LORE Breakdown | Shadow of the Erdtree Trailer

Shadow of the Erdtree has finally been revealed with a brand new Gameplay trailer, which promises to massively expand Elden Ring’s base game

In this video we will be doing an in-depth Lore Breakdown and analysis of the lore contained within. From Messmer to Miquella, I will speculate and predict how the story will go and what lore elements we can expect by tying it back to the Elden Ring base game.

Editor: Creators Studio – https://creatorsstudio.co.uk/

Intro: 0:00
Miquella & Lands of Shadow: 1:23
Messmer the Impaler: 22:02
Shadow of the Erdtree: 38:08

From the Bandai Namco Website: Guided by Miquella, players embark on a new adventure into the Land of Shadow, a world full of dark secrets hidden behind the prosperity of the Golden Order brought upon by Marika.

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REFERENCES

Quelaag’s Channel: https://youtube.com/@Quelaag
IGN Interview with Miyazaki: https://in.ign.com/elden-ring-shadow-of-the-erdtree/202514/news/exclusive-hidetaka-miyazaki-answers-all-of-our-shadow-of-the-erdtree-questions-ign-fan-fest-2024
Famitsu Interview with Miyazaki: https://www.famitsu.com/news/202402/22335199.html
Quelaag Tweet on Leyndell Aristocracy: https://x.com/xIngenue/status/1760472062517461414?s=20
Quelaag Tweet on St Trina Flowers: https://twitter.com/xIngenue/status/1760325201374720334
Dylan Tweet on Marika Statue: https://x.com/Oby_LFC6/status/1760384258701680929?s=20
Azael Tweet re Omen: https://twitter.com/AZAELhasinvaded/status/1760411394636169329
Shout out to amigop for sharing theory re Butterflies: https://x.com/AmigoP247?s=20
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Soundtrack is Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Sekiro, King’s Field and Elden Ring

I do not own the rights to Elden Ring, all rights to FromSoftware

#eldenring #shadowoftheerdtree #fromsoftware

So here we are in the shadow of the earth tree possibly one of the greatest trailers I’ve ever watched and from software have clearly pulled out all the stops with this DLC new armor weapons story locations enemies and bosses and of course the lore tid beds were enough

To send all of us into a frenzy with massive implications for potential story lines even in this 3-minute trailer there is plenty to discuss from a lore perspective and so I present to you my trailer breakdown I won’t be doing a frame by frame analysis rather I want to

Give you my thoughts on the lower elements of the trailer speculate and tie it back to the lore of the base game which we have of course covered in great detail over the past 2 years on this channel ultimately my aim in this video is to unpack the dialogue hints and

Clues regarding the story of shadow of the earth tree and give you my take on what the broad Strokes of the lore may be we also have some details from the man himself Miyazaki via interviews with the likes of fitsu and IGN which helps clarify some of the more ambiguous

Elements of the trailer and there are some really massive lore Bombshells in these so I will be referencing these where relevant so join me this week as we dive into the lands of Shadow and we begin to speculate on the new upcoming lore I think a good place to start is

Actually with the official text the flavor text from Bandai namco’s website about the DLC and it reads the following the land of Shadow a place obscured by the Earth tree where the goddess Marica first set foot a land purged in an unsung Battle Set Ablaze By mesmer’s

Flame it was to this land that mola departed divesting himself of his flesh his strength his lineage of all things golden and now Micha awaits the return of his promised Lord so many interesting lore implications here the idea that this is the land where America first set

Foot that it is a land obscured by the Earth tree and that Micha has willingly come here by giving up his very flesh I will refer back to this bit of text frequently and henceforth I will just call it the flavor text so you know what

I’m talking about when I say flavor text the idea that this is the land where Amica first set foot is huge there are massive Laur Publications from a famitsu article that imply that this is actually the land where all began where America became a God these of course are some

Massive plot points and we will return to America shortly but for now I want to discuss the prospect of Mika divesting his flesh and coming here on purpose we do hear bits of this throughout the trailer as well in dialogues but it’s nice to get this overview from the

