Elden Ring's Demigods ► Explained!

The demigods are, each and all, the direct offspring of Queen Marika. There was Godwyn, Margott, Mohg, Radahn Rykard, Ranni, Miquella and Malenia, Blade of Miquella. Malenia.

Blade of Miquella. Malenia, Blade of Miquella. and Malenia.

Not again. All of these demigods had fallen from grace by the time the shattering occurred. But in this video, I want to mostly talk about the origins of these characters who these demigods were before the fall.

And some of these demigods fell a long way indeed, before he became this unsightly mess, Godwyn The Golden was quite the heroic figure. He was born of the promising union between Lord Godfrey and Queen Marika, and he achieved great renown for his bravery in one of their wars, at least. The war of the ancient dragons.

This war began when Gransax, a great ancient dragon, rained calamity down upon Leyndell, marking the only time in historical record that Leyndell's walls had fallen. It's not clear why Gransax first attacked, but fortifying themselves against lightning, The Knights of the Erdtree weathered his assault and Gransax was defeated. However, this was only the beginning and a bitter war against the ancient dragons was to follow.

During this war, the Erdtree Sentinels had an epiphany that the only way to truly protect the Erdtree was to become dragons themselves. And so, despoiling the corpses of their foes, the grotesque sentinels served the Erdtree, But fought with the claws of the enemy instead. In the end, the ancient dragons were routed once again.

In a graveyard of swords by the Stormcaller Church, The end of the war is commemorated. Here we learned that during battle, Godwyn, the Golden defeated, Fortissax, called the Mightiest Drgon of them all. However, he did not kill Fortissax.

Instead, he befriended him. And it was in this act that the powers of the ancient dragons truly became a part of Leyndell. After all, only those loved by dragons can survive the ordeal of cladding their bodies in lightning.

So from an unlikely friendship, an ancient Drgon cult was born in the capital city, and the Knights of Leyndell learned to worship the dragons and wield their lightning. Lansseax, sister of Fortissax even took human form to better commune with the knights. It was officially decided that the worship of the ancient dragons did not conflict with belief in the Erdtree.

And it was all thanks to Godwyn, Commander of the Drgons, golden lightning and a true child of the golden lineage. But now let's talk about Morgott and Mohg, The Omen twins who were also born of Godfrey and Marika's golden lineage. First, what is an omen?

Well, to put it simply, an omen is an accursed child seen as impure as they are born with horns on the body and face. When this happens, the correct thing to do, culturally at least, is to cut off the horns of the Omen, an act which usually causes them to perish. Pretty messed up, but some omen do survive this process and some omen are even given a cleaver crafted specifically for them and awarded as a tool of war.

Although these weapons are bestowed with a readiness to take them away, we find one such omen in an Erdtree camp upon the Altus plateau. Before you fight it, you might have noticed another omen nearby, writhing in its sleep. It said that omens see evil spirits in the nightmares.

And I think this omen is dreaming. Haunted by the vengeful spirits of It's accursed kin. This brings us to the Omen killers, who are horrifying butchers of twisted conscience.

They wear these horned masks that make a mockery of the omens nightmares. And these butchers hunt the Omen and amputate their horns. The first Omen Killer was named Rollo, a famous perfumer who had to imbibe a physick to rid himself of emotion so that he could better perform his tasks.

Remember, it seems many omen have their horns excised when they're very young. That's definitely disturbing enough to warrant an emotion killing physick in my book. However, if the Omen is born of royalty, then their horns and not cut off.

But the Omen is kept underground, unbeknownst to anyone and imprisoned for eternity. By way of example. You would have seen all kinds of omen confined to the sewers beneath Leyndell.

But why are Omen considered to be accursed in the first place? Some of them are clearly intelligent. So what's inherently wrong with being born with horns and great strength?

Well, it's important to remember, I think, that this curse might only really exist in the context of the Golden Order. After all, those afflicted with Omen horns are not able to return to the Erdtree for rebirth and are said to be born outside of its grace. But why does the Golden Order disavow the Omen, then?

Well, it's hard to say for sure, but my working theory is that it's to do with the crucible. According to this ancient incantation, horns were once an aspect of the Erdtree's primordial crucible, where all life was once blended together. And with the exception of a couple of Crucible Knights in and around Leyndell.

