#sote vent

[krakenguard]

... Man, gonna be stepping on that particular hornets nest this day.

Miquella/Radahn does not seem to face nearly as much scrutiny as Mohg/Miquella.

Like, for all the fuss that they gave about Mohg having kidnapped and abducted someone stated to be "cursed with eternal childhood." If you wrote about these two - god forbid you tried to present that possibility that MAYBE it's not what it looked like, you'd be stamped as a horrible person who condones that stuff.

Now the DLC comes out. Turns out that the kidnapping was infatuation was something that was forced upon Mohg in the first place by his supposed victim. And then there's Malenia's march upon Caelid, unleashing the Scarlet Rot upon Radahn and inflicting great environmental damage. All in Miquella's name.

Taking Mohg's body and forsaking his soul, to then use as a vessal to house Radahn's soul and make him king consort.

Like, people are way more forgiving toward Miquella than they were with Mohg.

And, no, I'm not advocating for ship wars. It's silly, and stupid. But I've seen a looooot of shit said about people who shipped MiqMohg -- and... Yeah, the other ships -- whether MiqMalenia, MiqGodwyn, and now MiqRadahn -- do not seem to come under that same scrutiny.

Especially with MiqRadahn -- like you really COULD argue that Miquella's up to the same shit that Mohg's been condemned for.

[luminaryofblood]

Like, I'm sorry, but I honestly, genuinely can not get behind Miquella's whole plan in the DLC if what he did to Mohg was part of that plan, whether the idea came in later or was part of the plan all along.

The bewitchment, the manipulation. Whatever he did to Mohg in life, and the ensuing defilement in death... The suffering Radahn went through, the devastation Malenia unleashed in his name -- the fact that Malenia was used in such a way, as a weapon. The Blade of Miquella...

Admire the sword for its capacity to protect; not for the amount of blood it has shed...

Miquella's Age of Compassion was a doomed thing - The wild dreams of a deluded child.

Like, there's a TON of issues that I have -- but looking at Mohg... Dear god, Mohg...

What happened with Caelid ought to be enough reasn to take up arms against Miquella and whatever his idea of compassion entails.

When it comes to Mohg though, I'm looking at that in the perspective of someone who did come to love him...

The fact that Ansbach, who was so willing to run the moment the enchantment broke, couldn't bring himself to leave because he wanted to know what happened to Mohg. And the moment he DOES learn, it cements his decision to stay and fight, even though it likely meant his death - and ultimately did...

That... Says a lot.

And dammit, so what if Ansbach is biased -- so is Leda. So is Freyja. How would YOU feel if someone you knew - who you were loyal to - hell, I WOULD go so far as to say someone you loved - was used in such a way as Mohg was? Could you POSSIBLY blame Ansbach?

Mohg was no saint. He wasn't innocent. But he WAS a victim. And I had argued that he was worthy of compassion, in spite of everything he HAD done -- even before the DLC confirmed he WAS bewitched. The truth of it just makes it hurt all the more.

He WAS deserving of compassion, but was instead used as a sacrifice - the manner of which was incredibly cruel for someone who was supposedly known for his kindness.

I suppose there's a certain irony, in a way. People were hellbent on avenging Miquella and the Haligtree upon finding out that Mohg was the one who abducted him. And people were eager in going after Mohg once it was confirmed that yes, he needed to die to access the DLC.

Some have had a change of heart. Others still believe that Miquella was justified in the way he used Mohg -- which, again, how compassionate could that possibly be?

The fandom is full of Needle Knight Ledas and Sir Ansbachs. With some Jerrens and Freyjas off to the side. In the end, all I can say is...

... My dear lord truly deserved better.

[krakenguard]

Man, I've read peeps sort of complaining about that final boss of the DLC being incredibly boring, which...

