The Lore of Elden Ring is Insane

Midra's sanctum. A veritable Paradise. and  then.

. . what happened here?

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

But before this it was a sanctum. a private hideaway for the  sage Midra and other Hornsent who resided here. Midra himself has no visible horns, Yet i'd still  consider him to be one of the hornsent's brethren.

After all, many of his fellows have horns. His  manse was built with spiral pillars, and spirals are an important symbol to the hornsent and  he presumably observed hornsent customs at the church in the sanctum, which itself bears divine  beast iconography. That said, the church is about as far away from Midra's Manse as can be in this  place, so perhaps religion wasn't so important to those in the sanctum, geographically isolated  as they were from the rest of the realm.

Indeed, in contrast to the deep spirituality that  we witness in other hornsent domains. I'd argue that Midra's Manse was uniquely a  place of discussion and learning. example, countless books once adorned these bookshelves,  and as per this Site of Grace the manse once had a discussion hall where knowledge could have been  shared.

Not to mention, Midra is renowned as a great sage, a title that could only belong to a  man who was profoundly wise. But when we arrive at the manse, most books aren't on their shelves.  Instead, in most cases, they're in piles and have been burned seemingly deliberately.

So who did  this? If I had to guess, I think it might have been the hornsent inquisitors. As we'll get  into later, the Hornsent Inquisitors were a powerful force that invaded Midra's sanctum  to stamp out the frenzy that had taken root here.

And they do carry live flames which enable  their fire breath attacks. So if books were being intentionally burned in this place of learning,  Then maybe it was for a reason. Maybe Midra and this remote sect of curious hornsent discovered  something that they shouldn't have.

Maybe they discovered the knowledge that led to frenzy, but  is there an overlap between frenzy and knowledge in Elden Ring? Well, let me try and argue that  there is. Using Bloodborne as an analog.

Frenzy in Elden Ring is largely synonymous with Frenzy  in Bloodborne. The systems share a name, status, mechanics, and both games now even have frenzy  inducing enemies called winter lanterns. In terms of lore, though, they're a little bit different. 

In Bloodborne, frenzy is the symptom that afflicts those who acquire incomprehensible knowledge  or insight about the world, sending them mad as a result. Whereas in Elden Ring, frenzy more  commonly crops up in those who experience severe suffering and despair, and with their eyes aflame,  they share that frenzy with others. That said, I still think that that suffering and despair  in Elden Ring does reveal a somewhat eldritch truth about the world, namely that suffering and  despair are this intrinsic part of the world's order on a cosmic level.

Look at Maria's minor  erdtree that she left behind in her village, for example. It is only the kindness of gold  without order, which, like many other things, seems to suggest that order cannot exist without  suffering and despair. So I don't think it's a stretch to think that Midra and the hornsent  the manse, dedicated to learning and discussion, could have stumbled upon such a disturbing  truth about the world, especially since that truth has to do with the three fingers and the  two.

And there's evidence that the denizens of the manse were surreptitiously researching the  fingers behind a portrait of Midra. Are three odd shapes with orange cloth draped over them and  underneath are fingers, These are the same fingers and stones that can be found in the finger ruins.  And incidentally, the Finger Ruins of Rhia are adjacent to the abyss itself.

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

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

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

To answer that, we're  going to have to go back further in Elden Rings timeline than we ever have on this channel,  to the cosmic metaphysical origins of life. "All that there is came from the one great.  Then came fractures and births and souls.

But the greater will made a mistake. Torment, despair.  Affliction.

Every sin. every curse. Every one born of the mistake.

And so, what was borrowed, must be  returned. Melt it all away. With the yellow chaos flame.

Until all one is one again. " These words  were spoken by Hyetta. Finger maiden of the three fingers who divines their words.

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

It is the universe, condensed as  one, but then a few lines later, Hyetta mentions a "greater will" that made a mistake. And she  doesn't say the one great made a mistake. She says the greater will made a mistake.

almost as if  the greater will is the one great. And I think it is kind of. Perhaps it's more accurate to say that  the one great had a greater will, because if the one great is a collective, then the greater will  could have been the dominant part of its intent, its greater will, so to speak.

