I believe the Godfrey spirit we fight is an illusion conjured by Morgott. It has the same golden hue as his weapons and it spawns with the same sigil and manner as Morgott does when spawning as Margit outside the capital.

The fact that Godwyn is referred to as ‘the scion of the golden bough’ further enforces the connection he has to Godrick’s grafting process.

@SoI_Badguy

Жыл бұрын

What if godwyn grafted dragon bits to himself, and that's why he has scales?

@core-nix1885

Жыл бұрын

It's also a reference to Frazer's "Golden Bough" A book about comparative religion.

@DisgruntledPeasant

Жыл бұрын

There is always this weird idea that godwyns spirit dying causes him to morph into that weird hybrid fish thing What if the same person grafting in the deeproot has also been grafting godwyns body too? Meybe in some twisted attempt to bring him to life?

@nothanks9503

Жыл бұрын

Oh shit good point and I’ve been obsessed with grafting lately

I'm fine with these straight forward discussion and lore videos. I think a lot of people on KZread just over-edit literally everything. This isn't a meme channel, which I'm grateful for.

The idea that corpse wax is actually being harvested from Godwyn for grafting is so grim but makes a ton of sense to me (maybe that’s why the Godwyn corpse in stormveil is missing eyes and gives the impression of being hollowed out somehow…?). Would the idea be then that the wax somehow reanimates the dead parts that it joins together using the rune of death? In some ways it is staring us in the face because when Godrick grafts the dragon on his arm, that dragon is absolutely dead, and the only thing we know that can allow things to reanimate, or ‘live in death’, is the rune of death, which as is known from an item description takes the form of deathroot. Also I wish we knew more about what the gargoyles are in themselves, but I guess we just have to go from name associations as being some sort of manufactured sentry tasked with guarding certain places (somewhat like the golems, but whereas the golems seem like automata the gargoyles do appear to be alive in some sense.) The close ups of them in deep root depths were totally cool though! The ‘propagating’ from their missing body parts is so weird and fascinating - maybe points to a plant-like origin of them? It makes sense to me that the greater will created them to serve and protect the empyreans and the chosen god, and that over time they have been put to the test so much they have had to be repaired in a improvisatory kind of way, just trying to reassemble complete ones again, and when that isn’t possible, just literally stick their torsos around the place to breathe fire in a last ditch attempt to get some use out of them.

@crowstakingoff

Жыл бұрын

I think this is exactly right. For a little while though I was thinking that maybe the dragons have a way of holding onto life after dying. I thought this because of the theory that the three "-ax" dragon bosses other than placidusax were originally his other three heads. However, Godrick's dragon is not an ancient dragon, so even if this theory is true I guess it wouldn't explain how Godrick was able to reanimate it.

Loved the Godwyn breakdown and the postmortem. Dumb question: Do we ever see Godwyn's legs? In the intro cinematic they intentionally don't show his legs, only from waist up. Because I think Godwyn's fin is meant to be a reveal. Somehow Marika kept his Misbegotten nature secret in the event he would be her successor to the throne. How he gets involved with the dragons without being able to walk on land is a mystery (AKA a big hole in the theory). But it explains why Marika would be fine with Godwyn being killed on the Night of the Black Knives. Once she had Miquella and Melania she no longer needed to cover for a heretical Misbegotten heir. I just really like the idea of this blond pretty-boy flopping around the lands between while smooching dragons.

Good stuff! You mentioned some people don’t like when you bring in real world stuff - but I personally love it! Admittedly, a lot of times when other folks do it they end up making some super crazy theory that doesn’t make sense, but when you bring it in, you always use it to further understand in game practices and story mechanics or you use it to drive home From’s symbolism usage. I especially loved it in your long video from a few weeks back about metals and conduits etc! Keep up the good work and happy lore hunting

@quelaag

2 жыл бұрын

;-; thank you so much! I hope it was helpful!!!

