Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree AMV - Cast No Shadow
A small homage to Elden Ring, for the second anniversary of Shadow of the Erdtree.
Time and again, FromSoftware have presented such beautiful and fascinating worlds, alongside stories that have inspired and fueled the creativity of so many. I cannot truly express my appreciation and respect, so I hope this conveyed at least some of it.
When comes the next story, let us go together.
Song: "Cast No Shadow." Shadow Academy, 2022
Artist: Shadow Academy
Credit and thanks to the following channels for select clips used:
https://www.youtube.com/@DebugMenu
https://www.youtube.com/@CRE5T
https://www.youtube.com/@bonfirevn
All other visuals are derived from official FromSoftware media.
Fortissax Was Godwyn’s Consort, and the Golden Lineage Are Draconians
I realize that I am far from the first to propose this idea, but nonetheless, I would like to present my personal reasoning for it, and why I believe it lends itself to a more complete and compelling narrative.
The first matter to address is the Golden Lineage itself, the dynastic pedigree begun by Marika and Godfrey. Godwyn the Golden, “scion of the golden bough” and “prince of gold,” is strongly implied to be Marika’s eldest demigod son, and is stated to be of the Golden Lineage; though never technically stated outright, it is widely presumed that the Golden Lineage continued through him, and rather reasonably, as no one else is implied to have done so. Marika and Godfrey did certainly have other publically-known children, given the key condition of true membership in the Roundtable Hold is claiming a Great Rune from a shardbearer demigod, and demigods are “each and all the direct offspring of Queen Marika.” However, the demigods presented in the course of the game's narrative are evidently those of greatest note, those who sought to make of themselves lords or gods; as Marika herself warned her children, “should ye fail to become aught at all, ye will be forsaken. Amounting only to sacrifices.” The Golden Lineage, meanwhile, is framed as a distinctly significant bloodline, having shamefully dwindled to diluted dregs in the form of Godefroy/Godrick. Lacking even an allusion to any noteworthy figures who could stand as other possibilities, it is safe to assume Godwyn was indeed the one who propagated it after Godfrey and Marika.
This, then, raises the question of Godwyn's consort, and the conspicuous lack of any acknowledgement for them. One would imagine the spouse of Marika’s eldest would warrant a degree of reverence, as even a faint relation to the Golden Lineage is treated as a point of extreme pride. Yet, the second person to bear its scions after Marika herself is nowhere to be found. No icons, emblems, statues, tapestries, armaments, garb, or talismans enshrine the memory of the queen’s own child-in-law, nor even make mention of their existence. Godwyn's victory in the War of the Ancient Dragons, and ensuing friendship with his former foe, Fortissax, inspired an entire faith, in the form of Leyndell's Ancient Dragon Cult, yet his consort sees not even so much as a footnote.
Ranni states that, in the wake of Godwyn's murder upon the Night of Black Knives, “Marika was driven to the brink,” while a Finger Reader Crone in the Deeproot Depths laments, “Oh, Lord Godwyn… Such cruelty, such humiliation... My poor, sweet lordling should have died a true death. As the first of the demigods to die.” This Crone is internally labeled as Godwyn's Wet Nurse, an identity alluded to in the Talisman Pouch's description. Godwyn's “inner circle of distinguished golden knights” remain unwavering in their loyalty, donning their own death masks as visards, and journeying into the Realm of Shadow to guard his cadaver surrogates. Like Godwyn’s present descendants, these knights wield axes, the weapon which serves as “an emblem of the golden lineage,” representing the strength of its patriarch; between this, and Godwyn’s waistcloth bearing the same blue hue and “Herb of Many Aspects” motif as Godfrey’s cape, one can safely assume Godwyn to have enjoyed a fair amount of esteem and recognition from his father. Across the land, Godwyn appears to have unilaterally inspired adoration and devotion, yet, following his death, nowhere is there any mention of a grieving spouse, of children bereft of their father. Paradoxically, he is both the only viable candidate for having continued the Golden Lineage, and entirely lacks any reference hinting at such a role. It is practically as though all record of his consort has been scrubbed away, as though there were something shameful or illicit about them.
