"This is not a lore video" Damn the delivery of that gave me chills. Fantastic video, you put things so eloquently
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Haha, thanks a lot! I felt like I could’ve put a bit more mustard on that line, glad I was able to sell it as is
@kitetales
Ай бұрын
What an elegantly written, narrated, and edited video! Really appreciate your views and conclusions with the characters and their intentions; it's easy to make the "they were all bad" judgement and I think you illustrated otherwise so beautifully. Thank you for all of the hard work in making this!
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Wow, that’s such high praise! I really appreciate it, thanks so much!
@GrayCatbird1
Ай бұрын
It makes most sense to understand Marika as someone who fundamentally had pure and highly idealistic intentions, who literally wanted to create a beautiful golden world, before it was all corrupted by power and the need for ostracization. For in that sense the parallels between her and Miquella are most striking and meaningful.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
I agree! She's also very similar to what I think George is trying to do with Daenerys in the Game of Thrones book, an idealist who will create her vision of a perfect world at any cost
@dogf421
Ай бұрын
marika is a great place to start because marika, not the tarnished, is the main character of elden ring
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
I absolutely agree with you on this, well put
@DonnyKanone
Ай бұрын
you lads are off your knickers. Well yeah, unless Christ and almighty God is the main character of your stories too, then apologies.
@Zythryl
Ай бұрын
@@DonnyKanone???
@ravendelacour1917
Ай бұрын
A protagonist is the character whose decisions and actions determine the narrative. A point of view character is one through which the story is gold. The two often are the same in a story but they don't have to be. Marika is the one who set the plot in motion by her actions. The Tarnished is the charcater by which we see the results of her action and react to them.
@DonnyKanone
Ай бұрын
@@Zythryl Here is a very clear, more dramatic but identical version for a game that plays on post WWII europe: Hitler is the main character of that game, and not the player character, the war torn landscape or countless physical and spiritual victims and destroyed civilizations. Its the story of Hitler, his trauma growing up in a WW I world of ptsd, poverty and conflict and what came of it.
@metapotato5170
Ай бұрын
the seduction: power the betrayal: power edit: i should have included this: i find it amazing how FS has made a game basically asking you to explore the life of the Old and New Testament Gods. Is Marika a merciful, loving god who is hoping ultimately to spare beings from suffering? Is she a vengeful, cruel god hoping to claim power for herself and the chosen while smiting down all who betray her? Would a just god allow a hell like the Land of Shadow to exist? Would a cruel God give up its children to allow a remaking of the world? I think Marika's division into Radagaon is meant to show exactly this tension: Radagon wants to hew close to the Golden Order at the cost of all else; Marika is trying to grasp to humanity. Cruelty and love come not from one and the other, but from both.
@blackbomber72
Ай бұрын
I've noticed that sometimes we miss the forest for the trees. In figuring out the minutia or how a specific thing works, we miss the big (and honestly quite obvious sometimes) bigger themes.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Totally agree!
@killerking2346
Ай бұрын
Basically me, trying to understand Bloodborne's main themes. Very good advice on approaching lore.
@daniellassander
Ай бұрын
For Marika the world was pain, first trapped by the hornsent then trapped by the order she herself imposed that would be a better world for everyone but it was not for her. All her power could not fix what was broken in the world she created, she could not have her son back, death crept back into the world through the cracks and the seams of reality itself. There was nothing she could do to fix it, all her power was useless for everything that mattered. So she choose to end her own pain and struggles by breaking herslf and the order she created for it mattered nothing at all to her. The story can be viewed in many different ways, it can be seen as a story of abandonment, or through how power corrupts, or of an innocent girl trying to fix the world ending up ruining it for herself. It was never power that would fix her world, it was only love that could do that.
@Apt23-v8u
Ай бұрын
But how can You do that if your love is completly shatter
@BTFWayne
Ай бұрын
Good shit. Less item description videos, more of this.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Glad you enjoyed this! Thanks a lot 😊
@WheatDos
Ай бұрын
What i love about the DLC is that what we learn of Marika's backstory fills the gaps of Miquella's journey and vice-versa Because they parallel each other.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Not to get too ahead of myself but a lot of the Miquella video is about the parallels between both characters, it’s super interesting to talk about
@isaiahlreeves
Ай бұрын
This is great. I say this in the most positive manner; I love a vibes based analysis of Elden Ring. It’s the most honest.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
I was put on this earth to do vibes based Elden Ring analysis
@nothappening5510
Ай бұрын
Theories and Thematic breakdowns are both important and valuable one is the nitty gritty details of how things work and another is a big picture story analysis having both leads to a deeper appreciation of the work the writers and game designers put in to making this world a world you can understand and a story that should be told and remembered
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Big time - I completely agree, and I don't think I always do a god job at making that clear. I spend a lot of this video breaking down my interpretation of the events of the story, even though I lean more heavily on the thematic side. I often come away from videos that *exclusively* do theory crafting unsatisfied though. You are absolutely right though, we need to know what the story is in order to analyse its themes
@VictorIV0310
Ай бұрын
When you really think about it, the furnace golems are designed to be Marika and Messmer’s “jars” for the Hornsent.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
I never thought about it that way, pretty grim!
@VictorIV0310
Ай бұрын
@@BacklogReviewerAlso, Marika’s removal of the Rune of Death from the Elden Ring accomplishes multiple things: - It ensures that no one can truly die but be reincarnated via Erdtree burial. - A threat to her power is sealed away by her half-brother and shadow, Maliketh - The Hornsent are condemned to an eternity of suffering and persecution from the crusaders in the Realm of Shadow where they become little more than spirits and shades or worse, man-flies.
@williammurderfacemurderfac162
Ай бұрын
@@VictorIV0310 Interesting to note that the cleanrot knights character model has bug wings sticking out of the armor. If you think about the natural cycles of life and death. An orgainc lifeform dies and is absorbed into the soil to feed the plants that become food for another organic lifeform and this cycle continues indefinitely, unless something cataclysmic stops it. The irony of the story of Marika is that by isolating the rune of death, she inadvertently condemned all to the ultimate death. The erdtree stopped producing sap, those who live in death became more and more apparent, you see in the catacombs the roots stopped absorbing the "dead", the remnants of the once great houses wandered the countryside colecting ruin fragments unable to die and clinging to their once great vestiges of power. She even knows how fucked everything is and tells her kids to do all that they can become lords or gods but be forsaken if ye become nothing. By isolating destined death, she isolated the one thing that was feeding the power of the erdtree, and her own power, and so it eventually ran out. Sealing her own fate, like the sealing of a jar.
@LocksAndChains
Ай бұрын
@@VictorIV0310 I really don’t like Marika… but the sheer scope of her vengeance is a thing of beauty. And I can’t help but applaud. Fortunately, I also despise the Hornsent.
