Elden Ring DLC - Lore of Queen Marika

Shaman village is probably my favourite area in a souls game ever, no joke. Before it would have been Leyndell or Anor Londo or Central Yharnam or something like that but.. just getting to see where the whole lore of where Elden Ring started? The beautiful yet eerie silence? The scenery that looks beautiful yet abandoned? The whole tragedy of the Shamans, subjected to the worst fate imaginable for no reason, and the Shaman who became a god to get her revenge, only to realise it was too late and that she gave her life away to a cosmic horror for nothing, and her dream of a deathless paradise free of her past became a nightmare of its own. It’s all conveyed so well. It doesn’t really redeem Marika but it does humanise her and adds so much to the base game also.

Here is my theory, we know that the hornsent worshipped the crucible and the jars are essentially just a religious practice. They stuffed things in jars and hoped to create living beings. The shamans were used as an alchemical potion to make that happen. I think Marika were one such being, a shaman who were stuffed into a jar with other flesh that melted together, she were revered by the hornsent because it created a saintly creature. There were all sorts of living things stuffed in there with the shaman who later became Marika after the Jar. Parts of a great snake, also a giant and maybe a man and some hornsent too, all of this is what Marika is created out of. Radagon is simply parts of the giant and of the man, thus the red hair. But her children were bestowed "gifts" from these other parts of her, messmer part of the snake and the giant, a fire giant. We can see she was worshipped, there are statues of Marika in the shadow of the erdtree, some of them probably built by the hornsent. But she had Messmer hunt them for their wrongs against her people, thus the betrayal. Its just a theory, take from it what you will if any.

Good stuff! I like how you just tell the story, and make it very clear when you want to speculate, but also keep it to a minimum.

After becoming so traumatized by the deaths of her people, she sealed death away for good. Then, her own son is subjected to the worst death imaginable by anyone. If godhood couldn't prevent that, then what was the point of godhood?

'Radagon, I'm going to become a God' I believe is the confession.

IN THE TREEEE, PART OF THE TREEEE. IN THE TREEE, PART OF THE TREEEE.

I looked on Reddit a few days ago and apparently the Japanese item description for that incantation changed "Empyrean" to "Hornsent" Grandam.

Nice video. I have a different theory about her original sin though. In the base game.. the only reference we have to a sin is when we are discussing the burning of the erd tree. And if we look at the shadow tree.. does it not look burnt? It’s also leaking golden sap. I think at one point it was a golden tree of some kind that that she burned. And that was the original sin. She then hid that entire land because she didn’t want people to know that she committed the very sin that she prohibited in the lands between.

What if Marika didn't actually tell mesmer to burn the hornsent but to keep them oppressed. With inir Elim sealed and mesmer being the key, who could rise against her. What if it were the abyssal serpent who had eaten enough of mesmers flame to wield it. What if that is the seduction and betrayal from which gold arose. Mesmer bore the vision of fire and he burned the great tree. The erdtree is birthed in it's scab. Creating the shadow land and hiding the cardinal sin. When Marika sealed the serpent she sealed him but mesmer doesn't know what happened. Some of his knights figured out he was being led by the snake and backed away from him.

Beautiful!!

Great video! Really engaging and good lore breakdown. Looking forward to more!

I don't believe that that's a statue of marikas family but actually marikas family I think, from our knowledge on how "the flesh of shamans was said to meld harmoniously with others" I believe that is her true body, melded with the flesh of the tree, that being the core or the roots.

The Ringed City was probably a precursor to Londor. There is a lot of evidence that the Sable Church was also an off-shoot of the Church of Filianore.

I always thought of "The seduction, the betrayal" as the message Marika received from the Greater Will, as she saw the golden order she built didn't workout the way it was promised as the betrayal. Or possibly her turning on her Hornsent after she found out what happened, and her betraying them by just 'taking' godhood.

I wonder if the base game jars are what's left of the Shaman? We know Messmer was treating the jars under his castle. In Jarburg, theres all kinds of flowers blooming - something we really only see in one other place, Shaman Village. I wonder if Marika took them with her to the lands between, and repurposed them. They have a different seal in the base game.

The nox took their own people and mixed people like the hornset that is why the greater will turned away from them all.As well as making a tower to heaven to be a god.

It’s crazy that Elden Ring turned out to be a story about trauma. Marika was clearly driven by rage and suffering. And the world she created reflects her broken soul

Love the lore video. Confused about the connection bw the festive grease and hornsent culture though? Could you elaborate?

I just did a video on this So great!!!! Yes, the hornsent created Marika and by extension radagon. The empyrean that Marika betrayed was the empyrean later known as the gloam eyed queen The gloam eyed queen was the snake divinity eiglay. The seduction is 2 events. The seduction of the gloam eyed queen through radagon. Radagon being an anagram of dragon , this is very similar to what the nox did with dragons - creating dragon kin and the dragon knight kin. A lot like the Targaryen's The Numen , was their success at creating a new lord So above , as below We can only exist in a land of opposites In a land between❤

Wait. So the original sin had something to do with the snake. The snake that is in messmer. Maybe Messmer is the son of Marika and a snake? What does the snake have to do with the fingers and the crucible? Someone mentioned how the white thing in the trailer where Marika got the threads from looks like a snake? Is there any mention of the hornsent and snakes?