#helphen

[scrapsofdelirium]

I have a theory about the Fell God. I’d always thought they were an Outer God, because of the way in which we see them appear within the Fire Giant. It’s an otherworldly body-snatch kind of influence. Similar to the Elden Ring’s/Elden Beasts inhabitation of Marika/Radagon.

What if it wasn’t an Outer God, but a God like Marika was. A Hornsent who achieved Godly power via the Divine Gate through destruction and ruin - slaughtering the original hornsent ancestors of Rauh as its own sacrifice to the Divine Gate to achieve its godhood. The reason why the Fell God has dominion over the Fire Giants now is because they too once had giant peoples in Rauh (as evidenced by the giant hornsent specimens in the Specimen Storehouse.)

This could be further evidenced by how the Fell God haunts the sagas of the hornsent. As maybe being their ‘mistake’ that nearly led to their entire peoples ruin. And the way the Furnace Icon depicts the Fell God in its Hornsent styled mask, with eight curving (see tangled) horns all around the head. Like a mane of a lion (one of the potential divine beasts of old Rauh.) This could also be evidenced by how the Hornsent reject the Flame of Frenzy completely. It would make sense that they would lead an inquisition against anyone using the power of Flame, if they as a people barely survived the Fell God’s emergence. And the Flame of Frenzy was even more dangerous as it not only destroyed people but also Spirits which at the time of Death Worship were seen as eternal.

Maybe anyone who destroys, or even just interacts with, the Fell God becomes cursed by it. Hence Marika becoming ‘cursed’ with Radagon’s red hair. That’s actually the influence of the Fell God coming through themselves and trying to find purchase.

If you leave this influence long enough, like with the Fire Giants, maybe the Fell God begins a process of conversion. The Fire Giants all supposedly had the second face in their stomachs, which were largely carved out seemingly. Perhaps, given enough time, the Fell God would be reborn through one of them in full. Even the Trolls have their own internals carved out, and a strange stone stake/stone tablet inside them. Perhaps that stake is Marika’s version of Miquella’s needle? But instead of being capable of stopping the influence of an Outer God, it stops the emergence of an influential God.

Marika is said to have slain the Fell God after all. But if she had removed the Rune of Death by that point in time from her Order, would that not grant a potentially mortal God with the ability to avoid Death?

Perhaps thats the real reason why Marika becomes afeared of the Flame again, to the point she seals Messmer away, and Melina is already bodiless and scarred by flame before we meet her.

All this to say. Imagine if we had’ve got a second Elden Ring DLC that focused on the reemergence of the Fell God after Marika’s defeat, and we die in battle against it initially, and are forced into the Spirit Realm of the Helphen to fight our way back to life, following the Lamplight of the Lampwood in place of Grace. A realm that the Fell God had made its own while in its pursuit of reemergence within the physical realm of the Lands Between, and whose influence is everywhere.

Imagine if we got to hear the other side of the story from a cognisant Fire Giant who isn’t anguished by isolation and torturous duty. Imagine if we got to interact with the actual Gloam Eyed Queen, or got to fight her Darklurker style as a secret boss, because of course she’s present in the realm of Death. Imagine if we got to encounter old friends who succumbed to Death, like Rogier, Darian and Fia. Imagine if we got to encounter the Prince of Death Godwyn in all his mermaid glory!!!

Oh what could have been….

[scrapsofdelirium]

Realm of Spirits Journey Progression layout so far;

Defeat Fire Giant to unlock DLC entry.

Lose to Flame of Ruin, entering the Realm of Spirits as consequence and settling on goal of stopping the rebirth of the Fell God.

Arrive at new Hub, Cathedral of Manus Fatum.

Meet new characters, Jester the Pinionfolk Merchant, Enide the Spirit Conductor and Lento the Crystal Smith.

Learn of the state of the Realm of Spirits. That many parts of it are burning in Ruin, and that the Flame of Ruin is strongest at the deepest level.

Learn that in order to stop the Fell God, Tarnished must traverse the Land of the Departed and reach the Helphen.

Rest at the first of the Sites of Lamplight, not dissimilar to grace, but burning a faint gentle orange-gold.

Depart the Cathedral, seeing the first glimpses of the descending spiral toward the Lampwood, and begin the Journey into the Under-dwelling Chambers.

Encounter first obstacle, Rosus, Usher of Death. Recognising the Tarnished’s illegitimate presence within the Realm of Spirits, Rosus takes on the role of judgement. Barring the Tarnished’s path.

Descend into the Spiralling Ravines, avoiding first encounter with a giant creature; The Divine Bird Roc, through stealth or speed.

Follow the river flow down, encountering the Blue Fairy in the process, former hero, former mentor, dancing swordsman.

The spiral diverges into four downward avenues of choice. Each ultimately leads to the same location, though carries different dangers.

One is a great shallow lake bed, littered with tall stone pillars, haunted by the Divine Bird Roc in its skies above.

The second requires passage through a dark castle carved into the caverns, Castle Demise. Guarded and watched over by Godskins who protect their Queen within.

The third requires braving the Thorned Mire, crossing through a Deathblighted Swamp, inhabited by bow wielding assassins. At the heart of which lies the Prince of Death.

The fourth requires navigating a labyrinthine strcture, watched over by Death Priests who are protecting a Deathrite Site.

