Name: Rennala
Title/Alias: Queen
Race: Carian
Gender: Female
Occupation: Carian Royalty
Affiliation: Carian Royalty, Academy of Raya Lucaria, Radagon (Former)
Notes:
Not a demigod, but her children are?
Was married to Radagon
Radagon left her for Marika
Gifted her an amber egg, containing a Great Rune
Note: I'm a descendant of her, through one of her multitude of daughters. I don't believe I'm a descendant of Radagon, but it's not impossible. Amazing to find out she's still alive after all this time.
There are strands of long red hair inside of Rennala's amber egg. What else we can find within one of the most mysterious things in the Elden Ring?
This is going to be a long lore-journey in an attempt to uncover those secrets, welcome under the cut.
Well, for a start, let's estabilish what we know about the amber egg: it was Radagon's partying goft to Rennala, it's allows us to respec and it is a container of the Great Rune of Unborn.
The shape and color of the amber egg help us to figure out that it's the Erdtree's sap from the period of Erdtree's abudance, which is referenced multiple times in the descriptions. Blessings of the Erdtree are very valuable, and became even more precious when the age of flourishment came to an end.
The Erdtree's old sap becomes amber, treasured as the most precious of jewels in the age of Godfrey, the first Elden Lord
It was once thought that the blessed sap of the Erdtree would drip from its boughs forever—but that age of plenty swiftly came to a close, and with time, the Erdtree became more an object of faith
Not so long ago I wrote a theory that Empyreans or even all demigods are spawns of the Erdtree, it was a hightly speculative essay, but I think when it comes to the amber egg, it's hard to deny that it is somehow connected with the births of demigods.
Some people believe that Rennala tried to rebirth Ranni, but looking at the description of the Great Rune of Unborn in Japanese, I don't think it's true.
満月の女王、レナラの抱く琥珀のタマゴ 産まれなかったデミゴッドの大ルーン
産まれなかった "unborn" has negative connotation, which means "person, who was never born", while not yet born is まだ産まれない and "reborn" is a whole different thing (explaining how grammar works in two language that are not native to me is urrrgghhh). In other words, it is sounds like a stillbirth. This theory had been discussed in Western fandom for a while, but the evidence is different: amount of the cradles (4) in the library doesn't match with the amount of Rennala's children (3).
[warning: I'm struggling with Japanese grammar and can do mistakes]
I thought that subtle hint to support this theory is hidden in the description of the Slumbering Egg, but turns out Japanese wording is completely different from the Great Rune of Unborn, in Japanese it is directly stated that slumbering egg is a failure, while Unborn is simply... unborn.
Owl eggs that will never hatch. Material used for crafting items. Prized as a symbol of the most sublime slumber (it's probably a reference to Miquella)
When I tried to search for 産まれなき者 "Unborn" all I find were Japanese discussions with a lot of confused fans, which makes me think that it's not a common term, but something made-up for the game, but take it with the grains of salt because my Japanese is far from perfect. But I wouldn't be surprised if it was intentional on developers part to make this name sound as dubious as possible; not giving us clear answer if the thing inside of the amber egg is dead, alive or exist in some unique state between life and death.
Besides the red hair, we can also find white orbs of unknown origin and black veins. And so, something organic was developing inside the amber, but I can only speculate about nature of this thing. Apparently, it is developed enough to be classified as demigod and obtain (?) Great Rune.
If it wasn't for the name of Great Rune, I'd like to suggest that Rennala herself gestated it in an attempt to revive the Unborn, but according to Gideon the source of the Great Rune is the amber egg. Overall, all lore regarding runes and demigods is borderline incomprehensible and I will touch this issue again in my post, but it's possible that originally Rennala recieved only amber egg and the Great Rune manifested inside of it after the Shattering.
Still, this doesn't explain why whatever is developing under the amber shells didn't hatch. I'm not sure that calling it "dead" would be the right thing to do, death has a very apparent style of manifestation in the Elden Ring, we all know what happened to Godwyn. But there is no water in Rennala's room (spirit realm is a whole different thing, water here exists by default), no signs of deathblight corruption, even though Liurnia has surprisingly high population of royal revenants, the library shows no signs of un/death.
[speculation] In all this, we see the opposite picture, the amber egg functions like mini-Erdtree. It's blesses people with "the grace" rebirthes them and takes memories away.
There is another model of the amber egg, during the bossfight it is inhabited by the sweetings, waiting for their rebirths. This is what they sing about.
Sleep tight, bound tight
by Mother's amber.
Sleep tight, find life,
in Mother's umbra.
The power of amber egg influences sweetings even further, while their eye color is different from the golden eyes of demigods and people blessed by the grace, it's indeed affected by the rebirth or even by the presence of the amber egg alone.
Rennala's eyes are shining gold in the first cutscene, but since I don't have access to the game files, i can't say if it's actually different color or simply a reflection.