This leaves the audience to infer either that Godwyn had no children, or else that his consort was secretly a figure associated with him in a manner only explicitly platonic, and excepting his immediate family, no one but Fortissax is indicated to have been especially close with Godwyn. Given the ancient dragon’s willingness to fight “long and hard against the Death within its companion,” to the point of utter corruption, it is clear Godwyn made quite an impression when he himself “fought to the last, earning the friendship of dread Fortissax.” In turn, the Ancient Dragon Cult which arose from their bond models a particular dynamic between humans and dragons, via the ancient dragons who take “human” form to commune with knights as priestesses, a practice inherited from the earlier Dragon Communion faith. Fortissax’s sister, Lansseax, engaged in this, with her most favored knight being Vyke, and our own Tarnished experiences this via Florissax. Both demonstrate this dynamic as echoing the chivalric, quasi-romantic devotional bond of a knight and their sworn lady, much like the dynamic between a Tarnished and their Finger Maiden.
Both pairings also specifically invoke the term “love.” According to Dragonbolt Blessing, “Only those loved by dragons can survive the ordeal of cladding their bodies in lightning,” while Vyke’s Dragonbolt states that he was the knight who Lansseax “loved the most,” and Dragonbolt of Florissax notes, “There was a time when the priestess never knew love, and thus never used this incantation herself.” She both gives this incantation and uses it as a spirit, having sworn herself to the Tarnished as her new lord; for this reason, her spirit ash states, “Now, she has acquired a human heart.”
Aside from a thematic subversion of human drake warriors claiming the literal hearts of dragons, this line alludes both to Florissax having the Tarnished’s “heart” in a relational sense, and to her own nature having become more human than dragon. As she explains, emotions such as “bottomless hunger and fiery ambition,” the “fierceness of spirit that only flows from those young and short of sight,” are very alike to the volatile and ornery Bayle, and are also “unfathomable to ones as old as [ancient dragons].” Such is overtly evocative of Dark Souls’s Hawkeye Gough: “Exhilaration, pride, hatred, rage… The dragons teased out our dearest emotions.” Just as the enmity between Gough and Kalameet parallels that of Igon and Bayle, so too do each worlds’ stony, everlasting ancient dragons reflect one another. Indeed, “teasing out” humans' passion is exactly what Placidusax desires for partakers of dragon communion, and that passion is exactly what stokes the hearts of dragons, their natural state being the implacable patience embodied by Placidusax, whose own name is derived from the Latin for “still/calm/peaceful.” Additionally, Florissax “offers her own sleep” to the Dragonlord each night, in return receiving “the power of His favor,” which she then bestows via the Ancient Dragon’s Blessing, directly mirroring Fia’s Baldachin’s Blessing, the description of which reads: “The favor allows one to forget any aches and pains. In Death, there is only peace, for in Death, there can be no sensation.” Yet, Florissax is stirred from her draconic tranquility, both by the Tarnished’s defeat of Bayle, and by their sabotage of her nightly ritual, granting her the solace of slumber even though she did not ask for such an indulgence.
This further contextualizes how Godwyn earned Fortissax’s respect and loyalty by defeating and sparing it. The establishment of their bond directly parallels that of the Tarnished and Florissax: proof of strength through glorious victory, followed by gentle mercy, and a dragon choosing to take up a new lord. To overcome a dragon’s detached, ascetic stoicism and earn its love is no mean feat, for “expressions of love are among the most fickle.” Yet, even if Fortissax did not bear Godwyn’s children, it is all but undeniable that it loved him in the same manner Lansseax and Florissax love their favored knights. Fortissax’s devotion even puts it in direct conflict with Fia, who seeks to lay with Godwyn as a consort-equivalent, labeling herself “the companion of Godwyn, Prince of Death,” just as the Remembrance of the Lichdragon labels Godwyn as Fortissax’s “companion.” There is a fairly unsubtle implication to the fact that, for Fia to take her desired place at Godwyn’s side, the one who forsook life and lord for him must be slain. Just as the ancient dragons of the prior era “would protect their lord as a wall of living rock,” so does Fortissax do for its chosen lord, even forsaking rest while taking on a Death which offers no peace. And just as Godwyn’s youngest brother, Miquella, prays, “O brother, lord brother, please die a true death,” so is Fortissax committed to letting Godwyn rest, and honoring the true memory of him, rather than the corrupted legacy it is narratively at odds with. It is no coincidence that Kristoff, a knight of the Ancient Dragon Cult, was the one to capture Godefroy the Grafted, now held in the Golden Lineage Evergaol, nor that Godrick the Grafted’s final words, “one day, we'll return together… to our home, bathed in rays of gold…,” echo those of Fia’s nemesis, Devin: “Honeyed rays of gold, deliver my spirit.” The sullied course of the Golden Lineage and the last vestiges of its pride; the woman who gives herself to Godwyn in death and the dragon who gave itself to him in life; each spiraling together ‘til both collide and perish.
