speaks to his current identity, as this spell "represents Gurranq's fury, his returned bestial nature, as well as his restless agitation." But after realizing that his mission is impossible, Gurranq calms down. And then we can only find him in one place... Farum Azula, where he ascended with a Sentinel Draconic Tree as his defender. Here, he somehow exists outside of time, defending what remains of Destined Death within his own flesh. It's easy to get confused about when Gurranq exists in the game, so apologies for skipping over this topic quickly, but this video is about dragons after all.

And the main thing I really want to convey here is how much the beasts have been repurposed to meet the needs of the Greater Will. First, he gave them intelligence and then they served the Order of Ancient Dragons. But then, when the age of the ancient dragon ended, beasts like Gurranq were given a new purpose, commonly as shadow-bound entities forced to serve order once more. Whatever the wayHis empyreans dictated that he should take that order. The Raging Wolf collection states that "according to ancient legends, wolves are the shadows of the Empyrean." It is certainly possible that this legend originated in Farum Azula.

After all, there is a statue depicting three wolves respecting a human woman. It may be a stretch to assume that this represents the wolves as shadows of the Empyrean, but I thought I'd at least mention it. Again, in case you've forgotten, an "Empyrean" is basically one of the Great Will's candidates for godhood. And at least in Marika and Ranni's case, they were granted wolves as shadows. Evolving to become "man's best friend," as they say, wolves are defined as such by their loyalty. And as the Helm of the Champion of the Beasts states "the beasts, with their eyes and ears covered, represent an oath: to see nothing, to hear nothing, to doubt nothing and to continue along the path engraved in stone." And so Gurranq and Blaidd are wolves completely loyal to their empyreans, dedicated to protecting their lords like the ancient dragons of yore.

This loyalty to the Greater Will, and also to its Empyreans, causes this fantastic tension within these characters. In Gurranq's case, he was loyal to Marika, but now he lives impatiently with this impossible task of having to recover every piece of death root. And in Blaidd's case, his loyalty to Ranni ultimately forces him to betray the Two Fingers, in complete defiance of the destiny he was born to live. Speaking of which, Blaidd is quite unique to Gurranq. Unlike Gurranq, he has no apparent ties to Farum Azula. After all, unlike Gurranq, he was "created" to be Ranni's Empyrean and grew up with her in a more modern era that was far removed from that of Farum Azula.

Perhaps that's why Blaidd adopts a much more human form. Blaidd was created in a much more modern era than the beasts of old, so it seems that Two-Fingers skipped much of the story and simply created Blaidd in a more half-human image. Creating it from scratch unlike his ancestors. The other beast worth mentioning here is Serosh, the ruling ethereal beast given to Godfrey to quell his incessant battle lust. Of course, Godfrey is Elden Lord, not an empyrean, likewise, Serosh is not a wolf, but a lion. Like Gurranq, he has a longer history and, according to Beastclaw, Greathammer was at one time a "Beastlord" with black nails protruding from golden fur.

To quote the Champion Set, beasts are "attracted to champions and lords", and this is true of the beastmen attracted to Serosh, and in the future, it would be true of Serosh himself, a beast that "became the Lord Godfrey's regent." ," destined to guide him and his golden lineage. Then, Serosh was also drawn to Godfrey. But it did not matter to whom the beasts were loyal, whether to the Beastmasters, or to the ancient dragons, or later, to the Lords of Elden or to the Empyreans. Throughout all of this, they always sought a deeper loyalty. A loyalty to the Great Will and their old Elden Ring looks very different. more circles, many more cool runes than the modern Elden Ring.

Considering its location in Farum Azula, a place from long ago, I speculate that this is an ancient variant of the Elden Ring A representation of it during the era of. the ancient dragons. What's more, this ancient Elden Ring has what appear to be roots that meander and descend from it. This contrasts with the modern Elden Ring, which instead has this lattice pattern. commonly as a symbol of Radagon, an "Elden Rune" that is visible on his statues, and also on his seal. I always thought the lattice pattern might represent Radagon's efforts to put the Elden Ring back together when it broke, and we'll also speculate on what the roots might mean a little later.

However, as to why Elden Ring looks different, it makes sense that Elden Ring has changed over the centuries. After all, we know that things are malleable. There are examples of runes being removed and placed back into it, depending on the specific needs of the god that acts as a vessel for its power, or the needs of the Tarnished who will become Elden Lord through great runes or even through root repair. The ship of the Elden Ring, which we know in the modern era, is Marika. She literally has the Elden Ring buried inside her. But in the pre-Erdtree era, Elden Ring would have had a different vessel.

A different god. And unfortunately, all we know about them is that they abandoned Placidusax, who was their Elden Lord. The Dragon Lord's Memory says: "It is said that the Dragon Lord, whose seat is in the heart of the storm beyond time, was Lord of Elden in the time before Erdree. Once his God fled, the lord continued to wait for his return." I guess his god had a feminine appearance, considering all the other empyreans and gods in Elden Ring do. So when we meet Placidusax, he is in a state of eternal maidenhood, and who knows how long Placidusax has been waiting for his god to return.

In fact, a community theory that I love and have seen presented several times is that Placidusax's pose is similar to Two Fingers' pose after Erdtree rejected you. In case you've forgotten, it is at this stage that Enia says that the Two Fingers have adopted this posture because they are busy "consulting with the Greater Will." Likewise, the same could apply to Placidusax, who has also been scorned by his god and the Greater Will, and is perhaps trying to communicate with them. To take this analogy further, Placidusax now has two heads, but data recently discovered by Zulliethe-Witch suggests that he once had five.

Not unlike how the Two Fingers are supposed to have once emerged from a full five-fingered hand. That said, the ancient Talisman of the Lord depicts Placidusax with four heads. To reconcile this contradiction, perhaps we can think that he had four heads when this talisman was made, perhaps. Anyway, it's not a big deal. What's important is the god of Placidusax, who represents this huge blind spot for us in the Elden Ring story. We don't know who they were, we don't know what powers they had, and we don't know when or why they left, or what age they really wanted to achieve.

