10 Fascinating Lore Discoveries in Elden Ring!

The Carian royals really do marriage and engagement right. One partner gets a beautiful engagement ring, the other gets a moon greatsword.

We’re definitely finding more great runes in DLC. It isn’t only Ranni’s rune we’re still missing, Miquella’s still has yet to be found. Considering how much is left in the air surrounding Miquella, and all the theorizing that we’ll get a Painted World-styled “Dream World dlc, it wouldn’t be surprising if we find his great rune in a future expansion.

Vaati: "But I'm not all-knowing, not yet." That has some real sinister vibes. Vaati is a dlc boss confirmed.

The crucified bodies are hung up by the tarnished hunters that I think Varre warns you about when you first talk to him after leaving the Chapel of Anticipation. A lot of the crucifixes have sentries sitting beneath them or camps nearby. There's also usually golden runes found at their base, signifying that they were tarnished tortured to death and have dropped their runes now.

Radagon reforging the Moonlight Greatsword after leaving Rennala is heartbreaking, especially considering how much it shattered her. It also further solidifies Rannis resentment of the Golden Order. Such fantastic writing in such minute detail.

Have we considered the Erdtree was literally grafted onto the base of the Great Tree? Looking at the Erdree's trunk where the doorway inside is, there is a large, stark triangular cut where the color is darker instead of golden. Tree graftings can look exactly like this when cuttings are forced to grow onto the base of another plant. This would make sense with the "symbiotic" nature of roots of one tree feeding into the branches of another. Where they meet is where the player enters, and where both Marika and Radagon are housed simultaneously. Maybe Godrick's grafting idea was pulled from the tree.

Radagon's rune can also be seen within the Wave of Gold attack of the Sacred Relic Sword. That pattern is burned into my eyes from hours of Albinauric youngling slaughter 😅

The thing with Radagon and Marika is that they "transform" into each other. Hence Marika saying "you are yet to become me". We know that they coexisted at same time. More info is needed but I don't think Marika just became Radagon but they existed like two souls in same vessel

I thought it was really cool that some random misbegotten had Radagon's sword in a cave. I've always liked that fantasy trope of great power falling into unlikely hands by some chance. It's like Smeagol finding The One Ring, or the pygmy and the First Flame. There's a story there that we may never know.

One neat detail I’ve noticed: Trolls are descended from the Giants, specifically ones that betrayed their fellows during the war, and all of them have hollow stomachs where the torso-face should be. If you squint you can almost see the faint details of a nose and eyes on their remaining chest.

I think that it's highly possible that Ranni may have given her great rune to Vyke. Gideon says that Ranni casted aside he rune and Vyke was the closest to becoming Elden Lord before the player. And the 2 fingers forbids you from going to the capital until you collect at least 2 runes. And Vyke clearly made it to the capital and even further, to the mountain of giants because you can find him imprisoned in an evergaol there. And when you get 2 great runes and speak the the finger reader in the roundtable, she will state that she has only ever seen 2 great runes in one place one time before. Considering that Vyke was the closest other person to Elden Lord before you, I think she could definitely be referring to Vyke also collecting 2 great runes. So I personally like to believe that Ranni gave Vyke her great rune, and he may have collected a second great rune that we haven't seen. Possibly Miquella's, since we haven't seen theirs. There could also be some other great runes that he may have had and we just haven't heard about. Some more lore and theories on Vyke and his story with the frenzied flame for those that are interested: Vyke was the closest to becoming Elden Lord before the player, which is stated by his armors description. Also another interesting fact is that Vyke is on the cover of the game. Though, I think the cover version of him is before he became frenzied because he doesn't have fingerprints on him from what I can tell. The exact description of his armor reads, "Iron armor singed and blistered by fingers. Worn by Vyke, knight of the Roundtable Hold. No other Tarnished was closer to the throne of the Elden Lord than Vyke. But without announcement, Vyke traveled far below the capital, and was scorched by the flame of frenzy. Did he make his choice for his maiden, or did some other force lure him with suggestion?" Something that is really interesting, is that when you first arrive at the mountain of the gaints, there's a possibility that you may run into Yura the bloody finger hunter. However, he is no longer Yura. It is actually Yuras corpse being possessed by the spirit of Shabriri. There, he will inform you that you will have to sacrifice Melina to burn the Erd Tree and tries makes you feel bad by basically saying that you are a shitty person if you make your maiden burn herself alive just so you can become lord. He then follows this up by offering an alternative that "spares" your maiden and allows to still become lord. So he gives you directions on how to reach the 3 fingers and sets you on the path of the lord of frenzy ending. Remember the item description of Vykes armor? "Vyke traveled far below the capital, and was scorched by the flame of frenzy. Did he make his choice for his maiden, or did some other force lure him with suggestion?" I think it's safe to assume that Vyke got to the mountaintop of the giants and was probably tricked by Shabriri into seeking out the three fingers because he wanted to save his maiden. There, he became the vessel for the frenzy and was set on the path of becoming the Lord of Frenzy... But he never became Lord of Frenzy. Or Lord at all. Why? well some believe he just went mad and was incapable of continuing on the path because of that. But you fight 2 version of Vyke in the game. You fight him at the church of inhibition near the frenzied village where he will use a bunch of frenzy incantations on you. And then you fight a second version of him that does NOT use frenzy spells at the mountaintop of giants imprisoned in an evergaol. evergaols are basically eternal jails where powerful and dangerous individuals are kept. As for what exactly they are, how they work, and who makes them, I have no idea, but I'm sure someone could do more research than me. The real question is why are there 2 versions of him? Well I think it's clear that the evergaol version his supposed to be the original version of Vyke before he became frenzied, because this version doesn't use any frenzy spells. Keep in mind that even though Vyke became the vessel for the frenzy and was set on the path of Lord of Frenzy, he still had control over himself. He didn't just go insane right then an there. This is evident by the fact that we as the player still have control over ourselves and our actions after becoming the vessel up until the end of course. It's because of this that we are still able to quell the flame by using Miquellas needle. If the frenzy had complete control over us and our actions right when we become the vessel for it, then obviously it would probably not allow us to quell it with the needle. SO. What I believe happened was Vyke was tricked by the spirit of Sharbriri into trying to "save" his maiden by becoming the vessel for the frenzy. After that he probably quickly soon realized that that was a BIG mistake. He didn't have access to Miquellas needle like we do, so he didn't have a way to quell it. And becoming Elden Lord was pretty much no longer and option anymore, so he probably went and either somehow imprisoned himself in an evergaol to prevent himself from doing so. Or it's possible someone else stepped in and forcefully imprisoned him (maybe even Melina). As for why there are 2 versions of him? Well I think it's simple. The evergaol version is the real Vyke, or more specifically, Vykes spirit or soul. And the invader frenzied version is basically what's left of his corporeal flesh and body completely taken over by what is left of the frenzy that was inside him. But that's just my personal theory on his story. As for who Sharbriri is and the lore on the flame of frenzy and three fingers itself, I'm not getting into that and I hope Vaati does a video on it because the frenzy lore is the most interesting lore in the game to me. Some other interesting things: There's what seems to be a recently dead maiden sitting in a chair in the Church of Inhibition where you fight the frenzied version of Vyke. (This is quite possibly Vyke's maiden.) Shabriri is mentioned a couple of times in lore related to frenzy and the wandering merchants. I can't believe how much frenzy lore there is. It's like a never ending rabbit hole. I didn't even get into the lore of the frenzy itself, the wandering merchants, Shabriri and his grape, or Hyetta and why she is a clone of Irina and only appears after Irina dies. This was pretty much just a miniscule piece of the total lore of frenzy and an even smaller piece of Elden rings total lore. Fuck, I love FromSoftware.