@VictorIV0310
Ай бұрын
@@LocksAndChains I understand why she did what she did but still, I still cannot get behind her actions. It is all one awful cycle of misery and hate, of victims making more victims. I guarantee you that the Hornsent civilization is not a monolith and had many who were unaware or did not approve of some of their more grotesque practices such as a Greater Potentate from Bonny Village who was disgusted by the jarring practices that he made cookbooks for jarring items that specifically excluded using living beings from the process and the Hornsent spirits in Midra's manse who begged their fellow Hornsent Inquisitors to spare them and ask what their master Midra was guilty of.
@jefferyschroeder3104
Ай бұрын
This was an absolutely beautiful take on the story of elden ring. I feel like we all forget that Miyazaki writes story's more as poetry than intricately written puzzle. while George probably gave a good play by play about the actual lore and myth, Miyazaki took all of that and gave us a wonderful poem to look and and see how it makes us feel.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Thanks very much, I’m really happy you enjoyed it! Noah Gervais said in his Dark Souls video that the series used poetic, mythic allegory as its chosen mode of storytelling, and Elden Ring does that too! It’s an adaptation of George’s writing by way of From’s poetic allegory
@jefferyschroeder3104
Ай бұрын
@@BacklogReviewer Noah's video really changed my outlook on alot of the lore and the way we view it. I think sometimes we get too caught up in finding direct answers and ignore the obvious things staring right in our faces. Sometimes the lore doesn't need to perfectly puzzle piece together, but when it does, it's to fit the themes and mood of the story being woven. Im very excited to see how your interpret the dlc. "I'll be watching your career with great interest"
@MonoFlax
Ай бұрын
I love the idea of the shadow land as an art exhibition. Thats really the experience you get, you enter this place, you get an impression, you are allowed to explore it at your own pace while clearly guided to pick up certain things from your envirionment. And in the end you are invited to draw your own conclusions.
@ravendelacour1917
Ай бұрын
At last, someone else who understands that the Bonny Village and Jail are analogous to the concentration and death camps of our world. Story is a reflection of our reality through the lens of the creators.
@Dragonzzilla
Ай бұрын
That's the thing, isn't it. Who "rightly" deserves to suffer? There is, undeniably, evil in the world. To believe otherwise is every bit as foolish as dismissing the good there is in the world. But evil and good are not states of being; they are active practices. No one is born evil, and even if they end up doing evil onto others, the right thing ISN'T to do evil onto them. Harm is to be mitigated, not reciprocated or escalated. The Hornsent DID evil things; their culture did NOT deserve to be suppressed or annihilated. Marika DID evil things; she did NOT deserve to see her family crumble again nor become the plaything of alien powers. No one "deserves" what has happened to them in the Lands Between; the slippery slope of justification is why the place is such a shit show. But it's also why the little acts of goodness you're capable of doing in Elden Ring are so important, given the themes of the story. The history of your Tarnished is a blank slate. They could have once been the meanest son of a bitch imaginable... but they (or rather, YOU) are not obligated to remain that way. Whatever they've done in the past, do they "deserve" to rot, to burn, to bleed, to die over and over again? Who deserves to suffer, and who gets to determine that?
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
I ultimately come down on this in the same way you do, and can I just say that I’m *delighted* that someone really did leave their thoughts on the philosophy of punishment in the comments? I’m so tickled, thank you for taking the time
@abbeyross8014
9 күн бұрын
@@BacklogReviewer CS Lewis has a fantastic piece called the Humanitarian Theory of Punishment that you might want to look into. There is a fantastic bit about tyrants in it. Essentially, a 'good' tyrant is still a tyrant. An evil tyrant gets bored of doing evil; a good tyrant is pinged by his conscious to do 'right'. Maybe this is what became of Marika.
@BacklogReviewer
8 күн бұрын
@@abbeyross8014 I will try to track that down, thanks for the rec!
@Zythryl
Ай бұрын
I’d can’t wait to hear your interpretation of what Miquella as a character conveys, in relation to the rest of the Elden Ring setting. It seems things can go in wildly different ways depending on how you view the characters who supply information about him.
@zen-t3w
Ай бұрын
Damn this was good!! I have been thinking about the omen twins quite a lot after all the dlc lore. Now I have a bit of a crackpot theory here so take it as you will: Marika after her ascention could establish any order she wanted but couldn't change its rules even if she wanted to. The reason for my thinking here is because if you establish an order and enforce it among the people then suddenly change the rules then it would definately cause an uproar and thus chaos which the greater will's vassals (metyr and elden beast) would be opposed to. I feel this way as the finger who receive messages from Metyr seem pretty keen on keeping the golden order as it is. The finger reader at lift of rold at the mountaintops says that the fingers would never allow destined death to be restored. This makes it seem that the fingers want the order as it was to be restored the way it was. Ranni's quest makes it pretty clear to me that the fingers are very controlling. Anyways she makes it so that the creatures resembling the hornsent (or crucible if you will) are enslave, shunned or worse. Now after the omen twins were born she could have just had a trauma response and shun them or she could have changed her mind about the omen but she couldn't change the order due to her godhood and that decision causing chaos. Maybe this is the moment she realised she had gone too far. To add to this there was an attempt to cure the omens as said by the perfumer traveller garb description suggesting she did have some small part of her that wanted to give them kindness but she could only do it if the horns were removed for her memories were too painful. Morgott and Mohg are clearly educated in both mind and body. Hence we can safely conclude that she had them educated through Godfrey. Its also implied by the talisman pouch description that the finger reader enia was a wet nurse to Morgott. Did she go herself? I have no idea. Did she care about them? Probably. Again take my unhinged rambling with a grain of salt as I just spewed it out😅. Again brilliant video.
@danielhoward9729
Ай бұрын
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Marika had good intentions for the world, but she needed to enforce her Order. Godhood and immortality became a curse for her which is why she enslaved Master Hewg to create a weapon capable of slaying a god, of slaying her. She wanted to escape the prison that is Godhood. Which is why St. Trina implores you to slay Miquella, as if to confirm that fact.