Flavor text so this new region is called the land of Shadow clearly an alternate Realm one that has been devastated by the Earth tre’s arrival disconnected from the lands between and living in the shadow of the earth tree instead of under its Grace like the lands between

All the information we have points to the fact that this is not a dream world like many guessed when that concept art was released a year ago indeed this seems to be confirmed by Miyazaki himself who says the following in an interview with IGN first of all the

Setting of shadow of the earth tree is a brand new land it’s a brand new map separate from the lands between it is a land that is overshadowed by the particular shadow of the earth tree as opposed to the Earth tree in the lands between and it takes place again on an

Entirely separate physically separate map so it will involve a warp gate of sorts to get there in terms of setting and themes it technically occupies the same space as the lands between the same universe but due to something story related that we won’t reveal today this has become physically disconnected and

You’ll travel to the shadow of the earth Tree Land as a separate place so this land of Shadow itself is a place the player will visit to walk in the steps of Mela Mela is a key part of the story this time perhaps as guessed by many

Players who saw the art that was released previously that is in fact mola and it is he who traveled to the land of Shadow and it’s the players who will be tracing his path and following in his footsteps trying to see what he is going

To do there another axis of the story is Queen Mara and what she did in the land of Shadow and what led Micha to follow her there again this all makes sense to me given what we have seen in the trailer it’s a land that’s more than

Just a dream or reflection it used to be a physical place in the current realm but it’s been transposed by the arrival of the earth tree it is a realm with its own history culture villains and heroes despite the fact that it’s not a dream realm one of the most striking things we

Notice about the landscape is the drapes up in the sky these are of course drapes that are similar to ones you’d find in a bed chamber like in Mar’s bed chamber or the Balin of fear and the deathbed companions there are a lot of different speculation Avenues we can go down could

This be a reference to the aforementioned bichin and thus those who live in death the shadow realm seems like a place where things heretical to the or Tre exist but we will return to that facet shortly SEO duby put out an interesting theory on Twitter the drapes

Are so similar in fact to America’s bed chamber is it possible that this is an overlap between the two worlds for some reason that these are literally the drapes of marica’s bed chamber showing in the sky present here because it is marica’s well that has separated the

Land of Shadows from the lands between the last scene of the trailer seems to show Micha in the form that we expect despite his body’s deformities in the lands between this again brings me back to the flavor text that we looked at at the beginning of the video where it

States that Micha gave up his flesh to come here this means that the physical self of him in the lands between is disconnected from this new manifestation of him that we can find in the lands of Shadows this means there are some spatial or temporal disconnect from the

Main world if Micha has given up his flesh to come here and yet we see him restored in this realm it reinforces what Miyazaki said about this place’s relation to the real world or the lands between that it is disconnected and thus the effects on micha’s body that

Happened in the lands between are not relevant here as he has manifested in a completely different realm with all that said it brings me back to another aspect of the trailer that a few of us have noticed that there seemed to be a few references to Cina many of us including

Myself have theorized that Cina is is an alternate ego or personality of Micha we see a character using what seems to be a srina spell but more importantly quag made an important observation there seems to be a character that is asleep among what looks like s Trina’s lilies

Now given s Trina’s association with sleep I think this still is very much a reference to srina I think qu’s analysis is spot on here perhaps we will see the restoration of the deleted dream NPC srina Quest like either way the drapes in the sky could be reflective of St Trina’s relationship

To sleep though I think that is less likely the opening portion of the trailer is about Micha the first shots we see in the trailer are of course of micha’s cocoon found in mwin Palace there’s also an opening monologue from an unseen NPC that talks about micha’s intentions pure and radiant he wields

Love to strive clean the hearts of men there is nothing more terrifying this seems to line up with how Mika is perceived in the base game he is pure and sincere in his intentions to make a better world without the dogma of the Ury order though clearly the NPC that is

