The Lore of Elden Ring's Dragons

So you've become the Elden Lord. But before you, it was Radagon, and before him it was Godfrey, who items call the "First Elden Lord." And yet, even before Godfrey, there was another, Placidusax. An ancient dragon who ruled as Elden Lord in the prehistoric age before the Erdtree. It's him and his kin that you're going to be learning about in this video. But to quickly summarise: First, there were the ancient dragons who had these stone scales that could twist time, making them essentially immortal. And yet some ancient dragons can be found dead. Buried in the rocks

of Farum Azula, which twists and crumbles in an eternal storm. On the ground, their descendants roam the Lands Between without the stone scales of their ancestors. And instead of stone scales, they've inherited aspects of their environments. The ice dragons roam the icy mountaintops. The glintstone dragons feasted on sorcerers. One's hatred was so strong that he even endured The Scarlet Rot in Caelid. And it's here in Caelid, that Greyoll, mother of all the mortal dragons, lies dying. There's a lot to talk about. This is the story of Elden Ring's Dragons. Many item descriptions note that the

age of the ancient dragons was "prehistoric." And, I think that's an important word, because it might explain why Godfrey's recorded title is the "First Elden Lord." Even though he's not. Placidusax is. The word "prehistoric" denotes a period of time before written history. And while there are spoken legends from this time, I think what they're trying to get across is that the Elden Lord before Godfrey wouldn't be well known. This was before the age of the Erdtree, after all, and the Erdtree would eventually come to be considered perfect and eternal. So the idea that there might

have even been an Elden Lord that came before could have been considered irrelevant at best, and sacrilegious, I think, at worst. But what really is an Elden Lord? And why was Placidusax considered one? I feel like the role of Elden Lord can be roughly narrowed down to three things. You are made eligible by A) your strength. B) your validity as a consort and/or C) your willingness to bring about a new age or order. Specifically, the Elden Lord is tasked with bringing about The Greater Will's order, one built around the Elden Ring that it sent here

long ago. Hence the name, "Elden Lord." Sounds simple, but then remember, the nature of The Greater Will's order can vary wildly, as is shown by all who come to champion it over the ages. The Greater Will's order is malleable enough that it can even accept a number of endings that our Tarnished brings about, where the Elden Ring is mended by runes that will dramatically redefine the world. So it is that our role as a Tarnished is actually pretty unique, as our primary goal now is to reunite the broken shards of the Elden Ring with Markia,

the god that is the vessel of the Elden Ring Locked away inside the Erdtree. It's not up to her to will a new age into being. It's up to us, and we have to gather the great runes to do this. So it is, that in most endings, you ascend to the throne as Elden Lord alone, without a God or living consort by your side. Instead, your crumbling god is a vessel for your Elden Ring, and not much more. But previously, it seems an Elden Lord was chosen by their God. Chosen for their strength. Chosen to

sire a lineage. cChosen for their usefulness to their god's order. So it was that Hoarah Loux was chosen to be the Elden Lord as the Age of the Erdtree began. He defeated Marika's enemies, He sired the Golden Lineage, and then was discarded in favor of Radagon --> an Elden Lord, who betrayed Marika's enemies, and sired more demigod children with her before being shattered alongside his god. And since we don't actually know much about Placidusax's god, we rely on Hoarah Loux, and Radagon, and Marika as well to teach us the things that we should assume would

have been traditionally true about her. So it is that Placidusax's god likely chose him as overlord because Placidusax was powerful, politically expedient, loyal, and/or perhaps a valid consort. And speaking of Elden Lords being consorts, it's certainly possible that Placidusax consorted with his god. But I don't think that means that all or any of the ancient dragons would have been the result of that union. In fact, as noted by ZullietheWitch, the heads of Placidusax are different, and are labeled as "male" and "female" respectively. So who's to say Placidusax didn't spawn their own ancient dragons? Whatever the

case, the ancient dragons were exceptionally loyal to their lord, and multiple item descriptions state that "the ancient dragons who ruled the prehistoric era before the Erdtree, would protect their Lord as a wall of living rock." This is why "the shape of the dragon has become symbolic of all manner of protections." And indeed, we commonly see dragons on shields and on damage reduction talismans. But even without his kin laying down their lives to protect him, Placidusax is intensely powerful in their own right. In fact, I'd say that Placidusax was likely chosen as Elden Lord for their

strength in battle, and the physical evidence of battle is all there. Their form is severely scarred, and even his heads have been severed in unknown fights. I think it's fair to speculate that Placidusax put their life on the line for their God. Just as Elden Lords would do for their gods in years to come, and just as his ancient dragons did for him. But what exactly is an ancient dragon? To help us distinguish between all of the dragons in the game, it's important to note that not all dragons in Elden Ring are of the ancient

variety. Most are actually lesser wyverns, like these. Though they're all descended from the same stock, ancient dragons specifically are characterized by their mastery of red lightning, as well as their four wings, four limbs, and stone scales. These stone scales are perhaps their most defining characteristic. You would have found these stone scales in your playthrough. They would have been looted as "Gravel Stones," which are said to be the scales of the ancient dragons. These Gravel Stones can be used to craft Dragonwound Grease, a weapon buff that increases the damage you deal to dragons. It reads "When

the dragons were born from their ancient kin, they lost their stone scales, which can now be used to cause them mortal harm." Talk about insult to injury. So just like in Dark Souls, it's these stone scales that gave the ancient dragons their signature immortality. And as further evidence for that fact, consider the Dragon King's Cragblade, which reveals that today's dual-winged, two-legged dragons are considered "paltry" and "mortal" --> again confirming that the ancient dragons were immortal by way of comparison. But why are they immortal? Well, the mechanism behind this immortality is revealed by the Ancient Dragon

Smithing Stone's description, which marks it as a "golden Gravel Stone" and a "scale of the Ancient Dragonlord." Most importantly though, it reads "This stone lightly twists time." Therefore, its Placidusax's very scales, and likely also those of his kin that have time twisting properties, explaining the ancient dragons longevity. It seems they're immune to the effects of time. This also explains why Placidusax's Old Lord's Talisman messes with time "lengthening the duration of sorceries and incantations" in the hands of the Tarnished. Most interesting, though, is that the smithing stone goes on to state that it allows for "the

creation of a weapon capable of slaying a god." Presumably this is because of the scales time twisting abilities, which I theorize might help to sort of undo the god that gets smacked with this from existing in the first place. Maybe time undoes them in that way, or perhaps it speeds up their eventual irrelevancy over time. It's really fitting that a god would be weak at a time and nothing else really. Now, scales twisting time is one thing, but all of Farum Azula seems to exist outside of time, To some extent. There is no day and

night cycle here, for example, and this time twisting effect is particularly strong in Placidusax's arena, which you access by lying down at the very edge of his storm. In a way, you kind of become a part of the environment here in this moment, as the space you're lying in is actually a shallow grave meant for entombment. It's just missing a skeleton, whereas the other graves have them. And now that you're part of Farum Azula itself, time stops, then actually begins to bring you backwards in time with the repairing ruins to Placidusax's forum, where the dragon

Lord once dwelled eternally beyond time. So time is extremely convoluted in Placidusax's arena. And I say this because it's here in the "heart of the storm beyond time" that you're able to use an item called Miquella's Needle, which is "one of the unalloyed gold needles that Miquella crafted to ward away the meddling of outer gods." Now, currently this needle is only a temporary solution. It only wards off the outer god's influence. It doesn't cure one of it, as Malenia is evidence of indeed the final silver version of the needle reveals that "the needle is still

as yet unfinished and can only be used in the heart of the storm beyond time, said to be found in Farum Azula." It's here alone that the needle does finally function fully, removing the entire influence of the outer god in your body. Miquella originally intended to use this needle to repel the Outer God of Rot within his system. But here, if you're locked into the Lord of Frenzied Flame ending, you can use the needle to "cheat fate" and undo The Frenzy God's influence instead. This reveals that the final missing component of the needle is time.

