Alright after stewing on this for long enough I'm finally pulling the trigger on it: Quella the God of Dreams was (probably) the basis for Miquella of the Haligtree. The following post is fairly long but there's a lot of points I want to hit with this... read? Theory implies I think it actually proves something when I just think of it as interesting similarities.
I don’t think it’s necessary to get into the details of Miquella: blond gnc twink who has hogged 75% of the discourse in the Elden Ring fandom (which I'm not really going to directly address here but don’t worry Mohg is coming up in this post too alongside an unlikely connection); associated with gold, trees meant to protect people, sleep through the other half of his soul in Trina, butterflies, youth, a touch of mystery, and a Lord of Blood…
Which is also mostly true of Quella from Dark Souls II. As a recap for those not read up on the named-only gods of Drangleic (pulling primarily from the descriptions for he Spirit Tree Shield and Grand Spirit Shield): his shields bear a golden tree on them, his ‘allegory’ speaks of a frightened boy who found a ‘talking tree of the dreamworld’ that transformed itself into a shield that can deflect spells, is explicitly referred to as ‘the God of Dream(s)’, his Japanese name is given as ‘Nera’, similar to a type of butterfly, has the mystery of who ‘Quella’ really is (is it the boy in the ‘allegory’ or is it the Spirit Tree?) and the ‘god’ in charge of a rival covenant themed around Blood’s Japanese name is a genus of moth (Doloma), but we’ll come back to him in a bit.
There’s also the obvious highlight of Miquella having quite literally Quella in his name. Which I don’t believe is a coincidence. With the amount of time between Dark Souls II’s development and Elden Ring’s, the English translation for these named only characters would have no doubt been old hat in the FromSoft office. What is especially interesting is the trees in Quella and Miquella’s story: depending on your read, both achieved godhood thanks to a special tree and both are heavily associated with a tree meant to protect and, moreover, ward against adverse things like Curses. The Gate of Divinity resembles more of a tree to me than anything else (I have frequently called it the ‘Tree of Divinity’), while Quella seems to only be associated with the spirit tree from the Dreamlands.
Of warding against curses, I would think it is easy to remind everyone that was the Haligtree’s original intent: to ward against Outer Gods in the hope it would assist with Malenia’s curse. Nowhere in Dark Souls II would you find Quella or the transforming spirit tree associated with this… it’s here we have to look to Dark Souls III where we fight a spirit tree; a Curse Rotted Greatwood. Pulling from its item description: “Ever since its establishment, all manner of curses have managed to seep into the Undead Settlement. The worst of them were sealed away inside a spirit tree, but eventually the curses took their toll.”
Now, some may rightfully point out that the term could be used without intent of drawing back to Dark Souls II and Quella. I would point out that that would be unlikely, because I don’t think Miyazaki has ever been that blasé but moreover there are various things meant to pull out attention towards Dark Souls II in the area leading up to that fight, as well as in the rewards you can get from the Soul of the boss.
It is in this area that (if you explore enough) you can find Lucatiel’s armor set, though her mask is missing. Yet if you were embered near the Dilapidated Bridge, you would have fought Holy Knight Hodrick. If you beat him, you get his covenant’s item (a vertebrae shackle and potentially the first one a player can receive), which you can trade with the crow in Firelink for Lucatiel’s Mask. So these things are sharpening our mind to a character who spoke so candidly, so openly, so hauntingly, of the Undead Curse: Lucatiel of Mirrah from Dark Souls II. What do we get from the Soul of the Rotted Greatwood? The Hollowslayer Greatsword, most associated with the ‘proper Mirrah knight’, Lucatiel.
All that to say is there is a lot around the Greatwood to make our mind think back to Dark Souls II, where the only reference to spirit trees is to the one in the ‘allegory’ of Quella. While you can very easily make the read that the Curse-rotted Greatwood is Quella (especially if you read that the spirit tree was Quella), I prefer to think of it as Quella repaying the spirit tree’s kindness by planting more of them.
Unfortunately there isn’t much else to say about Quella along these lines. There are a few subtextual connections that can be made between Lucatiel and Malenia: both losing everything to their Curses, for them being devoted so fully to their brothers they would do anything for them, etc. If Lucatiel is our path to Quella in Dark Souls III, and she gave her blade up into the Curse-rotted Greatwood as a final hail mary to remove her curse then it’s a fairly decent connection but unfortunately a bit too much of a jump without more context or confirmation she was in anyway fully connected to him…
But it is so interesting that the spell symbol of the Haligtree is so markedly similar to the spirit tree depictions on the Spirit Tree Shield and Grand Spirit Tree Shield.