We know that the Golden Order has started to distance itself from most things that touch upon the crucible. While things like horns, knots, feathers and scales once grew on the human body and were considered signifiers of the divine, now they are disdained as impurities, as civilization has advanced. We learned this from the knot, scale and feather talismans, all of which are gaurded by omen or dropped by omen killers no less.

Unfortunately for the order of the Erdtree, these once divine impurities seem to crop up in some births, whether they like it or not. Almost like it's a genetic trait, as if it touches upon the crucible at the root of the Erdtree. And so you have to ask, is it really a curse to be born as a graceless omen?

Well, as with most curses in these games, I think that depends on your perspective. In any case, Mohg and Morgott were Omen royalty, and thus they were born into a wretched mire far below the earth, horns and all. Here they were kept under the strictest confinement.

Each of them were bound with charmed shackles that were covered in roots or thorns and bathed in golden magic. It seems very few people were supposed to know that they even existed. Morgott, for his part, renounced and despised his accursed omen blood.

But his brother Mohg, embraced it. Deep underground, Mohg stood before an outer god, a being called the formless mother who craves wounds. A being capable of bestowing power upon accursed blood.

In this moment, Mohg's accursed blood erupted with fire, and he became besotted with the defilement that he was born into. Here, deep below the earth He would go on to build a dynasty of blood and reverence of a mother, something it seems he never truly had. As for Morgott, he was born into the same accursed fate as his twin brother, But despite not being blessed with grace, he loved the Erdtree all the same and even took it upon himself to crawl out of the sewers and become the Erdtree's protector when the Erdtree needed him most.

In the end, he rightfully became the Omen King and Lord of Leyndell. Omen or not, He was, after all, born of Godfrey and Marika's golden lineage. Of course, the marriage between Godfrey and Marika would be ended.

And before long, Marika remarried with another man, a champion named Radagon, who Marika calls her other half. He became the second Elden Lord and the king consort, but he also brought with him three children from a previous marriage that he had had with a Carian queen named Rennala. These children were Ranni, Rykard and Radahn, and they all became demigod Stepchildren after Radagon's union (reunion?

) with Queen Marika. Possessed of his father's flaming red hair, Radahn was fond of its heroic implications and considered himself to be born of a great champion. Yet he also looked up to another man, Godfrey, the first Elden Lord, Queen Marika's first husband, and the Lord of the battlefield.

But Radahn wasn't just the son of Radagon and an aspiring Lord of the battlefield, He was also the son of Rennala, who was head of the Academy of Raya Lucaria and Queen of Caria. So as a Carian royal inclined towards sorcery, Radahn bent his will towards mastering gravitational magics. Rock sling.

Gravity well. collapsing stars. These techniques were taught to him in Sellia, the town of sorcery, all so he would never have to abandon his beloved but scrawny steed.

That said, before long, his powers would be put towards a more cosmic purpose than simply allowing him to ride his own horse. Radahn was taught gravitational magic by an Alabaster Lord, a member of a race of ancients with skin of stone who was said to have risen to life when a meteor struck long ago, and when his lessons were complete, Radahn uttered these chilling words "Thank you for your tutelage. For now, I can challenge the stars.

" And of course, he did conquer the stars and the very constellations would be halted by his strength. But of course, you kind of have to ask why. Why was it necessary to conquer the stars in the first place?

Well, I have a couple of theories. Theory one is that it was done in self-defense. After all, according to the sword gravestone, Radahn was protecting Sellia.

What's more, gravitational magic has destructive power and many gravitational beasts are proof of that destructive power. A being named Astel had even come down to the Lands Between in the past and destroyed a place called the Eternal City. What's more, Sellians are descendants of the eternal, positioned right above the eternal city underground.

So there is an argument to be made for Radahn purely defending Sellia for some reason here. But it's possible for Radahn to have fought in this conflict, and to have made the first move as well. So this is theory two, that Radahn conquered the stars as a preventative measure in service to the Greater Will.

According to a set of astrologer items, The night sky cradles fate. There's even a banished sect of people called the Nox, who live deep below the Earth in eternal anticipation of the coming Age of Stars and the Lord of Night. Long ago, these people invoked the ire of the Greater Will.

So it would make sense that those in service to the greater will might have sought to arrest the stars and put an end to this fate. What's more, Radahn was just a huge fanboy of Godfrey, and he seems to have more loyalty to the Erdtree than to the moon. Finally, the telescope item description says that the fate once writ in the night skies had been fettered by the Golden Order.