It just needs this final time twisting effect to be complete. So as with the smithing stones we just mentioned, perhaps you are inserting the needle at a point before the outer god's influence existed upon you. Or perhaps the gods are simply, again, weak to time's effects. I wonder if Miquella knew this. I wonder if he knew that time twisting was what was needed to complete the needle. And I wonder if he even realized that this is a place you could come to do that. Anyway, the one weird thing about Miquella's Needle is that you can

use it in Placidusax's arena even though he's dead. Raising the question, you know, hang on, If it's Placidusax's scales that twist time, why is it time is being twisted here in a location even without him and his scales present? Now, I do have a theory that might reconcile this issue. Remember how I brought up that time only starts moving backwards when you lie down in a burial space and become a part of the environment. Well, my theory is that, what if it's the landmass of Farum Azula itself That also twists time? I think it might

be able to do this because the landmass literally has ancient dragons and the time- twisting scales entombed within it. The official art book reveals a ton of these ancient dragons, and indeed, ancient dragons can be found within Farum Azula's geological stratum. I asked dataminer ZullietheWitch to take a closer look at these assets, and she discovered that there are two variants of these entombed dragons that show up here, here, here, and here. So four dragons in total that we can see, at least. At first I thought that these might represent Placidusax's missing heads, but the intact

variant of the model displays four wings and four legs, meaning these were entire ancient dragons. That said, they don't look entirely like ancient dragons. In fact, the heads are actually the same as Placidusax's, albeit rendered in a lower level of detail. So personally, given the information I have, I believe that this suggests that these entombed dragons might be Placidusax's offspring or kin. Perhaps even an older generation of ancient dragon entombed in a previous geological stratum of Farum Azula's ancient history. So it is that I think you can argue that the landmass of Farum Azula itself

can twist time. But additionally or alternatively Farum Azula's storm itself might represent this time twisting Miquella's Needle does say that it can only be used in the "heart of the storm" in Farum Azula. So perhaps Placidusax's golden scales sort of "twisted" a storm into being, And maybe that storm twists time, irrespective of whether Placidusax is alive or not. Also, I really like the idea that twisting storms are a visual representation of the scales that twist time, because the scales do specifically use the word twist in regards to time. So the storm and these twisting hurricanes

are so perfect visually for that. But as we move into the next chapter, I want to point out one more interesting thing about these golden scales, and it's that according to their item descriptions, they're only "made" into ""stones after being "polished," and thanks to their older item description Text in version 1.0 of Elden Ring, we know exactly who it was that polished these stones in the first place. They were "refined by sentient beasts that regarded them as holy relics." So it is that we arrive at the beastmen of Farum Azula who were the ancient dragons

clergymen, worshippers, and lessers. There are a few types of beastmen in Farum Azula, but most wield their signature curved sword, a weapon that is forged from dull iron but is so well designed that despite its weight, it's "comparatively easy to wield for the damage it delivers." This skill in smithing seems to extend to their throwing weapons as well, which boomerang through the air towards you like nothing else in The Lands Between. As the Beastman's Cleaver itself states, "It's clear the beastmen possess knowledge beyond human ken." As you start to progress towards the latter half of

Farum Azula, you'll start to be assailed by red lightning wielded by the beastmen clergy. Some warriors even carry weapons blessed with its effects. This is significant because red lightning is explicitly called the "weapon wielded by the ancient dragons." Lightning in Fromsoftware games has always been a weapon of divinity, and those that wielded are naturally the blessed adherents of that divinity. In this case, the divines were the ancient dragons who wielded this lightning within the storms of Farum Azula. So, for the beast men to wield it, the art was probably taught to them. For additional context,

one of the only other characters who wields a weapon imbued with red lightning is Vyke, a Tarnished beloved by an ancient dragon. Indeed, certain beastmen were, quote unquote, "chosen" or blessed in a similar way, with the Azula Beastman Spirit Ashes stating that Farum Azula's giant mausoleum was "guarded by chosen beastmen who wield weapons clad in lightning." For more evidence of the beastmen's reverence of ancient dragons, we can look to the five sites of grace in Farum Azula that mark different sections of the "Dragon Temple. A sprawling place of worship that features multiple statues of beast

clergymen bent in reverence towards ancient dragon statues, and the central part of the Dragon Temple is this the place where you would have fought the Godsskin Duo an altar overshadowed by an enormous dragon skeleton. For reference, these skeletal remains dwarf even Placidusax and are matched only in size by the Dragon Greyoll and the ancient dragon Gransax, both of whom we'll discuss a little bit later. The Azula Beastman Spirit Ashes states that Farum Azula is "said to be the remains of a giant mausoleum enshrining an ancient dragon" and given this dragon's prominent placement in the "Dragon

Temple" of all places, I actually think the enshrined Dragon in question might be this one, though you could certainly make the argument that the "enshrined ancient dragon" was Placidusax instead. But, regardless of exactly what it's enshrining, Farum Azula really is just a huge mausoleum with burial customs literally around every corner. Considering all the jars in this place, one such type of burial that comes to mind is jar burial, a practice documented in ancient human cultures all across the globe. Now, this practice would show up more explicitly later in Elden Ring's timeline with the living Jars,

which are literally filled with the interred remains of powerful warriors. But beyond the powerful funerary imagery in Farum Azula, there's actually no explicit evidence that I can find that suggests actual entombment within these jars. In contrast, the Beastman's Jar Shield is quite clear that "the beastmen have always fired earthenware jars for the express purpose of making shields." The description comments that these ways are "strange," and I feel like I can offer a strange theory here. We know that the beastmen value golden stone scales, right? And, we know that there are literally ancient dragons entombed within

the earth of Farum Azula. So what if the beastmen value the dragon-infused earth for this reason? Firing pots from this dragon earth in an initial burial custom, then breaking them to use as sacred shields. We established earlier that the golden scaled ancient dragons are a symbol of protection. And considering these are earthenware shields that are flecked with the same golden hue as their scales, I feel like this theory is alright. It's the only way I can rationalize making shields out of pots that are made out of earth, anyway. Somewhat predictably, the beastmen practice entombment of

their own species as well, And I'm not just talking about their gold adorned tombs. I'm talking about the entombment in the architecture itself as well. The skeletal remains of the beastmen frequently show up within the architecture of Farum Azula itself. This reminds me of the historical practice of immurement, which was this sort of horrific form of capital punishment, usually where the subject was entombed in a structure while alive. That said, there are historical examples of immurement being more about human sacrifice. A part of a grand burial ceremony in some cultures, and believed to make buildings

sturdier in others. And I feel like it would have been the beastmen who built the architecture of Farum Azula, not the dragons themselves. It is structured to be a mausoleum after all, And since it's the beastmen who revere the ancient dragons, it's naturally the beastmen who would have occupied the labor roles in society. That said, I guess humans also could have built it, since humans are depicted in the architectural reliefs of Farum Azula. So, it stands to reason that humans were a part of this culture as well, even at this early prehistoric period of time,

which is kind of crazy considering how much humans contrast with the beastmen here. As with a lot of the architecture in Fromsoftware games, I feel like it would be a bit dishonest of me not to mention that these in particular are reused assets also present in Bloodborne. So, it's possible that Fromsoftware didn't expect us to read into these assets too hard. But let's give them the benefit of the doubt, and assume that they at least wanted to suggest that there was a human presence in Farum Azula once. So not only were humans present, but they

were worthy of being enshrined. Who were they? Well, our biggest clues about different types of humans comes from origin text in the character creation screen. And, there are two human types in particular that I think might be a match for the humans in these reliefs. First are the Numen. The Numen are "supposed descendants of denizens of another world," and the Numen's Rune tells us that "The Numen are said to have come from outside the Lands Between." Considering Farum Azula experienced a cultural revolution with the coming of the Greater Will and the Elden Ring, which arrived

upon an extraterrestrial star. I wouldn't be surprised if Numenoid humans came along for the ride as well. Alternatively, the character creator reveals lore for "the stony face of the people of the ancient dragons, among whom life is typically short." It certainly seems to be suggesting that these humans are descended from the ancient dragons. I else would note their "stony" faces or their short lives in contrast to the ancients. As we'll discover later, ancient dragons can turn into humans, so perhaps they intermingled at some point in the past to create these humans. That said, this is

all just speculation and a human presence on Farum Azula is otherwise quite hard to process considering the beasts are clearly the legacy of Farum Azula, for it was the beasts who would gain intelligence and shape the world around them, not humans. Ancient historians have long speculated that it was the development of long opposable thumbs that helped facilitate early humans use of tools. Similarly, in Elden Ring, having "five fingers" is something to be celebrated, as is revealed by the Cinquedea, a weapon of the Beast Clergyman. This item description is one of those ones that is just

hugely significant for the lore. The name "Cinquedea" means "five fingers," and it visually shows five skeletal fingers on the blade. The item description goes on to state that "the design celebrates a beast's five fingers, symbolic of the intelligence once granted upon their kind." So, before there were beastmen, there were simply beasts here, and it was the bestowal of intelligence, which is equated with having five fingers that led to the beastmen. This of course begs the question who, or what, bestowed intelligence upon the beastmen? And luckily, it's a simple one to answer. It was the Greater

Will. The Greater Will is all about fingers. It speaks through the two fingers it hates If you have three fingers, it will tolerate four fingers, but five is the amount to be celebrated, or at least it was long ago. And if this veneration of fingers wasn't enough evidence for you while the 1.0 version of the Cinquedea literally states that "it was the Greater Will who granted the beast's intelligence." So, that's that. The Greater Will clearly also has a bit of a thing for acting through beasts. Just look at the final boss, it's an "Elden Beast."

