The Mastermind of Truth - A "Shadow of the Erdtree" theory (SPOILERS)
Thanks to @siris-neon for his ask (my first ask, even!) and for furthering discussing lore with me.
Shadow of the Erdtree gave us a lot of answers, leave us a lot more questions, and left hanging many plot threads from the base game. But the biggest things it did was change Miquella's character and goals seemingly out of nowhere. It seemed like Miquella turned into an entire different person from the one his lore in the base game hinted him as, and all of it seems to have started from his arrival to the Realm of Shadows.
SOTE revealed that Miquella bewitched Mohg in order to get many things, but one of them seems to be access to the RoS in order to ascend to godhood with the Gate of Divinity. In order to ascend, an Empyrean needs a consort, that's already a known fact, but not many people are talking about the third important component shared by all Empyreans:
An outer god.
Malenia posseses scarlet rot inside her thanks to being the chosen Empyrean of the outer god of Rot.
Ranni is constantly associated with coldness, and it's implied she's actually able to generate cold around her: there's frost on her doll body's hat, Blaidd's armor having a heavy pelt to be able to do his duty as Ranni's blade despite the cold bothering him, and even she posseses the unique Cold Sorceries that are associated with the Dark Moon, also associated with "the chill night."
It seems that every Empyrean is blessed by the outer god that chose them with a taste of their power; Ranni's is mostly an inconvenience, Malenia's is refered as a curse - Miquella is also an Empyrean and also cursed, but nothing in the game ever reveals what outer god chose him, he just seemed to exist like it. But if his sister was chosen/cursed in the womb by one, Miquella must've too.
What outer god is the source of Miquella's curse of eternal youth?
Let's see, Miquella is associated with many things but there's two important ones: Love and Blood. While Elden Ring focused mostly on the "Blood" (his "abundance" of it, Sacramental Buds, the Haligtree, his drenched coccoon), SOTE makes heavy emphasis on the "Love" aspect (his Bewitching powers, his Age of Compassion, and you could argue his "love" for Radahn).
Now, what outer god is associated with the same things? That's right. The Formless Mother.
And curiously enough, the FM is heavy involved with the RoS, even revealed to have been first encountered by the Bloodfiends.
--- Outer God Heirloom description.
The FM also seems to prefer to bless the blood of the persecuted and desperate; if Marika hadn't been chosen by Methys and the fingers, I would bet that the FM would've contacted the persecuted and tortured Shamans, but now thanks to Marika, the Hornsent/Omen blessed by the Crucible became free real state. And thanks to Mohg, its most powerful champion who also happens to be son of the current earthly god, its influence could escape the dimensional divide and enter the Lands Between.
But for as powerful and unique as Mohg is, he's no Empyrean, but luckily for the FM, a precious Empyrean was born for the taken.
But the FM's powers are flames, not eternal youth you would say. Let me turn you to a SOTE item associated with the Bloodfiend, its original chosen people:
---- Sacred Bloody Flesh description.
"Never will it rot", huh? That sounds like something someone who was gestated alongside the future avatar of Rot would greatly benefit from for his survival. Really, that would explain why Miquella was never affected by Malenia's rot unlike the Cleanrot Knights. And what is aging but the withering of the cells?
Miquella's bewitching can also be explained by the FM's "blessing": the FM uses love to lure in its victims, explaining why it prefers the desperate and unloved. Have you wondered why is it called "Mother" out of all things? Because mothers are the primordial source of love and nurture. Even the FM's desire for a wound could be seen as a sick mark of solidarity towards its chosen ones. And Miquella also has a preference for those persecuted by the Golden Order, his bewitching is more akin to people feeling a desire to care and protect him (like maternal instincts, perhaps?) and in order to bleed himself out he would need to wound himself.
The final cinematic of SOTE shows that Miquella was more invested on achieving godhood in his (literal) childhood and -- if this theory is true -- he probably did influenced by the FM. But then suddenly his priorities seem to have changed; he focused on finding a cure for Malenia and creating a refuge for those persecuted by the GO.
While the Haligtree could be seen as the FM's version of the Erdtree -- with it needing monumental amounts of blood for it to reach its current size -- if the Mohgwynn Palace is any indication, the Haligtree doesn't really align with the FM's aesthetics.
What could've happen for Miquella to change? He discovered the root of Malenia's curse being an outer god, and by association he must have deduced that his own curse most likely had the same cause. He tried to find a solution in Fundamentalism but found it couldn't do anything for his sister, and therefore neither for him.
"This was the beginning of Unalloyed Gold."
Hadn't you considered weird that there's actually two confirmed unalloyed needles? The Broken Unalloyed Needle found in the swamp of Aeonia that's heavily hinted to had belonged to Malenia via Millicent, and there's Miquella's Needle, the one the player gets by returning the Unalloyed Gold Needle to Malenia's flower.