Regarding who is doing this grafting, I think Godwyn is the most likely perpetrator. The valiant gargoyles we fight in the aquaducts are clearly stopping someone from getting to deeproot depths, and the person we find there is Darian's brother, a member of the Golden Order and someone committed to killing Godwyn or at least stopping his spreading death blight. We first see D scared and barely functional, and only after giving him the armor of his brother, an armor that likely would only pass on if Darian died, and after being given the armor he helps us fight the gargoyles, unlocking DRDs for not just us but also for him. The gargoyles may have once been for defending Marika related things, but the place we see them most now is guarding the pathways to Godwyn himself. Godwyn is a primary source of corpse wax being in a relatively moist place and being an eternal corpse. He produces it and it is used to mend and propagate the gargoyles. Fascinating that the gargoyles are almost plant like, definitely lends into the root/deathroot vibe, and explains why we see so many in half chopped state.

Regarding the sealed doors in Leyndell: I think there is one or even multiple pandemics happening or have happend in the past. During the bubonic plague it had become common practice to lock people up in their houses and mark the doors with red paint. The entire houshold was essantially sentenced to death for the greater good. The gold resin on the doors are mostlikely intendet to keep the people inside. Since none of the doors are broken open, we can assume that all inahbitans are dead. As to what plague might possibly be i have multiple answers. It could either be the frenzyd flame sickness, since was already saw how that affected people and the three fingers, its main source, is directly under the housing part of the city. Furthermore there seems to be a zombie plague much like in Raya Lucaria. That is a direct violation to the principles of the golden order and so the the ruler of the city is interested to stop it. Another thing could be the deathblight since the greatroots are directly below the city so it could have affected someone outside and he has carried it in the city. A last possibility might be that for some reason the people of the city have mutated. Either into the beastmen we fight or even Omens as an omenkiller is stationed there. I say its a covid joke... Another "fun" fact is that whatever the pandemic is, Fias stepfather, Lionel has died mostlikely because of it and she has performed her Deathbed companion magic to make him, her ghost champion, since we fight him during the Fia boss. Since Rogier has died to the deathblight, i would bet that the deathblight has also killed him. So my guess would be that someone (likely Fia has spread it with her presence or Lionel was the source of it) infected the city with it and the perfumers who were originally healers teamed up with the other forces in the city to fight the plague.... and have killed most people by it. *Insert Patrick we saved the city-meme*

@nightscout9979

Жыл бұрын

Lionel's corpse is found sitting up and hunched over, so he probably slept with his own adopted daughter then died. Sleeping with Fia seems to have severely messed up his body too, and part of it is even on fire.

@hinkelstein1494

Жыл бұрын

@@nightscout9979 Well, that could be. Interestingly, she has left behind her old deathbed companion attire and is wearing a black version of the dress instead. She looks like she's mourning his death. It could be that her obsession with the death rune and Godwyn stems from the trauma of losing her father figure... We also know that she "slept" with Rogier and he is also part of the Fia boss fight. I don't think it's about sex. Maybe in a metatextual way, but the in-game is clearly about physical touch, like when we hug her.

The whole Serosh situation is so confusing! When I was playing through and read that Godfrey took Serosh onto his back I just thought it was literal, like a piggyback ride lol! Or maybe that Serosh would dig his claws and teeth into Godfrey when he fought to somehow stop him from reverting into his warrior persona. So I thought of them as two fully independent beings that just worked together, for lack of a better term lol But like you said, when we fight Godfrey, Serosh is clearly some kind of spirit. So I had thought that they had both died, then Godfrey came back as a tarnished, but Serosh didn't. So in order to actually be Godfrey and hot Hoarah he had to summon Serosh's spirit to take him on his back again. And I see why people believe they were grafted since only the upper body of Serosh is visible. But then in the cutscene where Hoarah removes and kills Serosh, it seems like Serosh physically manifests again, which just completely throws me off lol! So was he never really a spirit? Did Godfrey somehow resurrect Serosh's body just to kill him again immediately? I really don't know! Godfrey with Serosh on his back is definitely one of my favourite bits of imagery in Elden Ring though. I love the Berserk vibes it has, it's like a mix of the Beast of Darkness climbing Guts' back and also how Schierke piggybacks on Guts to hold him back.

@gothxm

Жыл бұрын

Serosh was the Lord of Beasts..and although the process is unclear he became Godfrey's Beast Regent. A regent is someone who rules in place of the actual monarch..so Serosh is ruling over Godfrey's worst and brutal tendencies. That's why killing him brings him back to being Hoarah Lux. I saw some leak that showed a working title for Elden Ring DLC and it has Badlands in the title. So we may just get to explore where Godfrey came from in a DLC but take that with a grain of salt because the leak may have a dubious source.

