The Lore of Elden Ring is Divine

Before Elden Ring's DLC was released, a data miner leaked to me that there was to be a stage codenamed "Babel" somewhere in the Realm of Shadow. Now, obviously Babel is a reference to the Tower of Babel from the Bible, and Enir-Ilim is clearly the tower in question. But why did FromSoftware decide on this codename for the place? This was the Tower of Babel, and the Babylonians that built it were prideful, a trait that tallies with the hornsent, Who believed they were a chosen people. So, they too built a tower, Enir-Ilim, a spiral that would pierce

the heavens. But as it was in Genesis, the construction of such a tower would have dire consequences for their kind. "The Tower of Shadow houses a divine gateway." "A well kept secret it was," "but the gateway was once the birth place of a God." "A God we know all too well." Horns are sublime artefacts to hornsent, and their presence confirms the belief That they are a chosen people, and tangled horns in particular are viewed as these irrefutable symbols of their primacy. The word 'primacy' in this case is meant to convey that the hornsent considered themselves

to be apex beings, the first and foremost thanks to their horns. In one item description, we're told that horns growing upon the body is a phenomenon born partially of devolution. And yet, to the hornsent, the appearance of horns was considered a signifier of the divine. So, how can both of these things be true? I think it comes down to the idea that the closer one gets to the moment of creation, which more often featured beings with horns and other aspects of the Crucible, the closer one gets to divinity, if you believe, that is, that life

was created in a divine act. In Elden Ring's divine creation myth, all life began as stardust, born of great rupture in the cosmos. You'll find differing opinions online regarding Exactly how this breaks down, but as I understand it, all that there is came from the one great. Then, the golden Greater Will of that one Great fractured in what can only be described as a kind of Big Bang, and life & souls were thus created. While the Greater Will clearly still exists on some level, its fracture is what eventually led to the melting pot of life

known as the Crucible, the most primordial form of life on the earth. So it is that, in Ymir's words, we too, are children of the Greater Will and its fracture. This interpretation of events handily explains why gold appears in the aspects of the Crucible. The Crucible ultimately came about from the golden Greater Will, and so gold infuses much of this primal life. Feathers, scales, fangs, horns. These were evolutionary mutations that refined early life. Thus, there is something pure and divine about their occurrence, even if they are a byproduct of a more bygone wild age. Thus

they are divine, while also being aspects of devolution when they occur later. Another who came to appreciate the purity of the wild was a man known only as Red Bear. And I want to talk about him, because I think his lore might help us to understand the Hornsent concept of wild divinity a little better. Somehow this man found himself in a life or death battle with a great red bear, a bout from which he emerged victorious, and afterwards he became fascinated by the untainted glory of the bear's naked strength. For he was a Redmane, a

faction led by Radahn who was, in turn, also captivated by the raw strength of Lord Godfrey and his beast regent, Serosh. Perhaps it was this that led to Red Bear's fascination with the untamed strength of the wild. And after his bout, Red Bear eventually forgot his own name. He wished instead to be a bear no more and no less. There are two great red bears that we can fight in the DLC, one named Ralva, and the other Rugalea. After defeating Ralva, you receive her pelt, which is just the thing to make a wild bear out

of a warrior. And after defeating Rugalia, you learn an incantation that allows you to channel the bear's power in an act that is jokingly called the Bear Communion, Due to this spell looking like a dragon communion spell and also requiring the subjugation of a wild beast. But is channeling the roar of Rugalea actually similar to communion with the dragons? The act of dragon communion specifically requires the consumption and subjugation of a dragon's undying heart, after which, the warrior will be able to channel their power for a time. In the end, though, as we've learned from

Bayle, the dragon will quite inevitably overpower their devourer, turning them into a magma worm, or worse. Check out this video to learn more. The reason I'm explaining this is because The roar of Rugalea, despite looking like dragon communion on the surface, actually has a line that reveals it's more akin to the divine invocation of the hornsent than it is to dragon communion. So, what is divine invocation? We'll go into this a little bit more in a moment, but basically divine invocation is an art primarily used by the Hornsent, and it involves taming and calling divine

entities into oneself. In this way, you make contact with the divine. With both Dragon Communion and Divine Invocation, We have examples of beasts being subjugated, but I think there is a significant difference between the two. Simply put, I think the difference comes down to intent. Dragon communion warriors subjugated the drakes in pursuit of their strength, but those who invoke the divine subjugate the wild in pursuit of the wildness within themselves. As the Roar of Rugalea puts it, only through desperate battle with the feral wild can one discover a God unique to oneself. And in this

way, I think we see aspects of the feral wild like Rugalea becoming one with the user afterwards, If that makes sense. Luckily for the Hornsent, they could invoke the divine via their horns, which have a spiritual connection to the Crucible and thus, a spiritual connection to wildness. But other humans like Red Bear and the Tarnished do manage to invoke it, but only by engaging in life or death battle with the wild instead. This brings us to the Highland Warriors and to Hoarah Loux who I believe lived side by side with the hornsent. According to their

leather crown, the Highland warriors are known to be hunters of bears. To them, there is no act more glorious than the subjugation of a savage beast. And among these warriors, there were some who wore the gloried attire, which included red patterned fabrics that were allowed only to those who hunted bears. These were the greatest and most glorious of the Highlanders. Interestingly, we also see a tassel of red hanging from the champions' pauldrons, which is armor from the base game that appears in a much later time that was similarly reserved for the Badlands' bravest. This armor