One that the Greater Will sent hurtling into the Lands Between so that it could later "become the Elden Ring." And, in this prehistoric period, the ancient dragons would be graced by the Greater Will first with the beastmen later being granted intelligence as well. All the better to revere the ancient dragons with according to bestial incantations, "stones were the first weapons of the beasts who had gained intelligence," and "having gained intelligence, the beasts must have felt how their wildness slipped away as civilization took hold." Of course, this is yet another example of where the Greater Will

takes away wildness, or chaos, in favor of order. It seems to care little what form that order takes. It only cares that some order takes hold, preferably taking hold with a full five fingered fist. In game the five fingered Cinquedea is wielded by Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman. According to the weapon it is only "given to high ranking clergymen of Farum Azula," marking Gurranq as one of their number. Presumably this means he is, or was, a clergyman of the ancient dragon faith before being "repurposed" by the Greater Will, becoming a shadow for Marika instead. After all,

when we encounter him in game, the Age of the Ancient Dragons has long passed, yet he still achieves relevancy in this age, in yet another subservient role, as is common to all beasts. Except this time it's to Marika, and this time he is a "Shadow of the Empyrean," which is a topic we should touch on next. We first meet Gurranq at the Bestial Sanctum, a place in Caelid that bears a striking resemblance to Farum Azula. There's even a bridge down the way called "Farum Greatbridge," with a dragon defending it, no less. These are no mere

ruins that have fallen from the sky. This architecture is intact and must have been built for, and by, the beasts at some point after they received intelligence. We'll get into that point a little bit later, but for now, let's focus on Gurranq. We first learn about Gurranq from his bestial incantations, which are given to us when we hand him deathroot. They read "Long ago Gurranq was a beast of such terrifying ferocity that his former name meant 'death of the demigods.'" This former name in question was "Maliketh." A new name to suit his new purpose, which

was to seal away the Rune of Destined Death for Marika, Who was his Empyrean. So first he was Gurranq, then, as the Age of the Ancient Dragons ended and Marika became a force in the world, Gurranq became known as Maliketh instead, who was, and I quote, "A shadow bound beast given to his Empyrean," who was Marika. Marika had one job for Maliketh, and that was to "lock away Destined Death." To a degree, he fails at this task and a fragment of Destined Death is stolen, becoming the deathroot that spreads throughout the lands. So it is

that Gurranq has returned to the Lands Between now, trying desperately to scrape together all the deathroot in the world. The Beast Claw incantation talks about his present identity, as this spell "represents the fury of Gurranq, His bestial nature returned, as much as it does his restless agitation." But after realizing his mission is impossible, Gurranq peaces out. And then we're only able to find him in one place alone... Farum Azula, where he has ascended with a Draconic Tree Sentinel as his defender. Here, he sort of exists outside of time, defending what remains of Destined Death within

his very own flesh. It's easy to get confused about when Gurranq exists in the game, so apologies for skipping over this topic quickly, but this video is about dragons, after all. And the main thing I really want to get across here is just how much the beasts have been repurposed to suit the needs of the Greater Will. First, it gave them intelligence, and then they served the Ancient Dragons Order. But then, when the ancient dragon's age ended, beasts like Gurranq were given new purpose, commonly as shadow-bound entities compelled to serve order once more. Whatever form

their Empyreans dictated that order should take. The Raging Wolf set states that "according to the old legends, wolves are the shadows of the Empyrean." It's certainly possible that this legend originated in Farum Azula. There is, after all, a statue that features three wolves deferring to a human woman. It might be a stretch to assume that this is depicting wolves as shadows of the Empyrean, but I thought I'd mention it at least. Again, in case you've forgotten, an "Empyrean" is basically one of the Greater Will's candidates for godhood. And in Marika and Ranni's case at least,

they were granted wolves as their shadows. Wolves, who evolved to be "man's best friend" as they say, are defined as such because of their loyalty. And as stated by the Beast Champion Helm "the beasts, the eyes and ears covered represent an oath: See nothing, hear nothing, doubt nothing, and carry on along the path set in stone." And, so it is that Gurranq and Blaidd are wolves completely loyal to their Empyreans, dedicated to protecting their lords just like the ancient dragons of old. This loyalty to the Greater Will, and also their Empyreans, causes this fantastic tension

within these characters. In the case of Gurranq, he was loyal to Marika, but now lives impatiently with this impossible task of having to recover every piece of deathroot. And in the case of Blaidd, his loyalty to Ranni eventually forces him to betray the Two Fingers, in complete defiance of the fate that he was born to. Speaking of which, Blaidd is quite unique from Gurranq. Unlike Gurranq, he has no apparent ties to Farum Azula. After all, unlike Gurranq, he was "created" to be Ranni's Empyrean and grew up with her in a more modern age that was

far removed from Farum Azula's. Perhaps this is why Blaidd takes on a much more human form. Blaidd was created in a much more modern age than the beasts of old, so it seems the Two Fingers skipped a lot of the history and simply created Blaidd in a more half-man image. Creating him from scratch as opposed to his forebears. The other beast worth mentioning here is Serosh, the ethereal beast regent given to Godfrey to weigh down his ceaseless lust for battle. Of course, Godfrey is Elden Lord, not an Empyrean, just so, Serosh is not a wolf,

but a lion. Like Gurranq, he has a longer history, and according to the Beastclaw, Greathammer He was at one point a "Lord of Beasts" with black nails protruding from golden fur. To quote the Champion Set, beasts are "drawn to champions, and to lords," and this holds true for the beastmen drawn to Serosh, and in the future, it would hold true for Serosh himself, a beast that "became Lord Godfrey's regent," intended to guide him and his golden lineage. So, Serosh was drawn to Godfrey as well. But no matter who the beasts were loyal to, whether it

was to the Beast Lords, or to the ancient dragons, or then, Elden Lords or Empyreans. Throughout all of this, they were always following a deeper loyalty. A loyalty to the Greater Will, and its ancient Elden ring. This Elden Ring looks very different. For one, it appears to have many more circles, many more great runes than the modern Elden Ring. Considering its placement in Farum Azula, a place from long ago, I speculate that this is an ancient variant of the Elden Ring. A depiction of it back during the era of the ancient dragons. What's more, this

ancient Elden Ring has what appear to be roots snaking down and descending from it. This is in contrast to the modern Elden Ring, which has this latticed pattern instead. The lattice pattern is most commonly seen as a symbol of Radagon, an "Elden Rune" that is visible on his statues, and his scarseal as well. I always thought that the latticed pattern might represent Radagon's efforts to sort of stitch the Elden Ring back together when it was shattered, and we'll speculate on what the roots might mean a little bit later as well. As for why the Elden

Ring looks different though, well it makes sense that the Elden Ring would have changed throughout the ages. We know the thing is malleable, after all. There are examples of runes being taken out of it, and put back into it, depending on the specific needs of the god who acts as a vessel for its power, or the needs of the Tarnished who will become Elden Lord via great runes or even via mending roots. The vessel of the Elden Ring, we know in the modern era is Marika. She literally has the Elden Ring entombed within her. But

back in the age before the Erdtree, the Elden Ring would have had a different vessel. A different god. And unfortunately, all we know about them is that they abandoned Placidusax, Who was their Elden Lord. The Remembrance of the Dragonlord reads "The Dragonlord whose seat lies at the heart of the storm beyond time is said to have been Elden Lord in the age before the Erdree. Once his God was fled, the lord continued to await its return." I'm assuming that his god had a female aspect, considering all the other Empyreans and gods in Elden Ring do.