And I'm saying  this in the past tense here, because at some point there was a moment of fracture, a veritable  big bang, where the one great was no more, but the greater will remained. This moment is  called a cosmic rupture in the DLC by Count Ymir, who says that long ago we began as Stardust,  born of a great rupture far across the skies. We too are children of the greater will So life had  essentially been created in many worlds.

Possibly, but to give order to its children in the  lands between specifically. the greater will first sent down Metyr the mother of the two  fingers, and then the Elden Ring. while we learn from the remembrance of the Mother of fingers,  that matter was the mother of all two fingers and finger creepers.

It says nothing about her  being the mother of the three fingers. Thus, I think that when the one great fractured, the  greater will and its desire for order wasn't the only thing that was created. Frenzy and a  desire for chaos was split off entirely.

This is a separate part of the one great that believes  fracture was a mistake, and that regression is the only path forward. This frenzied part of the One  Great is called an outer God, as per Miquella's needle. So as such, like the greater will it  also has its envoys, three fingers, not two.

And the fact that it's envoys are three fingers  is likely no coincidence. Two plus three equals a five fingered hand, and thus I think three fingers  being envoys sends a powerful message. The message being that if order is run by two fingers, then  the other three are naturally the ones that are missing.

Of course, this is just speculation, but  I like to think that the three fingers are kind of a revelation in and of themselves. It sends the  message that once all was a part of the one great, the three fingers and the two. Unlike the two  fingers, the three fingers are free to tell us their truth surely That there was a mistake  in the fracturing of things long ago.

and that under the branches of order, life now divides  and distinguishes, leading to torment, despair, affliction, sins, and curses. so they believe the  only solution is to melt everything away with the yellow chaos flame. until all is one again.

I want  to quickly talk about the nature of the One Great and the greater will, because there have been  some revelations revealed by Elden Rings DLC, And one of them is that the greater will both is  and inhabits a lightless abyss, as is depicted by the empty space in Count Ymir's headpiece. Now,  this is going to sound contradictory. And of course, this is all just speculative territory on  a cosmic level.

But I think somehow the the birth of everything might have come from a void.  The greater Will's void. Astel, Naturalborn of the Void is one such example of this happening. 

After all, because of this bastard of the stars, we know that life can come from a void. So if  a void is a clue to the greater will's nature, Then maybe a void is also what the one great was  and inhabited. And so perhaps it's no coincidence then, that when frenzy burns something, it  burns it away to nothingness, one great void.

In the gravesite plane, we come across countless  spirit gravestones, which are gravestones that have started to turn into spirits, fitting for  a land where all manners of death drift. These stones, if crafted together with a swollen grape,  create a surging, frenzied flame, an item which violently spits frenzy like butter in a hot pan.  Its description reads spirits are eternal and yet frenzied Flame melts them away regardless.

It's  no wonder then, that torrent, being a spirit, is terrified of this place. Naturally too, the  hornsent, whose culture revolves around spirits forbid the flames use and to stamp it out At some  point they would send an order of inquisitors to invade and purge Midra's sanctum, though  apparently the fact frenzy is forbidden hasn't stopped the one who invented this consumable, the  mad Craftsman's Cookbook that teaches it, reveals that it is a record of crafting techniques left  by a craftsman who served Midra and Nanaya. His eyes were burned by the flame of frenzy, but were  his experiments with frenzy being done before or after the purge of Midra's sanctum?

What I really  want to understand here is Was frenzy brewing in the manse for a while. Or did it only truly become  a threat when the Inquisition invaded? Let's talk about that.

We know that frenzy must have been  present at the manse in some capacity before the hornsent inquisition arrived. Why else would the  Inquisition have come to stamp it out? However, I don't think it was out of control by any means. 

think they were merely on the brink of it. And that's because of this tortured Phantom of the  manse who questions why the Inquisition and their cruelty was even necessary. While begging for  mercy, he says, I ask, what crime did great Midra commit?

It's not clear whether he simply doesn't  understand the threat that frenzy represents, or whether he simply doesn't think that Midra is  to blame for it. But I think we can at least take from this that Frenzy wasn't out of control  at the sanctum. It was just there.