Regarding Godrick, though, his dialogue is also a key hint to Fortissax’s true relation to Godwyn. Addressing the deceased drake in his courtyard, Godrick states, “Mighty dragon, thou'rt a trueborn heir[…] Lend me thy strength, o kindred. Deliver me unto greater heights.” To many, this reads as simply poetic language, speaking to how Godrick views himself as kin in spirit to dragons, and to the fallen glory of the Golden Lineage, with Godrick foolishly likening himself to the feeble “lowborn descendants,” for whom the ancient dragons have naught but hatred. However, FromSoft is often wont to hide information in plain sight, via seemingly metaphorical speech that is, in reality, extremely literal. And, as relayed by Kenneth Haight, Godrick did once live in the capital; combined with his fixation upon the Golden Lineage, it is all but impossible for him to be unaware of the true history and dynamic of the dragons and drakes. Moreover, Godrick is a far descendant of Marika, “a distant relation… The runt of the litter, his divine blood sorely diluted.” Yet, not only does he bear a Great Rune, otherwise reserved for Marika and Radagon’s direct children, but his is “the anchor ring, found in the center of the Elden Ring.” Each Great Rune corresponds to a demigod from birth, each then inherited in the wake of the Shattering, but Godrick would not seem to properly qualify as a demigod at all, much less one who warrants such a significant Great Rune. Unless the Great Rune inherited by Godrick should have, by rights, gone to another, who could not inherit it due to being deceased. Godwyn would seem a far more fitting match for this Rune’s demigod, indeed, a perfect fit. Of course, having died prior to the Elden Ring being shattered, his Great Rune would naturally go to his closest descendant. But Godrick is, again, “a distant relation.” Why would there not be any members of the Golden Lineage closer in blood to Godwyn? With how Great Runes seem to be utterly destroyed upon being discarded or lost, it seems extremely implausible that all of Godrick’s elder relations were slain in the Shattering War, and Godrick’s Great Rune has passed through many hands while remaining conveniently intact to the present. With the relative peace and prosperity of the Golden Order pre-Shattering, and the functional immortality of its denizens, it also seems unlikely that they all passed away prior to the Shattering. Unless, of course, they were not immortal.
In the character creation menu, among the base templates, there is one called “Draconian.” Nestled between Nightfolk and Numen, both highly lore-significant races, the Draconian’s description reads, “The stony face of the people of the ancient dragons, among whom life is typically short.” A curious detail, especially given the ancient dragons’ famed immortality. Yet, it does stand to reason that beings of stone and those of flesh would not be especially compatible in yielding offspring. For one such as Marika, fixated upon eternity and boundless life, what greater scandal could there be, but for it to come out that her direct descendants, sired by her heroic, golden scion, are bereft of the abundant longevity that graces even her most common subjects. Hence, the swift passing of generations and diluting of divine blood which leads to the likes of Godrick and his ilk; pitifully frail in body, but with their only pride being their heritage, even they keep the crucial secret of the Golden Lineage’s mortality. How perfectly ironic; practically every word out of Godrick’s mouth is about the pedigree of his forefathers, yet his forefather’s idealistic affection is the very reason for the frailty that he desperately supplements by turning to a practice which haunts Marika's past. And at the same time, it is also the reason he, eldest surviving descendant of Godwyn, inherits his Great Rune.
As it happens, this directly parallels one more element of Dark Souls: the firstborn son of Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight. Despite being the spitting image of Gwyn in nearly every manner, and initially fighting alongside his father in the gods’ war against the ancient dragons, the firstborn ultimately defies Gwyn and chooses to side with the dragons. Though a god of war, he proves more taken with the dragons’ ascetic, meditative philosophies, and develops a lifelong bond with one drake, which may potentially have formerly been a certain fellow Dragonslayer. Though tacitly tolerated until Gwyn’s self-sacrificial departure, the firstborn is eventually stripped of his deific status and exiled from the gods’ city of Anor Londo, coming to take the epithet Nightreign players will know him by: the Nameless King. Marika’s parallels to Gwyn are many, and it follows that their eldest divine sons are similarly alike, creating a recurring theme of divine monarchs’ authoritarian measures of control being undermined by the very child who had the most reason to uphold the system. In Marika’s case, it feels most fitting that the pure permanence of her ideology, her projection of a perfect, superior, divine order, would all be secretly withered at its core due to the love between her most perfect son and a dragon, a bond forged from the very battle Godwyn fought for Marika's sake. Simple, earnest love ending a war and sabotaging Marika's projected image, only to be obscured; and just as ever, her attempts at control and suppression only led to the resurgence of her most loathed memories, in the form of grafting.
