The Lore of Elden Ring is Insane

[Vaati] Midra's Sanctum, a veritable paradise. And then. .

. [Mysterious Voice] Eve. Now.

Come no closer. No closer, I say. [Vaati] What happened here?

The map for this place now refers to it as an abyss, a place mired in frenzy, forbidden by the Hornsent. Interestingly, the word the Japanese use to describe this place is Naraka, which essentially is the Buddhist h***. They're describing this place as a world of great suffering, torture and torment.

But before this, it was a sanctum, A private hideaway for the sage Midra and other Hornsent who resided here. Midra himself has no visible horns, yet I'd still consider him to be one of the Hornsent's brethren. After all, many of his fellows have horns, his manse was built with spiral pillars, and spirals are an important symbol to the Hornsent and he presumably observed Hornsent customs at the church in the Sanctum.

which itself bears Divine Beast iconography. That said, the church is about as far away from Midra's Manse as can be in this place. So perhaps religion wasn't so important to those in the Sanctum, geographically isolated as they were from the rest of the realm.

Indeed, in contrast to the deep spirituality that we witness in other Hornsent domains, I'd argue that Midra's Manse was uniquely a place of discussion and learning. For example, countless books once adorned these bookshelves, and as per this sight of grace, the manse once had a discussion hall where knowledge could have been shared. Not to mention, Midra is renowned as a great sage, a title that could only belong to a man who was profoundly wise.

But when we arrive at the manse, most books aren't on their shelves. Instead, in most cases, they're in piles and have been burned, seemingly deliberately. So who did this?

If I had to guess, I think it might have been the Hornsent Inquisitors. As we'll get into later, the Hornsent Inquisitors were a powerful force that invaded Midra's Sanctum to stamp out the frenzy that had taken root here, and they do carry live flames which enable their fire breath attacks. So if books were being intentionally burned in this place of learning, then maybe it was for a reason.

Maybe Midra and this remote sect of curious Hornsent discovered something that they shouldn't have. Maybe they discovered the knowledge that led to Frenzy. But is there an overlap between Frenzy and knowledge in Elden Ring?

Well, let me try and argue that there is, using Bloodborne as an analogue. Frenzy in Elden Ring is largely synonymous with frenzy in Bloodborne. The systems share a name, status mechanics, and both games now even have frenzy inducing enemies called Winter Lanterns.

In terms of lore, though, they're a little bit different. In Bloodborne, frenzy is the symptom that afflicts those who acquire incomprehensible knowledge or insight about the world, sending them mad as a result. Whereas in Elden Ring, frenzy more commonly crops up in those who experience severe suffering and despair, and with their eyes aflame, they share that frenzy with others.

That said, I still think that that suffering and despair in Elden Ring does reveal a somewhat eldritch truth about the world, namely, that suffering and despair are this intrinsic part of the world's order on a cosmic level. Look at Marika's minor Erdtree that she left behind in her village, for example. It is only the kindness of gold without order, which, like many other things, seems to suggest that order cannot exist without suffering and despair.

So I don't think it's a stretch to think that Midra & the Hornsent of the Manse dedicated to learning and discussion could have stumbled upon such a disturbing truth about the world, especially since that truth has to do with the three fingers and the two, and there's evidence that the denizens of the manse were surreptitiously researching the fingers. Behind a portrait of Midra are three odd shapes with orange cloth draped over them, and underneath are fingers. These are the same fingers & stones that can be found in the Finger Ruins, and incidentally, the Finger Ruins of Rhia are adjacent to the Abyss itself.

Shoutout to Zlofsky on Twitter, who separated the models so we could get a closer look at these. In the end, though, how Frenzy took root in Midra's sanctum is open to speculation. Maybe I'm wrong, and it had nothing to do with their research.

Maybe the fingers under these covers were never meant to be discovered by us. Or maybe the frenzy of Midra's Manse had more to do with the woman in this portrait, who stands over Midra with a curious smile. We'll get into that more later.

But first, what is frenzy? What eldritch truth does it reveal? And what does that have to do with the fingers?