Narrating this sees this type of radical ideal as dangerous or a threat and again we don’t really know why we do see the lower half of an NPC in this scene the robes don’t seem to be an exact match for anything that’s in the base game as

Far as as I can tell but they look similar to robes that are associated with aristocracy in the lands between the ruler set the consort and official sets for examples this could mean a couple of things I saw some people trying to relate it to tanith which does

Make sense given its similarities to the consort dress and the snake themes revolving around Mesmer however again quag came up with a really great observation and again please check out qu’s Twitter and channel as she’s really good at picking out these details in regards to symbology Etc but quag made

An observation and made a suggestion that perhaps tanith and some of other lindell’s Noble culture could have come from the land of Shadow originally remember this was a real physical place that wasn’t initially disconnected it was a region in this real world and also remember that Tan’s lore contained

Within the consort mask tells us that she came from a foreign land could this be the foreign land from which she HED quag does make some compelling observations in regards to the similarity between The Masks of marray and tanith to the armor set shown in the trailer it does seem as though there

Will be an NPC in micha’s chamber encouraging us to travel to the realm of Shadow as we later hear this dialogue come now touch the r arm and travel to the realm of Shadow so this also confirms what we’ve all predicted since day one the DLC will be accessible from

Micholas cocoon and hand meaning that we’ll be likely using micholas physical connection to this place as a bridge of sort a bridge between the two worlds Miyazaki confirms that Micha has come here for his own objectives as he says the following in the IGN interview the

Cocoon and arm you saw at the beginning of the trailer this is actually the point of entry to the land of shadow where the players will enter the DLC and this does have some relation to mea and mea as we have said travel to the land of Shadow he does

Have some motive and objective there which we won’t give away too much but essentially the player will be following in those Footsteps in the same way that they follow the blessings from the grace the sights of Grace in the lands between they’ll be following in micha’s footsteps and these will guide them

Through the land of Shadow and reveal that motivation to them Micha chose to come here and this brings me back to the state we find Micha in in the base game in a cocoon my speculation has always been that Micha was the one who cocooned himself this does seem likely although

It’s not actually confirmed in game and that Mo merely cracked it open stealing Micha so that he could corrupt his form with his corrupted blood in a vain attempt to raise up a god of blood in the opening slides to the base game we see a slide of Mo stealing Micha Micha

Is covered in a sticky substance which I’ve always taken to be an amniotic type fluid from the C that he was in he’s also got fly likee wings reinforcing the idea that he formed this insect like cocoon himself it would also fit perfectly into the wall of the halic

Tree and given the mesque form that has appeared in the wall of the tree surrounding this hole I believe it’s almost a certainty that this is where micha’s cocoon was embedded there are of course other cocoons throughout the halic tree and now with the additional context of the trailer in hand I suggest

This is how Micha transported his mind to this Shadow realm and perhaps the Cocoon people around the Halo tree where his followers attempting to join him Miyazaki alludes to mola’s purpose here but what could it actually be well we do know a decent amount about micha’s motivations from the base game we know

That he was interested in finding a cure for his sister’s afflictions thanks to the description of rigan’s rings of light implying strongly that this was the reason he initially helped his father develop golden order fundamentalism Miracles he was Plumbing its deaths for a cure to his sister’s Affliction the description of mola’s

Unalloyed gold needle further emphasizes mola’s desire to read the world of the meddling of the outer Gods like the outer God of rot who Afflicted his sister additionally melania’s armor set reads the following my brother will keep his promise he possesses the wisdom the Allure of a god

He is the most fearsome imperion of all this is clearly a quote from Millennia and prior to the DLC I’d thought this was a vain hope of hers a bit of copium that she still believed her brother would deliver despite the fact he was more or less dead however it seems that

Melania’s faith in her brother is actually well founded as mola is still active despite the mutilation of his terrestrial form and perhaps melenia knows full well about his journey to the the shadow land and his aim in doing so and so actually the state of his

