Hello, Iâm Gray and this is my Elden Ring sideblog. I follow from @deepgrounded.On this account, Iâll post theories, the occasional drabble or fic. This account, while not having explicit NSFW, is still an 18+ only zone. Expect dark content befitting of the source material.
I adore hearing different interpretations, theories, and headcanons from others, even if I may not feel the same/agree myself. That being said, feel free to send in your own thoughts and headcanons at any point in time.
This account will contain heavy discussions of Shadow of the Erdtree.
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A compilation of evidence that Miquella bewitched Mohg prior to being taken from the Haligtree.
My second biggest argument against the charm is that it really does nothing to save anyone from pain.
Iâm someone with a lot of mental health issues, some of which I actually saw reflected within those trying to follow Miq in LOS. I understand the appeal of having a magic bandaid to all of my pain ever being applied on a deep level, and I canât say I wouldnât be tempted if Miquella approached me and offered to rid me of my problems to the point I completely forgot about them.
But that isnât fixing things. That isnât giving people the time to learn, grow, and heal. Itâs not even a bandaid, itâs throwing a rug on top a pile of broken glass and hoping nobody notices. The moment the charm is broken for any reason, theyâre reverted back to where they used to be.
Paranoia to the extent you canât even trust those who are your closest companions.
Grieving your slaughtered family and people, having no idea how to process it on your own as that pain consumes you.
The belief that your birth was something wrong and having no idea why, not understanding why your mother abandoned you and struggling to move past that to the point you think you need to devote yourself to another god and rely on him for your sense of self worth rather than address it.
Suicidal depression from a lifetime of abuse, to the point where you were constantly chasing after a form of magic that made you feel like you were dead. Thing is, Miquella didnât even address any of thatâ he only made it so Thiollier forgot about Trina, nothing more. Which left Thiollier feeling lost and aimless, stuck in the idea that heâs worthless. Arguably amongst the most selfish usages of the charm shown in canon. And if we already see the charm being used to not help the person and instead help Miquella, then yeah, we do need to worry about what could happen when Miqâs ability to doubt himself and feel love is removed entirely.
This pain can very easily start anew at any moment. For any reason whatsoever. But without the charm, Thiollier is able to grow past his mindset because we were there. Us having a confrontation with him made him understand that his idealization of Trina as a Saint rather than a person was wrong. We did help him grow and begin to heal because we were willing to confront the ugly parts of mental health that many are afraid to. And we still took him on as not just an ally, but a friend.
That is real, far more than the âfixesâ the charm would offer. That is what people actually need, and it is worth the journey.
It is sad to think about this from multiple perspectives. The charm can be broken at any time for any reason, pushing back those who had suffered so greatly back to square one with no tools to deal with their pain. Miquella believed this was the only way he could help even one of his most loyal of knights. It all reminds me of the concept of âdrinking to forgetâ in both what the charm does and how deeply unhealthy + unhelpful it truly is.
And how can I trust a God unable to love, unable to ever doubt himself with any decision, let alone with what he considers helping others in his flawed idea of an Age of Compassion? How can I trust that one day the charm wouldnât once again break for some reason, leading those who were charmed to revert back to how they used to beâ pain, suffering, anger, malice, all of it. This isnât even going into how I think Miquellaâs willingness to use this power prior to becoming a God time and time again- especially for selfish reasons -is a really fucking bad sign. Every single aspect of the charm is deeply flawed, just as the Age of Compassion. As fascinating as his powers are from a character analysis standpoint, it is awful.
Curiosity poll. On a scale of 1-5, with 1 being âso easy I can do this in my sleepâ and 5 as âI put this down in the first area and will never touch it againâ,
How difficult was Elden Ring to play for you?
1
2
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5
Havenât Played/Results
Voting ended onMay 9
Feel free to elaborate in tags! Especially to note as to whether or not this was your first Soulsborne/Soulslike. And feel free to mention if DLC was anything super different for you as well!
Tumblr is rolling out a new reblog/notes system that completely disregards creators. In their new system, they're taking a twitter-style approach where reblogs will have their own notes that DO NOT contribute to the original post's notes.