So it is, that when we find Placidusax, he is in a state of eternal maidenlessness, and who knows how long Placidusax has been waiting for his god to return. In fact, one community theory I love that I've seen put forward a few times is that Placidusax's pose is similar to that of the Two Fingers after you were rejected by the Erdtree. In case you forgot, it's at this stage that Enia says the Two Fingers have taken up this pose because they're busy "consulting with the Greater Will." Just so, the same might be true of Placidusax,

who has also been spurned by his god and the Greater Will, and is trying perhaps to commune with them. To take this analogy further, Placidusax has two heads now, but data recently uncovered by Zulliethe- Witch suggests that he once had five. Not unlike how the Two Fingers assumedly once came from a full five-fingered hand. That said, the old Lord's Talisman depicts Placidusax with four heads. To reconcile this contradiction, maybe we can just think that he had four heads when this talisman was made, perhaps. Anyway, not a big deal. What is a big deal is Placidusax's

god, who represents this huge blindspot for us in Elden Ring's lore. We don't know who they were, we don't know what powers they had, and we don't know when or why they left, or what age they really wanted to bring about. As such, I'll be calling them "The Nameless God" from this point forwards. Whoever they were, all we know for certain is that they once saw Placidusax as a valid Elden Lord, So they might have been all about the Age of the Ancient Dragons, once. However, I feel like it says more about this god that

they fled this age and abandoned their loyal Elden Lord. This reminds me a lot of what Marika did to her Elden Lord, Godfrey. Exiling and abandoning him after he had won her wars, and outlived his usefulness. Though, at least with Godfrey, Marika had a secret plan for her Elden Lord and his Tarnished kin to return. On the other hand, Placidusax was abandoned and has waited for an eternity, only to die at the hands of our Tarnished. So whoever his god was, I feel like they really did abandon him entirely. The Greater Will's gods are the

vessels of the Elden Ring, and Placidusax's Nameless God jumping ship with the Elden Ring would have surely represented an enormous upheaval to what became Crumbling Farum Azula. Speaking of which, I still haven't really explained how it became "Crumbling" Farum Azula, although many descriptions state that Farum Azula has been crumbling since time immemorial. And, it's for this reason that you can find tiny ruin fragments, and enormous ones too, scattered all over the Lands Between. This is better explained by the description of one such ruin fragment which was "honed into a weapon" called the Ruins Greatsword. This

is one of the legendary armaments. "Originally rubble from a ruin which fell from the sky, the ruin it came from crumbled when struck by a meteorite." As such, this weapon harbors its destructive power. So meteorites with destructive power are these purple spells in Elden Ring. And indeed this weapons skill is Waves of Destruction, which manifests as purple energy. So, a meteorite crashed into Farum Azula and that meteorite was purple and imbued the ruins with a sort of gravitational magic. But, beyond that, there's not really much we know about this meteorite. We don't even know if

it struck Farum Azula when it was a city on the ground, lifting the city into the sky with gravitational magic, or if it struck Farum Azula while it was already skybound, crashing into the city while it was in mid-air. So much Farum Azula's as history is hidden from us. This meteorite might even be the same meteorite as others mentioned in Elden Ring's lore, because lots of meteorites have made landfall in the Lands Between before. Some brought the Onyx Lords, a race of ancients with skin of stone who rose to life when a meteor struck. A

creature called Astel may have brought himself down on a meteorite and destroyed an entire eternal city. A golden star Even once bore the Elden Beast and the Elden Ring into the Lands Between in the first place. Thus, you could speculate that any one of these, or even a different one entirely, laid waste to Farum Azula. Again, you could even speculate that it was this meteor that imbued Farum Azula's ruins with gravitational energy lifting it into the sky, not unlike how the earth in Limgrave is lifted into the sky after being hit by a meteorite. And

so, perhaps similarly, Farum Azula's world was lifted higher into the sky, twisting in place also thanks to the stone scales of the ancient dragons. Whatever the case, as Farum Azula crumbled and twisted in the sky, ruined fragments rained down upon the entire Lands Between, some large and some small. Incidentally, these ruined fragments "glow with a faint light from within" and are conducive to blessings from the Two and Three Fingers respectively. That's what Warming Stones and Frenzy Flame Stones are. They are pieces of rune fragments imbued with power and light. And this makes a lot of

sense because these ruins are a part of the Royal City that the Greater Will itself once graced. So, naturally, parts of its ruins are very conducive to the effects of the Two and Three Fingers. Anyway, we don't know many of the details behind Farum Azula's ruin, but whatever the case, it's probably fair to say that this meteorite dealt an enormous blow to their culture. It might have even coincided with their god fleeing the city. And whenever this nameless god did leave, I think it's important to speculate on where they went next. After the Age of

the Dragonlord, the Age of the Erdtree began. But before the Age of the Erdtree began, we learned that there was first a "crucible of life," a "primordial crucible, where all life was once blended together." According to Siluria's Crucible Tree Helm this crucible was "the primordial form of the Erdtree." a "manifestation of the Erdtree's primal vital energies." So, Over the next few minutes, I'm going to try and argue that The Crucible became rooted quite literally, quite physically, in the great tree roots that we find underneath the Lands Between. I don't think it's a coincidence that the

ancient Elden Ring of Farum Azula is burgeoning with roots and after Farum Azula's age ended and it's god absconded with an Elden Ring that is burgeoning with roots. I don't think it's a coincidence that a primordial crucible gave way to a great tree that would dominate the Lands Between. I think the Elden Ring physically left Farum Azula. I think that led to the crucible, which led to great tree roots, which led to the Erdtree growing. The Elden Ring is, after all, the source of the Erdtree, and this should have been true for the ancient Elden

Ring as well, which would have buffed this tree. As an additional piece of evidence that the Elden Ring is at the source of the Erdtree, we can look to the engraving on the stone door of the Erdtree itself, which shows the Elden Ring literally at the roots of the Erdtree. Its source below the surface. Perhaps the Elden Ring wasn't rooted in the earth while Farum Azula was floating up in the sky. But eventually it seems it would be. according to the Gilded Greatshield and Ordovis's Greatsword the color of the Erdtree's primordial crucible was red. Or

perhaps, more accurately, red tinged with gold. "The red tinge in the gold coat mirrors the primordial matter that became the Erdtree. The color of Homeward yearning. Its red tint exemplifies the nature of primordial gold, said to be close in nature to life itself." This color is also seen in Root Resin, a secretion from roots that were once connected to the great tree. These two items, taken together, tie the red of the crucible to great tree roots quite well. And if that wasn't enough, Crucible Knight Siluria spends her exile amidst these roots, with a spear and

a helm that have "great tree ornamentation" that is "modeled on the crucible." I've seen people speculate that the crucible isn't a physical place and that it was just a crucible of competition instead, where different creatures battled against each other. And I think this misconception might be due to the original description of the Old Fang in version 1.0 of Elden Ring, which reads "In times long past, life was a crucible of competition." However, the item description was quickly patched to remove all mention of competition, and the patch description instead suggests that multiple overlapping fangs might be

"a vestige of the primordial crucible." So considering this updated description and all of the color and mention of primordial matter, I think fromsoft are certainly trying to suggest that the crucible had a real physicality to it. And the crucible has long been a topic plagued by confusing and perhaps mistranslated item descriptions. Take the aspects of the crucible which say that the crucible was once a place where "all life was once blended together." The Japanese instead clarifies that "once, life was blended together," which to me suggests the crucible was a blending of existing life in the

Lands Between, rather than a source of all life. And I think there's more evidence that this ancient Elden Ring of Farum Azula was already kind of laying the groundwork for the crucible. For example, we know from The Omen and Misbegotten that creatures of the Crucible are characterized by chaotic growth considered aspects of devolution in the modern era. These are aspects of wings, horns, scales, feathers, and fangs just so Placidusax actually has tons of random fang growths around their maw, And later dragons even sprout feathers, Another aspect of devolution. But if that wasn't enough, remember, the

dragon's lightning is red tinted with gold as well, which is the same color of the primordial crucible, as we just discussed. Thus, I think it's safe to say that the color and other aspects of the primordial crucible were already kind of present in the ancient dragons, the oldest of those graced by the Elden Ring that we know of. So with that, we've essentially laid the groundwork for a theory that I'd like to shout out from Lowkey, who is one of Fromsoftware as most dedicated theory crafters. In this theory, he speculates on the identity of the