@spiralistichope9216
Ай бұрын
What a fantastic video! You completely hit the nail on the head when it comes to Marika, I basically had the exact same feelings when it comes to the quality of her characterization. The development of how her story is presented, which encapsulates what makes these games so brilliant with their subtle and purposefully ambiguous yet dense and well-written non-traditional storytelling, has got to be the single greatest achievement of storytelling that Elden Ring produces. As you note here, with the expansion her tale somehow became even more nuanced and mysterious, she is both the single most important figure in the narrative and lore of ER’s story and simultaneously also the grandest enigma, both absent yet also so thoroughly pervasive in every manner, in past and present, across the fractured world that she helped create. I feel like she’s a big step up from prior figures in From games like Gwyn, Sulyvahn or even Gehrman, perhaps due to Martin’s added influence on her character and its intricacies in personality (just look at the ever present Radagon debate, and now the revelation of Shaman Village and its implications, which allow for fantastic lore AND substantive thematic speculation such as in this video). She’s just the wonderful central pillar of it all as far as the lore goes, and her designs, her goals, her acts, all the questions around her history and purpose, will be discussed ad infinitum at this point, she’s just that complex and open to interpretation, there is just so much to contemplate, she’s a literary goldmine in the artistic sense, a faceted masterpiece of a character. A truly compelling driving force of the story and lore, she’s got to be the shining light of the tale Elden Ring tells for me in this specific instance. Which brings me to the other great aspect of this analysis, that you emphasize focusing on thematic messages and conceptual/abstract ideas instead of just obsessing about lore debates, and that the delineation of less overt forms of storytelling absorbed through the WORLD and our multifarious experience of it matters just as much as concrete item descriptions or ambiguous lore conjecture and connectivity revolving around forced "theories" about everything. This wider appreciation of how the game opens itself to interpretation is exactly what makes the Soulsborne games so engrossing, makes them feel so artistic, like you're travelling through a painting rife with symbolic and narrative meaning, and Shadow of the Erdtree did this as well as anything else they've worked on (perhaps besides The Old Hunters). This is what helps relay thematic depth, and the underscoring of the philosophical idea of Power and its importance in the themes Elden Ring as a force of cyclical destruction and corruption is wonderfully explored here. The base game already conveys this theme in particular with the presentation of various Orders and our ruminations on what they mean (look at Ranni's story to comprehend just how important a theme power is in this setting), but it goes even harder when it comes to Marika, since she is the nexus of it all in so many ways, the embodiment of the complexities of power and the consequences of its expression. Miquella is another fantastic link to this topic, and the parallelism with Marika which the expansion elucidates upon really is a fascinating topic, particularly in relation to the theme of power as seen by the pursuit of godhood. I can't wait to see your video and analysis on him and how his narrative ties with the themes surrounding Marika that you so expertly presented here, you've made a new fan and I am looking forward to more. Well done!
@Nilnot
Ай бұрын
Love this! I hope you talk about Mesmer more at some point. The way he turns on Marika at the very end kinda brought the character full circle for me. One of my favorite parts of the dlc
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
So the plan is Miquella next, and Messmer last! Will get to him eventually
@MyWifeistheMC
Ай бұрын
That was amazing! While I myself enjoy piecing together lore through environmental pieces and in-game text, I love this story woven from the threads presented by the game. This was very well-written, and your delivery was soothing and compelling. Looking forward to your Miquella video!
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Really glad you enjoyed it, thanks so much!!
@hvw2377
Ай бұрын
I was waiting for a video from Marika’s strongest warrior about the Marika DLC. I wonder if the hornsent even initially disapproved of her ascension. After all, isn’t it the culmination of everything they ever wanted? The sacrifice of the gate and its attendants might have been considered a worthy sacrifice to witness divinity. Like shamans in jars. The fact that the crucible knights supported the rise of the golden order could support this. Perhaps a gift to Marika from the hornsent, to ensure her success?
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
If no one is making videos about Marika, I'm no longer breathing 😂 I wondered how Marika ascended Enir Ilim without leaving a trail of destruction - maybe the Hornsent were fine with it! Interesting idea.
@ripvanwinkle3432
Ай бұрын
Look at the ones in the arena, and take your interpretation from that.
@thegregnorton
Ай бұрын
I am so obsessed with from soft lore and whatnot, and i think this is right up there with some of the best videos I've seen on it
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
High praise! Thanks a lot!
@Soul_Of_A_GracelessTarnished
Ай бұрын
This is beautiful! Please, we NEED more of your videos on Elden Ring!
@Soul_Of_A_GracelessTarnished
Ай бұрын
This also is why Miquella is so incredibly dangerous. He removes choice, in pursuit of a better world, and is arrogant and childish enough to not understand the implications. How is he any different?
@GabrielCMenon
Ай бұрын
I thought we hit video-game essay end-game with the likes of Jacob Geller, Noah Gervais, eurothug4000 and others. Glad to find out, there's still incredibly talented essayists hiding under the algorithm. This video earned a place on my favorites playlist.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
That is incredibly high praise - sort of surreal to be mentioned in the same sentence as those three to be honest! Thanks a lot!
@mottski1
Ай бұрын
SO glad youtube put this vid on my dash, really phenomenal work. I've always seen one of the core themes of the base game as being about the cycles of violence and how cultures that valorize war and conquest will continue perpetrating those horrors. The DLC only made it even more explicit and Marika's journey is really the perfect lens to view those themes through. A victim and perpetrator in turns.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
That's incredibly cool of you to say, thank you so much! Stoked you enjoyed this!
@SwineMaster1
Ай бұрын
I've seen a lot of okay videos on the dlc but the presentation of this one is really insightful and Polished, thank you for sharing
@strivingcobra
Ай бұрын
Excellent video. I admit I let the lore hunters do a lot of the explaining while I dodge a 50 hit combo, lol, but joking aside elden ring makes so much more sense when you look at it through a thematic lens. I don't think I've seen a video that deviates from fictional archaeology and actually tries to underatand what the game wants us to understand. God bless, friend.
@AlterFoxEast
Ай бұрын
The use of SIGNALIS ost is very narrative choice, good call on your part.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Thanks! It's one of the all-time greats
@ienott
Ай бұрын
I was this close to try and make a video on my own, but luckily for all of us, you made one. Great analysis!
@Ranexer
Ай бұрын
What an amazing video. I always thought of Marika and Radagon as the main antagonists of the story. The dlc's story pissed me off a bit because it tried to portrait Marika as a sympathetic character which is definitely something I didn't consider before. Your video is making me reconsider my thoughts on her a little bit
@parkerdixon-word6295
Ай бұрын
I do appreciate an analysis where vibes and themes take center stage, and combed-together details are just examples to support them. I do think that a healthy medium exists between wanting the details and realizing that they exist to support the less concrete and more artistic pursuits of theme and vibe, and I think some creators who hunt for details are at least reasonable about not missing the forest for the trees on that front. If you haven't seen his work already, I feel like you might enjoy Noah Gervais' long-form reviews of the fromsoft catelogue, because while he didn't express the same relationship with how fans observe the games, he essentially rejected it and just had fun exploring and putting pieces together on his own in ways that feel resonant- he absolutely was here for the vibes and themes alone, and found his way, bit by bit, to conclusions that he found resonant and satisfying, even if Vaatividya and other experts might have some corrections if you sat them together in a room to talk about it. Past that, been loving your channel now that I've discovered it today. A lovely place to subscribe to.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
I do absolutely agree that there is a happy medium to be found - I’ve said elsewhere that I feel like I’ve come down maybe too hard on lore hunting as a concept in these videos - you have to know what the story is before you can analyse it! Noah is actually a huge inspiration for me - if I ever manage to write something half as good as his breakdown of Sekiro I’ll die happy. Glad to have you onboard ✌️
@kastlerock01
Ай бұрын
Excellent narrative. Haunting and beautiful. Thank you.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Happy you liked it 🫡
@OwenOrsini
Ай бұрын
Incredible video. I've never heard such a negative take on the character of Radagon, but it's compelling. I think he's often portrayed as subservient to Marika's interests, but i've always found the evidence for that to be murky at best. Also, describing Messmer as Marika's "Large Adult Son" hit me like a truck lol. Also Also, kick ass thumbnail.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Wow, that's high praise! Thanks alot! My opinion on Radagon is that any man who can do what he did to my girl Renalla deserves a swift kick in the nads, nothing more and nothing less
@KitsuneShapeShifter
Ай бұрын
That was one of best Marika takes I've seen, brilliant
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Thanks a lot!