So surely this is referencing Radahn's actions and it levels the blame at the Golden Order. But putting Radahn's motivations aside, it's a fact that the stars were held back and that this had great consequences for many, especially for the rest of his Carian royal family. [Iji] Let me explain.

The fate of the Carian royal family is guided by the stars, as is the fate of Lady Ranni. First heir in the Carian royal line. But General Radahn is the conqueror of the stars who stood up to the swirling constellations, halting their movement in a smashing victory.

And so if General Radahn were defeated, the stars would once again resume their movement, as would lady Ranni's destiny. [Vaati] Lunar Princess Ranni was the daughter of Radagon and Rennala, and sister to Radahn. Interestingly, if you look at her true body atop the Divine Tower, it looks like she might have also inherited the red hair of Radagon.

Cool detail. But unlike her brother Radahn, she quite clearly took after her mother more. Who was Rennala, head of the Carian royal family.

The House of Caria has this storied history, one that seems to go way back to the astrologers. In the Carian Manor We find one of their treasures, the Sword of Night and flame. It reads, Astrologists who preceded the sorcerers established themselves in mountaintops that nearly touched the sky and considered the fire giants their neighbors.

Rennala herself was an astrologer, always chasing the stars in her youth. Then she met the full moon, and in time, the astrologer became a queen, establishing the house of Caria as royalty. Caria appears to have a matriarchal hierarchy with multiple princesses and Carian knights that serve as their retainers.

Now, however, there is only one Princess Ranni, daughter of Rennala and at the time of her birth, she would have been said to inherit quite a lot of power Indeed, for the Carian royal family was at its height and her mother was not only queen, she was also head of the Academy of Raya Lucaria having Bewitched them with the enchanting power of the full moon, leading the young Ranni by the hand, Rennala guided her daughter to a meeting with a moon of her own. What Rani beheld was cold, dark and veiled in occult mystery. A dark moon, a sort of twin to Rennala's own full moon.

You can even see both of these hanging in the sky if you stargaze from the heights of the moonlight Plateau. Another who guided Ranni was a character called the Snowy Crone, who the young Ranni encountered deep in the woods. When you look at Ranni, it's actually the likeness of this snow witch that you're seeing as the doll that now houses Ranni's soul was modeled after her, probably as a sign of respect.

Clearly, Ranni looked up to this mysterious woman. She became Ranni's secret mentor, and she even knew about the dark moon. Teaching the young Ranni to fear it as she imparted her cold sorceries.

So what do these moons represent? Now it's just a theory. But I think the moons kind of act as guides.

The Lost Black Moon of Nokstella, for example, was the guide of countless stars. What's more, Ranni and Rennala were heavily influenced by their moons. Rennala's moon bewitched academy that she became the head of, and Ranni's Dark Moon, for its part, also imparts wisdom and leads a voyage in the Age of Stars ending.

They could even be outer gods. And yet, for all of this guidance Caria and Liurnia as a whole have experienced a steep decline. Radagon betrayed the house of the moon.

Radahn locked the stars out of motion. The academy town is flooded to the North. Caria has been ruined in the West, and the stars and moon have gone their separate ways.

Nevertheless, Ranni, last Princess of Caria, remains carefully setting new plans into motion. Sibling to Ranni and Radahn was a man named Rykard, who was the Lord of the Volcano manor. There is evidence that Rykard was friendly with his siblings.

He conspired with his sister Ranni later on, and there's even a portrait of Radahn hung in the Volcano manor, as well as a portrait of Rykard himself before the fall. Item descriptions mark Rykard as stern, ambitious, heroic and blasphemous. a part of this blasphemy was opposing the Erdtree, which actually drew many knights to his banner for Rykard believed in taking by force just as the gods did, and clearly many believed that he would usher in a new age.

The Armor set of the Gelmir Knights reveals to us what were once very loyal soldiers. The crest of red feathers are there to symbolize Rykard's pedigree as Lord Radagon's son, and the emblem upon their chest piece represents the Lord who had lofty ambitions. However, as Rykard delved into the ancient secrets of Mount Gelmir, he came across the immortal Great Serpent, an ancient deity that aligned with Rykard's ambitions.