To answer that, we're going to have to go back further in Elden Ring's timeline than we ever have on this channel. To the cosmic, metaphysical origins of life. [Hyetta] All that there is came from the One Great.

Then came fractures and births and souls. But the Greater Will made a mistake. Torment, despair, affliction, every sin, every curse, everyone born of The Mistake.

And so, what was borrowed must be returned. Melted all away with the yellow chaos flame until all is one again. [Vaati] These words were spoken by Hyetta, finger maiden of the Three Fingers, who divines their words.

Let's break these lines down. So, everything, everything in the world of Elden Ring is said to have come from the One Great. The One Great is essentially the beginning, a unified whole.

It is the universe condensed, as one. But then a few lines later, Hyetta mentions a Greater Will that made a mistake. And she doesn't say the One Great made a mistake.

She says the Greater Will made a mistake. Almost as if the Greater Will is the One Great. And I think it is, kind of.

Perhaps it's more accurate to say that the One Great had a Greater Will. Because if the One Great is a collective, Then the Greater Will could have been the dominant part of its intent. Its Greater Will, so to speak.

And I'm saying this in the past tense here because at some point, there was a moment of fracture, a veritable big bang where the One Great was no more, but the Greater Will remained. This moment is called a cosmic rupture in the DLC by Count Ymir who says that, So life had essentially been created in many worlds, possibly. But to give order to its children in The Lands Between specifically, the Greater Will first sent down Metyr, the mother of the two fingers, and then the Elden Ring.

While we learn from the Remembrance of the Mother of Fingers that Metyr was the mother of all two-fingers and finger creepers, it says nothing about her being the mother of the three-fingers. Thus, I think that when the One Great fractured, the Greater Will and its desire for order wasn't the only thing that was created. Frenzy and a desire for chaos was split off entirely.

This is a separate part of the One Great that believes fracture was a mistake and that regression is the only path forward. This frenzied part of the One Great is called an Outer God, as per Miquella's needle. So as such, like the Greater Will, it also has its envoys.

Three fingers, not two. And the fact that its envoys are three fingers is likely no coincidence. Two plus three equals a five fingered hand and thus, I think, three fingers being envoys sends a powerful message.

The message being that if order is run by two fingers, then the other three are naturally the ones that are missing. Of course, this is just speculation, but I like to think that the three fingers are kind of a revelation in and of themselves. It sends the message that once all was a part of the One Great the three fingers and the two.

Unlike the two fingers, the three fingers are free to tell us their truth. That there was a mistake in the fracturing of things long ago, and that under the branches of order, life now divides and distinguishes, leading to torment, despair, affliction, sins and curses. And so they believe the only solution is to melt everything away, with the yellow chaos flame until all is one again.

I want to quickly talk about the nature of the One Great and the Greater Will, because there have been some revelations revealed by Elden Ring's DLC, and one of them is that the Greater Will both is and inhabits a lightless abyss, as is depicted by the empty space in Count Ymir's headpiece. Now, this is going to sound contradictory, and of course this is all just speculative territory on a cosmic level. But I think somehow the birth of everything might have come from a void.

The Greater Will's void. Astel, natural born of the void, is one such example of this happening, after all. Because of this b***ard of the stars, we know that life can come from a void.

So, if a void is a clue to the Greater Will's nature, then maybe a void is also what the One Great was and inhabited. And so, perhaps it's no coincidence then that when Frenzy burns something, it burns it away to nothingness. One Great Void.

In the Gravesite Plane, we come across countless spirit gravestones, which are gravestones that have started to turn into spirits, fitting for a land where all manners of death drift. These stones, if crafted together with a swollen grape, create a surging Frenzied Flame, an item which violently spits frenzy like butter in a hot pan. Its description reads, It's no wonder then that Torrent, being a spirit, is terrified of this place.

Naturally, too, the Hornsent, whose culture revolves around spirits, forbid the flame's use. And to stamp it out, at some point they would send an order of inquisitors to invade and purge Midra's sanctum. Though apparently, The fact Frenzy is forbidden hasn't stopped the one who invented this consumable.