would later be worn by the champions who followed Hoarah Loux into the Badlands, and I'd like to propose that this red tassel might be a callback to the red that was once worn by the Highlanders. Highlanders like Hoarah Loux. For there's very good evidence to suggest Hoarah Loux was also a Highlander. For one, the Highlander's axe is looted directly beneath a portrait of Godfrey, and it reads Before the DLC, a piece of cut content revealed that The Highlanders were also called the Braves, and in line with that cut content, Hoarah Loux does cry out his

name before our bout with him signaling that he was one of these brave Highlanders. What's more, the Highland Axe enhances roars, and Hoarah Loux actually roars with bear SFX during his battle, suggesting that he too wrestled bears with the best of them, and might have even achieved a level of divine invocation. And as if this wasn't enough evidence, the warrior on the Axe Talisman wears the leather crown of a Highlander. And the axes of the Highlanders are Also the signature weapon of Godfrey, who was Hoarah Loux. So, Hoarah Loux was a Highlander and he had

a clan, not unlike the Hornsent in this early age. And considering Godfrey went on to have 16 elite Crucible Knights follow him, we can infer that he really did carry a lot of influence in this more wild Crucible adjacent age. I believe that for some near Stormveil, this was also an age of wild winds. From the Divine Beast dancing lion descriptions, we've learned that whirling storms Are an aspect of the heavens, and from one of Hoarah Loux's own descendants, we can infer that the power of the winds was an aspect passed down through Hoarah Loux's

bloodline to Nepheli Loux. "I will call upon the storm" "to drive away the foulness that has settled on the winds." And long ago, something called the True Storm raged and it raged in Stormveil, which incidentally is also the place that Nepheli Loux later lays claim to. So this perhaps suggests that she has a sort of birthright to the place via Hoarah Loux's lineage. Here, long ago,the Stormhawks faithfully rendered lifelong service to the old King of Stormveil, who was the Stormhawk king, a hawk revered by all others as sovereign, back in the days when Stormveil's winds

raged like no other. But while this ancient monarch is proud and refuses to answer any of our summons, its ashes still have a use, As they can be given to Nepheli, reminding her of a time long ago. I'm... not like Roderika. I don't feel the presence of spirits, let alone see them. Still...this ash....it reminds me of my first hawk. Thank you. It's very noteworthy that Nepheli had her own hawk. I think it reveals that there was a measure of human companionship with the hawks back then. And more than that, I think it could help us

to equate divine invocation of beasts with a sort of mutual respect with those subjugated, Which makes it markedly different from dragon communion indeed. While it's not clear whether Nepheli achieved divine invocation, one man clearly did with a hawk. This was a hornsent named Ornis. Specifically, it says that he tamed the divine bird and made its wings his own as he soared through the sky. So I just mentioned the importance of discovering a God unique to oneself in divine invocation. Thus, I think it's significant that Ornis made the divine bird's wings his own. He tamed the

divine bird, yes, But this was also his power for a time anyway. Then he finally fell to Earth and lived on as the guardian deity of the temple quarter. Saying Ornis lived on is certainly putting a positive spin on him falling to Earth & dying, for it's here, on a hidden precipice overlooking the temple town ruins that we find Ornis enshrined. But what Ornis achieved was quite the miracle. This is because, according to the Divine Bird Warrior armor, the golden-hued divine birds are known to be cruel, Never taking to human companionship. Those who invoked their

divinity were few and far between. The mere mention that golden-hued divine birds never took to human companionship seems to suggest to me that there were other birds that did take to human companionship. And so, to return to Nepheli, I think it's more likely she literally tamed a physical hawk who fought alongside her, but the golden-hued divine birds were in a class of their own, and might not have even existed in the physical realm. Nonetheless, Ornis managed to invoke the divinity of such a being, And in doing so, he paved the way for many Hornsent to

come, for the divine bird warriors were the very first of all horned warriors and all horned warriors were descended from Ornis. To invoke divinity as Ornis did, the horned warriors would utilize tangled horns as a medium, thanks to their connection with the Crucible. With the Horned Warrior's Greatsword, for instance, one can call a storm into the ornamental tangled horns, and then mow through enemies with that wind. This was called horn calling, and it was apparently the first step towards divine invocation. Among the Horned Warriors, some were chosen to become celebrated Divine Beast Warriors, and these

are the ones in-game adorned with a Lion's Pelt and the Divine Beast Helm. Given their namesake, I suppose these were warriors who had managed to call a Leonine Beast into themselves. And among these, those who truly excelled at Divine Invocation were granted another rank, becoming Sculpted Keepers, who would be granted the honor of the Lion Dance. Presumably these are the two hornsent within who are possessed to pilot the construction. Oh horn decked beast from higher sphere delivered. Take root inside the tower's sculpted keepers and perched within we beg of thee. Rise! Dance and cavort cleanse

all that thou wilt, cruelty, woe, and those who plague the tower cleanse away this trumpet's vile progeny. The word 'sculpted' here is curious. I assume it's a reference to the stone body of the boss we fight, which is akin to a sculpture from the way it grinds when it moves. As we've learned in the last video, Stone was a fitting vessel for the spirit in ancient times. So that's what seems to be occurring here, with a so-called horn-decked beast being called into the sculpted keepers that are one with the vessel possessed to channel this wrath

delivered from a higher sphere. And make no mistake, the sacred beast from beyond, whatever it is, is wrathful with a rage that mirrors the storm said to be in the heavens, During festivals at the tower, this is what they would watch, Even should it take hornsent lives. A crazed, cavorting lion dance that represented wildness and freedom. I see thy purpose now. Wax wroth to thy heart's content, wild and free, and then in exchange for this woman's life release the sculpted keeper from my rage. I ask thee at my last, oh sacred beast! Here in the