One final element worth addressing is the thematic texture to this illicit relationship. A child who bears the weight of high expectations, defying their parents’ wishes and taking a lover of a taboo identity; such a plot point carries, shall we say, overt subtext. Yet, FromSoft is hardly a studio which shies away from themes of queerness, even beyond the ever-present archetype of “blonde, androgynous, lastborn aristocratic scion and heir to a bloody legacy.” From outright queer characters, such as Solaire, Ranni, or the Executor, to characters with a thematic relation to queerness, such as Malenia or Boc, it is far from far-fetched to apply a queer lens to these stories. Godwyn and Fortissax, I would strongly argue, warrant such a lens, in large part due to Fortissax’s gender, or lack thereof. Even in the EN localization, Fortissax is referred to only as “it,” and in the JP text, Placidusax, too, is referred to with ungendered language. Conspicuously, this leaves only the priestesses and Bayle as gendered ancient dragons; the latter embodies explosive masculinity, siring the more base and bestial drakes, who are gendered, while the former very likely took feminine identities in service of their duties. In taking human form, they forsake their draconic strength for “feeble flesh,” adopting the feminine role of a holy maiden.
The very same is seen with Metyr, who is described as having been “magnificently gleaming” and a “shooting star,” yet now appears in a withered, warped, and “broken” form, a far cry from the ethereal and ungendered Maris and Elden Beast, the latter internally labeled as “NebulaDragon.” Count Ymir’s name derives from the Norse giant who gave of his flesh to create the world, and this is plainly Metyr’s lot; that she has only four fingers strongly implies that it was indeed she who bestowed the Beastmen their intelligence, and even in her fight, her offspring are born from a gruesome rending of her body. Perhaps, like the dragon communion priestesses, her female identity has come to dwell truly in her heart, though the Gazing Finger makes explicit that she resents being forced to lessen herself so. Regardless, it appears very likely that Metyr, Lansseax, and Florrisax are all instances of once-genderless beings taking on a gendered role for the sake of divine purpose.
This is significant due to the fact that Fortissax does not. That it is known as “the mightiest boulderstone” implies a very proud nature, and evidently a deserved one, given the likes of Gransax and Placidusax. Now, it is important to acknowledge that, though gendered social norms certainly exist in the world of Elden Ring, and favor men much the same as the real world, the gender of one’s spouse does not seem to be a matter of great controversy. However, Godwyn and Fortissax’s love is unsanctioned and obscured in the same manner as a queer relationship, and this analogous nature is highlighted by Fortissax’s proud refusal to define itself within the bounds of human gender. Its heart was stirred, indeed claimed, by one of Highlander stock, and should Fortissax have been at all influenced by its companion, one would expect little else but for it to mirror those whose “hearts are proud, and thus easily undone.” Even standing as a lifelong companion and secret consort, it holds true to its draconic dignity, never allowing itself to be reshaped for the sake of others’ conceptions. The Golden Lineage may not have had immortality, but they doubtless enjoyed lives of ease and plenty beyond all others in the Lands Between. To accept the inevitable passing of kin is, of course, anathema to Marika’s agenda, but such must all endure, eventually. Better to be undone with a proud heart, than to persist as little more than a hollow husk of stone. And, in any case, the love by which the Golden Lineage was sustained was not meant for any, save two fiercely thunderous souls, a mighty dragon and its beloved lord, each teasing out the other’s dearest emotions.
Nightfarers: Interpreting the Night Invaders' Titles
Throughout the various expeditions into Limveld, one may frequently encounter a rough approximation of the classic soulsborne invasion mechanic. Upon the notification “Another Condemned has invaded,” one or two Night-corrupted NPC Nightfarers will appear and attack the players. As explained by the Duchess in the Ironeye’s questline, these Night Invaders are, indeed, other worlds’ versions of the Nightfarers themselves. Having succumbed to the Night, they are now summoned to fight for it, much like the miscellaneous bosses faced at the end of each night.
