Elden Ring FULL Story Explained | Lore Recap Before DLC

Thank you everyone for watching my Elden Ring Story Summary - this has been my most ambitious video to date, so would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

My dad's cat passed away yesterday, she had cancer. 2h30 minutes of Elden Ring lore is a +9 flask for my mind today. Thank you so very much.

I’m glad you blew up after Elden Ring, you cite other YouTubers a huge amount in your videos, shows you’re a stand up guy.

The community surrounding this game is amazing and full of thousands of insights a single person may never find , such an amazing flow of information and knowledge

Oh boy, a 2 and a half hour long lore video, I know what to watch this evening

I work a double today, I prep meat and vegetables and have had nothing to listen to recently, I’m glad this came out, thank u smo.

this is what i always wanted from someone just a basic rundown of the lore without going into why bungus scrungus knife had a relation with the fart of the gold wings

Marika cursing the singular giant and calling him a "trfling giant" is not only an oxymoron but also shows how she views the eternal flame. Though it is anything but trifling, and the flame would go on to be a pivotal aspect of changing the Lands Between when we finally burn the Erdtree.

I think the Dragons representing Dinosaurs in the real world is fascinating, and is furthered by the fact that we still find the remains of Dinosaurs here on earth, who ruled before mammals in a wild kind of order, and have become fossilised and therefore turned to stone A perfect parallel with the Dragons we find in the Lands between, who also ruled the lands between before the Golden order or “civilisation”, with their remind also having turned to stone as well

Smough, you're an absolute legend. To see how fast you've reached 200k subs after just hitting 100k not too long ago, it's just beautiful. Almost a decade of making lore videos for us to enjoy. With the DLC coming out, I'm not only excited for the game, I'm also excited to see how your channel continues to grow and develop!

At 17:23, you mention that Elden Beast and Plasidusaxu breathe golden fire. They aren't the only ones. The Tree spirits also breathe golden fire (when they aren't corrupted) and Melina's Blade of Calling flings golden fire. The ulcerated tree spirits are interesting as well, since they are Modelled after Níðhǫggr in Norse mythology and are primarily found around the Erd Tree's roots, the Erd Tree and Minor erd trees, which is where Níðhǫggr lives. Níðhǫggr eats the roots of Yggdrasil in Norse mythology, and is seen as evil, but in game I think they serve as a tree pruner. Eating diseased erd trees, and gnawing at the roots to support new growth for erd tree burial. Totally a crack pot theory, but I think it fits the world pretty well.

Just got through the video now since I was lucky enough to have an entirely free afternoon today. Incredible stuff, and that shoutout is, of course, massively appreciated 🙏 Looking forward to seeing your analysis of the DLC once that's out!

The statue at 25:52 could also possibly be the narrator and the one who summons the tarnished back per Marikas will.

I am a casual player who never played a souls game before or barely any game at all, after 1,5 years and almost 150hrs i am still at 30% in elden ring. I never bothered understanding stats or using anything in my inventory, only thing i bother looking for online are your lore videos about a character after i defeat it. Very pleasing

Thank you for this. I wish I had time to go back through Elden Ring all over again before June, but life isn't allowing me to do that. This is a great resource.

At this point this is definitely one of the best general overview on ER Lore around, if not the best. Your readiness to value the work of others and to change and adjust ideas over time, and take even unresolved doubts into the mix with honesty all beared fruit, and well-deserved aknowledgement. A very pleasant listening.

Awesome work dude. Hard to believe such a massive and expansive world can be so in-depth and so intricate, but also make perfect sense and translate in so many ways to the patterns of our own world and civilizations. Thanks so much for this!