Once one of these paths has been bested, the Tarnished arrives at the Town of Lampwatch. A place of those Spirits who chose to remain in Death, never completing their journey to the Lampwood, currently engaged in warfare with the Acolytes of the Fell Sun.

The battlefield torn town must be navigated through one way or another, and the Tarnished is viewed as both potential enemy and mercenary in equal measure by both sides.

After burning the Town, or saving it, the Tarnished arrives at Lampwatch Gate, and passes onto the Bridge of Resurrection, descending deeper and seeing the heights of the Helphen for the first time.

The bridge leads to the Envoy’s Rookery. The final path to the Helphen, littered with the roaming children of the Twin Bird.

A series of cages attached to the Helphens highest boughs, and the spiral caverns walls by gigantic chains of translucent metal, that must be carefully navigated downward.

At the lowest, and largest, of these bird cages the Tarnished encounters the Twin Bird itself.

The Envoy of Death is scarred by the Flame of Ruin, allowing the Tarnished to fight it on more equal terms with themselves.

After besting the Twin Bird, its cage is lowered to the foot of the Helphen, where the Tarnished arrives.

The trees roots are blackened and scarred, and the Flame of Ruin smoulders around the periphery in abundance unchecked.

A small fruit hangs from a tiny branch within the Tarnished’s reach. The Resurrection Fruit, a vehicle for which the Tarnished may challenge the return of the Fell God.

The Tarnished eats of the fruit, and is transported once more to the ashen field in which they fell to the Flame of Ruin already.

The final boss of the DLC is faced; The God of the Fell Sun.

When the God is Slain, the Tarnished returns to Life as promised by the Resurrection Fruit, waking upon the snow-capped Mountaintops of the Giants.

The Realm of Spirits is saved from burning in the Flame of Ruin. The Lands Between are saved from the Fell God’s return.

The Tarnished escapes the Land of the Departed, to continue their true mission; to become Elden Lord.

Obviously this is just the direct path outline (and may change/expand/alter later.) There’d be more to do along the way, and one can always choose to backtrack to complete all four avenues of progress before crossing through Lampwatch Gate and heading into the final task.

[scrapsofdelirium]

Looking at a lot of underworld/hell/land of the dead’s across mythology and religion to inspire Realm of Spirits with.

Inferno is one of the big ones, just because it’s so easy to pull from, but i’m twisting the inspirations so it’s not a one to one. Like, instead of Minos judging and sending the Dead to their own specific layer, I have Rosus finally making an appearance as a Spirit Guide of Dead - but because our Tarnished died in an unusual way via the Flame of Ruin and the Fell God vying for rebirth out of Death - Rosus bars us from going deeper into the Realm, thus causing a Boss battle, and the first obstacle. Rosus judges our Tarnished as not belonging in the Land of the Dead, and takes it upon himself to End Us Fairly by his own means.

Then I have the Yomi influence of the original Japanese view of the underworld, that claims eating of the hearth within Yomi makes it impossible (mostly) to return to the land of the living. We already know that the end of the Journey in Death is reaching the Helphen, which is described as a Lampwood, a tree that guides the dead. It’s not an impossible leap to have the Helphen have fruit that one eats of to end their Journey of Death. That also allows for the choice. A choice of acceptance or stagnation. There are those who choose to remain as Spirits to aid the living. Those who are honoured in death and become Spirits of their own volition. The way I see it, those who choose not to make the Journey to the Helphen, or simply fail to, thereby Live In Death as Spirits in the Realm of Spirits. Some can be called back to the Lands of the Living if their Spirit Ash has been shared - the literal ash of their true bodies blessed with their Spirit. Yomi is described as a polluted land, where the spirits there are effectively waiting for their demise. Inspired by the bodies of the buried dead slowly decaying. And if one eats of the Helphen, then one achieves the acceptance of Death, acceptance of the Fate of all things to one day to perish.

Maybe this is how an individual of the Lands Between becomes capable of returning to the cycle of all life - maybe thats the Crucible, becoming a newly budding horn, or an inevitable return of energy to the One Great, as all beings must inevitably unite as one once more.

There are other underworld influences to explore of course. And I think a lot will be used as influential ideas for this project. And considering the middle-english choice of Scadu, i should look into realms of possibility there.

I’d probably shy away from the better known underworlds - that of Greek Myth specifically. Though ultimately the idea of the downward spiralling Realm of Spirits to a dark (yomi) central point deep underground is itself reminscent of Tartarus in a way.

[sir-virtem]

welp, I just saw the image of the shadow of the erdtree, very beautiful indeed

it depict a blonde riding torrent on a field of wheat cover in spirit graves and a thick fog, sparkled with stone archs; on the horizone can be see a wheatered and black erdtree, some say is leaking golden dew, but I think is a golden needle of ridicoulous size. Finally, the sky is cover with dark clouds and not light come from it, the only light cames from the golden dew or needle.

While the image is obviusly the image depict the plan of miquella to stab the erdtree with a golden needle like is shown in the haligtree iconography, I am more concern about the spirit graves, some are crosses and other are tombstone and they don't seem to be little amount but rather they cover the whole wheat field under the fog. I hope the coming DLC would focus more in the Helphen than anything else.

Yes is clearly about miquella, but we already know a lot about him and doubtlesly we would no more, but I hope the event happen in the helphen, as the dark ertree remind me of the black steeple, it would also makes sense concidering the state of both miquella and godwyn.