The Mad Craftsman's Cookbook that teaches it reveals that it is But were his experiments with Frenzy being done before or after the purge of Midra's sanctum? What I really want to understand here is, was Frenzy brewing in the manse for a while? Or did it only truly become a threat when the Inquisition invaded?

Let's talk about that. We know that Frenzy must have been present at the manse in some capacity before the Hornsent Inquisition arrived. Why else would the Inquisition have come to stamp it out?

However, I don't think it was out of control by any means. I think they were merely on the brink of it. and that's because of this tortured phantom of the manse who questions why the inquisition and their cruelty was even necessary.

While begging for mercy, he says, It's not clear whether he simply doesn't understand the threat that Frenzy represents or whether he simply doesn't think that Midra is to blame for it. But I think we can at least take from this that Frenzy wasn't out of control at the Sanctum. It was just there, and the Hornsent Inquisitors had been made aware of it.

But I reckon even the mere hint of Frenzy would have been the beginning of the end for Midra's Sanctum. And that's because Frenzy is essentially a self-fulfilling prophecy. The fear of Frenzy and its void inspires an extreme response to those in power, leading to the torture and torment of those who are frenzied, which is itself an extreme response that exacerbates frenzy even more, and on and on it goes.

In the end, frenzy only really exists because of how awful the world is, and the torture to stifle it only proves that fact. So, when the Inquisition arrived to purge this damnation, like no other, they brought pain, as was their way. These Hornsent Inquisitors are not unlike Rykard's own Inquisitors, who we discussed in a recent video.

Both forces use torture to extract the answers they seek, and both Inquisitions likely existed to root out traitors and threats to their regime. As opposed to the fire of Rykard's Inquisitors, the Hornsent's brand of inquisition utilizes golden arcs called barbs, which according to the spell were a known symbol of coercive questioning. The barbs on the great sword of damnation, for example, unwrap to pierce the victim from within, inflicting continuous wounds to assure eternal agony.

There's actually an intriguing bit of lore hidden in the weapon skill of this item, which reads, There is something of the Golden Order in the sight of those fixed upon this crux. The Golden Order. For me, this brings to mind Marika, crucified as she is upon a golden ark at the end of the game.

Alternatively, since the Golden Order was created upon the removal of destined death, perhaps the Great Sword of Damnation evokes this fact by inflicting eternal suffering, without death as a release. Thus is the Golden Order seen in the shape of those fixed upon its crux. Perhaps.

It's hard to say for sure what was meant by this line, but I'm glad this line exists because I think it means that they want us to question why the barbs of the Hornsent look like the rune arcs of the Elden Ring. So why? Why do the Hornsent have these golden arcs and methods of torture that echo the Golden Order when theirs is a civilization that preceded the Golden Order and the Elden Ring?

So to answer that, while I think it's true that the Hornsent were around long before Marika, I do think Marika and the Elden Ring became part of their culture for a time. The simplest proof of this is in how the Hornsent believe that Marika betrayed them. Because for them to consider Marika's actions a betrayal, Marika must have been considered a part of the Hornsent's culture on some level.

But for more evidence of Marika's involvement in this place at this time, take a look here where you respawn after getting jumpscared by a Winter Lantern. There's a stake of Marika here. And for these to be in the realm of Shadow, it means that Marika must been a force in the world long before the Inquisition arrived.

Even here, in this sanctum that's geographically separated from the rest of the realm. And while you could argue that these are just here for a gameplay reason, you know, and that they have no relevancy to the lore, I don't think so, because I think FromSoftware are aware of the lore implications of these statues. For evidence of this, look at Raya Lucaria, This is a place where Marika would have been unwelcome, and so there are no stakes of Marika at all here.

All of this is to say that torture was ingrained in the Golden Order, be it via the Hornsent's Inquisitors, or Rykard's Inquisitors, or the Elden Beast itself. Order requires enforcement, it seems. Remember, Marika's Minor Erdtree has taught us that there is kindness without order, and therefore that there is cruelty with it.