And so Rykard fed himself to the great serpent so that he might devour, grow, and live eternally. Alas this was too much for his knights, and they believed that their masters heroic ambitions had degenerated into mere greed. So they searched desperately for a weapon with which they might halt their Lord.

And they found it too. The immortal Serpent had lived for a long time, and so there was also a weapon to kill it that had been designed long ago as well. A Serpent Hunter.

But it was too late as the Lord lost his dignity, so too did the Knights lose their master. Not that it bothered Rykard. "Now, we can devour a god, together" Next we need to discuss Malenia, And Miquella.

These two were twins as they were born (TOGETHAAAA) No Rykard, please. Anyway, as you know, Radagon's marriage with Rennala did not last. Afterwards, he returned to the Golden order and became Queen Marika's consort.

But what I haven't yet mentioned is that together they were blessed with two demigod children, the so-called twin prodigies. Now, in the last lore video, I briefly proposed that these two twins were born after the shattering, after Radagon and Marika had merged together to become a single god. However, I've since changed my mind.

I think Malenia and Miquella were clearly born before the shattering. There's just so much proof that these two twins were a force that were influencing the world long before the shattering took place. Anyway, both of these twins were born afflicted specifically in the Japanese text, It said that their births were vulnerable.

Miquella was born afflicted with eternal youth, and Malenia, for her part, was vulnerable to rot. Interestingly, Malenia's Scarlet Eot is actually an outer god. This outer god Like many others in the game, seems to have an order that is able to be imposed upon the world via an empyrean vessel, And Malenia was that vessel.

And while the Scarlet Rot is pretty terrible, you can sort of argue that it's got a beauty to it. According to Gowry, the Order of Rot is resplendent. It's a cycle of death and rebirth, kind of like the lotus flower, which is a flower that blooms anew, beautiful and fresh, from mud.

I actually have art of this flower hanging in my home. I always loved the symbol of it. I actually have lots of art hanging now, and I'm going to talk about all of this artwork that you can buy at the end of the video.

Anyway, so Malenia the Empyrean was vulnerable to, and afflicted by, the Scarlet Rot. There was said to be no cure to this. And while fire and consecration seemed to be somewhat effective at warding it off, millennia would slowly lose her physical self to the rot.

Interestingly, old legends of the scarlet rot have persisted in the world for generations, and we learn more about the Rot God from the Blue Dancer Charm. The dancer in blue represents a fairy who in legend bestowed a flowing sword upon a blind swordsman. blade in hand The swordsman sealed away an ancient god, a god that was rot itself.

Specifically, this god was long ago sealed away in the stagnant water that is downstream of the Ainsel River underground. And wherever rot appears, the kindred of rot appear as well. These are pests and servants of the rot.

And now, in the current age, these are servants that have been forsaken by Malenia, who is their new goddess. So this blind swordsman with the flowing curved sword actually went on to become Malenia's mentor. So technically, it's him that we have to blame for this goddamn attack.

The prosthesis wearer heirloom tells us more. A talisman engraved with a scene from a heroic tale. Though born into the accursed rot, when the young girl encountered her mentor and his flowing blade, she gained wings of unparalleled strength.

Malenia's ridiculous attack is called the Waterfowl Dance. And aesthetically, it makes sense that, you know, flowing waters would counter the effects of rot, for just as still waters turn foul, Stagnation turns to decay. Thus, warriors must remain ever drifting, and indeed, Malenia does resist the call of the rot.

There's a lot of evidence that she's not really a willing vessel, but through sheer will and sense of self, she resists the rot. And only when she is truly pressed in battle will she abandon this will and bloom into the goddess within. Malenia's first bloom was during her fight against Radahn, and releasing her Scarlet Rot was a last ditch effort that would forever taint the land of Caelid and cripple Radahn.

So whatever she was fighting for in this fight against Radahn, Somehow it was worth this terrible act. In general terms, at least, it's clear that Malenia was fighting for her brother. Apart from the times where she relapses into being the Goddess of Rot, she is known as the blade of Miquella.

She actually goes to great lengths to tell you this. I don't know if you heard. Despite being the toughest Boss in Fromsoftware history, she's actually fighting for his right to godhood, not her own.

In Malenia's own words, her brother Miquella possesses the wisdom, the allure of a god. He is the most fearsome Empyrean of all. For his part, Miquella did a lot to earn his sister's dedication, not the least of which was inspiring her armor and a prosthetic of unalloyed gold.