@coltrueg
Ай бұрын
I usually don’t obsess over item descriptions but there was one exception. Found in Shaman Village I reread this simple spell for 2 hours making new realizations each time. Minor Erdtree Incantation “Secret incantation of Queen Marika. Only the kindness of gold, without Order.” “Marika bathed the village of her home in gold, knowing full well that there was no one to heal.” It’s the whole plot to the game in two sentences. It tells us how she had to defer to the Greater Will to the extent she had to hide a simple incantation because it contained none of its Order. It tells us she wanted to bring kindness & order to a world she only knew for genocide & primordial chaos. It tells us she couldn’t because the Greater Will would not allow it. It tells us she was nothing more than a tool for the Greater Will not even allowed a simple incantation without hiding it. After all no one else would know or even care that it contains no Order. I felt horrible for a fictional character for the first time in a way I never have before. She suddenly became so relatable. Enduring the prison of godhood. Accomplishing what she wanted only to have it taken away right in front of her by the Greater Will. She made choices she didn’t want to for this & now she is left with nothing but the broken pieces. Then she found the strength to sacrifice everything, herself, her entire civilization, even her favorite child just for a chance for someone else to do a better job. Random thought only Melina uses this secret incantation. The woman who helps or assassinates us. Even with Marika gone she will not allow the player to bring chaos to the world completely in the frenzied flame.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Beautifully put! Yeah I fear that this video gave the impression that I dismissed the item descriptions altogether, when some of them (like the one you mentioned) contain some truly, truly beautiful and insightful writing. That description is probably my favourite, it really adds to the Shaman Village's atmosphere of lonely desolation
@playmsbk
Ай бұрын
I see your point, but blaming it all on the greater will is a huge miss imo, as we know the greater will abandoned this world long before Marika was even born, hell, for all we know the greater will is dead.
@icarusablaze1831
Ай бұрын
Great video and such an interesting interpretation! Something I think is noteworthy is how Marika has been influenced by Hornsent culture and the ways that their culture continued into the "New World" forged by the Golden Order. While the horns of divinity were regarded as cursed omens in the modern day, other icons of the Hornsent like the divine lion continues through Godfrey and Radahn, but there meaning has shifted from divine celebration and theater to symbols of war and conquest. It makes sense because with the history of the Hornsent swept away, all that remains of their symbols is what they became during the war and genocide. Marika even carried over the jar rituals in a new form, despite the trauma she must have surrounding that. I think the contrast between Bonny village and the Gaols, and Jarburg in the modern time shows some of the positive cultural advancements made after the destruction of the Hornsent. On a side note, I think something interesting to ponder is how the religious practices and beliefs of the Hornsent have been syncretized into the Golden Order, which we know has in the past been open to absorbing and incorporating other belief systems like dragon cultism and astrology. Edit: Yapping here, but I just wanted to add how cool it has been to get this dlc two years into the games life. It feels like after absorbing so much of the maon games icons, symbols, and history, we are suddenly shown the true origins of all the images and stories we've experienced. I'm an American citizen, and another person in the comments also made a similar connection to Marika and Manifest Destiny, but the DLC reveals is reminisicent of that first moment as children when our teachers reveal that we are actually living on land stolen by our "heroes", who waged wars, enslaved our ancestors, built a nation atop the suffering of millions, and despite attempts to sweep this truth under the rug the history and its consiquences persist into the modern time as the great shame of a nation.
@samf.s.7731
Ай бұрын
Thank you so much, many people want to not examine the thematic substance of this one .. And they do lore videos which are just Berserk fanfiction 😅 But you, you did it right. Thank you. 😊 Marika is one of the most complex and interesting characters in all of video games, and her actions are your motivation and guidance throughout the entire game. She's flawed, she's cruel, she's kind, and she's nurturing, she's always interesting to talk about. She's muh queen, I guess 😂
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
So glad you enjoyed! She's just a tremendous character, an absolute joy to discuss
@JayQuilson
Ай бұрын
Firstly: Holy shit. Someone that gets it. This video is such a breath of fresh air. Not everyone in the souls community is ready for this one, but I feel like it's a very necessary type of analysis. I'm an american so of course I see America in everything I see but, there's a level of synchronicity if you see her as a mythologized god of the United States. In her I see the golden-haired and white robed goddess Columbia as she appears in the painting "American Progress" representing the USA's Manifest Destiny. If you want another trip look up the painting "Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Manh" by Salvador Dali, 1943. That might partially be my own POV but the rise of Marika to power felt like a complete Paradigm Shift, betraying the people who put her where she was. I might be going insane though. I still need to work out the kinks. I'm looking forward to your next video because I have so many ideas flying around in my head.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
So glad you enjoyed it! Marika as a personification of America is a really interesting read, and absolutely one that I couldn’t have come up with as a non-American. I love hearing takes that are profoundly grounded in someone’s experience. I think art is what you take from it/the meaning you make out of it. Fleshed out or no, that’s an interesting, original train of thought!
@TheHi-NoteFunClub-BeatsByMike
Ай бұрын
@JayQuilson - I always thought Marika was a stylized substitute for America too. The game seems like a comment (at least in part) on the history of civilization, how after it was birthed it became about empire, with all of the major periods (Sumerian, Greek, Roman, etc...) represented, and how exploiting a people's belief in the divine is THE way to, essentially, get them to do what those in power want them to do. I also think the idea of "claiming to be sanctioned by, if not actually claiming to BE God, is an archaic way of going about things and will only lead to ruin" is in there too.
@DreamersOfReality
Ай бұрын
Americans (I say, as an American citizen) really like to make everything about themselves, huh.
@genericcatgirl
Ай бұрын
That's a very interesting take, I wonder if she actually took some inspiration from the "mythology" of the United States or if the story was just inspired by the cycle of different empires throughout history, and the seemingly endless cycles of power and abuse. (with those themes just happening to be very relevant to America) It would be really funny if it were based of the USA specifically, with Marika sounding like 'Merica lol. Also, is your pfp Aldia as the Wise Mystical Tree?
@jimbo_13
Ай бұрын
Beautiful, brilliant video. Such spectacular editing in the first four minutes, especially.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Thanks so much! That’s incredibly cool of you to say 😊
@LordFarKwadth
Ай бұрын
ONLY 1k SUBS?! Dude I was listening to this and I thought it was a relatively old and popular channel that I haven’t seen before
@LordFarKwadth
Ай бұрын
Officially a loghead now lol
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Thanks a tonne! Glad to have you on board, happy to have you lumber-maxxing, great to see another wood-chad
@LordFarKwadth
Ай бұрын
@@BacklogReviewer more of a Try pickle But Hole.
@michaelanderson5866
Ай бұрын
Great video, thanks so much for putting it together!
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
And thank you for watching!
@NathanFlanArt
Ай бұрын
Love to see this kind of discussion of Elden Ring!