Notably, however, each bears a unique title. An invading Duchess will be identified as “Night Thief,” an invading Undertaker will be “Night Profaner,” and so on. With two exceptions, each title appears to reflect a dark aspect of the Nightfarer in question, possibly that which they most fear becoming. The Nightfarers are a found family of lonesome outcasts, standing against a Night which erodes all distinction, be it physical matter, memory and history, or even selfhood. Naturally, a central theme of Nightreign is identity, and the threat of individuality being subsumed into an undifferentiated mass, condemning one to be defined by one’s worst qualities, or even by the sins of others.
In light of this, here are each of the current Nightfarers’ corresponding Night Invader titles, and the insights that I believe can be gleaned from them.
Wylder: Night Assassin
The Wylder’s is among the most interesting of the Night Invader titles, and one of the most telling. “Assassin” is plainly a term which does not apply to the Wylder himself, and would seem far more fitting for the Ironeye. Hence, even from this alone, we can infer that these titles do not reflect who the Nightfarers are, but what they fear they could be. In the Wylder’s case, I believe he fears losing himself to his mission of death, consumed by a fixation on destroying the Night and killing the Nightlord. “Don’t expect me to show the fiends any mercy,” he warns, even as he risks becoming a merciless fiend in his own right, with no hope of a life beyond the Night’s end. With his corporeal body in the outside world on the brink of giving out, and fate leading him to take on the mantle of Primordial Nightlord, his fears would seem to have been well-founded.
Duchess: Night Thief
The Duchess has lived as a “virtuous thief,” but such is she no longer. Ostensibly, at least, for she does maintain certain habits from that period in her life. It follows that she would fear the idea that all she has is stolen; simply by being born, she stole her mother's life, then stole yet more life by leaving the nomadic tribe and thus escaping the massacre brought by the Night. In turn, she stole what could well be perceived as an undeserved place in the house of the viscount who adopted her. Though the truth is that she was wholly accepted into this family, by no means does this preclude a sense of unbelonging and survivor’s guilt hanging over the Duchess. By this mindset, one could even frame her doomed fate, bound to the Shrouded Roundtable Hold, as her life-debt being paid at last.
Ironeye: Night Hunter
As a scion of the Dusken Valley Fellowship, the Ironeye plies his lethal trade solely at the direction of others, a tool to inevitably be discarded, for all the Fellowship’s children are “fated to be disposed of once they play their part.” It is only with his custodian, Isolde’s, encouragement that he carves out a Night which enables him to hunt and kill to his heart’s content, no longer leashed by the Fellowship’s orders. As such, the title of “Hunter” may refer to his fear of being defined by his servitude to the Fellowship, bereft of autonomy or freedom, bound to only his tasks and the targets set out for him. Thematically, there is also the matter of the Fellowship’s scions being Those Who Live in Death, a class of being unilaterally targeted by Golden Order Fundamentalist hunters, such as Darian. Though certainly not an in-universe reason, it is thematically fitting that the Ironeye’s counterpart would be labeled with the same term as those diametrically opposed to those of his nature.
Guardian: Night Fallen
Perhaps the most direct of the Night Invaders’ titles, “Fallen” is easily related to the Guardian’s anguish over both his curse-hobbled wing and his belief that he “failed to protect” his fellow Pinionfolk. He is himself a grounded hawk, and his kinfolk are a lost flock, unity sundered, pride and honor brought low. As his people’s “sole survivor,” it is not even speculative to assert that the Guardian is haunted by this state of affairs.
Recluse: Night Witch
Given the Recluse is already referred to as a witch, and a practitioner of heretical blood hexes, this title may come across as oddly reflective of her natural self. However, it should be remembered that, as in reality, the label of witch carries barbed, gendered connotations within FromSoft’s worlds. Sellen notes herself to be “a reviled, apostate witch,” and Ranni embraces the term in favor of her official status of “Lunar Princess.” Lone, heretical women, walking dark paths without regard for taboo; such are witches. Ranni, of course, even marks herself as a heretic via her pointed hat, much like Rogier and Alberich do as well. The Recluse, too, willingly dons this symbol of heterodoxy and counterculture; notably, her Night-themed Darkness garb bears an even larger hat, while her Gold-themed Dawn garb forgoes it in favor of a hood, speaking further to attitudes of convention regarding presentation. Even her Dark Souls skins parallel this, with one being Dark Souls III’S Karla, an isolated child of the Abyss and Dark-wielding witch, replete with pointed hat, while the other is Dark Souls II’s hooded Emerald Herald, Shanalotte, a surrogate Fire Keeper in service of hope and established legacy. Considering both the in-universe and intertextual context, the title of “Witch” likely relates to the Recluse’s apprehensions of remaining an outcast, ever alone, bereft of kinship, lost in lonesome dreams that no others could accept into the broader fold.