Physical form is not really a concern to her given micha’s conviction in making a pure unalloyed World freed from the meddling of outer Gods could we not assume that his journey here is to achieve his vision of a better Pur world the opening dialogue of the DLC trailer

Again seems to align with what we know of Micha that he wants to purify everything perhaps in unifying the shadow realm with the urry realm or by purifying the shadow lands Micha will be fixing something that’s broken some corruption when the lands of Shadow were Disconnected by the Earth tree the end

Of the trailer does seem to show Micha purifying or casting some magic on this Twisted version of the tree but I guess ultimately we will see what his aim is here there are a couple of Micha details I wanted to discuss before we move on firstly there appears to be a great Rune

At one point given the association the DLC clearly has to MLA it is most likely his indeed it does have a similar composition to his sister and as we know from the description of Mo’s great Rune familial ties can affect the shape of the runes I have no real further points

About this Rune other than it would be interesting if the possession of this Rune would have an effect on a new ending to the game or even if it has a role to play in the story of the DLC there’s something else that is interesting in the initial text the

Flavor text that we looked at before it says that now Micha awaits the return of his promised Lord what does this mean I do think there will now be a Micha ending a unalloyed purified ending an ending that will line up with his vision of a purified world where we will become

His Lord in order to Champion this in many of my Elder ring lore videos I’ve talked about the composition of the ruling body of each New Order there is always a God and there is always a lord Lord pusx was the Lord in the age before

The Earth tree he was the Lord to another God Godfrey was Lord to Mara as later was Radigan there’s always a Lord and a God for example Mo wants to be the Lord of blood and wants Micha to be his God does this mean that Micha will

Become the new God he is after all an imperion an imperian are candidates for godhood will he become the new God of a new age and we will become his his Lord that would be an incredible ending and I really hope we see that so to try and

Understand micha’s aim and being here and the scope of the DLC it’s time to talk about the Land of Shadows a bit more but my synopsis about them is this Mara is the one who devastated these lands and its original culture it is now disconnected from the main world because

Of the gestation of the earth tree and ultimately it’s now become a Dumping Ground for things that should live in the shadow of the earth tree things heretical and it’s ruled over by Mesmer another of her demig God children but don’t worry we will unpack all that shortly there’s an interesting text from

The Bandai Namco website which reads the following Guided by Micha players embark on a new adventure in the land of Shadow a world full of Dark Secrets hidden behind the prosperity of the golden order brought upon by America the wording here very much suggests that America has used the lands

Of Shadow for some reason to make the world of Grace more prosperous somehow to the detriment of these lands of course furthermore if we once again return to that initial Bandai Namco flavor text it suggests that this land of Shadow is where America herself first set foot these lands were where all

Began even more exhilarating is this incredible quote from famitsu from their interview with Miyazaki which reads the following translated in fact the Land of Shadows is the place where Mara became a God and the golden tree was born naturally there was a culture that existed before the

Golden tree and the line dance character is derived from that culture we’ll come back to the lon dance character but this is where Mara’s Story begins and this is the land where the Earth tree in the golden order was born massive so no doubt the Twisted tree tree we see in

The skyline will have something to do with the Earth trees gestation the flavor text also says that the Land of Shadows are lands that are obscured by the Earth tree again reinforcing the fact that Mara and the Earth tree are responsible for its current state its purpose and why it’s now disconnected

Physically from the lands between there’s also a relevant quote from the IGN interview with Miyazaki where Miyazaki said the following another access to the story is Queen Mara and what she did in the land of Shadow and what led Micha to follow her there so Mar did something here she did something

To establish the golden order create the Earth tree all resulting in the current relationship and state of the world that we have now we have the lands between on one side and we have this land of shadow on the other side that is disconnected living in the shadow of the arery

Obscured by it removed from The Real World by the arery something massive happened here and Micha has come here likely to undo amica’s actions melenia has always been right about Micha he truly is the most fearsome imperian of all but cycling once again back to that