current age, in the distant future relative to all of the other events we've been discussing, defeating the dancing lion rewards you with the Divine Beast head, Which, like the other horned headpieces causes the blessing of the Erdtree to become nauseating, reducing the restorative effect of the Flask of Sacred Tears. Now, this is just speculation, but I reason that this effect occurs because to the hornsent, the Erdtree would come to represent the polar opposite of their wildness. It came to represent order, and there is a talisman that I think suggests Lord Godfrey. who was Hoarah Loux,

also found the sap of the Erdtree nauseating. Yet, being the gigachad that we know he is, he simply poised through it. The talisman depicts Godfrey receiving the Erdtree sap and, as if the act of receiving it was difficult, the talisman reads, We previously established that Hoarah Loux was present in the early times of the Hornscent as a Highlander, and that his wrestling bears can be considered akin to channeling divinity on some level. But I reckon his connection to the Hornsent is much more direct than most people think, and that's because of the horned warrior armor.

This armor features ochre fabric draped over a chestpiece, and it was made to resemble the unclothed form of a hero From older times. Without a doubt, I think this unclothed hero was Hoarah Loux, the brave warrior who famously shunned excess adornment. I'm not saying that Hoarah Loux was hornsent. I mean, I guess we can't rule that out since you don't exactly need horns to be hornsent. Rather, a hornsent is one because they practice hornsent customs. But I just don't think there's much evidence of Hoarah Loux practicing these customs. The Highlanders seem to me to be

a similar clan, one adjacent to the Hornsent, wrestling bears and engaging with the wild In a way that also brought them close to achieving divine invocation. But they didn't have the horns to pull it off. Hornsent generally don't like other cultures. That's something we can infer from the Inquisitors that just took out other threats to their religion from within. But because of the proximity between the Hornsent & the Highlander clan, theirs was clearly a clan that the Hornsent respected, I think, to the point where they would one day dress their best warriors in ochre fabrics

that were honorific of that Highland hero. So when Hoarah Loux became Elden Lord Godfrey, as Marika ascended to godhood, It's logical to think that the Hornsent might have initially approved of this union since Hoarah Loux had been their hero. There is solid evidence that the Hornsent were aligned with Marika's rise as a God for a good while. So, a Lord alongside her leading 16 Crucible Knights and a golden beast on his back that echoes divine invocation should have been a good omen for the Hornsent clan, right? Wrong. Hoarah Loux was a Highlander who valued strength

above all else. He believed a crown was warranted with strength alone, and it seems he saw power in the Order of the Elden Ring and accepted it, even if it went against everything that he represented. So later, as the Erdtree's order became ever more distinct from chaos, Godfrey received the sap of the Erdtree, and in doing so, should have shown signs of wavering. But he did not. He would not waver. As he neglected the horns growing on his omen children, nor would he waver as he pit his strength against the Stormlord. He and Marika had

usurped the hornsense Spiraling path to divinity, and their gate would eventually be closed. No wonder Lord of the Erdtree casts a long shadow over the lands. This video is sponsored by Path of Exile 2, an isometric dungeon crawling RPG which I've really loved playing for the last few weeks. This game gives you that addictive rush that comes from taking on waves and waves of enemies, but now for the first time, Path of Exile also has a dodge roll, meaning boss fights become these tense, really deliberate encounters Where watching animations closely plays a key role in

your success. It's a lot like Elden Ring in that way. I chose to play a warrior but there are 6 diverse character classes and they each have access to the same enormous passive skill tree that allows you to combine skills from many classes together. In Early Access, there are over 1500 skills to choose from, which synergize differently with the 240 skill gems, 200 support gems, and 700 base equipment types that you might find on your journey. In my playthrough, I found a rare piece of loot that caused flammable gas clouds to erupt from every enemy

I defeated. So to capitalize on that flammable aspect, I turned my warrior into this molten rock flinging pyromancer instead. Path of Exile 2's early access is available on Steam the Epic Game Store, Xbox Series X and S, and PS5. It also has Co-op with cross progression and cross-platform features. So consider playing together with a group of friends. The game is currently in early access, which you can get by purchasing supporter packs Starting from $30. And in the future, it will be free to play, but never pay to win, as all store points are used to

purchase stash tabs, cosmetics, and inventory items that do not affect gameplay. Thanks again to the Path of Exile 2 team for sponsoring this video. Let's get back to it. At the top of Enir-Ilim is a divine gateway, and it's with this that Marika ascended to godhood. But how? A scroll found in the Hornsent archives tells us a little bit about the rite that was involved. It reads, So in the case of Marika, I guess one could argue that Sarosh was the Lord occupying the vessel that was Hoarah Loux in order to usher in Marika's return.

Alternatively, you could argue that this rite only applies to Miquella's ascent, and that it didn't apply to Marika's. But maybe I should save this discussion for a different video. Instead, let me establish here the nature of the Tower itself and how a divine gateway can even exist. Let's begin with a different line from the Secret Rite Scroll, One that specifies that it's made of white tree bark. Many white trees can be found in and around Belurat, and they are venerated by the Hornsent for good reason. The most important aspect of these trees is that they

grow and intertwine in a spiral, which is this symbol of supreme importance in the world of Elden Ring and of supreme importance to the Hornsent especially, who understands the spiral's significance. Incidentally, the Hornsent even appreciate two-headed turtles and their intertwined necks for this reason. The priests of the tower cast spiral incantations, And the last line of Spira tells us that the spiral is a normalized crucible current that, one day, will form a column that stretches to the gods. What this is saying, I think, is that the spiral is not just a symbol of the Crucible.