Scholar: Night Deceiver
Little interpretation is required to conceive of why the title of “Deceiver” would be anathema to an academic. The Scholar seeks to unravel the truths of the Night and Limveld, to bring to light knowledge which has been shrouded; in part, he is motivated by the desire to free his fellow Albinaurics of their inhibited lifespans through the Cleansing Tear, and when he discovers that he has been given to hollow hopes, the Cleansing Tear not being what he had believed, he suffers a severe crisis of faith. The notion that he peddles naught but falsehoods, deceiving not only others but himself, perhaps even burying truth rather than uncovering it, would be a horror to him, indeed.
Undertaker: Night Profaner
Though sorely mistreated by her church, seemingly a chapter of the Golden Order, the Undertaker yet derives solace and purpose from her faith, blind as it may be. Shunned and exploited, “with little else but bloodshed to call a talent,” she has no other source of comfort. An abbess absent authority, loathed for her Night-cursed flesh, relegated to funerary rites and the bloody work of Confessors. Her mission in Limveld is, by her church superior’s words, her sole means of finding peace and salvation, and she openly ponders whether she will indeed be among those granted respite by the breaking of dawn. Her greatest anxiety, quite evidently, is that her existence truly is innately profane, that she is a defiled soul with no hope of redemption, whose touch desecrates the very sacrament she upholds.
Executor: Night Executor
The Executor is one of two Nightfarers whose Night Invader counterpart, oddly enough, bears their actual title. I can conceive of two primary interpretations of this. Firstly, it may be the Executor is at peace with their nature, unburdened by the fear of what the Night may reflect within him; in the wake of their final Remembrance, and the confrontation with a manifestation of his doubt, despair, and remorse, this prospect does feel quite plausible. Alternatively, perhaps the title reflects the same concepts as the Executor’s Cry: fear of the failure their form embodies, their “cursed frame” which clung to foolish hope after “failing to return to the roots,” a living symbol of the death wrought by his composite identities’ respective hesitations. Though this mainly only works for pre-Remembrance Executor, it is the possibility that aligns more with my reading of the other Night Invader titles.
Raider: Night Raider
The Raider is the other Nightfarer whose Night Invader counterpart simply shares his actual title. Similarly, there is the interpretation that it reflects the steadfast assurance in his heart, at peace with who he is and his inevitable end; it does feel noteworthy that the Raider and the Executor’s journal questlines both culminate in a fight with their own dark reflections, coming to terms with themselves and the deaths they feel responsible for. In the Raider’s case, this leads to him laying to rest the legacy of White Horn, and reclaiming his own identity of Black Claw. To explore the pre-Remembrance alternative, though, his Night Invader title may represent his yet-unsettled fears that White Horn is truly dead, and that he has desecrated his rival’s memory by pillaging his mantle, claiming unearned glory in the manner of a “Raider.”
Revenant: Night Idol
Uniquely, the Revenant does not ever appear as a Night Invader, very likely due to her starting equipment being poorly suited to the role of an attacking NPC. However, when facing her in the fight which unlocks her as a playable character, she is identified as “Night Idol,” which notably matches the naming convention of the Night Invaders. As such, I am considering it her equivalent to these titles. Regarding significance, Daphne’s story hinges on her facing the truth of her nature, accepting that she is not Chloe Northerncroft, but rather stands as her own entity. Though she carries out Chloe’s lingering will, Daphne is free to move forward and define herself on her own terms. To be an “Idol” of the Night would entail being defined by the very force she most hates, submitting to the perceptions and values which it has imbued in her unchanging image. Thus, this title may speak to the Revenant’s fear of being nothing more than an object, an icon carved by the Night to symbolize its bitter wrath, a doll made in the image of another, devoid of life or will of its own.
That is all of the present Nightfarers and their Night Invader counterparts. If you read this far, thank you very much, and I hope these thoughts proved interesting! Should future DLC introduce new Nightfarers, I will add onto this with analyses of them, as well. Of course, I am aware that even the premise of this is quite speculative, especially as it pertains to the Nightfarers’ implicit, internal emotions, and many of these could easily be read with different meanings. By all means, please feel free to share your own interpretations!