Flavor texes we do get a little bit of the history of the lands of Shadow there is an unsung war that is mentioned what is this war well thankfully Miyazaki again once again offers some interesting insights via the IGN interview where he spoke of the metal fire wickerman enemy

That you see in the game and he said the following of this particular enemy okay so this giant basket of flame as you so eloquently put it Mitchell was a terrible weapon you used in a war occurred in the land of Shadow basically so again without saying too much we

Can’t give away the name just yet officially but yes it was a really gruesome weapon that was used and the killing you see is actually the remains of bodies that were put in there to burn presumably Miyazaki can’t release the name of this enemy because it has some story significance that we’ll all

Immediately get perhaps it’s a weapon that’s fueled by the bodies of the tarnish given that they can’t truly die or perhaps it names the race and culture that used to live here and miazaki doesn’t want to reveal that yet given it’s using the burned bodies of the

Fallen perhaps it’s the bodies of those that have been defeated and it would name that culture and he just doesn’t want us to know that yet this particular enemy then was was used as a weapon in this war a war so terrible that it is literally formed of hundreds of bodies

That are being burned an NPC from the trailer comments on the war talking about the people who were on the losing side of it as she says they will never Saints they just happen to be on the losing side of a war was this war part of America’s Conquest that we learn

About and was actually the very first of them was there a society here that was once opposed to the rule of the earth Tree in Mar we can only imagine what terrible act am must have done to form the Earth tree and leave the Land of

Shadows in this state so no wonder the people that lived here would have opposed her indeed we previously looked at the quote from famitsu and it confirms that there was a culture here prior to the Earth tree and all of this reinforces to me that this was the very

First of Queen Mar’s conquest and this land was completely devastated as she created the UR tree I am intrigued to know more but knowing marica’s ruthless nature I have no doubt that she is behind this war for whatever reason we will discuss Mesmer next and I will explain how I believe Mesmer was

Actually aligned with Queen Marica despite his rather heretical appearance I believe he is amica’s representative here the chosen demigod who rules over this Shadow domain on behalf of his mother to make sure whatever she has achieved here will not be undone or ES escape with that said let us unpack

Mesmer the main focus of my attention in this trailer was of course Mesmer the Impaler so named by the collector’s addition and helmet that’s been sold clearly the antagonist and probably final boss to this new expansion there’s a lot to unpack here with his visual design alone so let’s just jump right in

And start unpacking his lore I want to start with some of his dialogue which is rather revealing as he says mother would thou truly lordship s anyone so bere of light Mesmer refers to his mother here and questions why she would put a tarnished on the throne to

Me this mother can be none other than Mara herself Mara is of course relevant to this DLC and Marica as I’ve discussed in numerous L videos has had a hand in guiding the T to take the throne and this therefore would make sense of this dialogue we learned that it was her who

Placed hug in Round Table hold in order to assist the tarnished in killing a God the Elden Beast oh your Divinity have mercy and Grant me forgiveness the road is yet long a God is not easily failed but one day without fail you will have your wish so please grant me forgiveness

America this of course means that she wanted the tarnish to defeat the Elden beast and set the throne Gideon’s interpretation of America not wanting us to succeed in my opinion is wrong and in my opinion is the result of him being manipulated by Radigan whose well he

Believed to be maricas but I discussed this more in my Radigan video so I would direct you there as such I think Mesmer questioning the validity of a tarnished as Lord is a question posed to Marica so that is his mother he is another of her demigod children we know there are other

Demig gods that we haven’t faced in game the Bandai Namco article from pre-launch regarding the story trailer talks about the numerous demig Gods who were slaughtered in the night of the black knives not just Godwin unnamed dead demigods then we also know from the mosum solder Ash’s item description that

The wandering mums contain unknown dead demigod again other children of America that we just don’t know the names of so it shouldn’t be too surprising that we are facing another child of Queen Mar another demigod that wasn’t present in the lands between because he has been

