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'Sainthood' in the Shadow Realms

When I was exploring Enir-Ilim, the pillars made of humans reminded me of stories of the 'Hitobashira' in Japan (which literally means 'human pillar'.) Hitobashira was the practice of sacrificing humans before a grand project (such as bridges or castles) to appease gods and ensure the success of the project. In some stories, the sacrifices are entombed/buried alive in the structure as part of the ritual. It was also said that the hitobashira gave the building more structural integrity (with a side effect of the occasional vengeful spirit because not all sacrifices were willing participants.) You can read the wikipedia entry for hitobashira here if you're interested.

Bringing this back to Elden Ring, I felt like this was the most straightforward explanation to what sainthood meant; becoming human pillars for the gate of divinity to usher in a new god. If building Enir-Ilim required a large number of sacrifices, and the shamans somehow acted as catalysts that stuck more bodies together, it'd make sense why the hornsent would hunt them to extinction. It would also make sense why it wasn't just the numen put in jars, it was as many people as they could fit to complete the project.

If this is correct, then it makes sense why it wouldn't matter if the people in the pots were willing or not, their sacrifices would ensure the Gate of Divinity would be made and have their deaths honored in the name of 'sainthood'. The parallels of unwilling sacrifices/martyrdom and direct visual wordplay on hitobashira/human pillars make me think that this explanation is as simple as it gets. It was also shown that in The Lands Between, jar folk were used to bring bodies back to the Erdtrees, so it would make sense if their predecessors in the Shadow Realm also had a role in bringing bodies to Enir-Ilim.

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Enir-Ilim

#elden ring #elden ring fanart #background artwork #sote #Enir-Ilim

bro i swear to the crucible if you tell me you’re in enir-ilim right now… bro we literally just planted the sealing tree. your ass is sealed in enir-ilim. bro, why? i would have been sealed in enir-ilim with you bro. you just had to ask

#elden ring #elden ring shadow of the erdtree #belurat tower settlement #enir-ilim #enir ilim #hornsent #romina saint of the bud #promised consort radahn #miquella #messmer the impaler #divine beast dancing lion

Evening Hornsent Observations

In the first rise of Enir-Ilim, the Tower of Belurat, the Hornsent are seen making an offering before a statue of two shrouded figures entwined within the embrace of spiraling horns. The offering consists of a bowl of fruit — some appearing to be tomatoes and apples. Wax candles burn unevenly atop the altar, accompanied by golden incense burners shaped in the likeness of the spiral. (Later, a Hornsent inquisitor can be seen praying before this very statue, with an incantation scroll of Spira sorcery laid out before the figures.)

A Hornsent inquisitor kneels before a pale tree whose trunk bears the impressions of bodies along its base, rooted in sand or ash. She twists her arms and clasps her hands upward, emulating the sacred spiral. Beneath her, at the roots of the tree, a group of man-flies pray and murmur before their tutelary deity — their foremost pair of hands covering their faces while the secondary pair is clasped in reverence.

Elsewhere, a group of Hornsent inquisitors congregate before a ledge, gazing out and offering prayers toward the settlement of Belurat below, beyond the wall. Among them lies the scorched corpse of a Hornsent, its budding horns loosened — fragile enough to be lifted from its body. Nearby, another inquisitor kneels before a fountain while two heavier-set inquisitors patrol the sacred grounds.