And the hornsent Inquisitors had been made aware of it.  But I reckon even the mere hint of frenzy would have been the beginning of the end for Midra's  Sanctum. And that's because frenzy is essentially a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The fear of frenzy and  its void inspires an extreme response to those in power, leading to the torture and torment  of those who are frenzied, which is itself an extreme response that exacerbates frenzy  even more. And on and on it goes. In the end, frenzy only really exists because of how awful  the world is, and the torture to stifle it only proves that fact.

So when the Inquisition  arrived to purge this damnation like no other, they brought pain as was their way. These  hornsent Inquisitor as are not unlike Rykard's own inquisitors, who we discussed in a recent video.  Both forces use torture to extract the answers they seek, and both inquisitions likely existed to  root out traitors and threats to their regime.

as opposed to the fire of Rykards inquisitors. The  Hornsent's brand of Inquisition utilizes golden arcs called barbs, which, according to the spell,  were a known symbol of coercive questioning. The barbs on the Great Sword of Damnation, for  example, unwrap to pierce the victim from within, inflicting continuous wounds to assure eternal  agony.

There's actually an intriguing bit of lore hidden in the weapon skill of this item, which  reads there is something of the golden order in the sight of those fixed upon this crux, the  golden order. For me, this brings to mind Marika, crucified as she is upon a golden arc at the end  of the game, Alternatively, since the Golden Order was created upon the removal of destined death,  perhaps the Great Sword of Damnation evokes this fact by inflicting eternal suffering Without Death  as a release. Thus is the golden order seen in the shape of those fixed upon its crux.

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

So to answer that, while I think it's true that the hornsent were around long before Marika  I do think Marika and the Elden Ring became part of their culture for a time. The simplest  proof of this is in how the hornsent believe that Marika betrayed them, because for them to  consider Marika's actions a betrayal, Marika must have been considered a part of the hornsent's  culture on some level. But for more evidence of Marika's involvement in this place at this  time, take a look here where you respawn after getting jumpscared by a winter lantern.

There's  a stake of Marika here, and for these to be in the realm of shadow, it means that Marika must  have been a force in the world long before the Inquisition arrived. Even here, in this sanctum  that's geographically separated from the rest of the realm. And while you could argue that these  are just here for a gameplay reason, you know, and that they have no relevancy to the lore.

I  don't think so, because I think FromSoftware are aware of the lore implication of these statues.  For evidence of this, look at Raya Lucaria. This is a place where Marika would have been unwelcome. 

And so there are no stakes of Marika at all here. All of this is to say that torture was ingrained  in the Golden Order, be it via the hornsent's Inquisitors or Rykard's Inquisitors or the  Elden Beast itself. Order requires enforcement, it seems.

Remember, Marika's minor erdtree has  taught us that there is kindness without order, and therefore that there is cruelty with it. And  so, even though such torture exacerbates frenzy, it was the institutionalized way forward for  the hornsent who, as we know from other parts of the lore, were a race that definitely had  no issues persecuting their own brethren. The tortured phantom we mentioned earlier Laments I  beg you, stop.

Haven't I taken enough? Are we not, brethren common in our line? And yet you offer  only cruelty?

Here, in this sanctum where frenzy was taking root the hornsent brought their  full strength to bear. But perhaps the place should have been left alone, for the results of  the Inquisition were mixed, to say the least. Clearly the Inquisition wasn't prepared to handle  the answers It found, and many inquisitors have become frenzied in the abyssal woods, revealing  new attacks with frenzy flame.

Interestingly, one spell they channel is Frenzied Burst, which  has a description that talks about how every single person who attempted to control the flame  of frenzy succumbed to madness after a desperate internal struggle. This is the same incantation  that Vyke uses, and it might be a reflection of his own struggle with madness. The fact that this  incantation exists is called a meager victory over frenzy, and this is why I think the inquisitors  fought hard before succumbing to the frenzy.

Perhaps this firsthand witnessing of the despair  that was coming as a result of their own torture touched them. Or perhaps they fell victim to the  aging untouchables, the Winter lanterns, who we'll talk about more later. The forest is now truly the  most horrific part of the sanctum, in my opinion, not the manse itself.

And I say that because  the inquisitors who occupy the manse are not the frenzied variant. Despite frenzy having  infected the rats and shadowy hornsent within, the inquisitors of the manse don't have  a single frenzy Flame attack. Why?

