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I Can't Wait To Hear What All The Lore Nerds Think About Shadow Of The Erdtree

By 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:James Lucas

Published Jun 22, 2024

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168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has the most straightforward FromSoftware story since 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dark Souls. You venture to a forlorn land in search of a missing god, and then 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:you find him. We’re not putting together a jigsaw where all the pieces have been scratched bare for a change, but it’s still a From storꩲy. The lore is still plenty cryptic and confusing, built on the back of an unreliable narrator who speaks in riddles.

Spoilers for Shadow of the Erdtree.

I read through every single item description, soaked in the environment, and tried to understand how each droplet of lore flowed together. But I’m not the sharpest kukri in the Craftsman's Shack. I easily grasp the obvious, like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Messmer launching a fiery crusade against the Land of Shadow in the name of his mother Marika, but I'm still an amateur when it comes to the deeper stuff.

Having never reviewed🎶 a Soulsborne game or DLC before, it was strange to find obscure references or what felt like huge lore revelations without a community to turn to. We theorised among ourselves at TheGamer, but it’s not the same as watching hundreds upon hundreds of fans sharing their ideas and piecing together what at first felt like unrelated threads.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree St Trina lying dead on the floor surrounded by flower petals

The rampant speculation on who Gwyn’s forgotten son was, stripped f♔rom the annals of history, permeated throughout the Dark S𓆉ouls fan base for years, and it was thrilling to watch new evidence come to light long after the game had released. I’ve been eagerly waiting for the expansion to launch for that same rush with all of the new lore Erdtree brings to the table.

In a tucked away, hard-to-find optional area accessed ﷽through the Shadow Keep, you come face-to-face with a knight on horseback called Gaius. Dig into his item descriptions and you find that he not only led Messmer’s army, but was a childhood friend and rival to Radahn. But I never figured out why he followed Messmer to the Land of Shadow.

I want to hear what VaatiVidya thinks of how Radahn fits into this world. Miquella summons him as consort and we discover that Malenia launched her crusade against Caelid so long ago to bring him to the Land of Shadow, but I still have so many questions about the Young Lion and why he chose to help Miquella.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Lord of Frenzied Flames head erupting into a ball of fire

Another key piece of lore I didn’t have time to dig into properly was the Rauh Ancient Ruins, specifically who Rauh is. I’m also eager to uncover more of the Black Knights beyond the obvious homage to Dark Souls—they are Messmer’s second elite battalion, serving a com𝔉mander called Huw who betrayed his go💧d and led a rebellion that would see him sealed in an underground tomb.

It’s hard to ignore the imagery of fire that surrounds these warriors, as the Black Knights of Dark Souls were charred as such by Gwyn’s flame. What did Messmer do to these men, and what sparked thei🌌r rebellion?

Shado𒐪w of the Erdtree embellishes so many of the ideas in Elden Ring, from the Frenzied Flame to the Fingers, but it also introduces many more interesting ideas of its own. I’d need a lot longer than two weeks to unpack it all, but with the combined might of the entire fanbase, I can’t wait to discover more about the Land of Shadow with everyone else now pouring in.