As such, I will call them "The Nameless God" from now on. Whoever they were, the only thing we know for sure is that they once saw Placidusax as a valid Elden Lord, so it's possible they were once connected to the Age of Ancient Dragons. However, I feel it says more about this god that they fled this time and abandoned the loyal Elden Lord of him. This reminds me a lot of what Marika did to her Elden Lord, Godfrey. Exile him and abandon him after having won his wars and having ceased to be useful. Although, at least with Godfrey, Marika had a secret plan to get her Elden Lord and her Tarnished kin back.

On the other hand, Placidusax was abandoned and has waited an eternity, only to die at the hands of our Tarnished. So whoever his god was, I feel like they really abandoned him completely. The gods of the Greater Will are the vessels of the Elden Ring, and for the Nameless God of Placidusax to jump ship with the Elden Ring would surely have represented enormous upheaval in what became the crumbling Farum Azula. Speaking of which, I still haven't really explained how Farum Azula became "Crumbling", although many descriptions claim that Farum Azula has been crumbling since time immemorial. And it is for this reason that you can find small fragments of ruins, and also huge ones, scattered throughout the Midlands.

This is best explained by the description of one such ruin fragment that was "honed into a weapon" called the Ruins Greatsword. This is one of the legendary weapons. "Originally debris from a ruin that fell from the sky, the ruin it came from crumbled when it was hit by a meteorite." As such, this weapon harbors its destructive power. So, meteorites with destructive power are these purple spells in Elden Ring. And in fact, this weapon skill is Waves of Destruction, which manifests as purple energy. Then, a meteorite crashed into Farum Azula and that meteorite was purple and it imbued the ruins with some sort of gravitational magic.

But beyond that, we don't know much about this meteorite. We don't even know if it hit Farum Azula when it was a city on the ground, lifting the city into the sky with gravitational magic, or if it hit Farum Azula when it was already in the sky, crashing into the city while in the air. Both Farum Azula and history are hidden from us. This meteorite could even be the same meteorite as others mentioned in the Elden Ring story, because many meteorites have made landfall in the Between Lands before. Some brought the Onyx Lords, a race of stone-skinned ancients who came to life when a meteor struck.

A creature named Astel may have fallen on a meteorite and destroyed an entire eternal city. First of all, a golden star even once carried the Elden Beast and the Elden Ring to the Middle Lands. Therefore, one could speculate that any one of these, or even a completely different one, wiped out Farum Azula. Again, one could even speculate that it was this meteor that imbued the ruins of Farum Azula with gravitational energy lifting them into the sky, similar to how the Earth in Limgrave rises into the sky after being hit by a meteorite. And so, perhaps similarly, the world of Farum Azula rose into the sky, spinning in place also thanks to the stone scales of the ancient dragons.

Whatever the case, as Farum Azula crumbled and twisted in the sky, ruined shards rained down upon all of the Midlands, some large and some small. Incidentally, these ruined fragments "shine with a dim light from within" and bring about the blessings of the Two and Three Fingers, respectively. That's what heating stones and frenzied flame stones are. They are fragments of runes imbued with power and light. And this makes a lot of sense, because these ruins are part of the Royal City that the Great Will once worshiped. So naturally, parts of its ruins are very conducive to the effects of the Two and Three Fingers.

Anyway, we don't know many of the details behind the ruin of Farum Azula, but whatever the case, it's probably fair to say that this meteorite dealt a huge blow to their culture. It could even have coincided with the escape of their god from the city. And every time this nameless god left, I think it's important to speculate about where he went next. After the Era of the Dragon Lord, the Era of the Erd Tree began. But before the Erdtree Age began, we learned that first there was a "crucible of life," a "primordial crucible, where once all life was mixed." According to the Silurian Crucible Tree Helm, this crucible was "the primordial form of the Erdtree." a "manifestation of the primary life energies of the Erdtree." So, for the next few minutes, I'm going to try to argue that the Crucible literally took root, quite physically, in the great roots of the trees we found beneath the Between Lands.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Farum Azula's ancient Elden Ring is blossoming with roots and after Farum Azula's era ended and her god has absconded with an Elden Ring that is blossoming with roots. I don't think it's a coincidence that a primordial crucible gave way to a great tree that would dominate the Middle Lands. I believe Elden Ring physically abandoned Farum Azula. I think that led to the crucible, which led to large tree roots, which led to the growth of the Erdtree. The Elden Ring is, after all, the source of the Erdtree, and this should have been true for the ancient Elden Ring as well, which would have polished this tree.

As further proof that the Elden Ring is at the origin of the Erdtree, we can look at the engraving on the stone gate of Erdtree itself, which shows the Elden Ring literally at the roots of the Erdtree. Its origin below the surface. Perhaps the Elden Ring was not rooted in the earth while Farum Azula floated in the sky. But in the end it seems that it will be so. According to the Great Golden Shield and the Great Sword of Ordovis, the color of the Erdtree's primordial crucible was red. Or perhaps, more accurately, red tinged with gold. "The red tint in the gold coat reflects the primordial matter that became the Erdtree.

The color of longing to return home. Its red tint exemplifies the nature of primordial gold, which is said to be close in nature to life itself ". This color is also seen in Root Resin, a secretion from roots that were once connected to the great tree. These two elements, together, tie the red of the crucible quite well to the large roots of the trees. And if that were not enough, Crucible Knight Siluria spends her exile amidst these roots, with a spear and helmet that have "large tree ornamentation" that is "inspired by the crucible." I have seen people speculate that the crucible is not a physical place and that it was simply a crucible of competition, where differentcreatures fought among themselves.

And I think this misconception might be due to Old Fang's original description in Elden Ring version 1.0, which says "In times past, life was a crucible of competition." However, the item description was quickly patched to remove any mention of competition, and the patch description suggests that multiple overlapping fangs could be "a vestige of the primordial crucible." So considering this updated description and all the color and mention of primordial matter, I think fromsoft is certainly trying to suggest that the crucible had real physicality. And the crucible has long been a topic plagued by confusing and perhaps mistranslated item descriptions.