Well, I think that this was done to show that  the Inquisition was successful to a degree, thanks to the majority of the Inquisition's  strength being focused here at the manse. And there is Inquisition strength here. For example,  one of the Fat Inquisitors is in possession of revered spirit ash, a powerful blessing of  the hornsent, and there are even the spirits of divine Beast warriors roaming the halls.

The  Divine Beast Warriors were an elite force among the hornsent. But you know that already from  fighting them, don't you? To be clear though, these aren't physical beast warriors.

They're  actually spirits. Perhaps these warriors were once part of the Inquisition's forces and then died in  this place. What's more likely, though, I think, is that perhaps their ashes were given to the  inquisitors, who then summoned them here to fight as weapons to be wielded in their assault.

We do,  after all, know that the inquisitors are capable of summoning the spirits of their comrades. we  know this thanks to Jori, the elder Inquisitor, who rings a sort of spirit calling Bell to summon  his brethren in his boss fight. And it's here, In this place where the catacomb spills out into the  forest.

that he holds down the fort alone, a final frontier for those coming in or out. According  to the Inquisitor ashes Inquisition's often perplexed the minds of the uninitiated, and so  seniority was viewed as an asset, and Jori is an elder inquisitor. Thus, his age helps to explain  why he's the last one remaining on the edge of the forest, endlessly calling in his brethren  to fulfill their duties properly in death.

One thing I wonder, though, is why Inquisition's  perplexed the minds of the uninitiated. Was it because these inquisitions were focused on torture  so deeply? Could newer inductees not understand or fathom why they were performing these terrible  rites?

We do know from the caterpillar mask that doubt about the terrible rites that they were  performing was a thing, and that they had to intentionally warded this away. So perhaps this  Torture inflicted via the inquisitions caused a similar sort of doubt. Whatever the case, to an  extent, the Hornsent efforts here were successful.

The books were burned, the manse was stifled. And  on that note, I want to talk about the ten figures that have are bound outside the manse. There's not  much information on these guys, I think, but if I had to guess, I'd say that these ten were Midra's  associates who were bound and executed outside the manse.

The somewhat similar garb to Midra's, and  also the gold protruding from their necks, might be an indication of that. This, plus the fact that  they're just facing away from the manse, strikes me as a warning for those in the forest to stay  away from the manse, which Midra's executioners have now laid claim to. And speaking of execution,  as a result of the Inquisition invasion, Midra himself accepted the Great Sword of Damnation and  pledged to endure the eternal punishment, warning others to stay away from him lest they succumb. 

But I don't think that this was a true victory for the inquisitors, because in reality, while  Midra endured, the frenzy was ripening within him, and one day it would be a fruit fit to burst, all  according to plan, Perhaps. Despite evidence of the Inquisition's victory in this place, frenzy  is entrenched pretty deeply now, at least, The very earth is scarred and even the animals  are afflicted. Even the originally multicolored flowers of this place have changed to be colored  by frenzy, and one particularly inventive perfumer has clearly used these To create the frenzy flame  perfume.

It's clear that frenzy is ripening here, and I think that most of it came as a result of  the Inquisition itself. There's a curious enemy in this place that I think supports this idea. The  Madding Hand.

It's a human NPC whose namesake is a weapon, a glove stitched together from the flayed  skin of the victims of a butcherer's bloodbath. It was forged of an unyielding black impulse  towards revenge, fostered in those who were hunted down as heretics by their own brethren. So  the heretics in this description would have been the hornsent denizens of the sanctum, and their  brethren who hunted them down would have been the hornsent inquisitors.

And now the heretics desire  for revenge has been stitched together into a hand made of their flayed skin. Now, I was originally  going to suggest that the Madding Hand himself skinned these victims to create this glove. But  since the tooth whip exists and it was used by the hornsent it's possible that the flaying was just  a part of the horns and torture of these heretics.

Either way, this madding hand has taken it upon  himself to fight on the heretics frenzied behalf. So who is he? Well, he's actually wearing the  Grave bird's black quill armor, which is an item that's cast in the image of the grave bird  which is a grave keeper golem that's linked to mausoleums and to the process of burning death in  ghost flame.