So sweetly does the fire lick our tender flesh, to lure out the flame within our blood, that of passion, of ambition. So pungent is the serpent's venom, fang plunged deep to fill us, from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty. If sharp succor we yet take in one another, as king in ichorous red and queen in silken white, then let our fell purpose be unshaken. Let the heavens of gold peer not upon our consummate blasphemy, 'til deign we to part the dun smoke of this earthen peak, that our keen knife relish the wound it makes.
I love thinking of Miquella's established crafts (the orderly rings of his incantations, the delicate goldwork of his needles and the Spectral Steed Whistle, Malenia's limbs, even the Pulley Bow/Crossbow) and how their rigidly technical nature seems, at a glance, to be so at odds with him.
Warm compassion and gentle faith are evidently what come naturally to Miquella; he is, in so many ways, the son of his mother. Yet, for the sake of his sister, he dedicated himself to his father's pursuits, to mechanical precision and academic definition. And I wonder, for as much of an act of devotion as this was, whether these concepts resonated with him more than is generally assumed.
Miquella's approach to resolving the trauma, anguish, and despair suffered by his followers is to simply bury the memories of those painful feelings. We cannot say how he personally justified his manipulation of Mohg, but while many reasonable possibilities stand out, most would seem to point towards an altruistically utilitarian mindset, a focus on simply fitting the necessary pieces into place, and repairing as needed via replicable actions, not unlike constructing and maintaining a mechanism, or sewing together a textile or suture.
Radagon's egalitarian philosophies and Marika's righteous guidance are both easily identifiable within Miquella's vision, but perhaps it has been overlooked just how much concretely-defined physical systems played a role in his ideals. Much already points to Miquella having a strong connection with his father, and one can infer that it was, in fact, Radagon from whom Miquella learned needlework. Even his implied collaboration with Ranni aligns with him having been driven by a nuanced balance of rational pragmatism and deeply heartfelt love, perhaps more nuanced than even he himself liked. After all, sacrificing himself, reducing himself to the embodiment of an utterly pure concept, for the sake of granting love and redemption to all, would eventually become Miquella's defining act.
Scholar and Undertaker: The Resolve of Self-Acceptance
With the release of The Forsaken Hollows, it comes as little surprise that Nightreign maintains what may be its greatest strength: its character-focused storytelling and central theme of found family. This now extends to the wonderfully compelling dynamic between the Undertaker and the Scholar; a young, jaded nun resigned to quiet apathy and self-loathing, and an older, amicable academic doggedly committed to hope and purpose. One who hates her cursed body, valued only for the harm she can inflict, and one who has already transcended the confines of his cursed body, now seeking to find salvation for all those like him.
The Undertaker bears within her the power of the Night, manifesting as uncanny strength and speed, as well as monstrous skeletal growths she can pull from her mouth. In exchange for this, and her vastly extended lifespan, she must perpetually feed upon power, either that of living beings, or the Night itself. Unfortunately for one so afflicted, she would seem to belong to the Golden Order, with those outside the Lands Between perceiving Marika as much more of a vague object of worship than a tangible, living head of state, hence the Undertaker saying, “I pray to a god about whom I know nothing.” Her attire, and its embroidered symbols, are very similar to those of confessors, explicitly stated to operate outside the Lands Between, and her church has previously utilized her in essentially the same manner as a confessor, even as it left her with scars upon her back and shame in her heart for the way she exists. For any differences between the Golden Order abroad and in its heartland, this treatment is not among them. The Undertaker even preempts conversation by saying, “I am not capable of taking your confession,” making clear that, despite being an abbess, she has never held the venerated responsibility of granting solace by carrying the remorseful secrets of others.
Yet, the Scholar repeatedly tells her, “You are the only one I dare depend on,” and specifically when entrusting her to carry his secrets and preserve his knowledge. She claims to have only sought him out after his disappearance due to distrust, not expecting to save him in any way, and yet save him she does, likely the first time her skills have ever been put to use in restoring a life rather than ending one. With how she fully believes her very existence to be “loathsome,” it only follows that she would view herself as unable to save any; after all, as a Stranded Soul admonishes the Golden Order’s own unalloyed heir, “How will you salvation offer… to those who cannot be saved? When you could not even save your other self?” But all of the Nightfarers are themselves condemned, bound to their forebears’ sins, and whether she means to or not, the Undertaker indeed finds herself rescuing the Scholar and restoring his life, and later finds herself bearing the duty of keeping his legacy alive.