Dragonlords fled god. And I think this theory is special because it manages to reconcile a couple of major loose ends in the game's lore along the way. As the theory goes, the Erdtree was created as a byproduct of the Nameless God's death. Lowkey's initial reasoning is that after we die, runes are left behind in our wake, manifesting as small golden saplings. Therefore, since the Elden Ring itself is made up of a gargantuan amount of runes, surely the Elden Ring would sprout an enormous tree if the god-vessel carrying it were to die. One thing I'll add

to this theory is that our golden saplings only remain so if the mass of runes is not claimed. Just so, if no one knew that the Nameless God had died, perhaps the Elden Ring's mass of runes was left to its own devices to grow, as Lowkey posits, as a resilient protective vessel, a "firmly rooted" tree. "That welcometh no man" and indeed the Nameless God did flee. Not even telling her Elden Lord Placidusax where they had gone. Thus, their runes might have gone unclaimed. Directly below the Erdtree are the Deeproot Depths where the Erdtree might have

once been planted, so to speak. And one of the lesser known paths along the routes here leads to this wall, an illusory wall that reveals the Cathedral of the Forsaken, The Frenzied Merchants and the Three Fingers of Frenzy. One of the strangest items down here is the Fingerprint Stone Shield, which is, and I quote, "part of the tomb of an ancient god." Its with an "intricately carved fingerprint design." And these imprints are "said to be the very seeds from which frenzy first sprouted." Now, at first glance, you'd think that the ancient god in question here

would be the Three Fingers who marked this great stone slab with fingerprints. And while I admit, this stone grave could be for the "Outer God of Frenzied Flame" which manifests as the Three Fingers who are imprisoned down here, I much prefer the theory that this stone slab was the tomb of a different ancient god, one that was found and desecrated by the Three Fingers with their fingerprints, just as they desecrate the world with fingerprints in their ending. And that's exactly what Lowkey's theory proposes, that the Three Fingers desecrated a stone tomb of the Nameless God,

Placidusax's queen, who had her final moments in this place. The Nameless God can also be used to reconcile another lore gap in Elden Ring, which is the identity of the corpse that makes up the Fingerslayer Blade. The Fingerslayer Blade is "a blade said to have been borne of a corpse," "said to be able to harm the Greater Will and its vassals." The Two Fingers. The shape of this blade featuring the arms of a corpse as a cross guard and culminating in a double helix, it bears a striking resemblance to the Sacred Relic sword, a weapon

wrenched from the corpse of Radagon/Marika. The Sacred Relic Sword is, and I quote, "wrought from the remains of a god who should have lived a life eternal." The similarities between the Sacred Relic Sword and the Fingerslayer Blade mean that they must have shared a source. Not just a corpse, but the corpse of a god. We know where the Sacred Relic Sword comes from, it comes from Radagon and Marika. But then where does the Fingerslayer blade come from? If it's wrought from a god, it's a nameless god, as far as we know. So it is that

Lowekey concludes that the Nox who made a hidden treasure of the blade, may have recovered the corpse of Placidusax's Queen, The Nameless God, to wield as a weapon that could harm the greater will. So I like these theories, to say the least. They neatly tie up and reconcile a bunch of loose ends, and that makes these theories really satisfying to believe. It's nice to have an explanation for which god the Fingerslayer Blade was talking about and which ancient god the Fingerprint Stone Shield was talking about. Special thanks to Lowkey for this. You can find more

of his stuff in the description, and I highly recommend you seek it out. However, I should probably stress that this is still all speculation. The circumstantial evidence is really strong. Yes, but sometimes Fromsoftware leaves these sorts of loose ends in the lore to be tied up by characters that they've yet to introduce. And until DLC drops, I think it's wise to take this theory with a grain of salt. But damn, you know, salt makes any meal taste a little bit better, doesn't it? So it is that the Nameless God of Farum Azula might have become

the Nox's Fingerslayer Blade, a weapon they clearly brought about in order to harm the Greater Will, which had banished them deep underground beneath the false night sky. You can learn more about that in this video. Here They live in eternal anticipation of the coming age of stars and their leige. Who would be a Lord of Night. These folk become obsessed with artificial imitation of life above ground, all likely created in service of their goal, which was to strike back at the Greater Will. So it was that the Mimic Tears were created. These are beings of

quicksilver that were "the result of an attempt by the Eternal City to forge a Lord." These silver drops of dew, not unlike the Erdtree's drops of dew, They also birthed the albinaurics, who are artificial lifeforms untouched by the Erdtree's grace. But the Nox also looked further back in time for inspiration, Apparently, and they attempted to bring ancient dragons into being. So it is that the Dragonkin Soldiers "were born in the Eternal City, where they knew no true sky, nor true lightning." Their name includes the word "soldier" and they even have evidence of clothing and armor

upon them, again revealing that these creatures were created with the intention to fight back against Order. But these Dragonkin experiments went about as well as copying dragons usually does in Fromsoftware games, which is to say the experiments were a failure. The main reason they were considered failures was that these dragonkin were not immortal, as the Nox had hoped. The weapons read "Alas, the dragon console just never attained immortality and perished as decrepit, pale imitations of their skyborn kin." But the Nox had the right idea. At the very least, it seems they had identified the source

of the ancient dragon's immortality, their stone scales. They just failed to implement that source. Case in point: the Dragonscale Blade is made by "sharpening a Gravel Stone scale thought to be the source of dragon immortality." This blades skill is "Ice Lightning Sword," which wreathes the blade in the Dragonkin's signature ice lightning. And, you know, even though the dragonkin were born mortal and crippled, they did at least manage to manifest lightning, which is a feat that the mortal dragons, who were actually the Ancient Dragon's kin, never accomplished. On your way through Caelid, you would have run

past Greyll, a mortal dragon who clearly owes their namesake to Greyoll, a veritable mountain found further down the way where she lies dying, surrounded by her children on her deathbed. But these aren't her only children. According to Greyoll's Roar "Greyoll was the mother of all dragons, dwarfing all who stood before her like a looming mountain." To be clear, I seriously doubt this means that she's the mother of the Ancient Dragons, considering she has two wings, two legs, and no stone scales. No. Instead, she would specifically be the mother of the two- winged dragons that you

see widely across the Lands Between. Indeed, the Japanese specifies that she's more of a "great mother of dragons" rather than being mother of all dragons. So, if we take that premise to be true, that means that the fire-breathing dragons, the ice dragons, the rot-and-glintstone corrupted dragons, all of them trace their ancestry back to Greyoll. These are the "wyverns" contrasting with the true four legged "dragons", which is the same dynamic that Dark Souls had as well. And just like in Dark Souls, Elden Ring's dragons have a tendency to take on aspects of their environment in lieu

of their stone scales. There are ice dragons, there are Glintstone dragons, all of that. But the one element that these dragons didn't master, though, is lightning, red lightning that remains exclusive to their ancient ancestors. Earlier, we talked about how lightning has heavenly connotations, and it makes sense that this lightning would be lost to these lesser dragons who were born in a time long after the ancient dragons had sort of lost the favor of the Greater Will. These modern dragons are now easily wounded by the stone scales that they've lost. These stone scales, once removed are

called Gravel Stones, and these are "compound stones that are found in lands once beset by ancient dragons." For the most part, these Gravel Stones are looted upon the Altus Plateau and surrounds, which makes sense because this is the territory of Leyndell, the city that the ancient dragons would eventually assault. So, of course, this is where their scales would be found. But interestingly, the only other place where gravel stones are found is Caelid. And that's curious because Caelid is literally at the opposite end of the Lands Between. one set of gravel stones I found here, and

here, suggesting that at some point the ancient dragon's progenitors to Greyoll were in Caelid as well. And this fact is supported by other environmental evidence in the area. Again, the Bestial Sanctum and Farum Great Bridge are in Caelid, two cultural landmarks of Farum Azula that are architecturally intact despite the crumbling city's current state. These weren't just ruins that fell from the sky. These were built. They are a grounded connection to what we now know as a sky city. While I guess we can't rule out the possibility that Farum Azula was always in the sky and

later built architecture on the ground here. It seems way more natural to assume that the city was originally built on the ground where they would have been the materials to build it, and that it was then lifted into the sky at some point in the future. As for the mechanism behind Farum Azula becoming skybound, I feel like there are two options. Earlier we talked about how the Ruins Greatsword is a piece of Farum Azula infused with gravitational magic thanks to the meteor that struck the city. Thus, my first theory is that Farum Azula might have

become skybound in the instant that the meteor struck, floating upward as it was destroyed. Alternatively, or additionally I guess, it could be some manifestation of the storm that brought Farum Azula into the sky. We've talked about how Placidusax might have had power over this storm, evidenced by his golden time-twisting scales. Not to mention you turn into a storm cloud when you channel Placidusax's weapons skill. So perhaps Placidusax, or the ancient dragons, whipped Farum Azula into the skies as some measure of protection, and once it was up there, that gravitational meteor could have come into play,

