I think for me what makes the whole DLC schtick of Miq the kind/promised retcon so goddamn hard for me to accept, is the fact that so much of the base game regarding Miquella, alluded to him being the Tarnished's benefactor....
Just like:
Torrent being the most obvious, even in the DLC there is nothing discrediting Miquella from being Torrents former master, and so it is super interesting that Torrent would choose the Tarnished as their newest rider.
And then that leads into the whole Ranni interaction, where she gives us the Spirit Calling Bell and especially the three Wolf spirits(remember the statue at farum azula? I do fromsoft doesn't) specifically entrusted to her to give to the Tarnished from Torrents former master i.e Miquella!!!!
The ring which summons Torrent is specifically referred to as a "delicate goldwork ring" and Miquella was regarded as a craftsman, and made the unalloyed needles as well as Malenias prosthetics/weaponry
And if we defeat the Grafted Scion, the only thing we can do is be lured by the Nascent Butterfly's to a faulty cliff which starts the game and leads us to meeting Torrent
The Bewitching Branch being the only Demigod sanctioned item in the character creation segment....... (like fr miq being the very FIRST demigod you learn about from the character creation makes me crazy)
I just.... I'm just.... I feel like I'm clinging to nothing but strings with these connections in the base game... and then the whole DLC with the Miq/incest plot making me feel like I'm being gaslit into believing that these plot points don't even exist....
But fuck they DO EXIST. Like Gowrys entire quest with Millicent and the needle has him saying, "Oh yes, whoever crafted this needle had a clear grasp on the very essence of life," and just.... I hate it because it's there.
It is there.
IT'S THERE
I cannot for the life of me make a new character and play the game fucking raw without Ranni and Gowry and even freaking Melina being like "Here's a blatant reference to Miquella and the connection to him" only for the DLC to be like "Yeah actually none of that means anything"
And just... it's so incredibly frustrating 😞
I can literally see the BONES of what Miquella was originally supposed to be. It's there. It's all THERE. Miquella's love for Malenia, his wish to cure her. Miquella's adoration for Godwyn, and his wish to grant him a true death. And Miquella's Abundance and just... everything he was supposed to be....
(like fr lmaoooo even in the online messaging system the allusion to Miquellas Abundance IS FREAKIN THERE 😭)
Miquella's entire connection to Torrent and so too his connection to Ranni, the fact that she specifically reserved the Bell and Wolf Spirits for whoever Torrent chooses as his next master, the fact that Ranni KNOWS Torrent.... And for it to go nowhere in the dlc....
BUT AT THE SAME TIME!!!!
The overwhelming evidence of Miquella being Torrents former master and the DLC doing nothing to disprove that, makes Miquella wanting to kill us so goddamn jarring.
It's just... Okay seriously think about it: Torrent CHOSE us specifically, then Ranni has stuff to give us from Torrents former master, and then everything in the base game and even the DLC points to Miquella being associated with Torrent.... And yet now Miq wants to kill us even tho he asked Ranni to give us the Summoning Bell and Torrent choosing us as his next master....
AND I JUST H U N H????
and dont even get me started on Godwyn 😒 absolutely hilarious how the only other characters connected to him are either Miq, Ranni or Marika, (ranni killing him, marika shattering the elden ring bc of his death, and miq wanting to revive him) and then the entire dlc is like godwyn who???? here's some cheap lore despite fortissax being awesome where his personal guard doesn't care about their lord but only his cursed corpse 😒
I'm sorry but I seriously can never accept the DLCs writing for Miquella even when I try and do mental gymnastics for it to make any kind of sense... Because at the end of the day, with all the base game lore regarding Miquella and everything the DLC tried to put down, it will ultimately never make any sense to me.
Am I like... one of the few who think that the Death Knights fr fucking suck????
Just like seriously, in the base game Fortissax and Godwyn were mortal enemies in the War of the Ancient Dragons, but ultimately Godwyn pulled off the most ultimate diplomatic move in ever and ended up becoming best friends with Fortissax, which ended the whole war in the process!!!!
They became best friends! Godwyn and Fortissax formed the Ancient Dragon Cult together and brought peace between the Dragons and the Erdtree! Their whole friendship is what brought Lansseax and Vyke together ultimately, like gosh! 😭
And then... when Godwyn was cursed during the Night of Black Knives with the Death Root, Fortissax personally went into Godwyns soul to fight off the infection to save his friend and that's the whole reason why we fight Fortissax in the base game! Because he is corrupted while trying to save his best friend from such a horrific form of accursed undeath...!
there is like so many important characters who were dedicated to trying to save Godwyn from everything that he was cursed to become, in terms of Fortissax and Miquella... like seriously Miquella... miq did so-much to try and save godwyn with Golden Epitaph, the Wandering Mausoleums, his Eclipse.... he loves him so much.... so so much....
BUT NOW
The Death Knights in the Shadow of the Erdtree and their whole entire lore is like... "Yeah so we were Godwyns personal guard and such but we gave up on Godwyn and are now waiting for a random ass person to get impregnated by our Lords unholy corpse which he unconsented too... so yeah whatever ig 🤷♂️"
i just.....
GODWYN 😭
YOU FR NEED TO FIRE ALL THESE GUYS FROM YOUR EMPLOYMENT IMMEDIATELY! THEY WILL AND HAVE THROWN YOU UNDER THE BUS AT THE CLOSEST INCONVENIENCE!
Me thinking about how there are more hints in the base game towards Miquella and Rykard having a sibling relationship than anything regarding Miq and the Promised Retcon
QUITE LITERALLY
The Craftsman Shack on Mt. Gelmir indicating that Miquella spent a good amount of time in Rykards domain creating and engineering weapons(and Rykard allowing Miq to do so), the fact that you can find both the Pulley Bow/Crossbow on Mt. Gelmir, and that the Shaded Castle is literally within Mt. Gelmirs shadow and being one of the few places where the Haligtree is visible.
And also with the revelation that Miquella's charm acts as a type of calming spell and the fact that he can remove unhappy memories, and the very existence of the Tonic of Forgetfulness which can literally remove unwanted bitter memories, and that the bottle is highly golden and floral just like Miquella's aesthetic
Whereas in comparison to the nothing we get in the base game regarding anything between miq and rad......