Take the aspects of the crucible that say the crucible was once a place where "all life once mixed together." Instead, the Japanese clarify that "life once mixed," which to me suggests that the crucible was a mixture of life existing in the Middle Lands, rather than a source of all life. And I think there's more evidence that this ancient Elden Ring from Farum Azula was already laying the groundwork for the crucible. For example, we know from The Omen and Misbegotten that the creatures of the Crucible are characterized by chaotic growth considered an aspect of devolution in the modern era.

These are aspects of wings, horns, scales, feathers, and fangs, so Placidusax actually has tons of random fang growths around its jaws, and later dragons even sprout feathers, another aspect of devolution. But if that wasn't enough, remember, the dragon's lightning bolt is also tinted red with gold, which is the same color as the primordial crucible, as we just discussed. Therefore, I think it is safe to say that the color and other aspects of the primordial crucible were already present in the ancient dragons, the oldest of those graced with the Elden Ring that we know of. With that, we've basically laid the groundwork for a theory that I'd like to highlight from Lowkey, who is one of Fromsoftware's most dedicated theory creators.

In this theory, he speculates on the identity of the god who fled from the Dragon Lords. And I think this theory is special because it manages to reconcile a couple of important loose ends in the game's story along the way. As the theory goes, the Erdtree was created as a byproduct of the death of the Nameless God. Lowkey's initial reasoning is that after we die, the runes remain in our wake, manifesting as small golden shoots. Therefore, since the Elden Ring itself is made up of a gigantic number of runes, surely a huge tree would sprout from the Elden Ring if the vessel-god carrying it died.

One thing I will add to this theory is that our golden offspring only stay that way if the rune mass is not claimed. Likewise, if no one knew that the Nameless God had died, perhaps the rune mass of the Elden Ring was left to its own devices to grow, as Lowkey posits, as a sturdy protective vessel, a "firmly rooted" tree. "That receives no one" and in fact the Nameless God fled. Not even telling Elden Lord Placidusax where they had gone. Therefore, it is possible that his runes have not been claimed. Directly beneath the Erdtree are the Deeproot Depths, where the Erdtree might once have been planted, so to speak.

And one of the lesser-known paths along the routes here leads to this wall, an illusory wall that reveals the Cathedral of the Forsaken, The Frenzy Traders, and the Three Fingers of Frenzy. One of the strangest objects down here is the Fingerprint Stone Shield, which is, and I quote, "part of the tomb of an ancient god." It has an "intricately carved fingerprint design." And it is said that these traces are the same seeds from which the frenzy first sprouted. Now, at first glance, one would think that the ancient god in question would be the Three Fingers who marked this large stone slab with fingerprints.

And while I admit that this stone tomb could be for the "Outer God of Frenzied Flame" who manifests as the Three Fingers that are imprisoned here below, I prefer the theory that this stone slab was the tomb of a different ancient god. , one that was found and desecrated by the Three Fingers with their fingerprints, just as they desecrate the world with fingerprints in their finale. And that is exactly what Lowkey's theory proposes, that the Three Fingers desecrated a stone tomb of the Nameless God, the queen of Placidusax, who had her last moments in this place. The Nameless God can also be used to reconcile another gap in Elden Ring's

lore

, which is the identity of the corpse that forms the Fingerslayer Blade.

The Finger Killer Sword is "a sword said to have been born from a corpse," "said to be able to harm the Greater Will and her vassals." The two fingers. The shape of this sword, which features the arms of a corpse in the shape of a cross and culminates in a double helix, bears a striking resemblance to the Holy Relic sword, a weapon torn from the corpse of Radagon/Marika. The Holy Relic Sword is, and I quote: "forged from the remains of a god who should have lived an eternal life." The similarities between the Sacred Relic Sword and the Fingerslayer Blade mean that they must have shared a source.

Not just a corpse, but the corpse of a god. We know where the Holy Relic Sword comes from, it comes from Radagon and Marika. But then where does the Fingerslayer sword come from? If it comes from a god, it is a nameless god, as far as we know. So Lowekey concludes that the Nox who made the sword a hidden treasure may have recovered the corpse of the Queen of Placidusax, the Nameless God, to wield it as a weapon that could harm the greater will. So I like these theories, to say the least. They neatly tie up and reconcile a lot of loose ends, and that makes these theories really satisfying to believe.

It's nice to have an explanation of which god Fingerslayer Blade was talking about and which ancient god Fingerprint Stone Shield was talking about. Special thanks to Lowkey for this. You can find more of his stuff in the description and I highly recommend you look for it. However, I should probably stress that this is all still pure speculation. The circumstantial evidence is really strong. Yes, but sometimes Fromsoftware leaves these kinds of loose ends in the story for characters they haven't introduced yet to tie up. And until the DLC arrives, I think it's wise to take this theory with a grain of salt.

But damn, you know, salt makes any food taste a little better, right? So the Nameless God of Farum Azula could have become the Finger Killing Sword of Nox, a weapon they clearly used to harm the Greater Will, which had banished them deep underground, beneath the false night sky. You can learn more about this in this video. Here they live in eternal anticipation of the next era of the stars and their leige. Who would be the Lord of the Night? These people become obsessed with the artificial imitation of life on earth, all probably created in the service of their objective, which was to counterattack the Greater Will.

This is how Mimic Tears were created. These are beings of mercury that were "the result of an attempt by the Eternal City to forge a Lord." These silvery dewdrops, not unlike the dewdrops of the Erdtree, also gave rise to the albinaurs, which are artificial life forms untouched by the grace of the Erdtree. But the Nox also looked further back in time for inspiration, apparently, and attempted to bring ancient dragons to life. So it is that the Dragonkin Soldiers "were born in the Eternal City, where they knew neither the true sky nor true lightning." Their name includes the word "soldier" and they even have evidence of clothing and armor, again revealing that these creatures were created with the intention of fighting the Order.