@ShadeStormXD

Жыл бұрын

@@gothxm that roadmap for content from namco with the barbarians of the badlands is most certainly not real

@gothxm

Жыл бұрын

@@ShadeStormXD alright

I just figured the revenants/Renna were a race that lived in the marsh or whatever, and the marionettes were designed to look like them for some reason.

Cool to see you making these videos, I remember discovering and enjoying your demons souls/dark souls/ bloodborne videos nearly a decade ago

I always thought of Godfrey last appearance as him fully ressurected by the Erdtree as a tarnished, just like we do every time in the game sort of. And Serosh didn't goes through this dynamic but lingers on on Godfrey as a spirit summon somehow? Don't know, it was always mysterious for me those two Godfrey appearances

Is Serosh ACTUALLY a Ghost? Because Serosh becomes corporeal for a brief moment, and Godfrey then killed him. My best guess is that Serosh "merged" with Godfrey and is representing his wild side, so Godfrey can do his kingly duties, while Serosh keeps his animalistic warrior side in check. I think it is also said that Serosh was defeated and tamed by godfrey, but I can't remember where this was written. Once Godfrey though was beaten, Serosh either became corporeal since he wanted to protect Godfrey, or he Godfrey was the one keeping Serosh in ghost form, and when he was weakened, Serosh thought he could break free by becoming corporeal again, forcing godfrey to kill him. either way something happened when killing Serosh, and Godfry took back on his old name and fought like thr wild warrior that he originally was. Whatever it is, fact is that Serosh was able to gain become corporeal again, and that he might have something to do with godwyn trur power.

I really want anything about the Dragon Communion and Dragon Cult lore and potential connections between them.

@quelaag

2 жыл бұрын

I’ll make a note of this since Godwyn actually has a bit to do with this!

Its crazy how I had just watched all of your lore videos a couple months ago and decided to subscribe to see if you'd ever return to this channel and wow im usually not this lucky. You're approach to explaining lore is so refreshing and there isn't anything like it on youtube please keep going (and please go back to bloodborne, I need more LOL)

You reminded me of this thing called a Hand of Glory, which is a pickled hand from someone who died in the gallows, and a myth that is believed to happen when you make a candle with corpse wax, specifically the wax of the corpse of the same person who died in the gallows! Apparently, the lighting of the Hand of Glory would render the people around it paralyzed. It was even used once in an issue of Hellboy

Serosh turns into a physical thing right before Godfrey rips him off and kills him.

Okay, so my two big takeaways from this one: The living jars just outside of Godrick's boss room are probably full of corpse wax from the Godwyn thing under the castle, huh? Just hanging out for Godrick to scoop from, Pooh-bear style, when he wants to do a graft Also, if corpse wax is so deeply tied to mending... Is that what the mending runes are made of? Could explain why the maker of the rune never survives the process and needs us to carry it for them after that

Four arms are just cool and mysterious, duh

just on the serosh grafting idea, i guess it has some merit considering once serosh steps into physical flesh, hoarah loux physically tears him off his back? never even considered they could've been grafted together god this game

NGL, Corpsewax candles sound pretty METAL.

I loved this video Quelaag! I also think the colour imagery of the corpse wax and grafted bodies of gargoyles is significant. The reddish colour of one of half of the waxed gargoyle reminds me of the Crucible and yellow half is synonymous of the Golden Order. The Erdtree both physically and metaphorically grafted the primordial Crucible and yet shunned it, proving to me Marika is the one enslaving these gargoyles to protect the Erdtree(and it's dark secret in Deeproot Depths).

So I just came across your videos recently and I can't stop watching. I never thought the rabbit hole was actually this deep.

I feel like Surosh wasn't actually attached to Godfrey in life, more restraining him and following him.

I thought the Royal Revenants were also connected to Godrick just like the Grafted Scions. They probably just didn't put any of them in Stormveil since they're too hard of an enemy to be in such an important early game locations. I hope we get more grafted units in the game in a future DLC, they're so unique and cool. I'm hoping we'll get some more transformations for our characters too, like seen ine arlier games. So far the other transformations are eye color changes and burn marks from the Three Fingers. It would be cool if we could become grafted ourselves, like a better version of the werewolf transformation from bloodborne. If they make that possible then theres many other transformations we could possibly get, like becoming Omens with a bunch of horns.