And so, even though such torture exacerbates frenzy, it was the institutionalized way forward for the Hornsent, who, as we know from other parts of the lore, were a race that definitely had no issues persecuting their own brethren. The tortured phantom we mentioned earlier, laments, Here in this sanctum, where frenzy was taking root, the Hornsent brought their full strength to bear. But perhaps the place should have been left alone, for the results of the inquisition were mixed, to say the least.

Clearly, the inquisition wasn't prepared to handle the answers it found, and many inquisitors have become frenzied in the Abyssal woods, revealing new attacks of frenzy flame. Interestingly, one spell they channel is Frenzied Burst, which has a description that talks about how This is the same incantation that Vyke uses, and it might be a reflection of his own struggle with madness. The fact that this incantation exists is called a meager victory over frenzy.

And this is why I think the inquisitors fought hard before succumbing to the frenzy. Perhaps this firsthand witnessing of the despair that was coming as a result of their own torture touched them. Or perhaps they fell victim to the aging untouchables, The Winter Lanterns, who we'll talk about more later.

The forest is now truly the most horrific part of the Sanctum, in my opinion, not the Manse itself. And I say that because the Inquisitors who occupy the Manse are not the Frenzied variant. Despite Frenzy having infected the rats and shadowy Hornsents within, the Inquisitors of the Manse don't have a single Frenzy Flame attack.

Why? Well, I think that this was done to show that their inquisition was successful to a degree, thanks to the majority of the inquisition's strength being focused here at the manse. And there is inquisition strength here.

For example, one of the fat inquisitors is in possession of revered spirit ash, a powerful blessing of the Hornsent. and there are even the spirits of Divine Beast Warriors roaming the halls. The Divine Beast Warriors were an elite force among the Hornsent, but you know that already from fighting them, don't you?

To be clear, though, these aren't physical Beast Warriors. They're actually spirits. Perhaps these warriors were once part of the Inquisition's forces and then died in this place.

What's more likely, though, I think, is that perhaps their ashes were given to the Inquisitors, who then summoned them here to fight as weapons to be wielded in their assault. We do, after all, know that the Inquisitors are capable of summoning the spirits of their comrades. We know this thanks to Jori, the Elder Inquisitor, who rings a sort of spirit calling bell to summon his brethren in his boss fight.

And it's here, in this place where the catacomb spills out into the forest that he holds down the fort alone. A final frontier for those coming in or out. According to the Inquisitor Ashes, and Jori is an elder inquisitor.

Thus, his age helps to explain why he is the last one remaining on the edge of the forest, endlessly calling in his brethren to fulfill their duties properly in death. One thing I wonder though is why Inquisitions perplexed the minds of the uninitiated. Was it because these Inquisitions were focused on torture so deeply?

Could newer inductees these not understand or fathom why they were performing these terrible rites? We do know from the Caterpillar Mask that doubt about the terrible rites that they were performing was a thing and that they had to intentionally ward this away. So perhaps this torture inflicted via the inquisitions caused a similar sort of doubt.

Whatever the case, to an extent, the Hornsent efforts here were successful. The books were burned, the manse was stifled. And on that note, I want to talk about the ten figures that are bound outside the manse.

There's not much information on these guys, I think, but if I had to guess, I'd say that these ten were Midra's's associates who were bound and executed outside the manse. Their somewhat similar garb to Midra's and also the gold protruding from their necks might be an indication of that. This, plus the fact that they're just facing away from the manse, strikes me as a warning for those in the forest to stay away from the manse, which Midra's executioners have now laid claim to.

And speaking of execution, as a result of the Inquisition's invasion, Midra himself accepted the Great Sword of Damnation and pledged to endure their eternal punishment, warning others to stay away from him lest they succumb. But I don't think that this was a true victory for the Inquisitors, because in reality, while Midra endured, the frenzy was ripening within him. and one day it would be a fruit fit to burst.