What if that needle is called Miquella's not because he made it, but because it was HIS?
He made his own unalloyed needle to halt the FM's meddling in his life; if Malenia's case is universal, then Miquella also was haunted mentally by the FM -- but thanks to the needle, now his true nature can shine through: Instead of seeking godhood, he seeks to cut the influence of outer gods from him and Malenia; instead of a sadomasoquist blood cult, the Haligtree is a burgening fiefdom full of greenery; instead of outer gods at the center of their lives, Malenia and Miquella's world are each other.
But just like Malenia, even with the needle, can still spread the rot -- just in a diminished scale -- Miquella still can't grow older and still can make people love him, just without enough force to actually overwrite people's free will (again, Ansbach was still suspicious of Miquella, and Thiollier was more loyal to Trina than him).
If that so, how Miquella changed back into being under the FM's influence? Well, it went to its most loyal champion, Mohg.
The cinematic at the start of ER shows Mohg taking Miquella from the coccon in the Haligtree (you can actually see roots behind Mohg's trident). I still believe Mohg kidnapped Miquella in order to get him as his consort for the Age of Blood, and that Miquella didn't bewitch him to do so in a convoluted plan.
Here is what I believe it happened:
The Haligtree is a refuge for the persecuted -- Albinaurics, Misbegotten, even Crystallians, etc -- but curiously, theres no Omens. Many say that Miquella was a hypocrite for not including them, but let's remember that Omens are either slaved muscle to Leyndell's army or trapped in sewers; even if he wanted, he can't declare war to free them and the Omens have little opportunities to escape (and the Haligtree is already hard to travel to). But then Mohg shows up as "the first one who made it out." Miquella would've recieved him with open arms. But unfortunately for Mohg, Miquella is constantly shadowed (get it?) by Malenia. So he plays smart: he stays a season in the Haligtree, learning about its military force, its structure, its entrances and exists, and then leaves saying he wants to help liberate and guide more Omens.
Then, when he learns that Malenia left the Haligtree with her Cleanrots (the Haligtree's strongest arm), he returns to it with Sanguine Nobles and Bloody Fingers, and steals Miquella from the cocoon; after that assault, I can see the Haligtree soldiers no longer trusting Omens (and Tarnished for that matter, explaining why they attack the player on sight).
Why was Miquella in the coccon, if he doesn't want to be a god? Well, the Haligtree is already a massive tree, not a little sapling; I can see Miquella needing to spend some time embedded in the roots in order to water the tree with his blood (the tree feeds, and he's less influenced by the FM thanks to shedding the blood that connects him to it). It could also be because, seeing the needles aren't enough, he did attempt to be reborn in the womb of the Haligtree, either as a god or just without the influence of the FM, in order to cure himself and then have the power to cure Malenia too; after all, being reborn wouldn't need to shed parts of himself.
So Mohg takes him from the tree, and also takes off Miquella's Needle and left it on the roots for a broken Malenia to find and hold on to.
Why Malenia left the Haligtree if Miquella didn't want godhood and therefore won't need a consort? For the reason we all thought about for two years: getting Radahn to release the stars. Really, if Radahn's condition to accept Miquella's proposal was a last, glorious fight and an honorable dead, he and Malenia would've dueled one-to-one, not throw their beloved and loyal soldiers into this complicated rite of courtship.
Now without needle, the FM can influence Miquella -- and harder than ever. Mohg gets bewitched at full force, becoming obsessed with Miquella -- after all, he's the chosen avatar of his outer god, and Mohg was literally chosen to be his consort -- and the FM influences Miquella to want to ascend via the Gates -- after all, the RoS is where the FM was first worshipped, and it's better than the Elden Ring: Miquella would have to shed his self, leaving only the godly influence of the FM, and he already has Mohg to act as consort.
This would also explain why Trina said that godhood would be Miquella's prision; he would be forever lost and under the control of the FM, just like Marika was under the influence of the Greater Will (or the Elden Beast).
Unfortunately, Miquella -- who's a genius with contingency plans for everything -- already had plans for a future consort in case he would need the Elden Ring after all in order to cure Malenia.
He's heavily associated with Spirit Tuning (surely an ability he developed during his time cut from the FM, or via Trina) and met Torrent and Melina and have them chose and guide a chosen tarnished to be his consort (Torrent's whistle is a gold ring, and Melina needed to be guided to the Erdtree).
He also left the Spirit Calling bell with Ranni (probably Ranni owned him a favor; I think he helped her find about the Death rune ritual, without knowing what it was for.)
And even left a suspicious shard of Amber Starlight in front of a statue of him and Malenia, heavily implied to be his own fate, that can be made into a draught that would make him controllable if he gets out of whack -- although since this was his fate, maybe the drink would actually get him to control his fate if he consumed it; we'll never know for sure but it's fun to speculate.