It kind of is the Crucible. The spiral is a normalized Crucible current. Or put another way, it is this stabilized aspect that emerges from the Crucible's chaos. This line almost sounds as if it's written from the perspective of the Hornsent, and indeed, we know from the fine Crucible feather Talisman as well, That they did have a word for the Crucible as a tangible thing. The fact that they understood what it was helps to explain why they went so far as to build this enormous spiralling tower. They did it because the spiral is such a potent

symbol for the Crucible. Earlier, we talked about how the Crucible is tied to evolution and how the spiral is the same shape as DNA, which is crucial to the process of mutation & evolution. A spiral is also made-up of two entwined threads, which could explain why so much life in Elden Ring has this duality to it. But how can a spiral form a column that stretches to the gods? Well, first, let's ask "what gods?". The real answer is that we don't know for sure. But personally, I'm starting to suspect that the outer gods of the

Lands Between are related to the Crucible. For one, both the Rot God and the Formless Mother are called twisted deities in the lore, which I feel is a play on words for the spiral. And it makes more sense to me that the outer gods might be these grounded natural entities of the world. Rots, blood, death, the sun. These are natural concepts tied to the outer gods we know and I find that easier to believe than the outer gods being these eldritch cosmic beings, although they could certainly be both. Whatever the gods were, the Hornsent would

reach for the heavens through their divine tower, and I mean that quite literally. Look at the symbol for spiral incantations, and at the top you'll note two human hands grasping for new heights, surrounded by the spiral. This is called a spiral tree design. And if you look at the bottom, you'll actually notice leaves growing at the base. It's a symbol that's been printed upon amber, which is sap from a tree. And I think the way this description equates the White Tower with a spiral tree proves that the White Tower was built in the image of

the white spiral trees of the land. And Enir-Ilim was the Hornsense man-made spiral tree. Spiral or no, trees in general appear to be special to the hornsent, And I think what follows is a very relevant topic as it relates to Marika's Erdtree. So these are the golden trees of Enir-Ilim. They do not spiral, but they very clearly are spiritual objects with what look to be feminine figures growing out of their bark. It's almost like the trees have a remembrance of these folk. To understand why these bodies appear, let's look at the Euporia, a twin blade

that symbolizes abundance, which was a secret treasure of the tower. Though the blades, fashioned from golden shoots, Are largely wilted and darkened, their luster can be restored by dealing damage to foes. So, here we have a weapon made from golden tree shoots, which grows stronger as it absorbs the life force of others. Perhaps this is what clued the hornsent in to how to cultivate their abundant golden trees as well. It's the idea that life can be recycled to create abundance, which is obviously an idea Marika took to heart as well. So, to come full circle,

let's consider what is fertilizing the trees. I don't think this is sand. I think it's ash. Ash from cremated humans. We know for a fact that the Hornsent valued the ash of those who came before, infused as it is with potent spirituality. We collect this revered spirit ash in townships and villages, as it quietly accumulates in the palms of the withered corpses known as tutelary deities. The tutelary deities are spread evenly around areas of Hornsent occupation, and they were guardians, spiritual protectors of the land that were closer to divinity thanks to their tangled horns. In

order to ascend from their mortal flesh to this state, It seems they would heighten their spirituality through severe ascetic training. And asceticism is basically when you forego indulgences of any kind, typically in favor of prayer or fasting. This evokes the imagery of real life Buddhist ascetics who have famously perished in prayer, which is a reference we also see in Sekiro with the monks of Senpou Temple, and in Demon Souls with the Monumentals, who are themselves similar to these folk that appear at the entrance to Belurat And by the ceiling tree. As for the spirit ash,

these deities accumulate in their palms. Well, it seems to come from beyond somehow. I can't find any direct evidence of local furnaces where Hornsent would have cremated their dead to create all of the ash in Enir-Ilim, but we do know that cremation was certainly practiced in this age. According to Ghostflame Sorceries, in the time when there was no Erdtree, death was burned in Ghostflame, and the Deathbirds were the keepers of that fire. Upper Belurat is bristling with grave birds Who were kindred to the death birds, so there's clearly a Hornsent connection to cremation here. Not

to mention they have a talisman that boosts the power of spirit ashes. Also, Enir-Ilim has statues of boats that are ferrying the dead, and there's many examples of the dead being sent upon the river in Elden Ring, only to wash up on the shores of Charro's hidden grave where the tainted flesh of the floating stone coffins was similarly burned by the deathbirds. So to conclude, I do think there's good reason to believe That the Hornsent fertilized the trees of Enir-Ilim with ash, even if it was done for no other reason than to enhance the spirituality

of the place. But there's a location where such potent burial practices were not observed, and here, the consequences of such neglect is clear to see. At the ailing village, a crude platform has been built at the precipice, and it's from here that bodies must have been thrown, for we find a mountain of corpses down below, piling at the mouth of the Ellac River. Here, some have survived the fall, Metamorphosing into fly men, thanks to the dreaded fly sickness that certainly is what had them hurled from above in the first place. The ailment talisman, looted at

the platform, tells us more. So, in accordance with the effect of the Talisman, which boosts resistances to the ailment that you are in proximity of, those who nursed the infected and gave them a proper burial did not contract the contagion, despite being in such physical contact with it. These surviving folk are the healers of the Flymen villages, And they are indeed capable of casting spells that heal the Flymen. They're also capable of boosting the flymen's damage and casting swarms of flies, which to me suggests a deeper allegiance to this caste of people. I've seen theories

that these healers are the ones that caused the fly sickness, but considering they're actually capable of healing the flymen, I don't personally subscribe to that theory. Instead, I think this is a sickness stemming from the Japanese concept of kegare, which means uncleanliness or defilement, Which is what occurred when the sick were hurled into the river instead of following the more typical and more hygienic cremation for the afflicted. The real curiosity to me is what entity is boosting the resistance of these healers who took care of the sick? Did the Mother of Truth protect them, since

the healers do appear to use her magics? Or did the outer God of death favor them since she is mother to the death birds and their "correct burial practices"? It could even be the Rot God that protects these healers since man fly flesh grows mold and rot was a theme of the manflies in Dark Souls 3 as well. We just don't know. As for why these corpses weren't burned, well, fire was notably prohibited in Marika's Age of the Erdtree, so I wonder if that might have prevented the Hornsent from following a cultural practice of cremation.