... Yeah. Compared to the likes of Manus of the Abyss, the Orphan of Kos, Sister Friede and Father Ariandel, and Slave Knight Gael. Even Sinh, Fume Knight and Burnt Ivory King. Promised Consort Radahn IS kinda boring.

But like... One of the complaints from peeps is there isn't enough Body Horror -- which yeah, Body Horror is something that IS kinda FromSoft's Bread and Butter. Look at Ludwig. And with all the fanart showing Miquella with, like, Godwyn. Boy howdy FromSoft really missed the mark.

Anyway though. You look at Consort Radahn and there's very little of Mohg there, with the exception of a few horns on his arms, and a few smaller ones on his ankles.

But...

Like...

Alright, so everyone knows by now that I adore Mohg. I love the omen twins. I'm quite sympathetic toward the Hornsent. Yes, what what happened to Marika was wrong, but it's still not enough justification for the genocide on the Hornsent.

The lengths to which Miquella altered Mohg's body -- it doesn't even resemble him anymore. Mohg was beautiful as he was! But now it's like... Everything that made him beautiful is GONE now, and THAT, to me, is a sort of Body Horror that is far more horrifying than the misshapen face and writhing limbs of Ludwig the Accursed.

Like, the one thing that could have possibly made Consort Radahn even worse is if he had, like, a cape that was made out of Mohg's wings.

[krakenguard]

... Like, I could see Miquella taking Mohg and Radahn away to enact some sort of Fullmetal Alchemist "equivalent exchange" scheme in an attempt to bring Godwyn back -- the effort of which is ultimately futile.

... And ultimately you end up with either the Elric's Mother or a Nina/Alexander situation, but with Mohg and Radahn.

"If Marika the Eternal could not bring back Godwyn the Golden herself, then surely your own attempts will, too, be met with failure."

But no. The DLC explicitly is about Miquella having chosen Radahn as his consort.

Whatever ideas that COULD have been interesting, or HAVE been foreshadowed in the base game were all but dropped.

[krakenguard]

... Really, what WAS the point of us getting Torrent if Miquella was Torrent's former master, if Miq gave Torrent to Melina, who then gives Torrent to us, to help us on our quest to become Elden Lord, but Miquella only needs us to kill Radahn and Mohg, and when the time comes, kill us/enchant us when he has no further need of us/will not bend the knee...?

I mean... Why would Miquella give Torrent to Melina? Why would Melina give Torrent to us?? Why would Miquella give Melina Torrent, who would give Torrent to us, to then...?

...??

...????

[krakenguard]

I think, arguably the most rancid take to have come up from Shadow of the Erdtree was the "Marika was justified" take.

[krakenguard]

... And really, you would think that, by Miquella taking Mohg as his consort -- like, it would have looked good in the eyes of the Hornsent to see someone like themselves gain Miquella's favor.

Furthermore, to have Mohg as his king consort, it would serve as a testiment to his kindness and compassion. But what Miquella did do - from the bewitchment to the butchery of Mohg's body - is an extreme cruelty. Especially when you weigh in the fact that Mohg was already a victim of Marika’s cruelty.

No, he was not a good guy. But given his past, as a child born to a mother who could not get over her own hatred, condemning him(and his twin) to a lifetime of rotting in a sewer, you would think kindly Miquella would have looked at Mohg and said: "Yes. You are deserving of compassion."

Instead he used him. Enchanted him, and took his body to be used to house the soul of his chosen consort, who, according to Freyja, would want "endless war to invigorate the soul" -- it's already a mismatch...

For all the preaching of kindness and compassion, Miquella failed in following his own ideology. He clipped the wings of the divine bird; and now he would seek to declaw and defang the red-maned lion.

And that's what he would call compassion.

[krakenguard]

... Yeah, crap! If we were really going to re-use a previous boss concept for the final boss(Lothric and Lorian), why couldn't it have been the Bed of Chaos? Godwyn would have worked spectacularly for that!

AND we also would have had the ability to jump - something we were deprived of in Dark Souls!