You know, I am really late to Dark Souls as a whole, but Quelaag is doing a better job than most of my old university professors lol Also, I wonder if Corpse Wax is related to Malenia? Her close-ups show a pattern that's almost like layered bandages? And she mentions dreaming of her flesh being dull gold. Could be memories of her artificial limbs, but what if Miquella was trying an unalloyed gold corpse wax hyrbid to slow her rot?

@quelaag

2 жыл бұрын

She is afflicted with the rot from the outer god of rot who cursed her as a child! She is still living, so not corpse wax. But absolutely rotting! The unalloyed gold thing is in reference to miquellas needle and unalloyed gold not tarnishing !! Hope that’s helpful

@Gunstling

2 жыл бұрын

@@quelaag Fair enough! Thanks for the clarification

you are soooo amazing!!!!!!!!!1 your voice is sooooo gooodd!!!!

Lol the ending of this video is amazing

good to see one of the first still making videos!!!!!!! you're so cool!!!!

as for why the doors in Leyndell are sealed with corpse wax: Tarnished Archaeologist i believe pointed out that during the Dust Bowl period, people would seal their doors and windows shut with whatever they could find. Leyndell may have done the same during the previous burning of the Erdtree, as evidenced by the ash everywhere.

I just know its grippin

i feel like the videos are well-prepared as they are. Thought out, dive deep discussion of design choices with real-life references is brilliant, I'm having a time of my life watching such content and I feel like theres is a lot I can learn from you ive been enjoying those thought out theories with mindmap presentation i see there is obviously room to clean video by editing but i personally dont care as much if it wouldnt be. I like natural pacing of the video

After seeing the DLC story video, and how the erdtree was made with corpses, you should do a follow up this one.

I’m not sure if anyone has commented this yet or not but the doors are sealed to keep ash out. Tarnished archaeologist covered this topic really well as I’m sure a lot of you already know.

I’ve thought of Leyendell as less of a city and more of a cemetery with mausoleums of honored dead

Really late to this video, but I think the reason the corpse wax from Godwyn is so relevant to grafting could just simply be a mechanical reason. From what we can tell, deathblight is some kind of erdtres cancer, wherein it keeps trying to grow him a new body and rebirth him as per the golden order, but it can't because his soul is nowhere in the network. So it's just filling the corpses with nothing, or probably worse, junk data, and then trying to grow another one. That's been my explanation for why his face and shapes show up EVERYWHERE, and exclusively spread across the Erdtree root network. If this is right, the Erdtree must be using some kind of substance that lets new bodies be grown at a pretty swift pace, probably asynchronously because it's a tree not a womb. And it's probably still pumping him full of it because his body has gotten HUGE since he was interred before the Shattering, and has become very malformed from aberrant growth. I think the corpse wax is probably these major Godwyn growths weeping this growth stimulant substance, and it just so happens that's pretty handy for grafting too because, well, it's a material that preserves and bonds organic matter together. It was probably possible to acquire this substance in the past directly from the Erdtree, explaining earlier instances of grafting even before the night of black knives, Deathblight and at least 2 Godwyns have just made this growth stimulant preservative juice more accessible.

These videos are incredible in piecing together so much of the backstory of the game and what things mean. Thank you for making them! You keep pointing out that the corpse wax is yellow, and the game even points out that there's yellow and black versions. This makes me wonder: is there a connection to the King in Yellow? Miyazaki is super fond of referencing that in his games, but the yellow flame of frenzy is Elden Ring's big use of it. It seems like the corpse wax being yellow may just be a coincidence, but could there be more to it? The Three Fingers want to combine everything together again as one, to get rid of death and birth, and in a way, that's what the corpse wax is doing - combining things into one, stopping death and natural birth (to continue the plant grafting metaphor - not growing from a seed but by propogation of the same plant, so continued life without birth?). I also wonder if there's a connection between the yellow wax, black wax, and (red) root resin and the 3 types of pyromancies: frenzy/yellow, godslayer/black, and giant/red. Also, it's maybe interesting that these are all opposed to the GOLDen Order. Somethingsomething flame melting gold?? Also, something about wax being used to fuel flame, like a candle. Which makes me think of the Hand of Glory, a mythical candle made from a corpsewax hand. While it's not directly referenced in any of Miyazaki's works (as far as I know?), hands are super important in Elden Ring, so maybe?