Marika did feed the Erdtree's roots with corpses, but she notably did not cremate those corpses beforehand. That was a privilege that was saved for those Who earned the hero's honor of Erdtree burial and it was these men and women who returned to the Erdtree as spirit ash. Perhaps ash is just the superior fertilizer. It's certainly less confronting than corpses being kept at the base of a tree, which might explain why the corpses that feed the Erdtree were kept underground in catacombs or interred in jars. And speaking of jars, a common misconception that I've seen in

my comments is that these jars at the minor Erdtrees are the same as the ones the Hornsent kept in their jails. But they're not. Erdtree jars are for the bodies of the dead, for the bodies of fallen warriors, ideally, if Alexander's predilections are anything to go by. But Hornsent jars, on the other hand, were specifically for the interment of the living. And the shaman women within, they were the glue that held it all together. Literally. Let's talk about these shaman women. So the word 'shaman' is potentially overused in the English translation of Elden Ring, owing,

I think, to a lack of synonymous words That could help differentiate the many different kinds of shaman in this game's lore, which is something that the Japanese translation does achieve. It does differentiate between all these shaman quite well. For example, the Saishi shaman of Siofra River are very different from the blind Itako shaman that hail from the same village as Marika, and even these blind shaman are different again from the Kito-shi shaman mentioned in the Greatjar item description, which seems to refer to a third kind of shamanistic prayer expert who wear jars on their heads.

These are distinct from the blind shaman of Marika interred in the very same jails and in the English translation, they're just all called shaman, which is a bit confusing, to say the least. But it's the Itako shaman that hail from Marika's village that are relevant here in this video. In Japanese, Itako or Ichiko are blind women who have trained to become spiritual mediums in Japan. Through severe aesthetic training, the woman is afterwards said to be able to communicate with the dead. And it's noteworthy that all these Itako are all women in real life as well.

This feminine aspect to the shaman from Marika's village aligns with another description in the base game that describes the Numen that shared a race with Marika as being all women as well, suggesting perhaps that women were of special standing in this shaman culture. Incidentally, this might also explain why there appear to only be women emerging from the trees of Enir-Ilim. Perhaps these trees were only fed with the ashes of the shaman that were kept in jars. Not unlike how the minor Erdtrees would be fed with the bodies from jars, though that's just speculation. And the

shaman were fated for the jar. I actually think the symbol on their head is a brand, something marking the shaman as a ritual object for the Hornsent. According to a Hornsent phantom at the Whipping Hut, that was their purpose. They were to be whipped until their flesh opened & ripened, and then stuffed in pots with other folk, so that they could all meld together. And according to the arrogant Hornsent, Life they were accorded for this alone. This hornsent phantom claims that nigh sainthood awaits the shaman within the jar. And while it is a horrific fate,

they're kind of not wrong that there was something divine going on here. Their ritual was working for a reason. Earlier, we discussed how the Crucible was a melting pot of life, and no item sums this up better than the Talisman of All Crucibles, aka the Mother of all Crucibles, which is a giant mass of intermingling Crucible attributes. In a similar way to this Talisman, the jarred shaman also become a giant mass of intermingling life. And I think this explains why the hornsent would have so valued the malleable, meldable flesh of the shamans, for they could

merge with others so effectively. As for whether the physical merging of life is divine, well, we kind of have proof that it is. The spiraling white tower itself has masses of bodies hanging off it, and it culminates in a divine gateway that literally is a giant conglomeration of flesh. And most importantly, this approach has worked. Evoking the Crucible in this way has formed a functioning connection with heaven, or the Hornsent idea of heaven, at least. By the way, the shaman weren't the only thing in the jars. The jars also had hornsent within them, and these

hornsent probably weren't the most important members of society. In fact, we have evidence to believe that the hornsent chosen to merge with the shaman were sinners. There's a phantom in a jail here that begs for mercy, saying that they'll never do it again And swearing that they'll be a living saint, just please don't turn them into a jarred one for their crimes. As for what they did with the jarred shaman that was melded together with others, well, it's kind of hard to say for sure. Did they use this flesh to build the Divine Gate? Did

they use this flesh to fertilize the golden trees? Or did they hope that one shaman one day would actually achieve true sainthood? Was this the ritual that led to the rise of Marika and Radagon? Whatever the case, Marika would have her vengeance. Thus do we finally return to the end of the Genesis story About the people who built the Tower of Babel. Genesis 116 to 8. Verse 6 in particular has some parallels with Marika. After she had risen as a God, she recognized that the tower might potentially raise another divinity that could become a threat

to her, and so she eventually set about shrouding the tower and scattering the hornsent. In the Bible, the Lord does this by confusing the language of the Babylonians, and I feel like this obfuscation of language might also be paralleled in the DLC With the secret rite scroll and its fidgety little letters, as Freya calls them. The sacred rite of the tower has become difficult to decipher in recent years, adding an extra layer of difficulty for those who wish to access this horrific gate of divinity for their own ends. And you'd think that the Hornsent might