Here in the Land of Shadows looking at his physical form we can see that he has red hair suggesting he is off the line of Mara and Radigan much like Micha and melenia perhaps this is an unknown older sibling who left for the Land of Shadows

Before they were born the user amig gopp on Twitter DMD me to share a theory with me that perhaps these smoldering butterflies represent Mesmer as the aonian ones represent melenia and the nent ones represent Micha this is a great idea that reinforces the Symmetry behind the idea

That Mesmer is of the mara Radigan lineage so yeah massive shout out to user Amigo who not only shared this Theory with me but was kind enough to let me use their image that they created for this comparison I’m very grateful Additionally the first letter of

Mesmer’s name fits with what we know in the game rigan’s children with ranala all begin with the letter R as if after their mother Reichard radan and rannie whereas rigan’s children with Marica all begin with the letter M as if after her mola melenia and now Mesmer there was

Also a really great observation made on Twitter by the user Dylan who pointed out that the statue behind Mesmer shown in the trailer is most likely to be a statue of Mara the braid matches the signature swirling cloth is also present the statue behind Mesmer is cradling a child perhaps Mesmer himself again

Massive shout out to Dylan this is a great observation in fact as I was writing this section on the script I read the IGN interview where it is outright confirmed by Miyazaki that Mesmer is indeed one of amica’s demigod children he says the following you may

Have seen at the end of the trailer there was a piece of key art where it shows Mesmer sat in his throne-like chair and people who have played the game May recognize this Throne to be one of those from the bossom where you battle more God and this represents the

Thrones at the base of the earth tree and it’s supposed to symbolize that Mesmer stands on equal footing to these other demigods and Children of America who sat around in these Thrones and held the rooms of the earth tree so he’s an important figure who Rivals these other

Demigods and as you play the DLC you will learn a little about why he wasn’t featured in The Legends of the earth tree the lands between you’ll realize why he existed in this Shadow this land of Shadow we will return to the other aspects of this quote shortly that deals

With his position but I want to H the fact that it says he is on equal footing to the other demigods and other children of America and if this isn’t clear enough for you the fitsu article straight up names him amica’s child with that said and kind of established that

This is another demigod and child of Amica let’s talk about the appearance of Mesmer as there’s tons of detail here first of all he seems to be wielding the blood flame and his spear his impaling spear very much looks like Mo’s Trident except with just one prong obviously

This makes us think that there is an association with the formless mother a force somewhat heretical to the golden order and as we discuss Mesmer more you will see that this really is a pattern with him I mentioned blood flame and the formless mother but could there also be

A connection to the Blood star this is interesting because I am actually working on a Blood star video that should be out in the next week or so but returning to Mesmer if we look at the cover art the concept art we see Mesmer sitting on his throne with his hand open

And there seems to be a blood flame in his hand but from these Flames seems to be Thorns this makes us think of the sorceries of the guilty and that associated with The Blood star the rest of his getup is also similarly heretical he is of course covered and adorned in

Snakes we know from the DM that the snake is considered in urry society to be heretical or in opposition to the Earth tree and thus in these gladiatorial games people used to enjoy the snakes on the helmet of these Duelists be beaten up in past videos I

Have ruminated on why the snake is so hated it can’t just be because of Reichard is that is a recent event and the gladiatorial games date back to Godfrey’s era so there must be something older in the history of the earth tree and the people of Grace that makes them

Hate the snakes perhaps we will learn more now perhaps the snakes were some of the culture that lived in these lands of Shadow it will be interesting to uncover if there’s any connection between him and Reichard and gmir as we’ve discussed we already think these smoldering butterflies are ones that are possibly

Associated with Mesmer and of course one of the main locations you can find these smoldering butterflies is Mount gmir coupled with the association with snakes I think there has to be something here in mesmer’s past that has something to do with Mount gmir but all we can do is

Wait and find out there is another important detail regarding mesmer’s appearance it is difficult to see but if you pause at the moment it zooms in on his face it seems as though one of his eyes are sealed his left eye this follows the visual design of melan and