As the cutscene before the second phase shows, Rennala and her amber egg are "protected" by Ranni's (who, as we know, once a stole a fragment of Destined Death) magic. The nature of this magic raises a lot of questions: is Rennala in the second phase is an illusion or a puppet (the color of her spirit is closer to the puppets than ashes, but it's not exactly the same), how come the amber egg can manifest the spirit realm and why does Ranni's line sounds so omnius once you start to think about it.
Mother's rich slumber shall not be disturbed by thee
Rennala and her sweetings is protected by the golden spell, which
[I mean, Ranni cares about Rennala, but she doesn't bother to free her from the library or to take away Radagon's belongings, but it is possible that she gave up on recovering her mental state and thinks that her "slumber" is a lesser evil]
Normally, we obtain remembrances from dead enemies, but there are two exceptions from this rule - Radagon, who doesn't have one, and Rennala, who doesn't die, but gives us Remembrance of the Full Moon Queen. My pet theory is that her memories were hewn in the amber egg, which is the Erdtree's sap and mimics some functions of the Erdtree, but that's only a theory.
Present day Rennala doesn't wear her wedding ring, but illusion recreated by Ranni has one. The version from Rennala's remembrance also gives player ring, which suports the theory that I wrote ebove - the spirit realm and Rennala herself in the second phase were recreated from her memories.
One more time it makes me question the state of Unborn, despite her sorry state Rennala doesn't look exactly amnesiac (but maybe I'm wrong), she still remembers Ranni and knows how to reincarnate people. Could it be that her remembrance was duplicated in the same way as Tarnished duplicates their collection using bodies of the soulless demigods?
This can be, in large part, not exactly dead, which casts away everything I wrote above.
Rennala and her sweetings is protected by the golden spell and the source of this spell is the amber egg itself. Unless the amber egg was enchanted by Radagon (questionable, he learned incantations in his second marriage, when he was Rennala's husband he only studied sorcery), it seems like it's capable of casting incantations.
Now let's observe the other side of Radagon's family.
All information regarding the nature of Great Rune is vague and quite often is self-contradicting, notably, in version 1.0 what we currently know as Remembrances used to be called Runes, while Great Runes were referred as Shards, which gives an impression that Miyazaki himself didn't exactly knew where he is going with this concept. Kind of ironic, considering that Elden Ring development name was Great Rune.
I can only wonder what's going on with runes lore, especially when the runes themselves were renamed (Malenia and Miquella used to be owners of runes of Decay and Abudance) and current story can't decide if demigods were fighting during the Shattering for the Great Runes or... they were born with them.
Mohg and Morgott are twin brothers, and their Great Runes are naturally similar
Well, it is never said that Rykard and Radahn are twins, but their runes are similar in shape too. But here is a little problem with Great Rune of Unborn: it is similar to Malenia's rune. How is this possible, if M-twins were born after Radagon left Rennala? I don't know.
Personally, I don't like theories that it's Miquella's Great Rune, but I can't deny that Liurnia is the most Miquella-influenced map after the Haligtree. Here we can meet Finger Reader, who says that we are destined to meet Miquella, Raya Lucaria is populated by crabs with ability to cast sleep (maybe it's a byproduct of Rennala's rich slumber), albinaurics are giving us clues about Haligtree Secret Medallion. In version 1.0 Carians Knights were gifted to Miquella by Radagon, but in patched description of Loretta's helmet it was changed and it seems that now Carians reached Miquella by themselves:
Originally given for service as a personal guard to Carian royalty, the weapon's blue glintstone has been replaced with unalloyed gold (Loretta's War Sickle)
It is interesting that Miquella was so respected by people of faction that fell off hard after Rennala's divorce; instead of freeing their Queen, Carians decided to serve a son from Radagon's second marriage.
Aside from hard lore, I want to talk about animal symbolism in the portrayal of divorced duo - Godfrey and Rennala.
Godfrey's signarure animal is a lion, he wears Beast Regent Serosh on his back, his title is Battlefield's lion, in the universe of the Elden Ring lions are beasts are drawn to champions, and to lords (Beast Champion Armor). This is pretty straightforward reading.
However, when it comes to the actual animals, one of the most well-known fact about them is their habit to kick off old males from the pride and replace them with younger and more potent mates. Well, this one fits Godfrey too.
Will this little trick work with Rennala?
Rennala isn't directly associated with any animal, but her obsession over the amber egg from her ex-husband reminds me of certain bird:
Brood-parasitic cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, abandoning parental care to their hosts.
Cuckoos also have the place in the Elden Ring story, their are symbol of Raya Lucaria soldiers.
The soldiers of Raya Lucaria were also known as the Cuckoos. They were given free rein by the academy to wage war as they pleased, and they were infamous for their rapacious ways.
Boasting high magic damage negation, this shield is used to hunt down mages. "Our enemy is none other than Caria itself."