All according to plan, perhaps. Despite evidence of the Inquisition's victory in this place, Frenzy is entrenched pretty deeply. Now, at least.

The very earth is scarred, and even the animals are afflicted. Even the originally multicoloured flowers of this place have changed to be coloured by Frenzy, and one particularly inventive perfumer has clearly used these to create the Frenzyflame perfume. It's clear that Frenzy is ripening here, and I think that most of it came as a result of the inquisition itself.

There's a curious enemy in this place that I think supports this idea. The Madding Hand. It's a human NPC whose namesake is a weapon, a glove stitched together from the flayed skin of the victims of a butcherous bloodbath.

It was forged of an unyielding black impulse towards revenge, fostered in those who were hunted down as heretics by their own brethren. So the heretics in this description would have been the Hornsent denizens of the Sanctum, and their brethren who hunted them down would have been the Hornsent Inquisitors. And now, the Heretic's desire for revenge has been stitched together into a hand made of their flayed skin.

Now, I was originally going to suggest that the Madding Hand himself skinned these victims to create this glove, but since the tooth whip exists, and it was used by the Hornsent, it's possible that the flaying was just a part of the Hornsent torture of these heretics. Either way, this Madding Hand has taken it upon himself to fight on the heretics' frenzied behalf. So who is he?

Well, he's actually wearing the Gravebird's black quill armor, which is an item that's cast in the image of the Gravebird, which is a gravekeeper golem that's linked to mausoleums and to the process of burning death in Ghost Flame. So given that lore, you'd think then that this is a man that is linked to the ancient processes of death, and indeed he's actually physically very close to the darklight catacombs that brought you here, and catacombs traditionally do employ a lot of Ghost Flame processes in them. So that's kind of where the facts end on this guy and where speculation begins.

For example, given the armor, perhaps he was a defender of the local catacomb who got swept up in or witnessed the Hornsent's Purge. Or considering the stitched hand that represents the Heretic's desire for revenge, perhaps he now wishes to aid the frenzied of the forest. And do we think the blindfold could be related to Frenzy?

It certainly matches Hyetta's fashion. So there's something going on there, I think . Maybe blindfolds better enable one to envision the nothingness brought about by Frenzy.

Curious to hear what you guys think. Of course, none of this is fact. It's just my take on the guy.

But of course, the real threat in the forest isn't the Madding Hand. It's the Winter Lanterns, the aging Untouchables, whose presence is heralded by the Winter Lantern Flies. These are winged insects carrying a dangling grape, and upon seeing these, the wise know to stay well clear.

These messages are useful, but the most useful note of all is a page ripped from a diary and found in the manse. It reads, "I touched him," "but only once. " "When he thrust his staff in my face," "I brushed it aside.

" "It was then that I touched it. " "The aging untouchable. " Lore-wise, it's hard to know who wrote this note.

But since it's a page ripped from a diary, you'd think then that this would have been written by a resident of the Manse who were known for their bookkeeping. What's more, this page is burned, just like all the other books. Therefore, this record was likely written before the Inquisition came through here.

So it is that I think this aging untouchable that the note writes about might have existed in the forest before the Inquisition arrived. The author of this note even sketched a picture of its likeness. To be clear, I'm only talking about one aging untouchable here.

The diary only mentions one of them, and so do the winter lantern flies, which are insects that herald the aging untouchables' approach. On seeing these, it reads, "The wise know to stay well clear. " And that's the best way to combat frenzy, right?

To leave it alone. The 'wise denizens of the Sanctum' had likely learned this early on, and perhaps so too did Marika, who locked away the Frenzied Merchants underground, out of sight and out of mind. So in my headcanon, at least, Frenzy had appeared in the Sanctum before the Inquisition, and there was an aging, untouchable roaming that the Manse had learned to steer well clear of.

Of course, eventually more aging untouchables would be created. There are six in-game that you can find. But Frenzy had not yet gotten out of control.

Remember again, there's a phantom in the manse who wonders what crime Midra has even committed. And to be fair, is it a crime to learn painful truths? To despair?