And it's not just his sister that loved Miquella. Many people did. The bewitching branch is an item that you can use to turn enemies into temporary allies.

And it reads "Indeed, he has learned very well how to compel such affection. " for his father Radagon, Miquella fashioned and gifted to him a fundamentalist incantation that called Triple Rings of Light. Radagon then returned the favor, gifting back and incantation called Radagon's Rings of Light.

These interactions show some of Miquella's positive connections with his father and also Golden Order fundamentalism. And yet, the young Miquella abandoned fundamentalism, for it could do nothing to treat Malenia's accursed rot. This was the beginning of unalloyed gold.

So what is unalloyed gold? Well, an alloy is a composition of metals, so unalloyed gold is pure gold, essentially with no external mixtures. This gold apparently can ward away the meddling of outer gods.

And so Miquella bent a lot of his efforts towards creating and unalloyed gold needle. Specifically, this needle was crafted for his sister to ward off the Rot God and forestall the effects of the incurable rotting sickness. We see the bond between the siblings as well.

When we visit Miquella's Haligtree, we see a statue of a one armed woman embracing the child, Miquella. In this place, we see the biggest example of Miquella's benevolence, the Haligtree/ and the society that was built into the brace that supports it, This was a promised land, seen as a salvation to many who were shunned or persecuted, provided that they can actually find the path here, of course. and like many other empyreans, Miquella seems to have had the will within them to create a new order.

And his is an order that's somewhat modeled on the ones that came before it. The biggest thing is that the Haligtree is clearly inspired by the erdtree, but the difference is that Miquella's Haligtree is said to be accepting of all, even those the Erdtree shuns. Miquella himself was once embedded inside of the Haligtree and he watered it with his very own blood since it was a mere sapling.

Tragically, however, he was ripped out of this womb during the shattering, and his Haligtree ultimately failed to grow into an Erdtree, becoming a misshapen husk instead. But that's the story for another day. There's also a ton of cut content to do with Miquella, and he's one of the most mysterious demigods who I'm sure we'll learn about more later.

But there is one more thing that I want to mention before I go. It's kind of one theory I had during the making of this video. So Miquella and Malenia each have their own butterflies.

Malenia's is the Aeonian Butterfly, which inhabit the swamp of Aeonia and a rumored to come from the wings of the Rot Goddess herself. And I think it's fair to say that Miquella's butterfly is the nascent butterfly, which appears as if it's just emerged from its cocoon for its entire life. This is a reference to Miqurlla's eternal youth and his cocoon in the Haligtree.

But there is, of course, a third butterfly, right? There's the smoldering butterfly. It's said to be an eternally burning butterfly that serves as kindling.

Now, bear with me. But it's my theory that this butterfly is a reference to Melina, who the blade of caling calls, the kindling maiden, and the one who walks alongside flame. This might suggest that Melina is a sibling to Malenia and Miquella.

Again, that's just a theory. But what I really want to talk about here is that, at the very least, Melina is almost certainly the daughter of Marika. We learned this a long time ago from looking at her name in the game's files, and we can further infer it from her dialog as she has a few lines that refer to mothers and one that says that she was born inside the Erdtree.

So her being the daughter of Marika is also just a theory. But this one is much more concrete than the butterfly one. Although the reason I like the butterfly theory is that it gives us a hint as to who Melina's parents might have been.

Her parents would have been Radagon and Marika, which is to say, Marika herself alone, I guess, because Radagon is Marika. Honestly, Melina, as a character, has only become more mysterious since the game was released. And I'm really only scratching the surface with this theory.

But speaking of times before Elden Ring was released. Back then, a long time ago, I commissioned this piece from a renowned artist named Ma-ko. And now I'm so excited to reveal it for the first time.

This storybook scene is heavily inspired by the early looks we had at Elden Ring with a red haired protagonist, Spirit companions, a mount that looks like Yakul, a bit like torrent and a few other hidden details in the piece. This piece and all of my other prints are now available over at spring where you can actually buy them fully framed and ready to hang. They actually ship with a beautiful frame.

The frame itself is a nice black satin finish and you can even opt for a white border around the print, which I think looks really classy in certain cases. I think these posters are a cool way to support the channel and artists and for you to actually get something in return that will make your room look better. So check out my prints if you're interested.

But this is the end. And thank you for watching. I'll see you next time.