have foreseen that this process might raise a vengeful God or vengeful saints. But I suppose that was their sheer arrogance on display, wasn't it? Their stance was that The shaman should be thankful for their nigh sainthood within the jar. And if a hornsent potentate should feel doubt or impurity while stuffing pots with all manner of things, well, there were ritual implements they could wear to ward away such emotions so that their divine ritual could proceed. And if vengeful spirits did emerge from this process, well, that's nothing new for the hornsent. These could simply be twisted

to their purposes as well. The Bone Bow, for example, is a product of the ancient hexing arts of the tower, And it imbues its arrows with vengeful spirits that naturally seek out living targets. The Horned Bear, too, makes use of the vengeful spirits, spirits of the young who died bearing overly tangled horns, who are memorialized by these fetishes. It seems the hornsent learned a lot from the death birds and their hexes. On the flip side, Guardian spirits were utilized as well as vengeful ones, and these Guardian spirits watched over the caster that they were endeared

to, protecting them from harm. This is a spell cast by the Hornsent Grandam, who, with her tangled horns, Appears to have once been an accomplished, very high-ranking member of Hornsent society. Indeed, she has dialogue where she shows this authority she has over others. "None of the Tower will dare interfere," "and if one should," "I'll see to them myself." At release, this character was called the Empyrean Grandam, but this was quickly patched, making it clear that the word 'Empyrean' was an inappropriate title for the Grandam As far as the law was concerned. But why was it

changed? So the word 'Empyrean' in Elden Ring typically refers to those chosen by the two fingers as candidates to become the vessel for the Elden Ring, even if that means succeeding Queen Marika as a God. Thus, the title Empyrean Grandam was commonly interpreted as meaning the Grandam was an Empyrean candidate for godhood. But I don't think that can be true. For one, the two fingers barely show up in Hornsent lore at all, so I think the word 'Empyrean' in her title was probably just used here to simply convey that The Grandam, with her tangled horns,

was divine. Indeed, Zullie the Witch recently revealed that all Hornsent are codenamed 'Empyrean' in the files, and I think that's because, thanks to their horns, they are considered heavenly Empyrean beings. That's the literal definition of the word 'Empyrean', and I reckon it was changed because they realized people would classify this character as an Empyrean that was like Rani or Miquella or Melania or Marika, which she wasn't. Those are Empyreans capable of claiming the divinity of the Elden Ring. But in my opinion, there's not much evidence that the Hornsent were seeking the divinity of the Elden

Ring at all. To argue for that last point, I'm going to try and argue that the Divine Gate accesses a power that is separate to the Elden Ring, and that it is a power that precedes the Elden Ring, if anything. As Miquella journeys through the Realm of Shadow, he divests himself of his strength and his great rune of the Elden Ring as well. His power of enchantment is thus broken. And yet, when he returns from beyond the Divine Gateway in Divine Aspect, he commands that power once more, with a new power to spark a new

age centered on his circlet of light. And this is all without the Elden Ring. Just so, it follows that Marika could also have drawn power from the gate in a similar way. In the trailer, she holds threads of light up to the Divine Gate. The same threads that appear when she later shatters the Elden Ring. So maybe she's weaving her order of the Elden Ring into being here, using the divine energies of the gate. It's clear that the Elden Ring represents a type of order for the world. It's a blueprint for life, with its runes

that infuse nearly everything and the Erdtree, which has the Elden Ring as its source only came to represent Marika and her order after her ascent as a God. So you'd think she must have needed the Divine Gate for something. I think she needed it to access the divine energies of the Crucible, for, according to the Gilded Great Shield, the Crucible's primordial matter became the Erdtree. And I think that's what we're seeing happen here. One counterpoint to this theory is that Placidusax, who was Elden Lord in an age before Marika, would not have had access to

this divine gate, and yet their Elden Ring still commanded an age. But that doesn't mean that Placidusax and his God didn't have a divine gateway of their own, tapping into these crucible energies that apparently are important for gods to command an age. Farum Azula features interred remains all throughout its structures, and we've established that having conglomeration of sacrificed flesh can lead to the construction of a divine gateway. There are beast men in the Farum Azula pillars, there are dragons in its earth, and Placidusax's mausoleum especially evokes the idea of a divine gateway. A sacred place

built with corpses within a spiraling storm by an Elden Lord with spiraling necks and a race of Dragons that definitely evoke aspects of the Crucible in more ways than one. But as we know, Placidusax's God, Who was assumedly the vessel of the Elden Ring would flee, hinting at an event that could have led to the Elden Ring passing into human hands via the fingers who did have a hand in the Dragon's Age and who did play a part in the birth of the Erdtree to come as well. This is getting a little off topic and