So given that lore, you'd think then, that this is a man that is linked to the ancient  processes of death. And indeed, he's actually physically very close to the darklight catacombs  that brought you here, and catacombs traditionally do employ a lot of ghost flame processes in them.  So that's kind of where the facts end on this guy and where speculation begins.

For example, given  the armor, perhaps he was a defender of the local catacomb who got swept up in or witnessed the  hornsent purge, or considering the stitched hand that represents the heretics desire for revenge.  Perhaps he now wishes to aid the frenzied of the forest. And do we think the blindfold could be  related to frenzy?

It certainly matches Hyetta's fashion, so there's something going on there,  I think. Maybe blindfolds better enable one to envision the nothingness brought about by frenzy.  Curious to hear what you guys think.

Of course, none of this is fact. It's just my take on the  guy. but of course, the real threat in the forest isn't the madding hand.

It's the Winter lanterns,  the aging untouchables whose presence is heralded by the Winter lantern flies. These are winged  insects carrying a dangling grape. And upon seeing these, the wise know to stay well clear. 

Turn back while you are yet able. Don't let it see you. Once you are seen, there is no escape. 

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

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

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

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

The diary only mentions one of them, and so does the winter lantern flies, which are insects  that herald the aging untouchables approach. On seeing these. It reads the wise know to stay well  clear.

And that's the best way to combat frenzy, right? To leave it alone. The quote unquote wise  denizens of the sanctum had likely learned this early on.

And perhaps so, too did Marika, who  locked away the frenzied merchants underground. Out of sight and out of mind. So, in my headcanon  at least, frenzy had appeared in the sanctum before the Inquisition, and there was an aging  untouchable roaming that the manse had learned to steer well clear of.

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

Remember again, there's a phantom in the manse who wonders what  crime Midra has even committed. And to be fair, is it a crime to learn painful truths, to despair? At  any rate, while this note does reveal good lore, more than anything, it's meant to be a gameplay  tip.

it teaches you that by parrying a Winter Lantern's staff, the aging untouchable can be  killed. Upon doing so, most drop a swollen grape, an eyeball that has swollen over time, marked  with fingerprint burns. It is proof that the Winter lanterns have been touched directly  by the three fingers embrace.

These beings are the most dangerous thing in the sanctum now,  especially considering the three fingers seem to have blessed them directly. They're even wearing  rags, which might suggest that they've divested themselves of everything. But what defines them  actually?

Isn't that so much. It's actually something else. They are defined by their aging. 

parry this winter lantern, and you receive the aged ones exaltation, which reveals that their  head is supposed to resemble this sprig of ripe grapes. This is fitting, but the most curious part  is the quote that follows. Gift your madness to our Lord.

Bless our brethren with grapes. Take  care that they fully ripen. This quote must have come from a hornsent, since it says, our brethren. 

What's more, their walking sticks are twisted in a spiral, Which is a consent symbol. So the aging  untouchables were once hornsent. And eventually there were many.

And whatever they were aged  inquisitors or denizens of the sanctum. now they exist to afflict the rest of the hornsent with  frenzy. And this frenzy is defined by its full ripening.

Ripening is obviously something that  happens with fruit, making it very relevant in this situation where we're talking about grapes,  which are eyes and ripening is something that occurs over time. And so aging and enduring this  madness is the key to this frenzy being powerful. And this frenzy is to be a gift, not unlike the  Shabriri grapes we gift to Hyetta, so that she might glimpse the distant light.

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

This ripening has been enhanced by his torture. and the final words that he heard from  his lady, please endure, She said. it was a curse.

frenzy Consumables tell us that the flame of  frenzy burns the eyes, but tranquility follows in its wake. No wonder Midra desperately wants to rip  the torturous great greatsword free of himself, for in the end, the Lord of Frenzied flame shall  take their torment to spare their affliction. Every sin, every curse all melted away.

So reads  the spell Midra's flame of frenzy, which is a remembrance incantation designed in praise of  Midra, Lord of frenzied flame. Curiously, this description ends with the line yet Midra, like  others before him, was too weak to become a lord, and yet he did become a Lord. So this line is kind  of contradictory, right?