Ranny what is the relevance of such a ceiling in melan’s case it is heavily hinted that it is related to her possible past as the Glide queen and the seiling of destined death will Mesmer have a hidden power that is sealed away as well the frenzied flame something new

Only time will tell having looked at all this what becomes clear is it just marks mesmero as someone who surrounds himself with the heretical this brings me to what I see as one of the most interesting bits of symbology that I think tells us a lot about mesmer’s Rule

And the land of shadows as a whole Miyazaki stated that while they land between are basically lit up by the radiance of the earth tree this realm is the opposite this is a realm that lives in the shadow of the earth tree and is heterodox to the order of Grace that

Exists this brings me me to the interesting sigil found on mesmer’s Impaler it is two half circles inv versions of one another and to me it immediately means one thing as above so below again whether this is literally an inverted Shadow realm that exists underneath the real world like an

Inverted Shadow or has some other kind of relationship or makeup remains to be seen but to me this symbol found on his Impaler perfectly represents the idea that this is the shadow realm of the ER tree or at least that’s what it’s become since the her tree was gated this brings

Us to another interesting detail that is shown by the collector’s edition of all things on the image for the Mesmer collector statue and boy what a statue we can see he wears a Sigil on the back of his cloak like most of the demigods who have their own house sigil this same

Sigil is shown more clearly on the collector’s edition box and we can presume that this is mesmer’s house heraldry that represents his Rule and ideals the sigil shows some very interesting imagery there are of course the snakes enemies of the earth tree there appears to be what is a flame

Which could be the blood flame of the formless mother or the frenzi flame indeed it does almost seem to be the same sigil as the frenzy Flame or is at least very similar though I also know it looks very similar to the dragon communion sigil which you’ll see here

This is also most interesting because mesmer’s armor that he’s wearing is very similar in appearance to the Drake set and the Drake Knight set is also related to Dragon communion as the armor set reads the following black iron armor worn by Drake Knights features The

Spoils of a dragon catch as an emblem of Pride as both a Dragon Hunter and partaker of communion again Dragon communion seems to be one of the darker elements of lands between Society you’re warns us that while this provides great strength eventually one will lose themselves to their hunger and in indeed

Those who continue to partake in Dragon communion Beyond which is sensible become the magma worms those dragons are cursed to crawl the Earth for their sins in sure I do therefore think is likely that Mesmer is once again associated with this heretical practice perhaps he was one of the first people to partake

In such a heretical Act of eating a dragon’s heart however there’s another aspect of his visual design that suggests to me it is likely that he has taken part in Dragon communion for if you zoom in on his open eye you can see it’s the serpent eye of one who has

Eaten dragon hearts for those unaware in the base game if you take Dragon communion enough times your character’s eyes will actually transform to similar eyes like Mesmer though again time will tell if this visual design has anything actually to do with dragon communion on the other side of the sword opposite to

The flame is what appears to be a Halo or a crown made of branches does this crown of Twisted wood signify his lineage that he is in fact the child of the Goddess Mara the ruler of the UR Tre Society or does it mean something else

We have to wait and see I guess the amount of things heterodox to the Earth tree found in this DLC trailer makes me believe that the land of shadows as the name would imply is a place that is the opposite of the earth tree a place where

Things that are spurned by the Earth tre’s Grace do exist we even see that the old have a presence here the lion Dragon boss that was showcase quite clearly has Omen horns sprouting from it as well as the people underneath the dragon having Limbs and feet that are

Reminiscent of more gods for example just as an aside fellow content creator AEL made an excellent observation that at a certain frame you can see this is actually made up of two Omens standing on top of each other this makes sense as this is something I initially thought

When I saw this boss that it’s like the Chinese Dancing Dragon the lion or dragon head however you want to look at it is just like a costume that’s been put over the top of two Omens a costume that has been puppeteered by The Omen underneath note earlier on in the