I'll admit there's more speculation here than I'd like, so I will revisit these theories in future videos, especially if you guys have feedback for them in the comments. I want this to make sense as much as possible, but to recap, I believe that divine gates Are a pure incarnation of the Crucible and its energies. I believe the Dragons might have tapped into these energies with their ancient Elden Ring. I think Marika inherited that Elden Ring and similarly used a divine gateway to channel the energies that became the Erdtree. And I think Miquella later tapped into

these same Crucible energies to start his own age without the Elden Ring. To be clear, again, this is just one of many ways this whole topic could be interpreted, but that's how I interpret it for now. As for what lies beyond the Divine Gateway, That's a fascinating question, and I have some ideas, but perhaps they're better suited for upcoming videos on Marika or Miquella. Both of whom are the only characters we know of who might have encountered what lies beyond. Though I think there is one other who saw the heart of the Crucible, a hornsent

who beheld the truth only to see it and weep endlessly. To the hornsent, horns are a medium for invoking divinity. They're a symbol of spirituality, a sign of prestige, and more. These things all sound very positive, But consider the Lamenter who is covered in a severe tangling of horns, and yet his face is twisted into an expression of rapturous grief. Tangled horns are caused by horns growing out from other horns at random angles. This is physiologically a very dangerous thing, and indeed most young bearing the oversized horns meet a frightfully early demise. Those that survive

often have the inherent spirituality to become divine beings like the tutelary deities. But there's something that sets apart the Lamenter even from them. It's that the Lamenter's horns have tangled towards his own eyes, Which they Pierce deeply. This is something that also occurred with Mohg, whose tangled horns have led him to being blind in one eye. And there's a trend with blindness that I've been noticing recently. The trend is that blindness appears to be a catalyst for a different kind of sight, one that allows the blind to see a higher truth. According to some historians

in real life, blindness has long been associated with spiritual powers in Japan. And Elden Ring has this theme all throughout. The scholars of Raya Lucaria, for example, did not see with their own eyes And often went mad from seeing the truth in the cosmos. And then there's all the blind who would have made contact with the outer entities, like the thorn sorcerers who discovered the Bloodstar in their eternal darkness. Hayata saw a frenzy that couldn't be seen with the naked eye, and Mohg made contact with the formless mother. Now, I've seen some theories online that

claim the Lamenter is similarly blessed by a bunch of outer gods. So let's go over those theories and see how valid they are, starting with the least valid, in my opinion. Some say the Lamenter wields Black Flame, making them tied to destined death or an outer God of death. But I disagree with that one. The darkness the Lamenter wields is actually not Black Flame. But rather, it's a more literal darkness effect that was introduced in the DLC, and we also see it being cast by the Curseblades. The Curseblades, like the Lamenter, were imprisoned in a

devastatingly dark jail, so I'd argue that their proficiency in these dark arts came about from that imprisonment rather than anything else. Next, some say the Lamenter is inhabited by the Fel God of Flame, citing its tufts of red hair and the face growing out of its back. And I think this theory has a bit more heft to it, Although you can argue against it just as well. Yes, the fire giants do have a face growing on them, like the Lamenter, but theirs is one-eyed and the Fel God is famously depicted as a one-eyed God. Though,

you can counter that counter-argument with the fact that the visage of the Fel God depicted by the Furnace Golem does have two eyes. So I think it's hard to argue whether the Fel God is one-eyed, or if that's just the way the Fire Giants experienced it. As for the Lamenter's red hair, it could be tied to the Fel God, since the Fire Giants had red hair. But you could also argue that the Lamenter's red hair is a sign of its connection to the Crucible instead. Many connected to the Crucible sport red hair, like the Leonine

Misbegotten or the giant red bears. And one could also argue that Radagon resented his red hair for this reason. So I'm hesitant to say that the Lamenta's red hair definitely connects it to the Fel God, but my favorite idea for the Lamenter places it as adjacent to the outer god of frenzy, who is represented by those themes of orange flame and notably of lament. It's pretty subtle, but there's actually an orange hue Emitted by the eyes of the lamenting visage in its icon, at least. That said, it doesn't cause frenzy, so I don't think the

Lamenter is aligned with the outer God of frenzy per se. Rather, I think the Lamenter simply has some overlap with frenzy & its grief, while also being equal parts rapturous and blissful as well. So to start, let's go over the most important paragraph of lore that is related to this creature, and it's from the Lamenta's Mask. It reads, Earlier, we established that the Lamenter's lack of sight is Paradoxically a theme of enlightenment that is common to other blind characters in the game. Thus, I think it's fair to consider the Lamenter an enlightened character, experiencing a

state of bliss as a result. And I think this enlightenment is also why the Lamenter's state of true bliss is one that should have been studied by the Hornsent, not shunned. It was, after all, the goal of Hornsent ascetics to ascend to a higher state of divinity, and the Lamenter's transformation tallies with the state of a denizen of paradise, of heaven. And yet, in the case of the Lamenter, The people of the tower denied and hid it from the world. Why? Probably because the Lamenter terrified them. Imagine you cultivate this enlightened being with intensely tangled

horns, representing this paragon of divinity on Earth. And what does it do? It laments unstoppably. And the lore says that they were terrified of its condition, specifically its state of true bliss and rapturous grief. That's why they hid it away. We know the Hornsent were prideful to a fault, so of course they denied the Lamenter's true bliss. To accept it would be to accept that the path to divinity could lead to this pathetic, mournful creature. And so they sectioned off the Lamenter from the world and entombed it in darkness. This is very similar to what

the Hornsent did with Midra, whose lore you can find fully explained in this video. In that video, I talk at length about the Inquisitors, aged, powerful torturers who were tasked with basically stifling any threats to the Hornsent that would have arisen from within their own culture. These were some of the highest ranked members of Hornsent society. Indeed, they were the ones Who would receive golden horn tenders, spiral horns coated with gold that were greater even than the silver horn tenders, which were themselves symbolic of society's upper echelons. I suspect the Inquisitors would have been involved

with the Lamenters imprisonment as well, for the Lamenter held a truth that was dangerous to the religious core of Hornsent society, but they should have accepted it. The law says that in their foolishness, the Hornsent viewed True Bliss with deep fear, which logically means that It would have been the opposite of foolishness to accept it. It would have been wise to accept it. But what did the Lamenter see? What did they experience? Well, that's the big question, isn't it? Personally, I think the Horned Lamenter beheld the truth behind the Crucible. I believe that it realized