And it was that same tarnished the one who would end up killing Mohg.
Ok, the avatar of the FM lost his consort... obviously it wasn't strong enough, and we want the strongest. Oh hey, turns out Radahn managed to survive Malenia, that means that he's the strongest, we would have to go back to that childhood proposal that Radahn refused; the body of the FM's champion and the soul of the strongest demigod -- PERFECT COMBINATION!
And that marks the end of my very long theory about how Miquella's character seems so different from what we knew before.
If this is true, then Miquella is as much of a tragic figure as Malenia due to being haunted by eldritch forces that neither of them wanted, and where forced to become things they never wanted to become.
And if it's true, then Mohg really is a tragic character like his fans believe, but still doesn't redeem him of all the awful things he did for the outer god he served and loved and saw as a mother, but that it ultimately did what outer gods do: use people as pawns in order to establish their power.
Hey, another thing that just came to me about Mohg's time infiltrated in the Haligtree:
I think the only time in-game Mohg's name is mentioned by another person besides Varré is by the ghost found beside the bloody portal in the consecrated snowfields.
That means people in the Haligtree knew Mohg's name.
But it sounds counterproductive to reveal your real name when you're infiltrating in an enemy faction, and you're actually trying to keep yourself anonymous (outside the Mohgwyn faction, Mohg is only known as the lord of blood). So why would Mohg commit such a rookie mistake?
Miquella's kindness + his charm.
Imagine you're Mohg, just coming to the Haligtree in order to steal their lord. But then this golden child comes running towards you, smiling and saying how happy he is of seeing you (because you're supposed to be the "first Omen who managed to escape") and earnestly asks for your name.
And you cannot help but answer truthfully. And then this smiling child starts to spread your name; he shows you around (and also shows YOU around), introduces you and tries to make you feel welcomed.
Now can you see how Mohg would fall hard for Miquella's charm (that, again, it's just a compelling to like and protect him) and would become obsessed with him, and would start to amass an army in order to siege the Haligtree in order to steal, not only the Formless Mother's chosen one, but also the kind golden child who was chosen by it FOR YOU?
Thinking on it, I don't believe Miquella's genius was exploited nearly enough in the game.
I mean the guy was able to make Malenia's sick prosthetics, he probably could have come up with some sort of automaton of his own as well. And I bet it would have looked beautiful.
The game already has the Abductor Virgins and marionettes, it wouldn't be a stretch for the Haligtree to have it's own constructs.
i mean miq and mohg should leave too they really should've been more like the twin princes and rejected their duties as powerful demigods when the tarnished started popping up. Don't destroy yourselves any further in fighting against your shitty parents okay they've taken away enough already. You can stop this rn go far away and finally live your own lives
I think he is very cool. I’d argue he’s probably in the top 5 most interesting demi-gods. I am saying this because I want to clarify that I like Mohg as a piece of the greater Elden Ring narrative 👍
Mohg definitely kidnapped Miquella of his own free will. The only evidence we have that he could’ve been changed prior to the cocoon being placed in the dynasty is Ansbach, a biased source who doesn’t even claim anything beyond “Miquella charmed Mohg ”. He doesn’t say that Miq lured Mohg to the Haligtree or anything of the sort. I don’t even know where people got that idea in their heads tbh.
There’s a very low chance that Miquella would’ve even known about the omen twins. The two seemed to be a very well kept secret, so I don’t know how he could’ve charmed a guy he’d never had contact with from a long distance (it’s heavily implied that Miq’s initial charm has to be done in close quarters) so he could abandon what appeared to be his main project that he clearly had a long term plan for.
The reason I’m so against the charmed abduction theory is for two main reasons: 1) It refuses Mohg his agency! Mohg is hard not to sympathize with, but he can still do fucked up shit. If all of his evil actions can be explained away via brainwashing or control from an outer god, then why is he even a character? My second reason is that 2) It leans into a very gross interpretation of Miquella as a “seductive youth” that used his evil powers of being a pretty child to trick a stand-up man into being attracted to him. I refuse to believe that Fromsoft would uncritically put that narrative wholesale into their story. Also people use the stupid ass Miquellester joke to be super homophobic about one of the only explicitly queer characters in the story.
Idk this has been bothering me since the DLC came out and I wanted to get it off my chest.
THANK YOU FOR POINTING OUT HOW THE WHOLE "MIQUELLA CHARMED MOHG INTO KIDNAPPING HIM" IS GROSS VICTIM BLAMING AND "SEDUCTIVE YOUTH" BULLCRAP!!
Honestly, it's so gross, especially because the majority of the fandom insists that the curse also affected Miquella mentally, so he was a child in body and mind. They say that to discredit him and label him as just a "dumb kiddo" without thinking of the implications of that scenario if they insist on defending Mohg.