smashing the city into pieces on its way down to the Lands Between, scattering ruins far and wide. At any rate, I'm glad there's evidence of Farum Azula here in Caelid, and that's because this fact merges so well with the lore of Greyoll. Again, Greyoll is the mother of the modern dragons, and thus is the oldest modern dragon that we know of who lost their stone scales. And since she's in Caelid, it was likely from here that all dragons spread. So, I'm glad the environment supports this lore with its intact Farum Azula architecture and with the

leftover Gravel Stones of the ancient dragons as well, because it seems like the ancient dragons made landfall here long ago, and started a culture in Farum Azula, leaving Greyoll behind eventually as their land bound legacy. And there are two other ancient dragons in the vicinity to help support this claim as well. These ancient dragons appear here in Limgrave and here in Caelid, both dead at the sites of Dragon Communion. The ancient dragons are immortal, but they can still be killed. As you know. Though, we can only really speculate on what killed these two. But back

to Greyoll. Despite being a modern dragon, Greyoll is large. Larger than any other dragon of the time, even Placidusax. In fact, the only thing that comes to her in size are Gransax, and the bones of the dragon in Farum Azula as Dragon Temple, which Zullie has thankfully placed alongside Greyoll for me. They're both very similar in size, which made me think that maybe they could have been mates at some point. Though of course that's just speculation. And in the end we don't even know why Greyoll lost all of her stone scales, passing this trait to

all of her descendants. Perhaps it was nothing more than a random birth defect. Which reminds me, Seath's loss of stone scales was never really explained either. Yet, he also found himself apart from his ancient kin all the same. Perhaps this is why Greyoll found herself in the Lands Between. Was this a place of exile? Maybe a place to die? Her region is called Dragonbarrow after all, And if you've read Lord of the Rings, for example, you might take the meaning the word barrow to mean burial mounds, referring to ancient burial places that are covered with

large mounds of earth. Perhaps the dragonbarrow was a place for these newly mortal dragons to die, and Greyoll herself is indeed now finally dying. The Scarlet Rot has blighted Caelid and the dragonbarrow. And this is presumably why, when we encounter her, she's already lost a lot of her health and she can't fight back, nor even lift herself off the ground. Her dying roars rally her kin around her. But they cannot save their mother. This level one Tarnished. Just watch this sick YouTube guide on how to get 50,000 free runes at the start of the game,

and nothing will stand in their way. Now, we previously established Caelid and Greyoll as a sort of origin point for the modern dragons. So after them in the timeline, I think it's the ice dragons that would have shown up as the first major variant. According to Borealis's Mist, the ice dragons were once lords of the mountain tops. Perhaps these dragons wish to be as close as possible to the heavens from which their ancestors descended. After all, we do see the modern dragons flying all around Farum Azula, though they never make landfall. So, the mountain tops

might have been the next best thing as a home for the mortal dragons. After all, the Sword of Night and Flame claims that the mountain tops "nearly touched the sky." Anyway, Borealis's Mist goes on to reveal that the ice dragons were lords here at a very early point in the Lands Between's history. As shortly after we know that they were chased from the peak by the fire giants who also appeared at a very early point and who claimed the mountaintops henceforth. So, for the ice dragons to be here, you'd think, surely they must have migrated

here from Caelid. Now, we previously established Caelid as an origin point for these modern dragons. So for the ice dragons to be here, surely they must have initially migrated here from Caelid. Obviously, they could have just flown from Caelid to the icy mountaintops. But I remember early theories that posited that a land bridge might have once existed between Caelid and the mountaintops, and that certainly would have helped with their migration. As the theory goes, Caelid in the mountaintops are almost exclusively where you'll find the monstrous crows, the giant dogs, and most notably, the remains of

the giants. These don't really appear anywhere else, and it seems way more likely to think that there was once a land bridge here. Rather than thinking that they took long way round the lands between on foot. what happened to this landmass is unclear, but the Lands Between itself has experienced many other geographical upheavals in the past, and losing a landmass to a meteor or whatnot might also explain the divergent evolution of the ice dragons compared to their fire-breathing kin. Also established in the mountaintops around this time were the astrologists who "preceded the sorcerers, established themselves

in mountaintops that nearly touched the sky, and considered the fire giants their neighbors." This description comes to us from the Sword of Night and Flame, an heirloom of the Carian Royal Family, which is headed by Rennala. Rennala was a prominent astrologer, and thus has links to the Mountaintops of the Giants. It might be a stretch to say that she was actually there in the mountaintops all years ago, but she did have an oathsworn giant and an oathsworn dragon that can be summoned to fight for her. So I feel like it's safe to say that she's

connected to the place at least. At any rate, eventually the fire giants would chase the ice dragons from the peak and claim it for their own. Then in turn, the Zamor, An icy race of warriors would ally with the Golden Order and oust the fire giants. This is incidental, but later in the timeline, a character called the "Snowy Crone" pops up. She's an old witch associated with Caria who wielded snowy magics that you could argue would have been derived from the Zamor's icy mountaintops. The Zamor are After all the only other beings that could use

cold sorceries, so perhaps she learned it from them. This snowy crone eventually imparted her cold sorceries to Ranni, and Ranni has clearly taken on such frost magics as a big part of her sorcerous identity. Now, a couple of dragons actually had a habit of eating glintstone sorcerers. And it was from this diet that they were corrupted, not unlike the other dragons who took on aspects of their environment. One of these dragons was Smarag fought here, whose Glintstone Breath incantation reads "Smarag was a devourer of sorcerers, and over time, his body became corrupted by their Glintstones."

Another such dragon is fought here defending Ranni in both of her major quest locations. This is Adula, and she drops a cold- infused sorcery that is representative of her knighthood. And it reads "Adula, a devourer of sorcerers, was bested by Ranni and subsequently swore a knightly oath to her Dark Moon." This suggests conflict between the early sorcerers and dragons, and this tendency for there to be conflict helps to explain why Rennala might have gained an oathsworn dragon out of these conflicts. And just like her mother before her, Ranni also had an oathsworn dragon of her

own, Adula. Adula reveals to us the mechanism behind this oath. Ranni bested Adula in battle, perhaps earning Adula's loyalty and respect. A trend that actually continues later on with some other ancient dragons that would attack Leyndell, but we'll get into that soon. The living ice dragon we meet is Borealis, the Freezing Fog who remains upon the mountaintops. And yet the item most closely associated with him is actually found all the way back in the Temple Quarter of Liurnia. It is the Icerind Hatchet, and its description reads "A hatchet with a frost-coated blade. One of several

gifts given by Castle Sol in the distant north. Known as 'freezing fog,' The blade is thought to be a dragon's scale." Indeed, this is the dragon scale of Borealis, because just as the scale is known as "freezing fog," Borealis also has the woods "freezing fog" As his namesake, when you fight him. Apparently this scale was retrieved by Borealis's neighbors at Castle Sol, who then gave it as a gift, presumably to the Liurnians, since it is found near their temple quarter. Obviously such a gift would have been given to facilitate relations between the two lands. And,

as we established earlier with sorcerers like the Snow Witch and Rennala, there is grounds to believe that these two places would have had a connection the past. These days, though, Castle Sol is currently still a mystery to us. And without knowing their political alignments, it's hard to know for sure why they gifted Liurnia with the scale and other gifts as well. That said, there is a phantom in Castle Sol who hails Lord Miquella in his dialog. Thus, it's possible that Miquella was Lord of Castle Sol and that Miquella was giving gifts to Liurnia, and there

is evidence that Miquella had friendly relations with the Carians, at least. Most notably in version 1.0 of Elden Ring. Loretta's armor instead belonged to cut enemies called "Arbor Sentinels," who served Miquella, but who actually hailed from Raya Lucaria. To quote the cut description, "these enchanted knights once belonged to the Carian royal family, but were later gifted to Miquella." Thus, perhaps Miquella, potential Lord of Castle Sol, gifted the Raya Lucarians the Icerind hatchet, and several other gifts besides, in return for all the knights that he had gained from them. Again, this is all just speculation, but

this is the best theory I've got on the relationship between these two lands and why the Icerind Hatchet is found in Liurnia on the same plateau as Castle Sol is the cave of the Forlorn. And it's a unique little cave guarded by a Great Wyrm Theodorix. Theodorix is a Magma Wyrm, A land-bound dragon, that looks more like a giant lizard than a dragon. He's in this form thanks to the act of "Dragon Communion," a primal ritual that involves consuming a dragon's heart to become a dragon. Didn't work out so well for him, but his scalesword

at least resembles a dragon's jaw. And the weapon suggests that Dragon Communion is "a grave transgression," For which the Magma Wyrms were "cursed to crawl the earth upon their bellies, shadows of their former selves." If they were cursed to be this way by any entity, I'd suggest it was the Greater Will who we know favored the ancient dragons long ago. And to be clear, only the English description says they were cursed The Japanese description is nowhere near as damning, simply saying that the heroes have "erred" and that "their land-crawling form is the end result." To