I don't want to delver deeper in the complexity of political relationships between the Academy and Carian Royalty, but I shall remind that Carians and Raya Lucaria sorcerers aren't the same faction, they descdended from the mountainthops astrologers (and maybe Nox), but for a long time were at odds with each other, and Rennala's divorce was a mere excuse for a long-planned rebellion.
The surcoat depicts twinned cuckoos peering into a flourishing mass of glintstone. To a glintstone sorcerer, the body is a transient thing. The Cuckoo alone knows its insignificance, yet watches over it all the same.
However, Carians adapted Cuckoos method of the death avoidance, I wouldn't be surprsied if albinaurics are simply byproducts of their attempts to create better spare bodies, but considering how imperfect they are, sorcerers decided to stack with the puppets.
Glintstone from within the sorceress Sellen's body. Seemingly half-alive, blood vessels are visible within.
In essence, a primal glintstone is a sorcerer's soul. If transplanted into a compatible new body, Sellen will rise again.
The old sorcerers would slice open their hearts with these blades to imbue a primal glintstone with their soul, and thus did they die.
As you can see on the picture above, sorcerer used the blue glintsone as a container for their souls, even thought the source of the glintsone and amber is the same - they are coming from the stars (in case of the Erdtree, it's most likely grew up from the golden star, which was sent by the Greater Will).
If the stars command our fates, then amber-hued stars must command the fates of the gods (Amber Starlight)
Glintstone is the amber of the cosmos. Golden amber contains the remnants of ancient life, and houses its vitality, while glintstone contains residual life, and thus the vitality of the stars (Sellen)
I'm a bit of confused by the difference between glintstone and golden amber, while both Sellen and descripton of the Amber Starlight are suggesting that they are fundamentally the same thing, according to the Sellen, golden amber contains vilatily, while blue glintsone is capably of carrying souls. However, description of the Amber Starlight points connection between divinity and amber, leaving impression that one is accustomed to mortals and other is for gods.
Notably, Rennala's method of rebirth carries both issues, her sweetings are frails, weak and can't walk, they are also amnesiac:
Rebirth is as sleep to them, and with each awakening, memory fades into oblivion (Juvenile Scholar set)
I suspect that Tarnished is losing their memories too, this "feature" is what allows to "forget" attributes during respec. It is unclear why Tarnished rebirth is perfect, unlike the the rebirths of sweetings, or Boc (but in his case it might be explained by the lack of Great Rune inside the egg), but my theory is that the grace helps us.
It is also interesting that tarnished and Boc need Larval Tear made from the drop of a silver, a metal with the strong connection with spirits. But I don't know if it is works like a substitute fetus or to preserve the spirit.
The amber egg rebirth mechanics definitely had things worth a lot of specualtions, but I want to get back to the topic of animal symbolism. What can we learn from suggestion that Rennala-amber egg-Radagon situation is a subtle nod to cuckoos birds?
Rennala's amber egg isn't her child, but something what belongs exclusively to Radagon.
In-game reference leads us to an unique method of escaping death used by sorcerers.
Do what do you want with it.
Rennala's imprisonment is another mystery. Mother of two mighty demigods and Empyrean is completeley abandoned in the library for who knows how many years, perhaps, she was isolated here even before the Shattering. No one of her children tried to free her, Ranni cares about her rich slumber, but nothing more.
But let's look at this situation from a different point of view, the Academy rebelled against royalty, attacked Caria manor, all remained Carians joined Radahn's Redmane army or the Haligtree, but Rennala is still alive and relatively (by the Shattering not so hight standards of living) well. Maybe is held as a hostage, in the medieval times it was common practice to spare the lives of nobles and use them as pawns in future political games. Indeed, Rennala is a valuable asset... on the first sight.
We can meet Radagon's Red Wolf in the debate hall of the Academy, but what is he doing here? Did he came to save Rennala or it's another jailer? Radahn and Rykard were to busy losing siege of the Leyndell. There was an attempt.
This doesn’t explain why they didn't tried to free their mother before the Shattering.
But knowing how Miyazaki likes to play with our expectations, I wouldn't be surprised if Rennala's imprisonment and demigods reluctance to save her has a hidden meaning. After all, there is already a case, when imprisonment wasn't a punishment, but a part of the plan.
Just a few hours ago Zullie released video about sweetings cut dialogues and I noticed the detail that I forgot to add - the tombstone. Honestly, I don't know what does it mean, but the headless figure reminds me of the soulless demigods from the Walking Mausoleums, the pose is similar too.
I'm really amazed by the amount of effort developers put into this bossfight: from minor things that you usually wouldn't notice like the eye color of sweetings and Rennala's ring to completely hidden details like sweetings curling inside of the egg and the mysterious strands of red hair. While trying to uncover the truth behind the amber egg, we are running into even greater mysteries. It's fascinating.
The beautiful crystals I bought from @bekkathyst came in. There’s another sale tonight, 5/29/21, starting around 5 pm Pacific, so everybody check it out!