Trailer when you see this boss a hand seems to adjust the dragon’s face as if it’s a mask or a prop now returning to Mesmer in short he is the ruler of the shadowlands all things dark that aren’t allowed to be existing within the realm

Of the earth tree and I believe that he rules this realm on behalf of America that he is aligned with her or at least was initially there are a few reasons why firstly for someone who seems to surround himself with so much heresy he seems to share the disdain for the

Tarnish that people in Ary Society do as well referring to them as those bereft of light secondly his relationship with Marica seems not to be combative as we can judge from that tiny bit of dialogue as you would expect from a lord of heresy who wants to destroy her world

Instead he speaks to her cordially and of course as we’ve discussed it seems as though there’s a statue of Mar in his throne room speaking volumes about his original Allegiance aside from that the throne that he sits upon that we talked about earlier Miyazaki spoke of in the

IGN interview is exactly the same as the one found in Lindell suggesting that it was crafted by America and her Society speaking of that quote Miyazaki says that Mesmer stands on equal footing to the other demigods and again just the language used by Miyazaki here makes me

Think that he was elevated to this position by Mara herself he has a role to play here under her rule to contain these things that are no longer meant to be in the world of Grace and to make sure whatever she did to create the Earth tree and the golden order is not

Undone by anyone in the Land of Shadows indeed if I’m correct about this relationship it would be somewhat analogous to to gwy and his relationship with his daughter fanor a long hidden child who he tasked with overseeing something dangerous she was the one who oversaw the seal at the ringed City an

Important task to seal Away the Dark Soul again returning to the flavor text from Bandai namco’s website it says that these lands are purged By mesmer’s Flame reinforcing the idea that he is here to keep the Dennis of these lands down he is to rule over them control them likely

On behalf of America now I do want to caveat this with the idea that I think he was initially set up by America as the Lord of these lands but it’s likely that he became more despotic and corrupted over time which is unsurprising given how much he is surrounded by the

Heretical after all Mesmer the Impaler certainly makes one think of Vlad the Impaler a ruler of wakia whose cruel acts and methods of torture and killing became the original INSP spiration for the story of Dracula the vampire like Vlad has Mesmer become a despot cruel and twisted Beyond his original purpose

Again we will just have to wait and see I think it’s time to reach a conclusion here and summarize what my overall thoughts are on what the story May well be I think the Land of Shadows is a land that was created as it is now

By Mar in her quest to create the Earth tree it was originally connected to the real universe but because of her actions she somehow disconnected it from there and now clearly plays an important role in the cosmological structure of this new world however while the world of

Grace with the Ury may be seen as a sort of Heaven this is clearly the hell living in the shadow of the earth tree rather than under its Grace here are all the things deemed heretical The Omen those who live in death outer gods and Mesmer a child of America was the chosen

Dead demigod who was meant to watch over this realm and make sure things stay as they are in order to preserve the realm of the earth tree Mara gave him a throne and imbued him with lordship and thus he became the shadow Lord a dark reflection of the Elden Lord in

Lell I think that Micha has come here to undo this and somehow cleanse these lands we know that Micha wants to make a future free from the medling of the Gods a purer version of the Erry or order perhaps Micha will completely undo this or at least clean these lands from the

Shadow of the her tree beyond that we cannot truly know why he wants to do this nor how it plays into his ultimate goals or how it will affect a new ending or even if ml is tricking us and everything we’ve learned about him is just a facade and he is just as

Capricious as any of the other gods time will tell but I think this is the general Direction the Story will take so thanks guys that is my take on the shadow of the urry trailer and it story implications this was a lot of speculation of course and I will have

Missed things as I said this isn’t a frame by frame analysis so please let me know your thoughts in the comments below as well as any interesting connections that you have made but in the meantime remember to subscribe and like as I will of course be covering the lore of Elden

Ring when the DLC comes out and I will be in the period between then and now as there are a few subjects in the base game I want to cover but until next time guys I will see you in the lands of Shadow take care and have a wonderful night