Elden Ring Lore | The Ancient Dragons

NOTE FOR PEOPLE CLAIMING PLACIDUSAX ISN'T ELDEN LORD BASED ON THE JP: 1) I haven't dismissed it I just disagree - firstly there are those who have translated who disagree with this take: www.reddit.com/r/Eldenring/comments/vcaesz/placidu… To quote a comment on this threads from u/LaMi_1: "I know Japanese. I can tell you that, from エルデの王 and エルデ王, there's no big difference: these are just two different terms for say the same thing. You can translate both of them as "Eld King", let's say." Another from Youtuber Doogman Guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw6ni2QCqc8 He confirms the same term from Elden Starts (Eld Stars) is used in Placidusax (Eld Lord) 2) Second from a practical perspective: I do understand there are translation discrepancies sometimes but you have to remember that Miyazaki does ultimately oversee the translations and approve them (as noted in the book 'You Died'). So while nuances are missed I doubt that something as massive as mislabelling something as Elden Lord would occur. For example the Gloam-Eyed Queen was named 'Dusk Eyed' in the Godslayer Greatsword' upon release, but was changed in a later patch. If this was a mistranslation surely this also would have been cleaned up? As calling someone an Elden Lord by 'mistake' would be a massive correction needed. TLDR; 1) there are people who have translated JP who flat out say it can be related to Elden Lord and 2) Miyazaki wouldn't let a whopper like this slip

Wow man, such kind words just make your day, thank you! "I'm here because of Smough" is a thing on our channel. Thank you for nucleating the lore community and for demonstrating the strength of synthesis. Will contribute more bricks and together we build!

My god that Placidusax footage though… As always Smoughtown’s in-game cinematography and shot composition is freaking Gorgeous

I love the designs of the ancient dragons in Elden Ring. I think they are a work of art.

I think the idea of Placidusax as the father of ancient dragons is really interesting. That would imply that the ancient dragons are like the past demi gods. That might deepen the meaning behind the imagery of the Godrick fight. Maybe the reason he feels a kinship to the modern dragons is because they are lesser descendants of the more powerful demi gods like him? great video. thought provoking as always.

I don’t see many people talking much about this, but I always thought it interesting that Placidusax’s pose before the battle starts seems just like the Two Fingers’ pose when they are waiting for an answer from the Greater Will, and I don’t know what to make of that.

Who needs the house of the dragon when you have Smoughtown? \o/

So glad to see the Tarnished Archeoligist getting some love. I find his essays very insightful and thought provoking. Would love to see his channel pump up some numbers more quickly. Another banger of a thoughtful and well researched video Smough!

The dragons shall never be forgotten, we knightes fought valiantly but for everyone of them we lost three score of our own, exhilaration pride hatred rage, the dragons teased out our dearest emotions

Thank you everyone for watching my take on the Dragons. Let me know your thoughts below and don't forget to subscribe for more Elden Ring Lore Content!

Yet another absolute banger from SmoughTown, not even a week after his last one. Your output and quality of work is seriously incredible man, keep up the good work!

Also dragons in cultural mythology (especially eastern mythology) are often described as being chimeras of extremely deadly or well-respected animals. It makes sense then that a dragon would rule over a primordial age of beast-men.

Dragons have always been a key ingredient for any high fantasy story, fitting symbols of unachievable strength, wisdom, and intelligence similar to the concept of the "castle in the sky" which has recently seen more use (aside from Ghibli, and Elden Ring, it features in the Dragon Age lore); a fittingly unreachable home. Thank you for delving into the topic, and methodically working from topic to topic, while giving us beautiful visuals. Another wonderful video 🙏 thank you for the hard work!

I think it is worth noting, Chalcolithic means the Copper Age, the first metal used by humans which served to replace stone tools. The Crucible is apparently tied with "red gold", but the items of red gold look a lot like copper, with its ruddy hue. I think this is more evidence that the story is presenting a legendary retelling of the rise of civilization in the real world. Humans first used stone tools, then copper, then bronze (a mix of copper and tin), to finally iron tools. So the Crucible's association with "red gold" is, I think, instead an association with a legendary form of copper. Just a theory.

Placidusax - the calm...before the storm? On the golden wing membranes of dragons: gold stays conductive longer and it doesn't tarnish like copper and silver. Fitting for immortals who use lightning. As for the beastmen, I wonder if they valued gold highly already, and thus they valued dragons who "wear" it on their wings, or they begun valuing gold because of dragons, as a type of worship/mimicry.

Not sure if somebody pointed this out in the comments yet, but regarding the age of the crucible and the age of the dragons being the same, it is worth noting that the three aspects of crucible life embodied by the talismen; horn, wing and scale, are all features of dragons. Add in the crucible incantations; Horn, Breath and Tail, and you still have draconic features. So i think there is grounds to believe that dragons were indeed parts of crucible life, embodying all aspects melded into it.

At 43:50, you miss a third option: the Beastmen are the evolutionary ancestors of modern humans. Early humans could be Draconians, later evolving further to the humams we see today in the Lands Between. Evidence for this thought process is that undead Beastmen can actually drop the "Human bone shard" item, implying that they too are (precursors of) humans. Furthermore, this would tie in nicely to the thematics of the Beastmen; they symbolise early humans and mimick our own historic development. It then makes sense that they also represent our evolutionary history. With part of the Beastmen evolving into humans, the two could have coexisted for a very long time. Similarly to how different races of humans have coexisted (Neanderthals, etc.). When the Golden Order took over, the Beastmen that remained could no longer die due to Destined Death being sealed, explaining why even now they still exist. Draconians seem to have somewhat similar features to very early humans. It might be good enough grounds to look into whether this fits the timeline as well (evolution obviously takes a huge amount of time, which is the main issue with this theory). But perhaps the dragons' time manipulation might be used as an excuse if it doesn't line up. Lastly, if we follow this theory, the primordial gods being overthrown by their children in the creation myth might be represented by the Order of Placidusax being overthrown by humans (their distant evolutionary "children" and/or a lifeform they helped shape into the modern humans we see today in the LB through gifts such as granting the Beastmen intelligence) to create the Golden Order.

Beastmen culture has always been such a fascinating thing for me — thx for this

Honestly, this makes me wanting more for an Ancient Dragon DLC. I think we need more explaination with these than Miquella as I think Miquella is a complete character.

Interesting point about the Gravity magic possibly being part of what has moved Farum out of time. Gravity has a direct effect on the passing of time in real physics. Conversely, if time was manipulated it could have drawn the meteor to it because of how intertwined time and gravity are.