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Thanks a lot! I’ve got more on the way 🫡
@mothgoth0
Ай бұрын
I'm a firm believer in Robert Caro's maxim that power doesn't corrupt, it reveals. In Marika's case, it revealed her inability to overcome cycles of violence, even in the face of her purity, her idealism. It's a story of impotence, from failing to save her people, to failing to preserve her golden child (and the world, i guess) from death. Her ultimate failure is the Shattering - she destroyed the thing she literally *was*, her Golden Order. It's tragic and incredibly human. I cannot sympathize with her because Morgott is my favorite character and I will defend him to my death, but I can see where she's coming from. A woman burdened with godhood. Amazing video, I was drawing while listening, and your analysis was very inspiring!
@nickchuha
Ай бұрын
This is fantastic work! I really like the idea of looking at the seduction as about power as a concept, and not as about some specific person and getting bogged down in family stuff. And beytayal as all the people who are still opressed. This approach is really helpful!
@TheLeafar99
Ай бұрын
05:00 yeessss man, please, this is what really matters. thank you
@zaphael7238
Ай бұрын
Wonderfully done. I think it is rather ironic that the person whom the game is based around and whom actions have the most consequences is supposed to be represented by Causality, she runs from her actions from the causes of her suffering and yet she is ultimately joined to Regression and cannot escape that which she represents. Eventually her comeuppance is due and the punishment is terrible. Did she deserve what happened to her? Yes but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish it could been different, much like with certain bosses I wish to speak with them and not have to fight them to not be forced to come to power in a clash of blades and blood. To settle things in a more peaceful manner, to try and fix the broke world in a way that does not require such strife. It’s why I like GoldMask so much, he does not fight he just tries to find the truth, to make right that which is wrong without killing but by understanding.
@kellanaldous7092
Ай бұрын
Great video, looking forward to part 2. :)
@Scharfster
Ай бұрын
An eye for an eye makes the world go blind, after all.
@TheRealGovika
Ай бұрын
I think she's one of the best characters in the game. She does have a lot of pain and depth and complications. From an "eye for an eye" mentality to being powerful enough to create a seemingly harmonious world to betraying the vengeful deity by shattering its order, her journey is wrought with mistake after mistake, but only mistakes in hindsight. If anyone is cursed, it's Marika. I think she gets "le evil female" stereotype from people who just want a simple view of the game. That's okay, I guess, but I don't think it's the truth at all. A lots tone on. She's an example of how the victim can perpetuate the abuse, becoming an abuser, but never losing the pain of the abuse. Awesome, awesome game and story-telling. Fromsoft really are the GOAT
@OrigamiPhoenix
Ай бұрын
The use of the Signalis soundtrack hit me hard in a good way, of repeating the cycles of grief and how themes are so much more important than finer plot details. I don't know if there are terms for taking specific versus broad approaches to discussions of story and setting: perhaps "themers" and "pointers" gets the idea across. The Scadutree itself feels so ominous and wrong, and you spun a yarn that fits that twisted, broken feeling.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
I don't have any kind of education in media analysis nor game design, so I'm not sure whether there are terms for those specific approaches - I've just been thinking of the angle I'm less fond of as the "fan-wiki" approach lol - will do some research and maybe try lay some terminology down in the next video!
@doomduck9073
Ай бұрын
Sin begets sin, I like those words. I actually used it myself in my own story
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
I got it from House of the Dragon, the second-best adaptation of a George Martin fictional history after Elden Ring
@Nemo12417
Ай бұрын
Something worth noting: in the original Japanese translation of Miquella's Great Rune, it says nothing about original sin, but rather Causality (as in, Law of Causality, part of Golden Order magic that Miquella is a prodigy in). Causality is also associated with karma in Buddhism. The Buddhist doctrine of karma is different from the Christian doctrine of sin. It reminds me of how in Naruto, after Madara enacted the Infinite Tsukiyomi, he declared "I have severed the karmic cycle of this world".
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
That is worth noting, and is something I'm planning on touching on in the Miquella video!
@nomis993
Ай бұрын
Ah finally someone exploring Elden Ring deeper than goin "Uh I dunno seems to be about power I guess? Anyway do you wanna hear my theory on how Melina is the Gloam-eye queen ?"
@Bandz4feetpix
Ай бұрын
Insulting everyone except the person you're talking about is the least acceptable form of glazing
@dividedbyzero11
Ай бұрын
Jack is a Mimic, The Centered Tarnished, Smoughtown, Quelaag, you haven’t looked very hard buddy
@rafsandomierz5313
Ай бұрын
I mean it is about power, hence why there is so many clashes in the lore of Elden ring. Hornset wanted to reach divine so they have made an tower and a divine gate from bodies of their people to elevate shamans they stuffed into jars to godhood. Dragons never had specified goal so won't say much here. They seemed chill until Bayle's betrayal. Marika did conquer other factions for simple power trip besides the giants because of course trees being pretty weak to fire. She did kill hornset because of her personal vendetta. We kill everything else because Marika wants us to in exchange for position of Elden Lord which can choose their own age to rule with.
@samf.s.7731
Ай бұрын
"Seems to be about Berserk" 😑🤦♀️
@MonoFlax
Ай бұрын
There are many readings you can make for each fromsoftware game. Thats the whole point of them being so vague. They allow you to come up with your own interpretations. Thats why i think the lore theorist types are kinda missing the forest for the trees a little. Like sure tell me your conspiracy theories about which characters are actually the same but i wanna know what your thoughts on the *story* are
@ravendelacour1917
Ай бұрын
I look forward to your nuanced take on Miquella.
@kautown
Ай бұрын
That was amazing.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed it 😊
@samf.s.7731
Ай бұрын
The human heart in conflict with itself. Of course. You should do Radagon since he's Marika at some point.
@jeftecoutinho
Ай бұрын
16:02 I think they believe that because the Hornsent are ascetics. People trapped in the jars are separated from the world, becoming unwilling ascetics.
@larsmuller97
Ай бұрын
Came here from the GRRM video that was recommended by youtube. I do agree with your point that lore videos kind of focus too much on item descriptions, but i do not think they should be entirely dismissed. What shadow of the erdtree made me realise is that Elden ring, despite it's godly and legendary veneer, is a human story at core ( Very GRRM-esq ). It's quite akin to the legends and illiads of the ancient greek. Marika is a very tragic figure. At her core all she ever wanted was to create a world in which her people would never suffer like they did. Only to become a prisoner to her own devices, and to an unknowable "greater will". It's a very human story of how people with good intentions and people we would root for become the very monsters that once plagued them. But in the end i don't think Marika deserved any of this, my only wish is that i could turn back time and save that little girl and her village from the hornsent. Marika most of all deserved peace at the end, it was what she sought most. Love the inclusion of signalis' soundtrack! i've put that video next on my watchlist.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
I’m glad you found me! I’ve said in response to others that I do think I come down on lore videos and item descriptions too hard in this vid - they inform some of what I talk about and are an important part of making meaning from these games! Great shout on picking up the GRRM/mythic tragedy influence - the stories we hear of Marika sound like creation stories from a Dreamtime, they’re abstract and allegorical and biblical. It’s such a fantastic tone! Hope you enjoyed the Signalis vid despite it being kind of a downer!