that life is ultimately an awful crucible of competition, with all of the suffering & power & struggle & evolution that that entails. But what it saw can't be all bad, right? The Lamenter is weeping, yes, but it's also paradoxically in a state of rapturous true bliss. It's happy on some level, not unlike the so-called evil spirits that the Omen saw, perhaps, which were also smiling. The lamenting visage also has an unusual expression that somehow imparts a sense of contentment. It is the languid ease of one who needs not sight. To those who seek happiness, blindness

is bliss. There's probably a few ways to interpret this, but I personally interpret it to mean that the horrifying truth of the world can be safely ignored. Indeed, Miquella does return from the Divine Gate with his eyes wide shut, And we never see Marika's eyes either. The Lamenter thus offers salvation. But the Hornsent could not accept or would not accept. So, circling back to the idea that the Lamenter is adjacent to the Outer God of Frenzy, I have one last theory, and it's that many outer gods, you know, Rot, the Mother of Truth, Death. They

all erupt after being suppressed, but can flourish when they're being accepted, as we've seen with the Rot in the DLC. We talked about this at length in the previous video on Raw & how that was a balanced society Which accepted outer gods like the one of Rot. So what if this is the Lamenter simply accepting the terrible truths related to frenzy? The Lamenter could therefore represent the idea that lamentation is healthy, but suppression of those who saw the truth like Midra is not. I don't know for sure. This is my interpretation of this character, but

I think you know what FromSoftware are really trying to say is you should watch my Prepare to Cry series. Let it all out. After Marika's ascent at the Gate of Divinity, There's evidence that the Hornsent accepted her and the Elden Ring. For one, there are multiple Hornsent references to Marika's purge as a betrayal, and for the Hornsent to consider her actions a betrayal, she must have been aligned with them in the 1st place. Though, as additional evidence of her rule reaching the Hornsent, the Runarchs of the Elden Ring are enshrined in Enir-Ilim. Stakes of Marika

are found throughout Midra's manse, which was cut off from the rest of the Realm of Shadow early on. The Greatsword of Damnation references her Golden Order, and the Dueling Shield makes it clear that ritual combat to honor the Erdtree Was a cultural practice of the Realm of Shadow. What's more, there's evidence that Mesmer's crusade did not happen immediately after Marika's ascent to power. In fact, there's evidence it happened much later. As per a conversation I had recently with Dave Control, another lore creator, we know this because A: Rellana, sister of Rennala, joined Mesmer's crusade with

Rennala's blessing, meaning Rennala must have been aligned with Radagon at the time. And B: Mesmer knows what a tarnished is, meaning his crusade likely happened after Godfrey became tarnished. But slowly, as order was established, the Crucible would be looked back upon with scorn for its close resemblance to chaos. This paradigm shift would have helped to justify the Veil being put up over the realm of shadow, and it would have helped to justify the Hornsent being crucified. I think this might have also been the moment when the shadow of the Erdtree came into being. We learn

from the remembrance of the shadow sunflower that the Scadutree is born of dark notions that bear no sense of order, that twist and bend its stock, rendering it brittle. And there's that word 'twist' again. A second stalk winds tightly around the first, almost as if in a tender embrace. The Scadutree itself is a spiral, so it makes sense that it evokes the Crucible, which also seems to bear no sense of order. I think it's the shadow of the Erdtree that was left behind as the Purge began. We'll go over the events of the Purge in

more detail in the next lore video, which will likely be on Mesmer, so please subscribe for that. But let me briefly sum up the Purge here As it relates to the Hornsent, at least. For the Hornsent fought back, with the sculpted keepers especially, who were able to put the violent ritual of the Lion Dance towards martial ends. However, most keepers were gored, hung and burned upon Mesmer's spears, and those who witnessed the deed likened it to a funeral pyre for the tower itself. The Curseblades fought in this war as well, wielding the Hornsent's signature backhand

blades to fend off the invaders. They were a scourge that failed to become tutelary deities, and they were largely imprisoned by the Hornsent. So many must have been released when the invasion began, because they also became a scourge for those who invaded the Hornsent homeland. Despite their efforts, we get the impression the Purge was very one-sided. Though once conquered, the Hornsent weren't entirely wiped out. They were permitted to remain in their ruined cities. Many were sealed away safely in shadow, & records of their culture were even archived in a specimen storehouse, with Hornsent themselves maintaining

the records. At some point, it seems, Mesmer's army no longer had the will to carry out the rest of the crusade. or maybe they simply didn't have a reason to. "Indeed, I think it rather plain to see things once broken" "can never be the same." This is our nameless Hornsent, refusing to wax nostalgic about days gone by after being handed a scorpion stew, which is a potent reminder of his past. Like him, his people persist, and yet they're lost. "If Miquella's redemption soothes the egg that throbs within," "demanding blessed vengeance," "then I wish not to

be by him redeemed." Hornsent's fate is to lose himself to the cycle of vengeance even after it is achieved. This is why Miquella wished to die for the sins of the past and be reborn, and Hornsent shows us why Miquella's charms are necessary if an age of compassion is to be achieved. Thank you for watching. In case you missed the ad read earlier, please go and check out Path of Exile 2 while it's in early access. It was a privilege to be sponsored by a game I really, really enjoy. Be good to one another and

I'll see you next time. "A curse upon the rotten miscreant." "A curse upon the strumpet's progeny." "Upon Marika's children, each and all," "the curse of the omen shall strike thee down" "in the form of the sacred beasts I have." (Subtitles by Crimson Ghoul)