me, it sounds more like these people were simply fools to think that they could achieve such a metamorphosis. It goes against the rules of nature, especially if you're trying to transform into a being like an ancient dragon, who were graced by the Greater Will in a bygone age. And, I think more than it being a curse, I think this is more of an example of hubris backfiring for each and every one of these partakers of Dragon Communion. The Magma Wyrm's scalesword states that "these land bound dragons were once human heroes." But that's only half true

for Theodorix, who was a hero, but who wasn't human. He was actually a troll. His incantation Theodorix's Magma states "The name of the ancient troll warrior Theodorix lives on - as a hero of the War against the Giants." Actually, maybe his troll heritage explains why his Magma Wyrm form is so much tougher than the others. It has so much HP that, fun fact, you can actually lure a land octopus to help you with this fight instead, and I think that's the intended way because this guy is tough. What's also fascinating about this guy is that

he was specifically a hero of the War against the Giants, a battle that many of his fellow trolls participated in, betraying their giant ancestors and fighting alongside the Golden Order. Now, I assume Theodorix was still troll at this stage and not a Magma Wyrm, but whatever the case, you could definitely speculate that he is still loyal to the Golden Order, even now, even here after his metamorphosis. I argue this because of his placement outside the Cave of the Forlorn, which has an end boss wielding a legendary armament, The Golden Order Greatsword. One of Radagon's own

weapons. The Leonine Misbegotten themselves are curious as well, with internal files calling them children of Radagon. But that's a whole 'nother topic. Unique to this cave also is that right inside there's a fire-breathing dragon, dead and half entombed within the ice. For this type of dragon to be preserved in this place might support what I speculated on earlier, which is that Greyoll's fire-breathing children must have come up here to settle on the peaks before becoming ice dragons. And it might also support the theory that Rennala acquired an oathsworn fire-breathing dragon just like this one, early

in the days when they settled here alongside the astrologers. Or maybe it's just here because a dragon-hunter is right outside. And I say dragon-hunter because even though the dragon-hearted like Theodorix aspire to become dragons by consuming their hearts, that doesn't mean that they respected their lives. A phantom can even be found saying, "I'm dry... Dry as a bone. fool dragon. Surrender your strength. Let me feast on your heart." As for the hearts of these dragons themselves, they are riddled with Gravel Stone. You'll recall Gravel Stones with the scales of the ancient dragons, making it somewhat

ironic that the mortal dragons actually do have these same scales just within their hearts, not on their flesh. As such, their hearts, which are clearly imbued with some ancient dragon immortality, are still alive and beating, according to the description. And so, when you consume these hearts in what is absolutely a sacrificial ritual, especially considering the heart is still alive, you're actually consuming Gravel Stone, ingesting the key components of the ancient dragons via the hearts of their mortal kin. It's pretty metal. Indeed, when you partake in dragon communion with the heart at the Dragon Communion Altars,

you're doing so right in front a dead ancient dragon, not in front of a mortal one. Thus you really are striving to be like the ancients. Churches were built upon the corpses of these undying beings who became, likely unwilling, conduits for countless dragon-hearted who wished to channel the power of dragons. Finally, the Dragon Communion Seal. It's formless because it's made of dragon blood. And even though it's a seal," Dragon Communion is too primal in nature for the term 'incantation' to be appropriate." Thus, "this seal scales incantations with one's arcane attribute." So yeah, it's no wonder

that all of the dragon-hearted are considered to be so depraved. [Yura] You must not forget, though, those who partake in Dragon Communion will one day shed humanity. Their hunger for dragon, their yearning only worsens. Until the floodgates burst, unleashing eternal torment. The strength of a mighty dragon. Magnificent, but deadly. It's no surprise that drug and communion is ruinous. This is Yura, who you first meet in Limgrave and nearby beside the Dragon-Burnt Ruins is the mortal Dragon Agheel. Agheel frequents this place, coming to burn the mindless nobles and their effigies here, which is exactly what the

nobles want. After death, most in the Lands Between crave a proper Erdtree burial. But now, in lieu of that perhaps, "The dead gazed at the skies over the lakes of Limgrave, praying that the dragon's flames would burn them to ash." They want this kind of release from life. If you get Yura to assist you in taking out Agheel, then it's possible to get him to say this: [Yura] That was my first dragon hunt in quite some time. Paired up with a hot-head like you it was just like old times." So, Yura was previously a dragon

hunter, which helps to explain his familiarity with communion. And since being paired up with a hot-head like you was just like old times. That means he must have once had a companion. The most likely candidate for this is Eleonora, a Drake Knight that Yura tracks all the to the Altus Plateau, only to plead with them on a very personal level. 1:24:28:00 --> 1:24:15:20 [Yura] Please, please, Eleonora, yield to the cessblood no longer. 1:24:15:30 --> 1:24:25:00 Do not stain the immaculacy of your sword, your flesh... your fire. The precious little we know about Eleanora stems mostly

from her Drake Knight Armor, which is crafted from Dragon wing membranes and "Features the spoils of a dragon catch, as an emblem of pride as both dragon hunter and partaker of communion." "from birth, drake knights speak not a word. They spend their lives pursuing the strength of dragons for its sublime beauty and inspiration of all." Therefore, while the drake knights have more reverence of dragons, they are still partakers of communion. Thus, as they consume more hearts, their eyes become yellow and slitted, and inevitably they have a fate waiting for them as a Magma Wyrm. So,

given all you've heard about communion, is it really any surprise that there would be a dragon named the "Dragon Communion Revenger?" This is Ekzykes, who guards the decrepit temple of communion in Caelid, attempting to prevent this abhorrent act of dragon communion via sheer will and hatred. For Ekzykes has had the misfortune of taking on the scarlet rot as his aspect, something that has clearly taken a toll on him. But according to his incantation, "Ekzykes, Dragon Communion Revenger, did not forget his hatred even as he succumbed to the scarlet rot." So Ekzykes, at least has a

very good reason for attacking you as he's preventing access to the nearby Altar of Dragon Communion. But, speaking of dragons who attack humans, let's turn our attention to the ancient dragons who would one day attack the city of Leyndell. These ancient dragons attacked with all their might, bringing with them Gransax, an ancient dragon who is the largest dragon in the game, who "rained calamity down upon the Royal Capital" with such force that this marks the "only time in historical record that Leyndell's walls" had fallen. Thus began Leyndell's war against the ancient dragons. It's hard to

know for sure why the ancient dragons attacked Leyndell. If you want to go full tinfoil hat and tie it to our earlier speculations, then you might say that it's because they finally realized their god had fled here and become the Erdtree or something, but that might be stretching it. That said, they probably did come here because of the Erdtree. After all, according to the Protection of the Erdtree incantations "in the beginning, everything was in opposition to the Erdtree," and the ancient dragons were probably no exception. So it was that the ancient dragons fell upon Leyndell.

Their forces consisting of at least three dragons that we know of. Lansseax, and her red lightning glaive. Fortissax, and his twin pillars of Red Lightning. and Gransax, a gargantuan dragon wielding a physical weapon actually, a decision that seems unique to them. This is the Bolt of Gransax, a weapon that's actually mirrored in Placidusax's fight against us here. It's unclear whether Placidusax is echoing Gransax or if Gransax is echoing Placidusax. But the fact that Gransax shares a weapon with Placidusax and the fact that Gransax is so large certainly makes me think that Gransax is the closest

thing the ancient dragons might have had to a lord. At the time of their attack upon Leyndell, At any rate. But, this weapon would eventually fall from their grasp as the great Gransax was slain, their stone body and weapon becoming this permanent landmark within Leyndell's walls. According to Lightning Spears description, "Godwyn the Golden defeated the ancient dragon Fortissax, known as the mightiest Boulderstone." Assumedly, Godwyn could have executed Fortissax here, or perhaps compelled Fortissax to swear an oath to him, just like Rennala and Ranni once did. but instead, he befriended his fallen foe, and as a

result, for the sex would be loyal. So loyal that Fortissax would eventually go beyond to fight against the death that would take his companion. Becoming a lichdragon, his aspect afflicted with death itself. So to recap, when Godwyn was murdered on the Night of Black Knives, the Rune of Death was carved into his being, destroying his soul, but not his body. And so it was that his body spawned deathroot, fragments of the Rune of Death that spreads its influence throughout the Lands Between spawning the visage of the Prince of Death, who was Godwyn, in its wake.