@larsmuller97
Ай бұрын
@@BacklogReviewer i'm a sucker for sad stuff so i'm sure i'll jive with it! Very good work with these videos btw. I agree a lot that there is a lesser presence of creators who look at Elden rings from a GRRM fan pov. I could recommend Jack is a mimic. All of his videos are super well made and insightfull.
@MixedRhythm
Ай бұрын
Beautiful video.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed!
@MissChambersxo
Ай бұрын
Maybe this is a really really weird theory of mine (well not of mine - I heard it somewhere a couple of years ago) but I feel like it fits even more with the DLC - Radagon is the Fire Giant’s curse on Marika. One thing that’s very striking about the DLC is that there’s barely any mention of Radagon. You’d think if she had this ‘other self’ or other half then, that he would be mentioned in the Land of Shadow? I think considering what Marika’s people went through the idea of sharing a body with Radagon, having another self basically ‘melded’ into her very being would hit quite close to home. Especially Radagon eventually becomes the antithesis of what Marika wants. Marika knows the Golden Order is a falsehood. She knows that’s it’s not the Greater Will that’s guiding her, it’s the Fingers. It’s built on a lie. I think that Marika’s ‘godhood’ and ascension was really a deal she made - she would become the vessel for the Elden Ring and serve the Greater Will, in exchange for the chance of revenge against the Hornsent for how they tortured her people. I think she wanted to create a new would free of that brutal past also, hiding the Hornsent in the Realm of Shadow, tearing out the Rune of Death to create a paradise free of the death and misery of the jars. But I do think that basically there was a certain point (likely the night of black knives) where she realised she made a deal with something beyond her comprehension and made the world worse. To wrap this all up, I think Radagon is the embodiment of the consequences of Marika’s actions. A living breathing part of herself to constantly remind her of what she enforced upon the world and act against her trying to undo it. The curse of the Fire Giant’s, Marika’s victims.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
I absolutely one hundred percent agree with your interpretation of Radagon - really well said. I've talked elsewhere about how he could be a kind of stain on Marika's soul, a manifestation of her guilt. The Fire Giants were seemingly her last genocide before settling in Leyndell, so Radagon being birthed from that atrocity makes a lot of sense to me. She's a goddess of light and life, but to enforce those things required violence and authoritarianism - those parts of herself manifest as Radagon, I think.
@MissChambersxo
Ай бұрын
@@BacklogReviewerI think with GRRM’s themes of cycles of violence, the idea of a self representing the authoritarianism and wars of the Golden Order arising from Marika becoming just as bad as the Hornsent and completely genociding the Fire Giants, makes devilish sense. She curses the last Fire Giant to guard the remains of his civilisation that she destroyed for eternity, without even a name. Maybe the last Fire Giant then curses her to be shattered, in a final irony, giving this ‘other self’ the red hair of the Fell God that even he will despise. In a way, he curses her to serve the Golden Order and serve the Greater Will for eternity. It especially hits when you consider St Trina. Radagon is a stain on Marika’s soul, a curse, maybe not everything bad about Marika but certainly a manifestation of the war and suffering she had to enact to create her ‘perfect world’. When Marika shatters the Elden Ring, he works against Marika. In a way, Marika is eventually discarded by Radagon. It’s Marika who’s crucified by the Greater Will. St Trina is everything good about Miquella - his conscience, his adoring other self, his desire to save those who cannot be saved. And Miquella throws her down a chasm to chase godhood and create a new order. I think there has to be a parallel drawn with the manifestation of the Golden Order letting Marika be crucified for an eternity, and Miquella discarding St Trina in the Land of Shadow - even using his great rune to seal and hide her away - probably out the same embarrassment or sadness Marika felt towards the Land of Shadow and Shaman Village. I think St Trina sees what Miquella is becoming, a new Marika, which is why she begs you to kill him. If the base game is you trying to fix Marika’s mistakes, to free the world from the tyranny of the Golden Order and bring back Destined Death, the DLC kind of becomes stopping Miquella from making… the exact same mistakes. Marika would remove death to create a lifeless paradise for her people and an endless hell for the Hornsent. Miquella would remove free will to end the suffering people inflict on others.
@vnlichtstvrm
Ай бұрын
Loved this. Also that thumbnail goes hard!
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Thanks a lot! That whole bit of the trailer is metal as hell, I was working with insanely cool material lmao
@Xanderj89
Ай бұрын
The people in the divine gate appear to be hornsent. I assumed Marika took a page out of their book, if they were going to use her people she would use them instead, collected to use for her own ascension (maybe collected by the furnace golems, like their grab attack?). I don’t think her people were that numerous, and had already been slaughtered, I think the divine gate was her revenge on the hornsent, using their methods against them, a fitting mirror to their atrocities against the shaman
@hashenone
Ай бұрын
Exploring this history of Marika, I’m left w a question: If she despises the hornsent & her own omen children, why did she tolerate her own Husband/consort, Godfrey, taking the crucible knights as his own personal guard?
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
So the Golden Order has a history of absorbing belief systems into itself, like with the Carians and the Ancient Dragon Cult. The Crucible Knights serve Godfrey, so my assumption was that when Marika married Godfrey (for his martial strength) she took the Crucible Knights into the fold too, to use them for her own advantage.
@evilfungas
19 күн бұрын
“Lore” people were disappointed by the DLC while storytelling people ate.
@aliaksandrzmrocny1888
Ай бұрын
Thanks for your take! It feels a lot better talking about it from an exhibition standpoint rather than looking under every bread crumb for a translation errors and inconsistencies. The game feels more like a theater play or a gallery indeed, where not everything should be interpreted but mostly felt. Then the details getting not that important after all and you can just enjoy the ride.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
And thank you for your comment! I'm really happy that that idea resonated with you - it's a really fun way of looking at the game and it's story I think!
@jameslagervall9227
Ай бұрын
Glad to see some one with a take on the hornsent people that is nuanced
@CJusticeHappen21
Ай бұрын
"You've heard of the Golden Rule, haven't you?" "Sure. Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You." "No. The One With The Gold Makes The Rules."
@Apt23-v8u
Ай бұрын
Is the same thing, the only difference is who has the gold
@cornthdl
Ай бұрын
I don’t think that “The Grandmother” is a statue. I think it’s a long dead Shaman woman that was connected to the tree until she became completely absorbed in it. GRR Martin writes a character like this in Game of Thrones.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
That's very possible! Kind of a living relic of Numen heritage. Makes it all the sadder that Marika left her in that sad, abandoned place
@stealthy9754
Ай бұрын
I’ve to comment again Marika remind me of someone, Tomie, the regerating “being” from the manga series with the same name written by Junji Ito They both started as victim, but overtime, slowly becoming something else, twisted, senseless and down right evil in later state of their lives
@zeppie_
Ай бұрын
The themes you describe really struck a chord with me, because it beautifully describes the slight tinge of apathy I feel when I see the atrocities that we as humans commit. There are so many societies in our world that have been completely lost to time due to war, conquest, and genocide. Even now, in our modern era, we're simply doing what we've always done. In the end, the fallen leaves tell a story: of an oppressed people, and the humble and naive hope for a better world, and a tree and society burned to ash through violence. Then, the rise of a new god with a new tree, and the similarly violent endeavour to keep that god in power no matter the cost, any of those naive and blissful hopes long forgotten. Be that the Greattree or the Erdtree. Be that Marika, Miquella, or even Placidusax. The Greater Will has left us, and there is no grand plan for the world, meaning we have the power to make our own world. This is what we decide do with it.