The Scholar, for his part, appears to draw resolve from her perseverance. Albinaurics are shunned and demeaned by the Golden Order, and especially oppressed by Liurnia's own rapacious, mercenary Cuckoo Knights; “Behold, thy defiled blood. Unlike any humor that flows in our grand realm.” His questline even implies that the rapid-aging disease which once afflicted a number of Gate Town's Albinaurics, and now the Scholar himself, was initially spread by the Cuckoos, only for their guilt to be covered up after a Carian royal vassal gave his life to develop a cure via the Cleansing Tear. Ironic, that the Scholar’s alma mater, the School of Hierodas, traces its roots back to the very academy which employs the Cuckoos, and that his only visible Albinauric traits are his blood and disease, as his use of a Primal Core appears to have enabled him to indwell a non-Albinauric frame. But rather than resenting his form and fate, he is committed to helping those who share it, only wavering on the edge of despair upon finding the Cleansing Tear to not be the salvation he had hoped. And it is Undertaker's rescue, and subsequent return of his signature monocle’s case, that drives him to re-examine himself and his purpose.
In many ways, their dynamic mirrors that of Elden Ring’s foremost Albinauric NPCs, Albus and Latenna; an aged mentor entrusting a young woman with fateful purpose, to nurture new life, in defiance of the shame and hate others hold for their kind. One could even draw parallels to Hewg and Roderika, for while Latenna is already firm of heart upon entering the narrative, Roderika overtly shares the Undertaker’s self-doubt, perceiving herself to be all but worthless until the Roundtable Hold’s Misbegotten smithing master guides her to cultivate her unique talent. In turn, Roderika treats Hewg with a kindness and respect he is entirely unused to. To have one’s worth recognized in such a way is a powerful thing, and a precarious one. Not all mentors are so deserving of trust and loyalty, as exemplified by Gowry and Ymir. The description of the Night-Hued Glass, given to the Undertaker by the Scholar to help keep her hunger for the Night in equilibrium, reads, “The spread of the blotches has neatly ceased, as if the crystal has found its peace.
Perhaps there is no longer anything to fear. Presuming his words can be trusted.” But, of course, trust does not come easily for those maligned and abandoned. Though of starkly different natures, Albinaurics and Misbegotten are each brutally mistreated by the dominant powers of the Lands Between, and much like Albus and Hewg in particular, the Scholar is fated to fade away, his own story concluding far before that of his protege, necessitating that she carry his lessons and legacy into the future on her own, with only trust and memory for support.
For ones so doomed, consigned to such lonely ends after lifetimes of persecution, so easy would it be to give in to vengeful loathing. The Albinaurics in the main game whisper very such curses: “Oh, stars… Oh, night… Oh, fate… Punish them all. Punish the world, entire. We speak to those who forsake us, to this world that shuns our kind. Punish every living thing... Punish every living thing... Punish… every… living… thing…” An echo of the rageful repetition of the Dreglord’s mantra, “Smash, smash, smash the Night.” However, the Albinauric spirit who speaks to the Scholar implores, “Cast hatred aside. Heed not the call of the broken and discarded. They're trapped. Within the detritus. Offer them solace. Have mercy upon the dregs.” Those souls lost within the Night, anguished dregs rotted beyond recognition by their own hatred, can only find rest through being vanquished, but for those like the Scholar and the Undertaker, it is not too late to make peace with their natures, to find comfort and purpose. “The Scholar was certain of the purpose that lay before him. To weave the past into being.” An interesting parallel is to be drawn here, between the Scholar and Ranni, to whom Rennala implores, “Weave thy night into being.” Both stand as idealistic intellectuals who have cast aside the forms they were born into, now seeking to take fate into their own hands; and just as Ranni discovers, should the Tarnished opt to stand at her side, so too does the Scholar find that the “solitude beyond the night” need not be his alone.
This is a core theme of several Nightfarers; the Executor, the Raider, the Guardian, and the Revenant all most prominently grapple with coming to terms with the past, while embracing the potential of a new future. “What's done is done. [...] What is lost… can never return,” as Executor’s manifest doubt and anguish declares, before being overcome and requesting to his other self, “live… without averting your gaze.” The past cannot be undone, causality cannot be overturned, original sin cannot be buried. But compassion and forgiveness can yet guide the way forward, hand in hand with the flock one finds along the way, who embrace one entirely, loathsome curses and all.
“What a peculiar bunch we are… And I am treated like any other, despite what I am.”
“Analysis can be painful, but the benefit outweighs the sacrifice. To whomever succeeds me in my work: May your endless journeys lead to enlightenment.”