Because of this, creators will no longer be able to see an accurate display of likes/reblogs/etc. This is completely altering the way feedback and responses to works are going to be received on this website.
If you come across a fan work that you enjoy, please take the extra step to go to OPs original post, and leave your comment/like/reblog there. Or go one step further and send an ask to OP directly to tell them what you liked!
I really hope Tumblr staff reverses course and reverts to the original reblog system for the sake of the large base of creators who use this site to share their works, but until then, please be considerate and make sure the creators here see/feel the love.
The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve.Â
Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, youâll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.
If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.
Past notes will stay on the original post â we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.
This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out â stay tuned!
Seriously, this is a tumblr-killer feature. This breaks the most fundamental way tumblr is different from any other social network. This makes tumblr just another blueskytwitterthreads. Or worse: An unfederated mastodon clone.
Please, mutuals, post about this, comment and reblog the original post (while you still can without making it your own quote-post). I don't know if staff is looking or if the feedback would matter, but seriously, this is a terrible change that would kill tumblr as we know it. Please, don't roll it out.
look, I can endure any kind of UI changes that are supposed to help tumblr-rookies to understand how this works. They may be a nuisance, but that's ok, we have x-kit or we can get used to buttons being here or there.
But this. This changes the data architecture. This changes the SINGLE THING that makes tumblr the "... yes and" website. This KILLS THE COLLABORATIVE POSTING THAT MAKES THIS SITE DIFFERENT FROM ALL THE OTHER MEDIA PLATFORMS.
Tumblr has explicitly said in the past that they do not look at comments on their updates posts. You have to PUT IN A SUPPORT TICKET AND SELECT FEEDBACK FROM THE DROPDOWN
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âAnsbach is dishonest!â and this is how he is regarded by the text and Leda and Freyja:
Additionally, here is some dialogue from him that reflects more of his views on both Miquella and Leda:
To nip âbut heâs done violent thingsâ in the bud, Iâll just say so has nearly every single other character. The few that are not violent, especially in the DLC, are the exception, not the rule.
Anyways, something I really like is Trinaâs voice. I appreciate that she does not sound like a child at all, which highlights even more how her current state is not her natural one. Iâve always found the usage of âpoor thingâ really nice as well, as it highlights her care for Miquella and also feels like something an adult would say rather than a child. Itâs good characterization.
Since PCR is inevitable this playthrough, I will list my more refined 2026 thoughts about it. Once I get to PCR proper, Iâll likely post my âfresherâ views on both lore and gameplay (as I have genuinely not fought PCR since patch because I hold no desire to).
TLDR; I still hate it, and think this plot point is awful for everyone involved lore wise.
PCR, as we all know, famously has no buildup or hints alluding to it whatsoever in the base game. However, I would argue that the DLC does little to build it up conceptually as well. Over and over, we get told about the vow without actually saying anything about it, something which has led fans to argue about the contents of said vow. Is it âletâs get married and you will be my Elden Lordâ, âletâs get married and you will be my Elden Lord for the Age of Compassion btw there will be no more war after that jsykâ, âletâs get married but only on the condition you are killed firstâ, etc etc. Not only that, but we never actually get to hear the opinions of either party of the vow. Did Radahn enthusiastically agree? Did he initially agree and then backtrack? Did Miquella genuinely want to do this? Does Miquella even hold genuine care towards Radahn beyond âas a kid I thought you were niceâ? Does Miquella view this as a necessity to do for his ideal Age, does he regret having to choose a warlord who adores the warlords of TGO, the list goes on.
Which, if this is going to be a key plot element, is crucial to make clear. Elden Ring in general is a lot more clear than previous Soulsborne games, so it makes the lack of clarity even more baffling. Radahn is never given a voice, both in the literal cutting of the dialogue they initially planned and in how other characters speak for him. We never learn if Freyja is right in her assessment that Radahn will be happy to fight those against the Age of Compassion because heâs such a fan of war, or if Jerren- the guy he made an oath of honorable death with -is the right one and that it would not be good for Radahn at all. Maybe there could be something to be said about Radahn being turned into a figurehead meant to embody war and have his personhood stripped from him, but that sort of theme isnât something the story goes into. Instead, SOTEâs portrayal of this feels like weâre just removing more of Radahnâs character instead of letting him have anything beyond âwarlover who likes two very awful people and loves his horsey and protected a townâ. We donât even get to learn what he did that Miquella apparently found to be so immensely kind that he was an ideal fit for Lord. I can very easily list out the kind feats Miquella has done and why characters in universe find him appealing in specific detail- base game AND dlc -but I cannot tell you why Miquella finds Radahn kind beyond the nebulous âbecause the game says soâ. The kindest acts we learn he has done are during the events of the Shattering, which did not occur while Miquella was a child.