Great video! While I agree with a lot stated about the GEQ, I wanted to offer some counterpoints thoughts on her place and role in the timeline, and suggest that she actually was NOT chosen to replace Marika as theorized in the video. Arguably the most important event in recent history in Elden is the sealing of Destined Death. Something to be noted is that Enia explicitly states that the sealing of Destined Death is the CATALYST of the establishment of the Golden Order. This means that while DD was still in the Elden Ring, Marika was not yet a god. This is actually further indirectly stated through descriptions of Maliketh. As you say, Fromsoft do not make mistakes in the way they word their descriptions. When giving context to Maliketh’s actions in regards to the GEQ and the sealing of Destined Death, this is the only time (or one of) that Marika is explicitly referred to as an EMPYREAN, indicating that at the time of the GEQ, Marika was still only an empyrean with Maliketh as her shadow, whom she only needed to seal Destined Death. All of this tells us that the time of the GEQ predates the Golden Order entirely and her defeat was TANTAMOUNT to the creation of Marika’s order. GEQ was not made to replace Marika, she was most likely in COMPETITION with Marika to establish her own order, an order of Death. We can get even more specific of when the GEQ was active through the description of the Nobles, where the Crucible is explicitly referenced. I think this is a nod to the fact that the empyrean GEQ and Marika era likely took place during the Age of the Crucible. To address the Black Blade incantation, the creation of this still fits within this timeline since Maliketh sealing DD within his blade is what kickstarted Marika’s age, and having this ability would firmly of course place it at the beginning of Marika’s age. It’s also important to note that it’s explicitly stated that Maliketh didn’t seal DD within his body until after it was stolen. However at this point the Golden Order had been going for quite some time, which means it indeed was sealed within his sword before. The implications of this being that Maliketh was sucha unit that he likely defeated the GEQ with his original bestial abilities and ferocity. However he did it we do know that he defeated her without DD, since he did not seal it in his blade until after her defeat. Marika’s order never had the DD in the Elden Ring, so Maliketh must have sealed it a long time before the Night of the Black Knives, after all, if it wasn’t sealed, why would Ranni and the assassins even have to steal it from him in the first place? If DD wasn’t sealed then there would be no need to steal fragments of the Death rune and imbue it into knives. Based on this and what I do agree with in your videos, I want to enter the realm of full speculation. Given the symbolism and dualities of Miquella and Malenia, Mohg and Morgott, and the history of the Numen and Nox, i think it is extremely possible that the GEQ in fact was Marika’s twin sister and was in the running for godhood but ultimately lost. As seen by many, GEQ ideology and movement seem to be a direct dual counter to Marika’s, an age of Death and Impermanence vs an age of Life and Abundance. The only perfect dualities we see like this are within the twins of the game. I also think the choice words of having GEQ be DEFEATED instead of outright KILLED is possibly telling, as we know Marika is not above ruthlessness given her treatment of the Giants. This can imply that Marika possibly had some sort of a soft spot for GEQ since she is in fact her sister, even though her opposite. I think at the time of Blackflame Monks, the GEQ movement was already finished but the blackflame itself persisted, just without its true power. However the monks seem to be more concerned with the flames themselves rather than the foundations of their power, so it’s likely they were still enthralled regardless of DD getting taken away from it. Now as to what “gods” the GEQ and her apostles were the death of, I think is intentionally left ambiguous or we will find out in the DLC, since this seems to be a bit of an origin story of Marika’s and the GEQ/DD is a fundamental part of it. Perhaps it was other empyreans/ “god” candidates in the running?

My personal theory on Marika and Radagon is that they were once one person, split off into two, and then later re-merged.

Something worth pointing out, in regards of evidence that Godwyn's death clearly triggered Marika to shatter the Elden Ring, is that Godwyn and Ranni are pretty much one for one lifted from the tale of Balder (the God of Justice, who glowed with his own soft golden light due to his beauty) and Loki (half-Aesir and half frostgiant) from Norse mythology. Balder found a way to become invincible to forestall the prophecy of Ragnarök, and seething at this Loki, through cunning, learned that there was one exception: the mistletoe plant. So Loki tricked one of the other Aesir to use a mistletoe arrow during an event of Balder showing off his invulnerability for entertainment of his fellow gods, resulting in the instant death of the God of Light. The despair and dismay consuming the Aesir at this allowed Loki to innitiate the events of the Ragnarök prophecy. Godwyn: fair, the most beautiful, the most just, and the kindest of the demigods. Ranni: his half-sister, strong ties to ice magic, scheming, able to be ruthlessly cruel, pulling strings and using deception. Marika: falls to despair at the death of her favorite child and the betrayal of one of her alter-egos offspring, initiating the Shattering and the resulting cataclysmic wars and tectonic changes leading to the remnants we Tarnished return too.