Seeing the footage of Godwyn's corpse and the crown made me think of something: What if his body is absorbing the crown in the same way that trolls seem to have absorbed big stone tablets into the gaping hole where, I'm guessing, their souls used to be? And perhaps the crown would grand Godwyn a similar existance to that of trolls.

Ranni gives me hindu deva vibes with her four arms, blue skin, and semi-divine status. I wouldn’t be shocked if Miyazaki took inspiriation from Hinduism for Ranni's design.

am i crazy or was the strong implication in the game that leyndell has waxed or resined shut doors is from the first time the erdtree or greattree or whatever was burned, there are piles of ash everywhere before u arrived at the ashen capital after burning the erdtree urself. seems the erdtree in game is an illusion, like the sun in dark souls, and the og great tree is just the barky part we see at the entrance

I think the capitol sealed it's doors shut for explanation of why you can't open them. Jk, there might be a reason.

@quelaag

2 жыл бұрын

Tbh this 100%

The old monk did a ton of grafting experiments the lol worm monsters and stuff in the blood pit are grafted mutants made from the prisoners and citizens

I have this crazy theory that Godrick is actually Albinauric, which explains his ability to graft. His relation to Gostoc is essentially two lowly albinaurics that conspired to rule. Children of Marika are like clones. Furthermore I believe albinaurics are all cloned from Numen if not Marika directly. Gostoc bleeds red tho, so maybe the fate of Numen after Marika were to be slaves. Once assimilated, her people became the first target of repression. ahem...

*gets cozy*

omg i have a pothos in my room im gonna try the jar thing

The sealed windows in the Capitol are to show that the Erdtree has already burned once before. Tarnished Archeologist has a great video about it

What is the software you use to present this information? Thanks in advance!

Kind of a weird question but do you think that maybe Godwin tried and failed to mimic the resurrected properties of the erd tree? As we see skeletons essentially cocooned in some sort of plant like coffin below stormveil. I can’t help but wonder if that itself was the one flaw in the order the reanimation of souls without the guidance of a greater will.

Seemed to me that he was possessed by serosh and he's a spirit ash

is it a post mortem because he's dead

whats playing during the intro here?

Godfrey and Serosh were always weird to me. The introduction shows Serosh as a physical being, yet all the depictions of Godfrey we see in game are actually the Godfrey we see at the end of the game with the Serosh spirit. That fact coupled with the cut dialogue makes me think Godfrey being the second to last boss was a relatively last minute change of plan for the character.

I thought before this that Godwyn's corpse was connected to the main Erdtree, and that this was how Deathroot was spreading: because the Erdtree was already connected to the rest of the lands between. But I agree now that he does seem to be at the base of the minor erdtree. The diameter of Godwyn's tree looks much more similar to the minor erdtree too than the main Erdtree. I'm just not sure now, how it is that deathroot is spreading throughout the world. Is it possible that it also spreads as an infection between organisms?

I actually really appreciate the world building and the in-real life context you provide it helps flesh out concepts that can be difficult to wrap ur head around

@ 3:32 😤 go off

Oh noooo now I'm gonna go down a rl morbid corpswax rabbit hole wish me luck 😭 it's so gross and fascinating!

@_neolucky

2 жыл бұрын

Oh snap a fav tuber AskAMortician did a video on it YESSSSSS

@quelaag

2 жыл бұрын

I LOVE HER

Positive comment

What's up with that real life tree, It's got like 2 branches that look like penises I can't be the only one who noticed that 😂

If arms are typically representative of grasping at a goal or desire desperately, wouldn't having 4 arms be a symbolic representation of ambition or greed? More arms = more things to grasp and cling to? Or possibly it would mean that a person has many plots and schemes: their fingers are in all the pies, so to speak. Ranni certainly fits that particular idea; by stealing Death, she was a catalyst for a LOT of things in the game, no?