But these experiments with Dragonkin worked about as well as copying dragons in Fromsoftware games usually do, which is to say, the experiments were a failure. The main reason they were considered failures was that these dragonkin were not immortal, as the Nox had hoped. The weapons read: "Unfortunately, the dragon console never achieved immortality and perished as pale, decrepit imitations of its heaven-born kin." But Nox had the right idea. At the very least, it seems they had identified the source of the ancient dragon's immortality: its stone scales. They just didn't implement that font. An example: the Dragonscale Blade is made by "sharpening a gravel flake believed to be the source of the dragon's immortality." This sword skill is "Ice Lightning Sword", which envelops the blade with the Dragonkin's signature ice lightning.

And, you know, even though the dragonkin were born mortal and crippled, they at least managed to manifest lightning, which is a feat that the mortal dragons, who were actually relatives of the Ancient Dragon, never accomplished. On your way through Caelid, you would have run past Greyll, a deadly dragon that clearly owes its namesake to Greyoll, a veritable mountain that lies further down the road where she lies dying, surrounded by her children on her deathbed. death. But these are not her only children. According to Greyoll's Roar, "Greyoll was the mother of all dragons, dwarfing all who stood before her like a menacing mountain." To be clear, I seriously doubt this means she is the mother of the Ancient Dragons, considering she has two wings, two legs, and no stone scales.

No. Instead, she would specifically be the mother of the two-winged dragons widely seen in the Middle Lands. In fact, the Japanese woman specifies that she is more of a "great mother of dragons" than a mother of all dragons. So if we take that premise as true, that means that the fire-breathing dragons, the ice dragons, the corrupted shining rotten stone dragons, all of them trace their ancestry to Greyoll. These are the "wyverns" that contrast with the true four-legged "dragons", which is the same dynamic that Dark Souls also had. And just like in Dark Souls, Elden Ring's dragons tend to take on aspects of their environment rather than their stone scales.

There are ice dragons, there are Glintstone dragons, all that. But the only element these dragons did not master is lightning, a red lightning bolt that remains unique to their ancient ancestors. Previously, we talked about how lightning has celestial connotations, and it makes sense that this lightning bolt would be lost to these lesser dragons who were born long after the ancient dragons had fallen out of favor with the Greater Will. These modern dragons are now easily injured by the stone scales they have lost. These stone flakes, once removed, are called gravel stones and are "composite stones found in lands once haunted by ancient dragons." For the most part, these gravel stones are looted in and around the Altus Plateau, which makes sense because this is the territory of Leyndell, the city that the ancient dragons would eventually raid.

So of course this is where your scales would be found. But interestingly, the only other place where gravel stones are found is Caelid. And that's funny because Caelid is literally on the opposite end of the Between Lands. A set of gravel stones I found here and here, suggesting that at some point the progenitors of the ancient dragon of Greyoll were also in Caelid. And this fact is supported by other environmental evidence in the area. Once again, the Bestial Sanctum and the Great Bridge of Farum are found in Caelid, two cultural landmarks of Farum Azula that are architecturally intact despite the city's current state of ruins.

These were not just ruins that fell from the sky. These were built. They are a grounding to what we now know as a heavenly city. While I guess we can't rule out the possibility that Farum Azula was always in the sky and then built architecture on the ground here. It seems much more natural to assume that the city was originally built on the ground where the materials to build it would have been, and that it was then lifted into the sky at some point in the future. As for the mechanism behind Farum Azula's ascent to heaven, I think there are two options.

We previously talked about how the Great Sword of Ruins is a piece of Farum Azula imbued with gravitational magic thanks to the meteor that hit the city. Therefore, my first theory is that Farum Azula could have flown into the sky the instant the meteor hit, floating upwards as it was destroyed. Alternatively, or I also assume, it could be some manifestation of the storm that brought Farum Azula to the sky. We've talked about how Placidusax might have had power over this storm, as evidenced by its time-bending golden scales. Not to mention that you turn into a storm cloud when you channel Placidusax's weapon skill.

So perhaps Placidusax, or the ancient dragons, launched Farum Azula into the heavens as some protective measure, and once it was there, that gravitational meteor could have come into play, tearing the city into pieces on its way to the Intermediate Lands. , spreading ruins everywhereparts. In any case, I'm glad there is evidence of Farum Azula here in Caelid, and that's because this fact blends so well with Greyoll

lore

. Again, Greyoll is the mother of modern dragons and is therefore the oldest modern dragon we know of that lost its stone scales. And since she is in Caelid, it is likely that all the dragons spread from here.

So I'm glad that the environment supports this tradition with its intact architecture of Farum Azula and also with the gravel stones left over from the ancient dragons, because it seems that the ancient dragons made landfall here a long time ago and started a culture in Farum Azula. , ultimately leaving Greyoll behind as her Earth legacy. And there are two other ancient dragons in the surrounding area that also help support this claim. These ancient dragons appear here in Limgrave and here in Caelid, both killed at the sites of the Dragon Fellowship. Ancient dragons are immortal, but they can still be killed.

How do you know. However, we can only really speculate on what killed these two.But back to Greyoll. Despite being a modern dragon, Greyoll is large. Larger than any other dragon of the time, even Placidusax. In fact, the only thing that comes close to it in size are Gransax and the dragon bones in Farum Azula as Dragon Temple, which Zullie has fortunately placed next to Greyoll for me. They are both very similar in size, which made me think that maybe they could have been mates at some point. Although, of course, that's just speculation. And in the end we don't even know why Greyoll lost all of her stone scales and passed this trait on to all of her descendants.

Maybe it was nothing more than a random birth defect. Which reminds me that Seath's loss of stone scales was never explained either. However, he also found himself separated from his former relatives. Perhaps that's why Greyoll found himself in the Between Lands. Was this a place of exile? Maybe a place to die? After all, their region is called Dragonbarrow, and if you've read The Lord of the Rings, for example, you can understand that the meaning of the word barrow means burial mounds, referring to ancient burial sites that are covered with large mounds of earth. . Perhaps the dragon mound was a place for these newly mortal dragons to die, and Greyoll herself is finally dying.