Is it any wonder then that to this day we still have people firmly arguing on whether or not Radahn even consented to the vow (whatever it was!) when the game gives us nothing about it or what either party genuinely think about it now? I feel that it is far more likely that Radahn broke the vow for whatever reason given what we know of him in the base game (Jerren says hi!) and how he very notably doesnât speak and how odd his behavior is phase transition onwards. This isnât the post for that, however, because regardless of whether he agreed or not this is an extremely poor plot element.
The core of PCRâs existence is based on the deaths of Radahn and Mohg, but⌠that is very, very weird. It is so unlike Miquella to make a plan that is based on him crossing his fingers and hoping someone else does the work for him. As I recently posted, there is way more evidence of him in base game and dlc willingly working alongside Mohg for however long and have posted that it being a kidnapping and Miquella having charmed him in self defense has some very notable points against these concepts because the idea that itâs a kidnapping makes less sense the more you think about it, but⌠the idea that he specifically wanted to use Mohgâs body as a vessel for Radahnâs soul feels very shoved into the plot of both base game and dlcâ like trying to put a square in a circle hole. It genuinely does not add up with anything we are shown in game, and it really, genuinely feels like it is there for the sake of being convoluted, impossible for any players to guess. It doesnât make Miquella look intelligent. It makes him look clueless, waiting and waiting for some tarnished to somehow gain strength to kill one of the strongest demigods and gain access to the palace grounds and kill another very, very strong demigod. Miquella in the base game, who is shown to be the type to always be pushing forward and doing everything in his power to achieve his goals, would not be doing any of that.
That isnât even going into PCRâs design. It does little to convey the horror of what is actually going on here and while it is revolting that Mohgâs horns are all but stripped from his body, I canât even tell if that was the intention behind the design. PCRâs armor feels⌠comical. Something notably less real than Starscourgeâs, befitting more of an action figure than the strongest demigod who is also the final final boss btw. Am I meant to take the abs seriously? Because I donât. The lack of anything to do with Mohg is such a strange choice, both visually (Ranni transferring her soul into a body of a doll did not make it become similar to her original self) and in terms of gameplay. It feels, like the plotline itself, tacked on when there is application of his design and powers.
But that isnât even going into what they did for Miquella.
See, I always fear that readers may get the misconception that rather than PCR, I had wanted Promised Consort Mohg. After all, I do make a point out of bringing up how the idea that there was a kidnapping makes no sense for Mohgâs character (someone who showed no interest in upholding the system put in place by TGO) and how certain plot points only make sense if you consider that Miquella was willingly spending time with him prior to going in the cocoon. But thatâs not it. I donât want a Promised Consort Radahn or a Promised Consort Mohg.
I wanted Miquella.
The existence of the âPromised Consortâ as a final boss holds the great sin of taking focus away from Miquella in both the story and in fandom spaces. In what was meant to be Miquellaâs story and its conclusion, we instead get Radahn. We barely get any mention of Malenia, whom Miquella literally began his journey for. We get Radahn. In cutscenes, we barely learn anything about Miquella. We get him clinging onto Radahnâs back, acting as his Serosh. Miquella, who has his personhood removed by the people who worship him in game now has more of his identity stripped from him by the game itself by not even letting us fight him proper. He isnât even allowed to utter his final words. Instead, we get a cutscene that reveals nothing but the model of a cursed Miquella and we are just told âoooh, the vowâ.