@rogerith7905
26 күн бұрын
There is always a story to these wondrous worlds. However, the world is more than just current events it is a living breathing being that is old and beaten. We aren't just supposed to learn the truth. We are the wanders of these worlds,we are meant to simply experience them, and more over, we are to make our own interpretations of them so they can stay living on in our minds.
@BacklogReviewer
26 күн бұрын
Well put! I agree 😊
@geordiejones5618
Ай бұрын
I think Marika is trying to play a cosmic game on the same level as the Greater Will. I don't think her body or even mind matter as much as her own will, which lives on through Miquella, Ranni and the Tarnished.
@_george84
Ай бұрын
Watching it now, I know I will love it!
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
I hope it lives up!!
@Junebug879
Ай бұрын
Can you make a video on all of the endings of Elden Ring? Ranni and Goldmasks endings are particularly interesting to me.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Great shout! I've got thoughts on all the endings, but not sure if they're enough to fill a video. I'll play with a draft and see if I can find an angle that's worth pursuing
@america8706
Ай бұрын
Absolutely would.
@kurenian
Ай бұрын
This is a wonderful analysis, both logically and artistically. On a separate thing, that I’m still wondering myself is that there seems to be a gender aspect to Marika’s story. All of the jar shamans are women, with women seeming to be powerful among the numen (hence the black knife assassins). The horsent call marika a “wanton strumpet” during the dancing lion intro cutscene, and Leda speaks of seduction in the intro trailer. Although, I can’t figure out how exactly that fits in. My temptation is to say that shaman women were either more vulnerable than men, hence they were easier targets, or they were better “fits” for the jar stuffing somehow, but that’s just speculation.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Thanks so much! Yeah Elden Ring is a game with a tonne to say about gender; so many of it's cultures are matriarchal, for a start. GRRM often writes about how women's bodies are politicised - think of how Sansa in AGOT(? maybe ACOK?) dreads getting her period for the first time, because she knows the Lannisters will marry her off as soon as she's able to bear children. I was reminded of that by Ranni, who murders her own physical body to extract herself from the political expectation of being an Empyrean. Definitely something I'd be interested in writing about at some point
@eldorphoto
Ай бұрын
I got another one, why do you think Marika's missing so much of her body? Aren't we missing the big picture here? In order to be an Empirion you have to come from one God. I think we're mistaking here, we compare the reproduction in the lands between with with ours, the humans, we multiply by 1 man and 1 woman. Births are never described in the lands between, they sometimes say this dude is the son of this and that but they don't talk how they where created. What if the pots are the only way to reproduce in this universe? Two or more persons flesh has to come together and "incubate" in order for a birth to occur. Gods, in the lands between, are just not a product of 2 entities, if you want God like figures, you cut the flesh of one God and grow it in a pot. In short, it's a direct message to the jar fillers, on "how to" grow Gods.
@stealthy9754
Ай бұрын
Sin begets sin Vengeance begets vengeance A androgynous blondie ascend to godhood begets a androgynous blondie ascend to godhood
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
This is the cycle of life, you must understand this
@stealthy9754
Ай бұрын
@@BacklogReviewer if you gonna do a theme about cycles in ER then you have to a video about Dialos, he’s my favorite npc and the one of the few char in the game that “kinda” broke his family cycle
@susancolgan6868
Ай бұрын
Great video!
@huntermakeshistory
Ай бұрын
Great content
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Thanks a tonne!
@ETBrooD
Ай бұрын
Grounded takes such as this one are currently a rarity in the ER lore community. People are making stuff up left and right about Marika and Miquella and refuse to stare the truth dead in the eye. ER is not a complicated story, it's simple for those who have the mental fortitude to keep it simple. There's a prevailing myth that clouds people's judgement: the myth of the "good evil". It's the fallacy of "two wrongs make a right". People believe that, if one is just good enough, then one cannot be evil. If one opposes evil and does sufficient good in the process, then one is good through and through. This myth prevails and there will always be people, including fairly mature ones, who believe in it. It's the reason why ER lore is considered complicated even though it's hardly complicated at all. The Hornsent were evil. Marika is evil. The Tarnished protagonist is evil. And Miquella is evil. The common theme across all of Elden Ring is that evil is attached to power. Those who claim power inevitably become evil by desperately holding on to power. The worst of all evils are those that are unopposed. Only the weak can be afforded the privilege of being good. Boc is good. Roderika is good. Rya is good. It is unsurprising that they're all weak. Every character that goes from good to evil also grows powerful. Every character that goes from evil to good also grows weak. This is not a coincidence. It might not even be intentional. It's just in the nature of evil that it can only express itself when it grows powerful. The weak cannot do evil, otherwise they would be strong.
@Etticos.
15 күн бұрын
Personally as a Marika simp, Marika did nothing wrong
@BacklogReviewer
15 күн бұрын
Bro I’ve been saying this, thank you
@jimmyrrpage
Ай бұрын
Given the DLC, and what you say here, which ending is the best one to choose, in your opinion?
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
That’s a really good question! I ultimately come down on Ranni’s being the best ending - it’s a dismantling of the current system and a move forward into an uncertain and mysterious future. It makes me feel the same unease as thinking about a future without fossil fuels yknow, it’s a future that’s needed, but one that constitutes a really scary change of lifestyle that not everyone is going to be onboard with. It’s a paradigm shift away from a system only capable of producing negative outcomes… but paradigm shifts are scary lol
@Known_Liar
Ай бұрын
I don’t disagree about the ultimate theme of the game being cyclical, both GRRM and From have a tendency to touch on that as a core theme. I will say that I always assumed that the entire reason the hornsent refer to Marika as a traitor suggests that they thought she was on their side. Meaning, she at least did some stuff under their vision while smiling and nodding. I think they did put her in a jar. Just like everyone else. But it worked, she gained status and was a symbol for destruction and hatred and violence that she detested. Perhaps, after her, they doubled down on their belief. After all, it worked once… They brought her to the gate because they had their God and at the last moment Marika chose to show them godhood. I’m not suggesting she hasn’t been through enough without also going through the horrible torture but it seemed to me that’s the catalyst for people, herself and her children, being able to be multiple people. It’s an important element and it coming about as an extension of trauma, like a mind fracturing in response to excessive stimuli, felt plausible to me. Anyway, incredible video and sometimes, we do need to explore art on our own terms. If anyone’s still reading this: I think you would enjoy Dan Olsen’s video on Annihilation. Sometimes we miss the point of art when we’re too obsessed with “solving” it.