I think I am more fascinated by Elden Ring's lore than any other Fromsoft game to date. Things like the Halig Tree, its origins and purpose, and Miquella being 'unalloyed' really captured my fascination towards the end of the game. I really liked how in the Golden Mask ending, the Erdtree is so much a more vibrant gold than in the fractured era basic ending. Even such a small thing has so many connotations. Love both your work and your soothing voice Vaati - the community is lucky to count you amongst its number.

I feel like Radagon's cross-hatch rune is supposed to represent him re-forging it. Like his rune is holding the rest of them together.

Many people are rightly pointing out that the Rune of Death curves downwards, and that Marika's "seal" or the crucifix curves upwards. Not sure what to make of that yet, but I should have mentioned it. Compiling some current theories I've seen posted below: Delphyne Null says "Marika’s seal isn‘t quite the same as the Rune of Death, the arc turns downward in Destined Death but upward in Marika’s Elden Rune. Perhaps the similarity owes to the fact that it’s the rune kept by her empyrean shadow and half-brother Maliketh" Swag Yolosmith says "We have seen that siblings tend to have complementary runes. Melina's rune of rot and Miquella's rune of abundance, in addition to Morgott and Mohg's runes being mentioned as being twins as well. Maybe marika's great rune is the rune of Life, which is why it's so prominently featured; her blessing is the promise of eternal reincarnation and life through the erd tree for the worthy. It makes more sense that it would be in iconography if this was the case." Paraphrasing Quelaag: "It could represent the marriage of opposites which is a common theme in Elden Ring (see: gravity, crucible)"

I think the fact that the knights cavalry "used to be led by the fell omen" may just be because Margit/Morgott doesn't directly command them anymore, now that he's protecting the erdtree itself, so he doesn't give them orders as their leader, but his enemies are still their enemies

4:53 I can't get over how awesome Radagon's design is. Absolutely one of my favorite Soulsborne boss desings- hell, character designs.

It’s also worth noting that there’s at least two Great Runes that another Tarnished (probably Vyke) held. Finger Reader Enia mentions that she’s seen somebody else with two Great Runes before. My theory is that there were a lot of more minor Great Runes, held by weaker Shardbearers, but since the Shattering all of these have since been claimed, leaving only the strongest Demigods in the most advantageous positions. That could be part of why Margit is guarding the route to Stormveil. Godrick is the weakest demigod remaining, so Margit is using him as bait. As to why we never see these lesser Great Runes, I’m not sure. Maybe they’re just so relatively insignificant that they’re absorbed as regular Runes? EDIT: Damn, apparently doing edits removes hearts, lol. Updated the comment to include more of my thoughts, and lost the heart that Vaati gave it.

Something I have noticed is that the “misbegotten” enemies share a lot of design elements with the crucible knights. The misbegotten have tails that look like the aspect of the crucible: tail, a misbegotten lion fights alongside a crucible knight, and those lions even share a move with the crucible knights (one where they stomp on the ground and do two spinning slashes). Additionally, the misbegotten themselves look like a bunch of creatures mismatched together, almost parroting what we know about the crucible, the fact that it was a time when all life was together. Crucible knights and misbegotten also have massive feathered wings. There are so many similarities. I think the answer to the question of what the crucible is lies in the link that is between the crucible knights and the misbegotten

When Radagon holds the hammer in the air, besides his mesh seal on the handle, you can see Marika's seal on it as well (the upside down crescent is in the head of the hammer, and the straight line goes down the handle). So the hammer has both seals conjoined.

That secret boss Pladusax in Farum Azula is the very 1st Elden Lord, his great rune might be what makes the super great rune you can see in Farum Azula