This isnât some genius meta narrative move. It just sucks. Theres a million ways a battle against Miquella could have gone, we can even see the magic he uses, so there was no excuse to not fight him proper. Even the bug imagery he had in the base game is taken from him. Instead of having a moment rightfully focused on such an important character, we instead turn the spotlight on a boss we already beat in the mid-game and learn nothing new about him either. It was so easy to set up thematically too; Miquella in the base game is haunted by failure after failure of his own making, and how even now when he tries to ascend to godhood after the methods he used failed in the past he practically fails now, but hey, at least he has us to put a face to his failures on. After all, we killed people important to him. Maybe he could be angry. Maybe after removing his emotions he just sees us as the most ideal person to fix and bring us peace. Something. ANYTHING.
But instead, all we got is Radahn, who Miquella âlovedâ for no real reason. And that is all the discussions surrounding him have become due to the audacity of his presence. Fuck, even Iâm contributing to it by listing out all the reasons I hate PCR and think it was the worst writing decision From has ever concocted but as someone who has adored Miquella since day 1, how can I not talk about it?
I still stand my belief that Divine Beast Dancing Lion is the perfect first boss for SOTE and it will always perfectly capture the beauty and tragedy inherent to the DLC.
Anyways, I am almost back to the DLC in this replay and made significant progress on the TFM Essay. Expect Messmer posts and the like in the near future.
A disjointed, incomplete list of evidence that points to Mohg and Miquella actively and willingly interacting with each other:
⢠The Writheblood Ruins is a location that holds symbols for the both of them. There is a Sanguine Noble, there are numerous sprouts of Sacramental Buds growing here (which as we know, contain Miquellaâs own blood), there is the Bloody Helice, a weapon carried by the Nobles that is in the shape of a helix- Miquella symbolism -and essentially functions as a weaponized form of one of his needles, designed to bore into flesh just as they are.
⢠Mohg is referred to by name by a follower of Miquellaâs, when his name is so unknown by the public that not even Gideon has heard of it. This implies a notable familiarity⌠especially since, given where the Haligtree is located, Mohg couldnât have just popped up there one day uninvited. He not only had to get a medallion, he had to go through the secret passage, Ordina and through that teleporter to the Haligtree/Elphael itself. This is something Miquella had to have allowed, considering what it takes to go there. And Miquella⌠mustâve spent substantial time with him there for any random follower to recognize him as Mohg rather than the Lord of Blood.
⢠The teleporter to Mohgwyn built near enough to the Haligtree is additional proof of this. Do you think that it went completely unnoticed by everyone who lived there? Especially the likes of the Cleanrots, the Needle Knights, Malenia and Leda? Or you know, not noticed by Miquella. He is a very aware person, heâs traveled all around the Snowfields, he would know.
⢠The blood association. They both utilize blood very prominently in their magic. Guys. Why do we not talk about this.
⢠Ansbach challenged Miquella and cleaved him open. Not the cocoon, Miquella himself. He got charmed. Then, Leda somehow learned about this fact after the event. How would any of that happen if Miquella was kidnapped, in his cocoon, and asleep? It couldnât. The wording makes it clear Miquella was active and awake at this point. The fact that Leda knows about firmly sets it in being before he was cocooned, tooâ because she, someone that was not involved in the Dynasty herself, genuinely would have no way of knowing that it happened unless Miquella himself told her. Which also means he was free to come and go from the palace grounds as he pleased.
⢠Additionally, after this event is likely when the medal for the Purebloods had been changed, as the modern one holds a depiction of lilies upon it.
⢠âA sovereign alliance rots from within. Traces yet remain of a bloody conspiracy.â Do I even have to say anything.
please, when playing âElden Ring Nightreignâ˘ď¸â do not draw the grafted blade greatsword. the passive âthe power of vengeanceâ may seem like a great boon to your expedition, but forever will vengeance mar your eternal soul..! abstain.
In my humble opinion, fans should not disregard the "translation" of Elden Ring or any of the soulsborne games. The default, spoken dialogue of these games is English. There is no "dub". This has been the case in all soulsborne games Fromsoft made since Demon Souls.
This is a very intentional design choice Miyazaki made, due to his own history. This is how he tells his stories.
As such, the spoken dialogue (and thus the direct English transcripts of the dialog) is just as essential to the story as the OG Japanese text. There is no mistake. It merely shines deeper meaning onto the story. both need to be used to get the full picture.
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