Perhaps you're supposed to read this as Midra was a lord of frenzied  flame, but too weak to become a true lord since you defeated him. Or alternatively, perhaps you're  supposed to read it as if Midra was originally too weak to become a lord long ago. But over time he  did become strong enough to become one.

Or rather, he endured long enough to become one. "No. Come  no closer.

No closer I said. The Madness burns. The depths of your foolishness!

Enough. We have  endured more than enough. I ask you forgive me, dearest Nanaya" From this dialog, we learn a  few things.

One is that Midra genuinely sees the madness as a curse and is worried about what  it could do to others. Thus, he warns you to stay away. Two is that he genuinely cares about his  lady, who he calls Dearest Nanaya, and a third since Midra asks for Nanaya's forgiveness when he  succumbs to frenzy.

I think Midra believes that Nanaya told him to endure for the sake of others,  yes, but also for her. So this Maiden essentially wants Midra to suffer in righteous hardship for  the one that he loves. Now where have we heard that before?

"If you are prepared to show, resolve  and attain lordship through righteous hardship, then heed the words of I, Shabriri. . .

Your  flesh will serve as kindling. And the girl can be spared. Setting you on the righteous  path of lordship.

" So let's discuss the idea. The theory that Nanayaa told Midra to endure  specifically so that the frenzy could ripen within him. And then let's discuss the theory that she  told him to do this Because Nanaya is Shabriri.

a being who is chaos incarnate. Put on this earth to  ensure that chaos has its Lord. In the base game, we learn that Shabriri is a sort of skinwalker,  someone who has the ability to inhabit the bodies of others.

In his case, after they die, as he  does with Yura, someone who is close to us. Thus, as the theory goes, perhaps Shabriri also came  to inhabit the Nanaya's skin to encourage Midra's endurance and bring about a lord in Midra's  sanctum through what Shabriri calls righteous hardship. This wouldn't be the first time that  Shabriri has attempted such a thing.

It wouldn't even be the second. The player character is  encouraged to embrace frenzy to spare the life of their maiden. And so was Vyke, the Tarnished  who came close to becoming Elden Lord.

We have an entire Prepare to Cry episode on Vyke's  story that explains him and all the characters associated with frenzy, so check that out after  this if you need a recap, but let me quickly read you one item description now that will succinctly  explain Vyke's story For anyone who doesn't know, the fingerprint armor states no other tarnished  was closer to the throne of the Elden Lord than Vyke, but without announcement Vic traveled far  below the capital and was scorched by the flame of frenzy. Did he make his choice for his maiden,  or did some other force lure him with suggestion? Since Shabriri advocates for us becoming the Lord  of Frenzied Flame in the context of saving our maiden burning in the fell God's flame, I'd  argue that Shabriri did the same with Vyke, who would have been faced with the same  choice, and with Midra being yet another potential Lord of frenzied flame who would also  do anything for his maiden.

We've established a pretty significant trend in how Shabriri might  be using these three characters. In regards to Midra's character specifically. the name Nanaya  could be a reference to the goddess of love from Mesopotamian folklore.

It's a name that  carries connotations of sensuality and charm, things that would definitely help to explain why  Midra might have been so enraptured by her. And as one last piece of evidence for the theory that  Nanaya might be inhabited by Shabriri, take a look at the Shabriri's woe Talisman, which was made  in Shabriri's disturbing likeness. It states the corners of his mouth are upturned in an almost  flirtatious manner, and I find it so perfectly creepy that Nanaya has a similar smile to Shabriri  in the portrait here.

It's so good. I mean, I'm not going to lie, I love this theory. I find  it cool, and admittedly, the rule of cool might be affecting how strongly I advocate for this theory,  so you should keep that in mind when listening to me.

And on that note, I do want to say I first  came across this theory in this Reddit thread, and it was through the process of agreeing and  disagreeing with multiple arguments here that I came to my own conclusion. And my conclusion is  that it's possible that Nanayaa could be Shabriri. But it's also possible that Nanaya is just her own  character, using a similar playbook as Shabriri.

Either way, though, in my eyes, Nanaya is still  a chilling, manipulative character who cursed Midra to endure very intentionally. But there  are definitely a few ways to interpret Nanaya as a character. and I'd encourage you to come to  your own conclusion on this as well.