At any rate, while this note does reveal good lore, more than anything, it's meant to be a gameplay tip. It teaches you that by parrying a winter lantern's staff, the aging Untouchable can be killed. Upon doing so, most drop a swollen grape, an eyeball that has swollen over time.

Marked with fingerprint burns, it is proof that the winter lanterns have been touched directly by the Three Fingers Embrace. These beings are the most dangerous thing in the sanctum now, especially considering the Three Fingers seem to have blessed them directly. They're even wearing rags, which might suggest that they've divested themselves of everything.

But what defines them actually isn't that so much, it's actually something else. They are defined by their aging. Parry this Winter Lantern and you receive the Aged One's Exultation, which reveals that their head is supposed to resemble this sprig of ripe grapes.

This is fitting, but the most curious part is the quote that follows: This quote must have come from a Hornsent, since it says 'our brethren'. What's more, their walking sticks are twisted in a spiral, which is a Hornsent symbol. So the aging Untouchables were once Hornsent, and eventually there were many.

And whatever they were, aged inquisitors or denizens of the sanctum, now they exist to afflict the rest of the Hornsent with frenzy. And this frenzy is defined by its full ripening. Ripening is obviously something that happens with fruit, making it very relevant in this situation where we're talking about grapes, which are eyes.

And ripening is something that occurs over time. And so aging and enduring this madness is the key to this frenzy being powerful. And this frenzy is to be a gift, not unlike the Shabriri grapes we gift to Hyetta so that she might glimpse the distant light.

Frenzy is shared like that, and theirs is to be a gift to their lord. Which brings us to Midra, finally. The old sage whose frenzy they surely intend to have fully ripen so that he might become the lord of frenzied flame.

This ripening has been enhanced by his torture. and the final words that he heard from his lady. "Please endure.

", she said. It was a curse. Frenzy consumables tell us that No wonder Midra desperately wants to rip the torturous Greatsword free of himself.

For in the end, the Lord of Frenzied Flame shall take their torment, despair, their affliction, every sin, every curse all melted away. So reads the spell, Midra's Flame of Frenzy, which is a remembrance incantation designed in praise of Midra, Lord of Frenzied Flame. Curiously, this description ends with the line, And yet he did become a Lord.

So this line is kind of contradictory, right? Perhaps you're supposed to read this as Midra was a Lord of Frenzied Flame, but too weak to become a true Lord since you defeated him. Or alternatively, perhaps you're supposed to read it as if Midra was originally too weak to become a lord long ago, but over time he did become strong enough to become one.

Or rather, he endured long enough to become one. [Midra] No. Come no closer.

No closer, I say. The man is. .

. Where is. .

. The depths of your foolishness! Enough.

I have endured more than enough. I ask you forgive me, dearest Nanaya. [Vaati] From this dialogue, we learn a few things.

One is that Midra genuinely sees the madness as a curse and is worried about what it could do to others. Thus, he warns you to stay away. Two is that he genuinely cares about his lady, who he calls dearest Nanaya.

And third, since Midra asks for Nanaya's forgiveness when he succumbs to frenzy, I think Midra believes that Nanaya told him to endure for the sake of others, yes, but also for her. So this maiden essentially wants Midra to suffer in righteous hardship for the one that he loves. Now, where have we heard that before?

[Shabriri] If you are prepared to show resolve and attain lordship through righteous hardship, then heed the words of I, Shabriri, your flesh will serve as kindling and the girl can be spared, setting you on the righteous path of lordship. [Vaati] So let's discuss the idea, the theory that Nanaya told Midra to endure specifically so that the frenzy could ripen within him. And then let's discuss the theory that she told him to do this because Nanaya is Shabriri, a being who is Chaos incarnate, put on this earth to ensure that Chaos has its lord.

In the base game, we learn that Shabriri is a sort of skinwalker, someone who has the ability to inhabit the bodies of others. In his case, after they die, as he does with Yura, someone who is close to us. Thus, as the theory goes, perhaps Shabriri also came to inhabit Nanaya's skin to encourage Midra's endurance and bring about a lord in Midra's sanctum sthrough what Shabriri calls righteous hardship.

