The highly anticipated one Elden Ring: Shadow of the Earth Tree DLC Releases in a month, and we have one right now brand new story trailer from developer FromSoftware to unbox while we wait.
The trailer deals with the story of Miquella, Brother of the game’s toughest boss, Maleniaand son of Marika, former Queen of the Between Lands and ship of the Elden Ring itself. Although Elden Ring‘s lore (which was created with some help from game of Thrones (Author George RR Martin) is notoriously dense, with many connections to the Middle Ages – particularly when it comes to the treatment of people born with deformities and ailments. From what we see in the trailer and what we know Elden RingI think we can draw some pretty clear lines and determine that in the world of Miquella the Omen and Messmer, the DLC’s red-headed, snake-wrapped antagonist Shadow of the Earth Tree is about the redemption of the outcasts of this world.
But first, let’s try to untangle the tightly wound ball of yarn Elden Ring‘s tradition.
Explain Elden Ring‘s tradition, briefly
Sometime before the events of Elden Ringthe Great Will appeared. The Great Will is a kind of otherworldly parasite or “Outer God” that does not come from the lands in between. His will and influence are manifested in the golden light or grace seen throughout the land, in the Earth Tree (the central tree in the Intermediate Lands), and elsewhere. Queen Marika, the Great Will’s chosen vassal, receives the Eldenring, the physical manifestation of his power, composed of several different runes. Marika also founds the Golden Order, a theological belief system. The ring also gives the earth tree its power.
Read more: 15 Elden Ring: Shadow of the Earth Tree Trailer details you may have missed
Marika took Godfrey as her husband and placed him in charge of her armies. As Elden Lord, he helped establish the Golden Order as the supreme law of the land, and they had three children together: Godwyn the Golden and twins Morgott and Mohg, both born as Omens – cursed, horned creatures (we’ll get to this later). Godfrey killed all of Marika’s enemies, cementing her rule, only to be banished from the Between Lands by her (presumably because he had served his purpose), becoming the first Tainted.
Then Marika took Radagon, another of her most fearsome warriors, as her second husband – except that Radagon is technically one Also Marika, another example of this Elden RingThemes of twins/split personalities. It’s unclear how they become two halves of the same whole, but their duality is canon. Marika and Radagon had two children (that we know of): twins Miquella and Marika, both of whom were born cursed like Mogh and Morgott.
Miquella, determined to combat the afflictions with which he and his sister were born (permanent childhood and scarlet blight, respectively), rejects the fundamentalism of the Golden Order and grows a golden tree by watering a seed with his own blood to create one To create Earth Tree he is not beholden to the Greater Will. This Haligtree became a symbol of hope for all of the world’s outcasts – those like the Albinaurs and Omens who lived without descendants among the citizens of the Intermediate Lands before the founding of the Golden Order.
Outsiders, freaks and omens
Now back to the omens that recall the “monstrous births” of early and medieval Christianity. At that time, babies born with deformities were considered the result of a sinful mother – as Rebecca Kukla writes Mass Hysteria: Medicine, Culture, and Mothers’ BodiesThe authors of texts written between the 16th and early 18th centuries believed that “the longings, desires, and experiences of an expectant mother…were capable of direct They inscribed themselves in 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 postgraduate study Blog titled “Medieval Monsters: Deformed Birth in the Middle Ages” The term “monster” comes from the Latin word “monstrum,” which, you guessed it, means omen.
In Elden RingOmens are born ogre-like and covered in horns and are considered monstrous creatures that must be driven from the lands in between. Omen Children, who are born to the common people, have their horns removed, which kills them, while the Omens, who are born to the nobility, are hidden underground to live but in shame.
Like both GameRant and a very detailed Reddit post detailBefore the Golden Order and the flowering of the Earth Tree, the Primordial Crucible was the foundation of all life, and those born with its marks (horns, tails, whatever) were considered blessed. Omen was allowed to live a normal life among the other inhabitants of the Lands Between, but when the Primordial Crucible’s reign ended, the Omen’s existence is a reminder of the powers that be Before the Greater Will, hence the desire to cast them out.
Marika banished her firstborn twins, Morgott and Mohg, to the underground Shunning Grounds. But her second-born twins, Marika and Miquella, were not born as an omen, only cursed, so they were allowed to remain on the surface. It is unclear why Marika continues to give birth to these suffering children – is it because the Greater Will wants to keep her in check, or is she guilty of unknown horrors? Her second set of twins were technically born only to her, since she is both Radogan and Marika – did she inscribe some of her “sin” into them? It’s unclear, but she’s pretty unlucky…
Miquella’s desire to heal himself and his sister of their ailments set him on a path directly against the Greater Will. His creation of the Halig Tree usurped the power of the Earth Tree, and although the tree withered after its cocoon was stolen by Mohg (who hoped he could use Miquella’s power to usher in a new dynasty that, one can assume, would not shun him by omen), it still has a fairly loyal following of outcasts. I believe that Miquella was fighting against the discrimination imposed on people in the lands between by the Greater Will, which eventually led to his death and caused him to flee (or be banished) to the Realm of Shadow.
How does Messmer the Impaler fit into this?
Messmer the Impaler is a brand new antagonist introduced in the Elden Ring DLC. He lives in the Lands of Shadow, has some similarities to Lord Rykard (serpents) and Malenia (red hair), and is, according to one, considered “equal to these other demigods and children of Marika.” IGN Interview with game director Hidetaka Miyazaki. I believe that Messmer could be Miquella and Malenia’s brother, conceived out of wedlock between her and Radogan suggested by Redditor paperboatboibanished to the Shadowlands rather than the underground Shunning Grounds, so he cannot be tracked down.
In the official FromSoftware graphic for the Shadow of the Earth Tree DLC, Messmer sits on Morgott’s throne. And in the trailer, we see several omens impaled on giant spikes as a result of Messmer’s tyranny. Does he harbor anger at the Omens because they were at least allowed to live in the intermediate lands while he wasn’t?
Or is he some kind of Golden Order religious extremist determined to gain (or regain) a foothold in Marika’s world, driven mad by the prospect that anyone deemed Omen or Other might be born? If so, that would explain his anger at Miquella, whose creation of the Haligtree went against the Golden Order and also wanted to help those disenfranchised.
Anyway, I don’t think Messmer is a very nice guy, but I think we’ll learn a lot more about how problematic the Golden Order is. And maybe when Shadow of the Earth Tree When The Lands Between arrives on June 21st, we’ll help return Miquella to the foot of the Haligtree and usher in a new era in the Lands Between.