(thank you to Eldenpedia & Modeler's Resource for the images above. From left to right: the spell sigil of Miquella's Haligtree, the Spirit Tree Shield, and the Grand Spirit Tree Shield.)
Also just briefly: Quella is a full god of dreams and presumably also sleep, while Miquella has a connection to dreams and sleep through his other half, Trina. We don't entirely know where else to highlight that and how much further that can go because there isn't enough information about Quella's association with dreams, only that the spirit tree he's associated with was a 'talking tree from the dreamworld'. Could draw the comparison that when we find St. Trina she is an almost dream-like whisp in the shape of a flower? Bit of a stretch but it was worth mentioning here.
There is one more major connection to draw that I'd like to put forward as a reason to explicitly link Quella and Miquella: the people cast in contrast with them. Lords of Blood seem drawn to the youthful beauty of both Miquella and Quella. Of course Mohg, much like Miquella himself, does not need much of an introduction. While we can’t speak for any connection to moths and Mohg, both he and the patron ‘god’ of the Brotherhood of Blood (Nahr Alma or Doloma, depending on how you feel) stand as contrasts to Miquella and Quella respectfully. Indeed, Titchy Gren explicitly says the Brotherhood is feuding with Quella’s covenant, the Blue Sentinels. (“Have you heard of the Blue Sentinels? They're are a thorn in our sides, to say the least. Their men are obsessed with hunting down blood servants. Ah, who cares? It's just another chance to spill more blood. Doesn't that excite you! Heh heh heh…”) No doubt many of Miquella's followers and Mohg's supporters have a similar feud since he kidnapped the Empyrean.
Also The Brotherhood of Blood's symbol is a three pronged trident. Hmm. Wonder if that comes up in Elden Ring.
Oh wow would you look at that. (The Blood Oath Incantations and the Crest of Blood ring from Dark Souls II. Sorry for the potato quality it's the only image I could find.)
Beyond their comparable symbolism, there is another little quirk here: the question of authenticity, so to speak.
In the fullness of the story, Mohg’s intentions and authenticity of what we are shown in game are easily called into question. How much of what was done was his and how much was Miquella’s? (Not touching the land mine, just pointing it out). How much was the Formless Mother's influence? He was never intended to be Miquella’s consort either, so his lordship is similarly questionable. The kicker being: Nahr Alma’s divinity is similarly questionable. His only explicit worshipper in Dark Souls II, Titchy, uses a chime associated with a completely different goddess and, moreover: the Crest of Blood (a ring given to people who join the Brotherhood of Blood) is explicitly said to be ‘nothing special’, but does boosts bleed build up by 50 points. To quote verbatim from the item description: “This ring is nothing special. Perhaps, in the end, an oath is but a window into the ambitions of the oath taker. If you have taken this oath(joined the covenant, presumably), then you know what you want. To be soaked in the blood of your kind.”
Should note I don’t think Mohg is evil on the same level as Nahr Alma. Mohg has reasons and motivations, while Nahr Alma (if he even exists) seems to be simply to bathe in blood.
One final major connection between Nahr Alma and Mohg(that isn’t really a connection per say, just an interesting detail): Titchy Gren is voiced by one Con O’Neill. Mr. O’Neill would go on to voice in Elden Ring: as Mohg, Lord of Blood. Just the fun little details.
To conclude: Elden Ring is just Dark Souls II-2 and Miquella is called that because Miayzaki saw Quella and said ‘My Quella now’ and didn’t change anything about him. /joking
Also this is why Miquella is cursed, btw.
Thank you for reading my insane ramblings. I’ve been noticing these for a while now and decided to put them together and show the world I am So Normal™ about a named only character from Dark Souls II. There’s probably more connections that can be made explicitly and also subtextually between Quella and Miquella, but these were the main ones I was able to find and feel confident in bringing forward to highlight. I don’t believe this proves that the two games are literally connected (though I enjoy playing around with that idea as an idea), but rather there’s a lot of ideas drawn forward into Elden Ring from many sources.
This is also a Quella propaganda post. Quella is a cool ass character and more people should give him attention (he has like four items dedicated to him and is 95% a blank slate). More insanity to come later.
Oh in case you are curious: Quella's Japanese name refers to the hesperocharis nera butterfly, also known as the Nera white. Nahr Alma's Japanese name refers to the doloma leucocephala moth.
Me: Man, it sure is cool how much Elden Ring references dark souls 2, though i hope there’s nothing in it that may be extremely indicative of what the DLC is gonna be ab-
La prima persona a cui pensi quando ti succede qualcosa di bello. O di brutto.
La persona che cerchi nel dormiveglia.
La persona per cui anche poco è infinitamente meglio di niente.
Quella.