This wouldn't be the first time that Shabriri has attempted such a thing. It wouldn't even be the second. The player character is encouraged to embrace Frenzy, to spare the life of their maiden, and so was Vyke, the Tarnished who came close to becoming Elden Lord.

We have an entire Prepare to Cry episode on Vyke's story that explains him and all the characters associated with Frenzy, so check that out after this if you need a recap. But let me quickly read you one item description now that we'll succinctly explain Vyke's story for anyone who doesn't know. The Fingerprint Armor states: Since Shabriri advocates for us becoming the Lord of Frenzied Flame in the context of saving our maiden, burning in the Fell God's flame, I'd argue that Shabriri did the same with Vyke, who would have been faced with the same choice.

And with Midra, being yet another potential lord of frenzied flame, who would also do anything for his maiden, we've established a pretty significant trend in how Shabriri might be using these three characters. In regards to Midra's character specifically, the name Nanaya could be a reference to the goddess of love from Mesopotamian folklore. It's a name that carries connotations of sensuality and charm.

Things that would definitely help to explain why Midra might have been so enraptured by her. And as one last piece of evidence for the theory that Nanaya might be inhabited by Shabriri. Take a look at the Shabriri's Woe Talisman, which was made in Shabriri's disturbing likeness.

It states, And I find it so perfectly creepy that Nanaya has a similar smile to Shabriri in the portrait here. It's so good. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I love this theory.

I find it cool. And admittedly, the rule of cool might be affecting how strongly I advocate for this theory. So you should keep that in mind when listening to me.

And on that note, I do want to say I first came across this theory in this Reddit thread, and it was through the process of agreeing and disagreeing with multiple arguments here that I came to my own conclusion and my conclusion is that it's possible that Nanaya could be Shabriri, but it's also possible that Nanaya is just her own character using a similar playbook as Shabriri. Either way, though, in my eyes, Nanaya is still a chilling, manipulative character who cursed Midra to endure very intentionally. But there are definitely a few ways to interpret Nanaya as a character, and I'd encourage you to come to your own conclusion on this as well.

For example, another interpretation might be that instead of being literally Shabriri, Nanaya could instead parallel Hyetta, another sort of skinwalker in the base game who seemingly unintentionally occupies Irina's flesh. In her story, Hyetta fulfills the role of finger maiden for you in the Frenzy storyline, except she's the maiden to the three fingers, not the two. And maybe Nanaya was a sort of maiden to Midra, albeit a more manipulative one.

And as another alternative interpretation, I guess you could argue that Nanaya isn't an advocate for Frenzy at all, But I reckon it'd be hard to do personally. That's because the evidence of Nanaya being honest and really genuinely wanting Midra to endure for his own sake is kind of undone by the fact that when we find Nanaya's body in-game, she's actually cradling someone who was a prior Lord of Frenzied Flame, albeit a feeble Lord of Frenzied Flame. Nanaya's torch is a torch made by attaching a dying flame of frenzy to a small spinal column.

Now, this English description kind of makes it sound like it was a crafted item with frenzy being attached to the spine, but the Japanese description makes no such claims and indeed the frenzy at the tip of the spine simply reflects I think, one who was a past Lord of Frenzied Flame, since such lords always have their spines culminate in a frenzied void. Anyway, the description goes on to read that This description notes that the feeble Lord of Frenzied Flame existed in a distant land, and an age long past. Now, one interpretation of that is that the realm of shadow itself is that distant land in question, and that a Lord of Frenzied Flame rose here long ago, even before Midra.

Alternatively, you might interpret the distant land as being distant from The Lands Between entirely, and that the Feeble Lords' remains were carried here, maybe by Nanaya. It's kind of up to you. What is clear though is that there were other aspiring lords of Frenzy before Midra, yet all of them were too weak.