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

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

Now, this  English description kind of makes it sound like it was a crafted item with frenzy being attached  to the spine. But the Japanese description makes no such claims, and indeed, the frenzy at the  tip of the spine simply reflects, I think, one who was a past Lord of frenzied flame, since  such lords always have their spines culminate in a frenzied void. Anyway, the description goes  on to read that in a distant land, in an age long past was born a man who failed to become the  Lord of frenzied flame.

All that remains of him is cradled gently by Nanaya. This description notes  that the feeble lord of frenzied flame existed in a distant land and an age long past. Now one  interpretation of that is that the realm of shadow itself is that distant land in question, and that  a load of frenzied flame rose here long ago, even before Midra.

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

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

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

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

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

Indeed, the spine is quite large and is described as  having belonged to a man. Okay, but could this have been her adult child then, who failed to  become a load of frenzied flame long ago and she could just be cradling their remains? And I  mean, I guess you can't rule it out.

But then some people insist that this was Midra's child because  Narnia has her hand over her stomach in the portrait here, a pose that some believe suggests  that she was pregnant at the time Her portrait was taken. For this to be true, the child would have  had to grow up in the sanctum and then succumb to frenzy and then fail to become a lord. that's  a lot of history for the sanctum to have had.

So you'd think, surely such history would have  been mentioned in the lore if it had happened. So while I think these theories are compelling,  I don't subscribe to them personally. I believe that Nanaya did have a history with a feeble lord  long ago.

But to me, since she has such clear, sinister intent in telling Midra to endure. I'm  not sure that she can be this well intentioned mother, and the idea of her being an advocate for  the frenzied flame and still giving birth rubs me the wrong way as well, because birth is kind of a  sticking point for those who advocate for frenzied flame. in the base game Hyetta is euphoric at the  idea of no more fracture and no more birth.

So if you believe that Nanaya is aligned with frenzy,  then birth probably isn't too high on her agenda. So in the end Nanaya's character continues  to pose so many questions like where was the distant land that her torch alludes to? What age  long past featured this feeble, frenzied Lord.

Nanaya wears spiraling clothing and hair in the  style of the hornsent, but is she their brethren, or is she pretending? Did she truly bring frenzy  to the manse? Did she slander the sanctum and bring the Inquisition?

Did she bring about the  aging untouchables with the goal of creating a new ripened Lord? So many questions and so much  uncertainty, and yet I'm sure that the intriguing character of Nanaya will become an enduring  mystery for the lore community for years to come. And that is always fun.

Before I move on. Look  at your walls. Would they look better with some artwork there?

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And remember, if you buy three, it's even cheaper. regardless,  Thank you for listening. Let's get back to the video.

on the topic of Midra's endurance one  observation I was so happy to come across was this tweet by littlechurchlore, who comments on some  assets extracted by zlofsky2nd. these two accounts are great follows, By the way, church notes that  Midra wears a brooch adorned with green jewels, which in fromsoft games commonly means that it  increases your stamina. So they argue.

For Midra, maybe these helped in fortifying his quote  unquote endurance in Elden Ring specifically, the jewels are viridian amber and the Viridian  Amber medallion plus 3 is actually is found very close by in the darklight catacombs. So  the idea that Midra might have had access to this fortifying resource is a good little  theory for sure. Anyway, let's conclude.

. . In the end with you pushing him over the edge,  Midra finally gives into that blissful salvation, his frenzy.

But it's not enough. And his ripening  was all for naught. But it's no matter.

For as long as order remains, it seems chaos cannot  die. And there are other prospects. like Vyke.

like you. tarnished exposed to the injustices  of the world who might go on to become Lord of frenzied flame. For unlike Midra, you are  bolstered by the great runes of the Elden Ring.

You are unleashing frenzy from within the Erdtree  itself. Surely that has to count for something, Though even then, this ending might not  strictly be the end. For Melina believed in the beauty of the world that you burned  down despite its flaws.

So Melina, holding fast to torrents whistle, promises to deliver  you a destined death as torrent burns away, his screams echoing in the distance. He was afraid  for good reason. were thank you for watching.