@ripvanwinkle3432
Ай бұрын
Watch more lore videos to deduce the story. Most likely the hornsent in the gate were willing participants. The is no one left to heal at shaman village because theyre all in jars most likely. If they are in the gate it forced by the hornsent. Marika was always a prisoner.
@HarryT-io8hj
Ай бұрын
Amazing
@CalmBaseball
Ай бұрын
Did you notice the NPCs, in the DLC, for the most part are all inherently good? And NPCs in the base are kinda… not? Interesting dichotomy. I could be wrong, but it seems most in the base are very self interested and the DLC are all centered around honor and redemption. The NPCs feel the shame the shadow casts
@Beeyo176
Ай бұрын
Yeah, this was some good sht
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Thanks a lot!
@Beeyo176
Ай бұрын
@BacklogReviewer No, thank you. Every now and then, you come across a creator and a minute into one of their videos you're like, "Yeah, this is right up my alley. I'm bout to binge the sht out of this." You gave that to me today.
@nemesisundead83
Ай бұрын
You know thinking about it, "For shamans like you, this is your lot. Life were you accorded for this alone." Really makes me wonder, when the Shaman first showed up, were there no words just "oh a new victim for the pot", or just a guess here, "Your place is in the jar." Hmmm, also, didn't it say somewhere criminals are put into the jars to become saints (forgiven of their crimes maybe) but were the Shaman criminals?? I know they are the main ingredient, but how did they did they figure that out, I wonder, who the first shaman jar was and what crime did they commit to be placed into a jar, I'm pretty sure once that happened and they realized the shaman melded with other pretty well they made it a policy or well common practice to add shaman to a jar, but what about the very first......Marika maybe or was she the last true shaman before her race became the Numen, we don't see any actual shaman in game the closest one I can think of is in a tree and might not be a person at all lol unless,......."Birthed at the foot of the erdtree." Wait shaman are trees, it doesn't make any sense but it does, my how my mind wonders
@trashcangoblin420
Ай бұрын
HELL YEAH!
@trashcangoblin420
Ай бұрын
god you're cooking with this one
@adamkorzon2972
Ай бұрын
They had to wear a horned mask to not feel the Wrong they were doing.It is proof they were not doing the right thing.So they masked it.The concience is the truth for us it is the Holy Spirit and we deny it constantly and try to justify sin.This story reflects that ,and 2 wrongs do not make a right.The greater will left because of the hornset long before Marika and the fingers.The hornset made a tower to heaven and that is when the Greater will left the same as the Nox trying to create their own Lord or God.All were forsaken for their own doings just as we are as well.
@TheLeafar99
Ай бұрын
liked and subed
@Xanderj89
Ай бұрын
His *large adult son* Messmer 🥴
@torgo_
Ай бұрын
What a load of codswallop. (just kidding. great video!)
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Haha, thanks a lot!
@Dbonesburneraccount
Ай бұрын
See, if Marika&the hornsent just had some cheesecake none of this would’ve happened🙄
@DonnyKanone
Ай бұрын
Quoting Austin Walker is a worrying start.
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
Talk me through this one chief, and please tell me M.A.P doesn't stand for what I think it stands for
@DonnyKanone
Ай бұрын
@BacklogReviewer ok your the third person to make that kinda comment and i didnt find anything online so id appreciate an explanation what your talking about. Its my initials btw. In regards to Walker, id rather not as his fans usually arent the most responsive to criticism of his more problematic leanings towards sensationalism, self-enhancing cognitive distortions and constant need to assert his own preferences and beliefs by being preemptively judgemental of others. His protege R. Price is even more obsessed with self-enhancing her opinions and criticizing others at the same time. I wholeheartedly agree with his and your statement that lorehunting has a lot of problems and seems to be obsessed with digging in minutae. But that's beside the point because writing sweeping, generalistic criticism from a profound place of privilege inside a community or industry is plain bad ethics. Doing it as a, at the most, thinly veiled judgement, again, sweeping and generalistic, while laying down the "well grounded" way with borderline nonsensical gobbledigook and using terms like characterological which have nothing to do with the interpretation of art or the historical method is an self indictment of the core problem of his behaviour. He is deeply biased, judgemental and seems to constantly have the need to self enhance his opinions by expressing his frustrations in this malicious manner without attempting to actually contribute anything of value to begin with or produce his musings in a more considerate and productive manner as would behoof someone that identifies as a passionate lover of the medium. If one wants to ignore the text or fabricate their own interpretation of the lore in the game like you that's amazing. Having the need to mix that in with a criticism of what others do isn't, and it should be self evident why. If someone is eager to find the central idea of a piece of art by exploring it for the intents of the artist then that is a worthwhile endeavor for anyone who wants to do it. If someone chooses to produce their own narrative loosely based on whats in front of them is great too. If its really necessary for Austin Walker to make a statement about this it should be that: " hed love to see more interpretations where people focus on their own connection with the game and not when the shattering happened or who really killed Godfrey because that's just not interesting to him." But that wouldn't feel so powerful and righteous and clever, it would be something sincere and more vulnerable and most importantly, not self aggrandizing to say. I remember his waypoint chats with Price and Klepek and that degenerate that constantly fills the ether with stories about his compulsions and fantasies of being a cultured man of taste. The talka are usually 20% talk about games and 80% judgemental armchair games development and publishing and constant belittling and conceded commentary on what community x is angry about or what the latest batch of dumb anti woke comments show what a bunch of dumb uncultured imbeciles game fans online are. Instead of constantly pointing fingers at everything around him explaining what's wrong with him he might want to exercise some effort and produce some of that quality discourse hed like to see himself. But it's easier to feel smart when there is always something else to put down or be self-righteous about. His constant vitriol and neglect to self check for integrity and ethics is 100x times the problem than anyone complaining about an ugly female character or claiming to have found the real secret meaning of Elden Ring. Those people are a fraction of people who play games and no one in the right mind gives that any thought. Even if they did, his vitriol will convince them to change their minds as much as a HasanABI will save palestinian lives screaming at a paused image of destiny with a full mouth of cornflakes. Characterological. Maybe phrenology is a good way to look at character models too. i hope i didnt waste my time here.
@DonnyKanone
Ай бұрын
To illustrate how distracting and eroding this kind of framing (heres whats wrong with lore and how i do the good shit, say honest 3 times) you just have to parse your comments. Half are thinly veiled self aggrandizations and the other half are complimenting you for what you preseeded in your introduction instead of listening to what you have to say. Its easier to not do that at the start, you wont get the good crowd this way.
@Throne6810
Ай бұрын
Legit
@BacklogReviewer
Ай бұрын
V real of you to say chief, thanks for that 🫡
@rancidavocado2166
Ай бұрын
My favorite fromsoft game video is a video by dj cobbler on darksouls 3 while he is crude with words, his truths he spoke in the video has aged well as more and more people get into fromsoft games.
Пікірлер: 202