And surely for Nanaya to cradle this feeble lord so tenderly suggests a connection between her and the lord. Therefore, I feel like Nanaya has to have some malintent here with Midra, right? I mean, she's literally sitting in his chair cradling a prior lord's feeble remains.

And since Midra is worried about the frenzy spreading, I don't think he'd be too happy about her holding this torch. Not to mention torches light the way ahead. So symbolically, she's having her path ahead lit by frenzy.

Now, I've seen some speculation that this spine belongs to Nanaya's child. The main arguments that I've read are that the spine is specifically defined as small and that Nanaya cradles it affectionately. But just because Nanaya cradles something doesn't mean it's definitively her child.

To me, this just reveals that she has affection and perhaps pity for the subject. What's more, the spine being described as small to me is an indication that it belongs to a feeble lord, not that it's literally a child's spine. Indeed, the spine is quite large and is described as having belonged to a man.

Okay, but could this have been her adult child then who failed to become a Lord of Frenzied Flame long ago, and she could just be cradling their remains? And I mean, I guess you can't rule it out. But then some people insist that this was Midra's child, because Nanaya has her hand over her stomach in the portrait here, a pose that some believe suggests that she was pregnant at the time her portrait was taken.

For this to be true, the child would have had to grow up in the Sanctum and then succumb to frenzy and then fail to become a Lord. But that's a lot of history for the Sanctum to have had, so you'd think surely such history would have been mentioned in the lore if it had happened. So while I think these theories are compelling, I don't subscribe to them personally.

I believe that Nanaya did have a history with a feeble lord long ago. But to me, since she has such clear, sinister intent in telling Midra to endure, I'm not sure that she can be this well-intentioned mother. And the idea of her being an advocate for the frenzied flame and still giving birth rubs me the wrong way as well, because birth is kind of a sticking point for those who advocate for Frenzied Flame.

In the base game, Hyetta is euphoric at the idea of no more fracture and no more birth. So if you believe that Nanaya is aligned with Frenzy, then birth probably isn't too high on her agenda. So in the end, Nanaya's character continues to pose so many questions, like, Where was the distant land that her torch alludes to?

What age long past featured this feeble, frenzied lord? Nanaya wears spiraling clothing and hair in the style of the Hornsent. But is she their brethren or is she pretending?

Did she truly bring frenzy to the manse? Did she slander the Sanctum and bring the Inquisition? Did she bring about the aging Untouchables with the goal of creating a new, ripened Lord?

So many questions and so much uncertainty. And yet, I'm sure that the intriguing character of Nanaya will become an enduring mystery for the lore community for years to come. And that is always fun.

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Regardless, thank you for listening. Let's get back to the video. On the topic of Midra's endurance, one observation I was so happy to come across was this tweet by Littlechurchlore, who comments on some assets extracted by Zlofsky2.

These two accounts are great follows, by the way. Church notes that Midra wears a brooch adorned with green jewels, which in FromSoft games commonly means that it increases your stamina. So, they argue, for Midra, maybe these helped in fortifying his 'endurance'.

In Elden Ring specifically, the jewels are Viridian Amber. And the Viridian Amber Medallion +3 actually is found very close by in the Darklight Catacombs. So the idea that Midra might have had access to this fortifying resource is a good little theory, for sure.

Anyway, let's conclude. In the end, with you pushing him over the edge, Midra finally gives into that blissful salvation. His frenzy.

But it's not enough, and his ripening was all for naught. But it's no matter, for as long as order remains, it seems, chaos cannot die. And there are other prospects, like Vyke, like you, Tarnished exposed to the injustices of the world, who might go on to become Lord of Frenzied Flame.

For unlike Midra, you are bolstered by the great runes of the Elden Ring. You are unleashing frenzy from within the Erdtree itself. Surely that has to count for something.

Though, even then, this ending might not strictly be the end, for Melina believed in the beauty of the world that you burned down despite its flaws. So Melina, holding fast to Torrent's whistle, promises to deliver you a destined death as Torrent burns away, his screams echoing in the distance. He was afraid for good reason.

Thank you for watching.