The scarlet rot has ruined Caelid and the dragon mound. And this is presumably why, when we find her, she has already lost much of her health and can't defend herself, or even get up off the ground. Her dying roars gather her relatives around her. But they can't save her mother. This level one Tarnished. Just watch this sick YouTube guide on how to get 50,000 free runes at the start of the game and nothing will stand in the way of it. Now, we previously established Caelid and Greyoll as a sort of point of origin for modern dragons. So after them in the timeline, I think it's the ice dragons that would have appeared as the first major variant.

According to Borealis's Mist, ice dragons were once lords of mountaintops. Perhaps these dragons wish to be as close as possible to the heavens from which their ancestors descended. After all, we see modern dragons flying all over Farum Azula, although they never make landfall. So, the mountain tops might have been the best choice as a home for the deadly dragons. After all, the Sword of Night and Flame claims that mountain tops "almost touch the sky." Anyway, Borealis's Mist goes on to reveal that ice dragons were lords here at a very early point in the history of the Middle Lands.

Shortly afterwards we learn that they were driven from the summit by the fire giants who also appeared very early and who thereafter claimed the mountain tops. So for ice dragons to be here, one might think, surely they must have migrated here from Caelid. Now, we previously established Caelid as a point of origin for these modern dragons. So for ice dragons to be here, surely they must have initially migrated from Caelid. Obviously, they could have flown from Caelid to the frozen mountain tops. But I remember early theories positing that a land bridge may have once existed between Caelid and the mountain tops, and that it would certainly have helped with their migration.

According to the theory, Caelid on the mountaintops is almost exclusively the place where you will find the monstrous crows, the giant dogs, and most notably, the remains of the giants. These don't really appear anywhere else, and it seems much more likely to think that there was once a land bridge here. Instead of thinking that they traveled a long way on foot through the lands in between. It's unclear what happened to this landmass, but the Middle Earths have experienced many other geographic upheavals in the past, and losing a landmass to a meteor or something could also explain the divergent evolution of the ice dragons. compared to their fire-breathing relatives.

Also settling on the mountain tops at this time were the astrologers who "preceded the sorcerers, settled on the mountain tops that almost touched the sky and considered the fire giants their neighbors." This description comes to us from the Sword of Night and Flame, a relic of the Royal Family of Caria, headed by Rennala. Rennala was a noted astrologer and therefore has ties to the mountaintops of the giants. It may be a stretch to say that she was actually there on the mountaintops all those years ago, but she had a sworn giant and a sworn dragon that can be summoned to fight for her.

So I feel like it's safe to say that she at least she's connected to the place. In any case, eventually the fire giants would chase the ice dragons from the summit and claim it for their own. Then, in turn, the Zamor, an icy race of warriors, would ally themselves with the Golden Order and drive out the fire giants. This is incidental, but later in the timeline, a character named "Old Snowfall" appears. She is an old witch associated with Caria who wielded snow magics that could be argued to have been derived from the frozen peaks of the Zamor mountains.

The Zamor are, after all, the only other beings who can use cold sorceries, so perhaps she learned it from them. This snowy elder eventually imparted her cold sorceries to Ranni, and Ranni has clearly adopted said icy magics as a large part of her sorcerous identity. Now, a couple of dragons had a habit of eating the shining stone sorcerers. And it was because of this diet that they became corrupted, not unlike other dragons who took on aspects of their environment. One of these dragons was the one fought here by Smarag, whose Breath of Glintstone incantation reads: "Smarag was a devourer of sorcerers and, over time, his body became corrupted by the Glintstones of his." Here you fight another dragon of this type that defends Ranni in her two main quest locations.

This is Adula, and she casts a cold-infused sorcery that is representative of her knighthood. And she says: "Adula, a devourer of sorcerers, was bested by Ranni and subsequently swore a knightly oath to the Dark Moon from her." This suggests a conflict between the early sorcerers and dragons, and this tendency for conflict helps explain why Rennala might have obtained a sworn dragon from these conflicts. And like her mother before her, Ranni also had her own sworn dragon, Adula. Adula reveals to us the mechanism behind this oath. Ranni defeated Adula in battle, perhaps earning Adula's loyalty and respect.

A trend that actually continues later on with some other ancient dragons attacking Leyndell, but more on that soon. The living ice dragon we encounter is Borealis, the Frozen Mist that remains on the mountain tops. And yet the object most closely associated with it is found in the Temple Quarter of Liurnia. It is the Ice Axe, and its description reads: "An ax with a blade covered in frost. One of several gifts given by Castle Sun in the far north. Known as 'frost mist,' the blade is believed to be a flake." "In fact, this is the scale of Borealis's dragon, because just as the scale is known as "frozen mist", Borealis also has the forest "frozen mist" as its namesake, when you fight him.

This scale was apparently recovered by the residents of Borealis in Castle Sun, who then gave it away, presumably to the Liurnians, since it is located near the temple quarter. Obviously such a gift would have been made to facilitate relations between the two lands. And, as we established earlier with sorcerers like the Snow Witch and Rennala, there is reason to believe that these two places would have had a connection in the past. Today, however, Castle Sol remains a mystery to us. And without knowing their political alignments, it's hard to know for sure why they gave Liurnia the scales and other gifts as well.

That being said, there is a ghost in Castle Sol who greets Lord Miquella in his dialogue. Therefore, it is possible that Miquella was the lord of the castle of Sol and that Miquella was giving gifts to Liurnia, and there is evidence that Miquella had friendly relations with the Carians, at least. Most notably in version 1.0 of Elden Ring. Instead, Loretta's armor belonged to severed enemies called "Arbor Sentinels", who served Miquella, but actually came from Raya Lucaria. To quote the cut description, "these enchanted knights belonged to the royal family of Caria, but were later gifted to Miquella." Therefore, perhaps Miquella, potential Lord of Castle Sun, gifted the Raya Lucarians with the Icerind axe, and several other gifts besides, in exchange for all the knights he had obtained from them.