And while Godwyn does seem like a lost cause Fortissax fought against the death within him nonetheless. So it is that Fortissax occupies a deathbed dream within his friend, fighting this impossible fight against the corrupting influence of the Rune of Death, which has now corrupted Fortissax. But I still don't think that Fortissax has been completely corrupted. When you fight against Fortissax here, you actually do So to bring about the Age of Those Who Live in Death, and considering Fortissax fights against you, you could speculate that Fortissax is still vehemently opposed to death, and those who live

within death, even now. Check out this video for more on that. Anyway, so it should come as no surprise that this friendship between Godwyn and Fortissax was seen as significant in Leyndell when Fortissax was first defeated. This moment of friendship was so significant that it would make allies of all the ancient dragons, and give rise to the Ancient Dragon Cult in the capital city. It seems the Ancient Dragon Cult was born out of a desire to defend the Erdtree. As stated by the Malformed Dragon Set "After the great ancient dragon Gransax attacked, the tree sentinels

had an epiphany. The only way to truly protect the Erdtree was to become dragons themselves." So it was that these regular tree sentinels became 'Draconic' Tree Sentinels. As a fun side note. The 1.0 description of the Malformed Dragon Set instead talks about a dragon worshiper named Nal, who I speculate is this individual defending Maliketh in Farum Azula. His set once read "Once the dragon worshiper from the capital, it's said that he pulverized his golden armor with his bare hands in a fit of religious fervor, covering it in his own blood as he reshaped it in

the likeness of a dragon." But anyway, in the final version of the game, there's more than one Draconic Tree Sentinel, and they wield armaments whittled from dragon claws, so that they could better honor the ancient who they worship without resorting to the primal act of dragon communion. And conveniently, for them it was found that dragon worship didn't clash with belief in the Erdtree. The Gravel Stone Seal says as much, stating, "After all, this seal, and lightning itself, are both imbued with gold." And this goes beyond just color. The ancient dragons were originally a part of

the Greater Will's plan back in Farum Azula, and the golden scales reflect that. And after the Dragon War, these ancients became a part of the Greater Will's plan once more, albeit in a more subservient role than in their previous age. One thing that's kind of difficult to reconcile with the Dragon cult is the fact that their prayer books, cookbooks, spells and even a Draconic Tree Sentinel can be found in Farum Azula. Special thanks to V-limit on YouTube for making me aware of this. The Ancient Dragon War in Leyndell would have surely happened after Farum Azula's

age had passed, so how did all of this get up there? Either Farum Azula became sky bound much later in the timeline than, I thought, or perhaps Dragon cultists simply traveled up to Farum Azula with these relics somehow. And I think this second is much more likely, because in an earlier version of the game Farum Azula, it was actually called the Storm Aerie, and was, and I quote, "a place that only dragons can reach." This reminds me a lot of Dragon Peak and Dark Souls III which could only be accessed a sort of draconic meditation.

So perhaps Farum Azula was once planned to be accessed in a similar way. For all we know, it could still be canon that those in tune with dragons are spirited up here. For instance, some banished knights certainly found a way up here, and they have dragons cresting their helmets. And this helmet once described how they sort the Storm Aerie, presumably through revering dragons. Therefore, I feel like remnants of characters being spirited up here due to their association with dragons is a bit of a hold-over from a past version of the game that still exists in

the current version. And while we don't get spirited up in the current game by becoming a dragon, we are certainly spirited up here. This teleportation occurs when you sacrifice Melina or yourself in the Frenzy ending. Now, mechanism behind this is kind of unclear, but there is sort of a prophecy that helps to explain it. Melina's Blade of Calling reads "The one who walks alongside flame, shall one day meet the road of Destined Death." So whether you walk alongside Melina, the kindling maiden, or the God of Frenzied Flame, or you're Alexander tempering yourself in the flames

of Gelmir and the Giant's Forge, you're going to make it up here one way or another and meet the road of Destined Death. Speaking of which, this also explains why Bernahl is up here. According to his Beast Champion Armor, "his maiden threw herself into the fire," just like Melina does for us, which is what gets us up here and he, too, also has a fate that ends with Destined Death, just like we do. So there's definitely some sort of fate associated with Destined Death that is spiriting us up here. I think that's for sure. And

to explain most others up here in Farum Azula, well again, I personally think that they will likely spirited up thanks to their draconic nature, as explained by the cut content from that earlier version of Elden Ring. For all the humans who desired to commune with dragons, there was one dragon who actually communed with humans. Lansseax. Lansseax was the sister of Fortissax, and while you fight her as a dragon in game, long ago, she took the form of a human to better commune with the Dragon Knights. As a priestess of the Ancient Dragon Cult of Leyndell

the fact that she was able to take human form is pretty amazing. This is almost a reflection of dragon communion. But instead of changing form and communing with dragons, she's changing form to better commune with humans. A part of this communion apparently was love, and according to Dragon Bolt Blessing, "only those loved by dragons can survive the ordeal of cladding their bodies in lightning." And of all the knights Vyke the Dragon- spear was the one Lansseax loved the most. Fittingly, Vyke's Dragon Bolt is unique in that it cloads him and his spear in red Lightning,

the signature weapon of the ancient dragons, reserved up until this point for the beast men who served them in antiquity. This also marks Vyke as a dragon cultist. Therefore, it's kind of crazy to think that a dragon cultist almost became Elden Lord. Something That surely would have had implications for the age that would follow, you know, if Vyke was to take the throne. This must have made it all the more painful for many when Vyke suddenly disappeared, traveling below Leyndell to visit the Three Fingers where he was burned by their frenzy, armor and all. Knowing

that he was a dragon cultist certainly helps to explain how he got down here. The fact that he was surely this highly regarded member of Leyndell's dragon cult, you'd think, would open doors for him within the city. So Vyke likely could have made the trip down here easily. Despite the existence of the Three Fingers being sacrilegious to the Order up above, we get little information on why Vyke made this trip, but in the end we eventually find him imprisoned within an evergaol. And whether this imprisonment is self-imposed or not also remains a bit of a

mystery. But anyway, back to Lansseax, who loved Vyke. The most interesting thing here with her, I think, isn't just the fact that we've learned that dragons can turn into humans. It's the fact that dragons can love. Perhaps this love and powerful emotion is part of what makes them so loyal. We see many becoming oath sworn and then Fortissax, for example, going so far as to sacrifice himself entirely for his friend. And it's this fact that makes the Elden Lord Placidusax's abandonment by his god all the more tragic. That their god would never return, and eventually

a Tarnished would find their way beyond time, putting an end to the Dragon Lord and hewing their Remembrance into the earth. In the end, all that remains is Placidusax's ruin. "The dying wails of the Dragon Lord who once dwelled eternally beyond time." Thank you for watching. But before I go, do you want some Elden ring wall art to adorn your walls. Well, Displate has you covered in this video because they're back helping to support more Elden Ring lore content. For a limited time only, they are giving you these deals on screen to pick up some

Displates in the next few weeks. Link in the description. So, the choice is yours. You can literally get official Elden Ring art to adorn your walls. For example, this shot of Godfrey and Vyke look absolutely stunning. But then you can also get some Elden Ring inspired pieces from my store, if you like. For example, this is Guardian of Moonlight, which features a dragon defending a moonlight sword from knightly intruders. Or you could pick up Early Days, which gives off some Elden Ring vibes from back before the game was even released, if you were around then.

Or if you're a fan of Fromsoftware games in general, you could go and pick up The Painted World with Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring all condensed into one world. It'll take you hours of scrutiny to discover all of the references that we've hidden in here. As I've said so many times before, these prints are made of metal, they're easy to hang, and somehow they achieve this gorgeous color, depth and accuracy that exceeds most of the traditional prints that I've sampled. Again, links in the description. And thank you for watching. It feels

good to be back doing Elden Ring lore. My goal now is to wrap up everything I can before the Elden ring DLC drops, so there should be some good times ahead, you know, bringing in the new year as well. Before I go, earlier I shouted out Lowkey's theory on the Nameless God, as I call them, and I'd again like to remind you to go and support Lowkey and check out the other lore content for yourself, as well. And if you have any other suggestions for other content creators whose theories you'd like to see cited in

future lore videos, please let me know and I'll my best to do that. Special thanks also to Mispap1 for doing an incredible edit of this video. The footage looks amazing, and it's incredible that he can get this much quality footage, even for a video that is an hour and a half long. So I hope that fact really helps you guys watch the content and engage with it. Thank you again for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.