Again, this is all just speculation, but this is the best theory I have about the relationship between these two lands and why the Ax of Icerind is located in Liurnia, on the same plateau as Castle Sun and the cave of the Helpless. And it is a unique small cave guarded by a great Wyrm Theodorix. Theodorix is ​​a Magma Wyrm, a land dragon that looks more like a giant lizard than a dragon. He is in this form thanks to the act of "Dragon Communion", a primordial ritual that involves consuming a dragon's heart to become a dragon. It didn't work out very well for him, but his scale sword at least looks like a dragon's jaw.

And the weapon suggests that the Dragon's Fellowship is "a grave transgression," for which the Magma Wyrms were "cursed to crawl through the earth on their bellies, shadows of their former selves." If some entity cursed them to be like this, it would suggest that it was the Greater Will who we know favored the ancient dragons long ago. And to be clear, only the English description says they were cursed. The Japanese description isn't all that damning, simply saying that the heroes have "gone wrong" and that "their way of crawling through the earth is the end result." To me, it seems more like these people were simply foolish to think they could achieve such a metamorphosis.

It goes against the rules of nature, especially if you are trying to transform yourself into a being like an ancient dragon, which was graced by the Greater Will in a bygone era. And I think more than a curse, I think this is more of an example of arrogance that backfires on each and every one of these Dragon Communion participants. The Scale Sword of the Magma Wyrm states that "these earth dragons were once human heroes." But that is only a half-truth for Theodorix, that he was a hero, but that he was not human. He actually he was a troll.

The Theodorix's Magma enchantment reads: "The name of the ancient troll warrior Theodorix lives on, as a hero of the war against the giants." Actually, maybe his troll heritage explains why his Magma Wyrm form is so much tougher than the others. He has so much HP that interestingly you can attract a land octopus to help you in this fight, and I think that's the intended way, because this guy is tough. What's also fascinating about this guy is that he was specifically a hero of the Giant War, a battle that involved many of his fellow trolls, betraying their giant ancestors and fighting alongside the Golden Order.

Now, I assume that Theodorix was still a troll at this stage and not a Magma Wyrm, but whatever the case, one could definitely speculate that he is still loyal to the Golden Order even now, even here after his metamorphosis. . I maintain this due to his location outside the Cave of the Forsaken, which has a final boss wielding a legendary weaponry, the Great Sword of the Golden Order. One of Radagon's own weapons. The Leonine Misbegotten themselves are also curious, and in internal archives they are called children of Radagon. But that is a completely different topic. The only thing about this cave is that right inside there is a fire-breathing dragon, dead and half buried in ice.

That this type of dragon is preserved in this place could support what I speculatedbefore, which is that the fire-breathing sons of Greyoll must have come here to settle in the peaks before becoming ice dragons. And it could also support the theory that Rennala acquired a fire-breathing dragon under oath, like this one, in the early days when they settled here with the astrologers. Or maybe he's just here because there's a dragon slayer right outside. And I say dragon hunter because although those with dragon hearts like Theodorix aspire to become dragons by consuming their hearts, that does not mean that they respected their lives.

You can even find a ghost who says: "I am dry... Dry as a bone. Silly dragon. Surrender your strength. Let me delight you with your heart." As for the hearts of these dragons, they are riddled with Gravel Stone. You'll remember the Gravel Stones with the scales of ancient dragons, which makes it somewhat ironic that mortal dragons actually have these same scales within their hearts, not in their flesh. As such, their hearts, which are clearly imbued with some ancient dragon immortality, are still alive and beating, according to the description. And so, when you consume these hearts in what is absolutely a sacrificial ritual, especially considering that the heart is still alive, you are actually consuming Gravel Stone, ingesting the key components of the ancient dragons through the hearts of their kin. mortals.

It's quite metallic. In fact, when you participate in heartfelt dragon communion at the Dragon Communion Altars, you do so right in front of a dead ancient dragon, not a mortal one. That is why you really strive to be like the ancients. Iglesias were built on the corpses of these immortal beings who became, probably unintentionally, conduits for countless dragon-hearted people who wished to channel the power of dragons. Finally, the Dragon Communion Seal. It has no shape because it is made of dragon blood. And although it is a seal, "The Communion of the Dragon is too primitive in nature for the term 'enchantment' to be appropriate." Therefore, "this seal scales enchantments with one's arcane attribute." So yeah, it's no wonder everyone with a dragon's heart is considered so depraved.

However, you must not forget that those who participate in the Communion of the Dragon will one day shed humanity. His dragon hunger, his longing, only gets worse. Until the floodgates burst, unleashing eternal torment. The strength of a powerful dragon. Magnificent, but deadly. It's no surprise that drugs and communion are ruinous. This is Yura, whom you first met in Limgrave and near the Dragonburned Ruins is the deadly Dragon Agheel. Agheel frequents this place and comes to burn stupid nobles and their effigies here, which is exactly what the nobles want. After death, most inhabitants of the Middle Lands long for a proper burial at Erdtree.

But now, perhaps instead, "the dead gazed at the skies above the lakes of Limgrave, praying that the dragon's flames would reduce them to ashes." They want this kind of liberation from life. If you get Yura to help you take out Agheel, then it's possible to get him to say this: That was my first dragon hunt in a while. Pairing with a hothead like you was like old times." So, Yura was previously a dragon slayer, which helps explain his familiarity with communion. And since then, being paired with a hothead like you was like back in the day. old times.

That means he once had a mate. The most likely candidate for this is Eleonora, a Drake Knight who Yura follows everyone to the Altus Plateau, just to plead with them on a very personal level 28:00 -- 1:24:15:20 Please, please, Eleonora, do not give in to black blood anymore 1:24:15:30 -- 1:24:25:00   Do not stain the immaculateness of your life, sword. thy flesh... thy fire. What little we know about Eleanora comes primarily from her Drake Knight armor, which is crafted from dragon wing membranes and "features the spoils of a dragon capture, as an emblem of pride as much as a dragon." ". Hunter and participant of communion." "Since their birth, drake knights do not say a word.

They spend their lives pursuing the strength of dragons for their sublime beauty and inspiration for all." Therefore, although drake knights have more reverence toward dragons, they still partake of the communion. Thus, as they consume more hearts, their eyes turn yellow. and cut, and inevitably have a fate awaiting them as a Magma Wyrm. So, given everything you've heard about communion, is it really a surprise that there is a dragon called the "Communion Avenger Dragon"? , who guards the decrepit temple of communion on Caelid, attempting to prevent this abominable act of communion from the dragon out of sheer will and hatred, because Ekzykes has had the misfortune of adopting scarlet rot as his appearance, something that has clearly taken its toll on him. he.

But according to the incantation of him, "Ekzykes, Dragon Communion Revenger, did not forget the hatred of him even when he succumbed to the scarlet rot." So Ekzykes at least has a very good reason to attack you, since he is preventing access nearby. Altar of the Communion of the Dragon. But, speaking of dragons attacking humans, let's turn our attention to the ancient dragons that would one day attack the city of Leyndell. These ancient dragons attacked with all their might, bringing with them Gransax, an ancient dragon who is the largest dragon in the game, who "rained calamity upon the Royal Capital" with such force that this marks the "only time in historical record that The walls of Leyndell" had fallen.

Thus began Leyndell's war against the ancient dragons. It is difficult to know for sure why the ancient dragons attacked Leyndell. If you want to wear a tinfoil hat and tie it to our previous speculations, then you could say it's because they finally realized that their god had fled here and become Erdtree or something, but that might be overstating it. That being said, they probably came here for the Erdtree. After all, according to the Erdtree Protection incantations "in the beginning, everything was in opposition to the Erdtree", and the ancient dragons were probably no exception. Thus it was that the ancient dragons fell upon Leyndell.

Their forces consist of at least three dragons that we know of. Lansseax and his red lightning glaive. Fortissax and its twin pillars of Red Lightning. and Gransax, a gigantic dragon who actually wields a physical weapon, a decision they find unique. This is Gransax's Bolt, a weapon that actually mirrors Placidusax's fight against us here. It is not clear whether Placidusax echoes Gransax or whether Gransax echoes Placidusax. But the fact that Gransax shares a weapon with Placidusax and the fact that Gransax is so big certainly makes me think that Gransax is the closest thing the ancient dragons could have had to a lord.

At the time of the attack on Leyndell, at least. But this weapon would eventually fall from her hands when the great Gransax was slain, and her stone body and his weapon would become this permanent landmark within the walls of Leyndell. According to Lightning Spears' description, "Godwyn the Golden defeated the ancient dragon Fortissax, known as the most powerful Boulderstone." It is assumed that Godwyn could have executed Fortissax here, or perhaps forced Fortissax to swear an oath to him, just as Rennala and Ranni once did. but instead, he befriended his fallen enemy and, as a result, the sex would be loyal.

So loyal that Fortissax would eventually go so far as to fight death that would take his mate. Turning into a dragon lich, his appearance afflicted by death itself. In short, when Godwyn was killed on the Night of the Black Knives, the Death Rune was etched into his being, destroying his soul, but not his body. And so it was that his body generated root of death, fragments of the Rune of Death that spread its influence throughout the Lands, generating in its wake the face of the Prince of Death, who was Godwyn. And though Godwyn seems like a lost cause, Fortissax fought the death within him.

So Fortissax occupies a deathbed dream within his friend, waging this impossible fight against the corrupting influence of the Death Rune, which has now corrupted Fortissax. But I still don't think Fortissax has been completely corrupted. When you fight Fortissax here, you actually do. So to bring about the Age of Those Who Live in Death, and considering that Fortissax fights against you, one could speculate that Fortissax still vehemently opposes death, and those who live within death, even now. Watch this video for more information on that. Regardless, it should come as no surprise that this friendship between Godwyn and Fortissax was seen as significant in Leyndell when Fortissax was first defeated.

This moment of friendship was so significant that it would make allies of all the ancient dragons and give rise to the Cult of the Ancient Dragon in the capital city. It seems that the Cult of the Ancient Dragon was born from the desire to defend the Erdtree. As the Malformed Dragon Array states: "After the attack of the great ancient dragon Gransax, the Sentinel Trees had an epiphany. The only way to truly protect the Erdtree was to become dragons themselves." Thus it was that these regular sentinel trees became 'draconic' sentinel trees. As a fun side note. Instead, the 1.0 description of the malformed dragon set talks about a dragon worshiper named Nal, who I assume is this individual who defends Maliketh in Farum Azula.

His story once said: "Once, the dragon worshiper of the capital, he was said to have pulverized his golden armor with his bare hands in a fit of religious fervor, covering it with his own blood as he remodeled it to likeness of a dragon." But anyway, in the final version of the game, there are more than one Draconic Tree Sentinel, and they wield weaponry carved from dragon claws, the better to honor the elders they worship without resorting to the primordial act of dragon communion. And conveniently for them it was discovered that dragon worship did not clash with belief in the Erdtree.

The Gravel Stone Seal says it: "After all, this seal and the lightning bolt itself are imbued with gold." And this goes beyond simple color. The ancient dragons were originally part of the Great Will's plan on Farum Azula, and the golden scales reflect this. And after the Dragon War, these elders once again became part of the Great Will's plan, albeit in a more subordinate role than in their previous era. One thing that is a little difficult to reconcile with Dragon worship is the fact that their prayer books, cookbooks, spells, and even a Draconic Sentinel Tree can be found in Farum Azula.

Special thanks to V-limit on YouTube for letting me know about this. The Ancient Dragon War in Leyndell would surely have occurred after Farum Azula's age had passed, so how did all of this get there? Either Farum Azula became skybound much later in the timeline than I thought, or perhaps the Dragon cultists simply traveled to Farum Azula with these relics somehow. And I think this second one is much more likely, because in an earlier version of the game Farum Azula, it was actually called Storm Aerie and was, and I quote, "a place only dragons can reach." This reminds me a lot of Dragon Peak and Dark Souls III, which could only be accessed through a kind of draconic meditation.

So perhaps Farum Azula was once planned to be accessed in a similar way. For all we know, it could still be canon that those who are attuned to dragons are animated here. For example, some banished knights certainly found a way here and have dragons on their helmets. And this helmet once described how they classify Storm Aerie, presumably through reverent dragons. Therefore, I feel that the remnants of characters that are animated here due to their association with dragons are a holdover from an earlier version of the game that still exists in the current version. And while in the current game we don't cheer up when we turn into a dragon, we certainly cheer up here.

This teleportation occurs when you sacrifice Melina or yourself at the end of Frenzy. Now, the mechanism behind this is unclear, but there is a kind of prophecy that helps explain it. Melina's Sword of Call says: "Whoever walks by the flame will one day find the path of Destined Death." So whether you walk alongside Melina the Fiery Maiden or the God of Frenzied Flame, or you are Alexander tempering yourself in the flames of Gelmir and the Giant's Forge, you will get here one way or another and meet him. the path of Destined Death. Speaking of which, this also explains why Bernahl is here.

According to his Beast Champion Armor, "his maiden threw himself into the fire", just as Melina does for us, which is what brings us here and he also has a destiny that ends with Destined Death, just like us . . So there's definitely some sort of fate associated with Destined Death that's buoying us up to this point. I think thatthat is sure. And to explain to most of the others here at Farum Azula, well, I personally think they'll probably warm up to it thanks to its draconic nature, as explained by the content cut from that previous version of Elden Ring.

For all the humans who wanted to communicate with dragons, there was a dragon that actually communicated with humans. Lansseax. Lansseax was Fortissax's sister, and although you fight her as a dragon in the game, long ago, she took the form of a human to better communicate with the Dragon Knights. As a priestess of the Ancient Dragon Cult of Leyndell, the fact that she could take human form is quite surprising. This is almost a reflection of the dragon's communion. But instead of shapeshifting and communicating with dragons, she is shapeshifting to better communicate with humans. Apparently, a part of this communion was love, and according to Dragon Bolt Blessing, "only those loved by dragons can survive the ordeal of covering their bodies in lightning." And of all the knights, Vyke the Spear Dragon was the one Lansseax loved the most.

Fittingly, Vyke's Dragon Bolt is unique in that it charges him and his spear with a Red Bolt, the signature weapon of the ancient dragons, reserved until now for the beastmen who served them in ancient times. This also marks Vyke as a dragon cultist. So, it's a little crazy to think that a dragon cultist almost became an Elden Lord. Something that would surely have had implications for the era that would follow, you know, if Vyke took the throne. This must have made it even more painful for many when Vyke suddenly disappeared, traveling beneath Leyndell to visit the Three Fingers, where he was burned by his frenzy, armor and all.

Knowing that he was a dragon cultist certainly helps explain how he got here. You would think that the fact that he was such a respected member of Leyndell's dragon cult would open doors for him within the city. So Vyke probably could have made the trip here easily. Despite the existence of the Three Fingers being sacrilege to the Order above, we get little information about why Vyke made this journey, but in the end we eventually find him imprisoned within a prison as usual. And whether this imprisonment is self-imposed or not also remains a mystery. But anyway, back to Lansseax, who loved Vyke.

I think the most interesting thing here with her is not just the fact that we've learned that dragons can turn into humans. It's the fact that dragons can love. Perhaps this love and powerful emotion are part of what makes them so loyal. We see many taking an oath and then Fortissax, for example, even going so far as to completely sacrifice himself for his friend. And it is this fact that makes the abandonment of Elden Lord Placidusax by his god all the more tragic. That his god would never return and that eventually a Tarnished One would find his way beyond time, putting an end to the Dragon Lord and carving the memory of him into the earth.

In the end, all that remains is the ruin of Placidusax. "The dying cries of the Dragon Lord who once dwelt eternally beyond time." Thanks for watching. But before I go, do you want some Elden ring wall art to adorn your walls? Well, Displate has you covered in this video because they're back to help support more historical Elden Ring content. For a limited time only, they're bringing you these on-screen deals to get you some Displates in the coming weeks. Link in description. So, the choice is yours. You can literally get official Elden Ring art to adorn your walls.

For example, this photo of Godfrey and Vyke looks absolutely stunning. But you can also get some Elden Ring inspired pieces in my store, if you want. For example, this is Guardian of Moonlight, which features a dragon defending a moonlight sword from intruding knights. Or you could pick up Early Days, which gives off some Elden Ring vibes from before the game was released, if you were around at the time. Or if you're a fan of Fromsoftware games in general, you can pick up The Painted World, with Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring all condensed into one world.

It will take you hours of scrutiny to discover all the references we have hidden here. As I've said so many times before, these prints are made of metal, are easy to hang, and somehow achieve this gorgeous color, depth, and accuracy that surpasses most traditional prints I've tried. Again, links in the description. And thanks for watching. It feels good to be back with the Elden Ring story. My goal now is to finish as much as I can before the Elden Ring DLC ​​comes out, so there should be some good times ahead, you know, with the new year coming too.

Before I go, I earlier mentioned Lowkey's theory of the Nameless God, as I call them, and again I would like to remind you to go support Lowkey and also check out the rest of the historical content for yourself. And if you have any other suggestions for other content creators whose theories you'd like to see cited in future history videos, let me know and I'll do my best to do so. Special thanks also to Mispap1 for making an incredible edit of this video. The footage looks amazing and it's amazing that you can get that much quality, even for a video that's an hour and a half long.

I hope this fact helps you a lot to see the content and interact with it. Thanks again for watching and I'll see you in the next video.